About the Edition


Editorial process

The digital edition has been produced collaboratively across a significant period of time, beginning in the early 2000s with the drafting of text intended for the ‘stratigraphic edition’ (as conceptualised in Broun and Harrison, The Chronicle of Melrose Abbey, 2007). After a pause in activities, a change of direction was decided in 2021 towards a digital edition. The project’s work began in 2023, and concluded in 2026 (including an unforeseen hiatus due to the cyber-attack on the British Library in October 2023). The digital edition was published online in July 2026.

Because of the edition’s collaborative and multi-layered nature, some transparency about authorship is necessary. In the transcription and translation, footnotes have been attributed to the relevant editor (whether Dauvit Broun [DB], John Reuben Davies [JRD], or Jo Tucker [JT]), to make the phases of work more apparent. In every case, Tucker was responsible for proof-reading and sometimes updating the text of the original footnotes, and for overall editorial consistency.

The table below identifies the phases of editorial work. It notes how the manuscript was primarily consulted for each phase. An editor’s source can be significant. As an example, in Broun’s early work using the facsimile edition, he noted that ‘There appears to be a deletion point under the e’ at AD 739 archiepiscopus (Faustina B IX, f. 2v). This is in fact a figment of the collotype page in the Anderson’s facsimile edition where part of the ruled line looks darker; it is not visible in the digital image or manuscript itself. Where the digital images or Andersons’ edition was the primary source, the manuscripts themselves were also consulted to check particular issues (such as erasures).

The digital images of the Chronicle used in this edition were photographed at the following times: 

  • Cotton MS Julius B XIII:
    • Main foliated leaves shot 18-19/09/2006
    • Binding and flyleaves shot 05/07/2013
  • Cotton MS Faustina B IX:
    • Main foliated leaves shot variously between 20/09/2006-29/06/2007
    • Binding and flyleaves shot 31/10/2013

 

Editorial
activity

Undertaken
by

When the work
was undertaken

How the manuscript
was primarily consulted

Faustina B IX, ff. 2r–21r (line 22),
transcription and translation
of the annals (roughly AD 731–1171),
plus most additions to these folios

Dauvit Broun

Completed on
25 June 2002

Andersons,
The Chronicle of Melrose

Faustina B IX, ff. 26v–32r,
transcription and translation
of the annals (roughly AD 1198–1215),
plus most additions to these folios

Dauvit Broun

Completed on
10 February 2003

Andersons,
The Chronicle of Melrose

Faustina B IX, ff. 32v–75v,
transcription and translation
of the texts and annals (roughly AD 1216–1270s)

John Reuben Davies

2011–
2013

Andersons,
The Chronicle of Melrose;
images on DVD accompanying
Broun and Harrison,
The Chronicle of Melrose Abbey

Faustina B IX, ff. 21r (line 23)–26r,
transcription and translation
of the annals (roughly AD 1171–1197)

Dauvit Broun

December 2022–
January 2023

British Library digital images

Julius B XIII, ff. 41–47,
transcription and translation
of the annals (AD 1–249)

Dauvit Broun

May 2023

British Library digital images

Julius B XIII, ff. 2–40,
summary of Hugh of St Victor's
Chronicle

Dauvit Broun

June 2023

British Library digital images

Ensuring editorial consistency
between the work of Broun and Davies;
reconceptualising the structure
of the edition;
applying the scribal profiles methodology

Jo Tucker

January–
July 2023

British Library digital images

Design of the XML-TEI schema
and mark-up of the transcription
and translation

Vivien Williams

June–
November 2023

British Library digital images

Supporting the design
and implementation
of the XML-TEI schema

Luca Guariento

June–
November 2023

British Library digital images

Checking and additional mark-up
of the transcription and translation
in XML-TEI

Jo Tucker

May–
July 2025

Images on DVD accompanying
Broun and Harrison,
The Chronicle of Melrose Abbey

Design and implementation
of the website and viewer

Luca Guariento

June 2025–
August 2026

N/A

Annotation of the scribal profiles
on the digital images

Jo Tucker

December 2025–
June 2026

British Library digital images
(supplied November 2025)

Final implementation
and proof-reading

Jo Tucker

June–
July 2026

N/A

 

Author: Jo Tucker
Last updated: 07/06/2026