Slides of the Talk at the Slovenian Academy of Sciences, Ljubljana 17.5.2017

1. Digital diplomatics
An example of digital methods
in the humanities
Georg Vogeler
@GVogeler
http://www.i-d-e.dehttp://informationsmodellierung.uni-graz.at

2. Digital Methods
• Formal description
• Images
• Automatic transcriptions
• Searching in large corpora
• Database
• Interactive map
• Network visualisation
• New forms of scholarly
communication
• Interactive publication
• Counting – words,
persons, objects, subjects
• Clustering – words,
persons, objects
• Grammatical Structures,
expression of discourse,
sentiments
• Logical Consistency of
statements

3. monasterium.net
http://monasterium.net/mom/SI/country

4. http://monasterium.net/mom/SI-PAM/Listine/SI_PAM%7C0001_00007/charter

5. In nomine domini Amen. Ego Karolus miles de Mitterburch,
cernens thezaurum omnem rerum temporalium aut ante
mortem deficere aut deserere nos in morte sed quicquit ad
cultum divinum in salutem animarum sinceriter convertatur#
in perpetuum non perire. Eapropter omnibus hanc paginam
intuentibus innotesco tam viventibus quam victuris publice
perficiendo quod ego animo deliberato cum consensu filii mei
heinrici et aliorum heredum meorum duodecim mansos
proprietatis tytulo ad me spectantes sitos in villulis
infrascriptis videlicet aput Tyliam, quinque possesso Item in
Tzeltz duos possessos, et in Replach quinque unum mansum
cultum, ete quatuor desolatos cum rebus et hominibus, agris,
pascuis et silvis cultis et incultis quaesitis et ingerendis ac cum
omnibus suis pertinentiis et iuribus quocumque nomine
conseantur … Ad huius res evidenciam et robur perpetue
firmitatis spedicto conventui et monasterio dedi meo appenso
sigillo hanc litteram communitatem. Datum et actum in
Mitterburch anno domini millesimo ccco xviio sabbato quod
procedit domenicam que in Passione domini intytulatur.

6. In nomine domini Amen. Ego Karolus miles de Mitterburch,
cernens thezaurum omnem rerum temporalium aut ante
mortem deficere aut deserere nos in morte sed quicquit ad
cultum divinum in salutem animarum sinceriter convertatur#
in perpetuum non perire. Eapropter omnibus hanc paginam
intuentibus innotesco tam viventibus quam victuris publice
perficiendo quod ego animo deliberato cum consensu filii mei
heinrici et aliorum heredum meorum duodecim mansos
proprietatis tytulo ad me spectantes sitos in villulis
infrascriptis videlicet aput Tyliam, quinque possesso Item in
Tzeltz duos possessos, et in Replach quinque unum mansum
cultum, ete quatuor desolatos cum rebus et hominibus, agris,
pascuis et silvis cultis et incultis quaesitis et ingerendis ac cum
omnibus suis pertinentiis et iuribus quocumque nomine
conseantur … Ad huius res evidenciam et robur perpetue
firmitatis spedicto conventui et monasterio dedi meo appenso
sigillo hanc litteram communitatem. Datum et actum in
Mitterburch anno domini millesimo ccco xviio sabbato quod
procedit domenicam que in Passione domini intytulatur.

7. In nomine domini Amen. Ego Karolus miles de Mitterburch,
cernens thezaurum omnem rerum temporalium aut ante
mortem deficere aut deserere nos in morte sed quicquit ad
cultum divinum in salutem animarum sinceriter convertatur#
in perpetuum non perire. Eapropter omnibus hanc paginam
intuentibus innotesco tam viventibus quam victuris publice
perficiendo quod ego animo deliberato cum consensu filii mei
heinrici et aliorum heredum meorum duodecim mansos
proprietatis tytulo ad me spectantes sitos in villulis
infrascriptis videlicet aput Tyliam, quinque possesso Item in
Tzeltz duos possessos, et in Replach quinque unum mansum
cultum, ete quatuor desolatos cum rebus et hominibus, agris,
pascuis et silvis cultis et incultis quaesitis et ingerendis ac cum
omnibus suis pertinentiis et iuribus quocumque nomine
conseantur … Ad huius res evidenciam et robur perpetue
firmitatis spedicto conventui et monasterio dedi meo appenso
sigillo hanc litteram communitatem. Datum et actum in
Mitterburch anno domini millesimo ccco xviio sabbato quod
procedit domenicam que in Passione domini intytulatur.

8. In nomine domini Amen. Ego Karolus miles de Mitterburch,
cernens thezaurum omnem rerum temporalium aut ante
mortem deficere aut deserere nos in morte sed quicquit ad
cultum divinum in salutem animarum sinceriter convertatur#
in perpetuum non perire. Eapropter omnibus hanc paginam
intuentibus innotesco tam viventibus quam victuris publice
perficiendo quod ego animo deliberato cum consensu filii mei
heinrici et aliorum heredum meorum duodecim mansos
proprietatis tytulo ad me spectantes sitos in villulis
infrascriptis videlicet aput Tyliam, quinque possesso Item in
Tzeltz duos possessos, et in Replach quinque unum mansum
cultum, ete quatuor desolatos cum rebus et hominibus, agris,
pascuis et silvis cultis et incultis quaesitis et ingerendis ac cum
omnibus suis pertinentiis et iuribus quocumque nomine
conseantur … Ad huius res evidenciam et robur perpetue
firmitatis spedicto conventui et monasterio dedi meo appenso
sigillo hanc litteram communitatem. Datum et actum in
Mitterburch anno domini millesimo ccco xviio sabbato quod
procedit domenicam que in Passione domini intytulatur.

9. In nomine domini Amen. Ego Karolus miles de Mitterburch,
cernens thezaurum omnem rerum temporalium aut ante
mortem deficere aut deserere nos in morte sed quicquit ad
cultum divinum in salutem animarum sinceriter convertatur#
in perpetuum non perire. Eapropter omnibus hanc paginam
intuentibus innotesco tam viventibus quam victuris publice
perficiendo quod ego animo deliberato cum consensu filii mei
heinrici et aliorum heredum meorum duodecim mansos
proprietatis tytulo ad me spectantes sitos in villulis
infrascriptis videlicet aput Tyliam, quinque possesso Item in
Tzeltz duos possessos, et in Replach quinque unum mansum
cultum, ete quatuor desolatos cum rebus et hominibus, agris,
pascuis et silvis cultis et incultis quaesitis et ingerendis ac
cum omnibus suis pertinentiis et iuribus quocumque nomine
conseantur … Ad huius res evidenciam et robur perpetue
firmitatis spedicto conventui et monasterio dedi meo appenso
sigillo hanc litteram communitatem. Datum et actum in
Mitterburch anno domini millesimo ccco xviio sabbato quod
procedit domenicam que in Passione domini intytulatur.

10. In nomine domini Amen. Ego Karolus miles de Mitterburch,
cernens thezaurum omnem rerum temporalium aut ante
mortem deficere aut deserere nos in morte sed quicquit ad
cultum divinum in salutem animarum sinceriter convertatur#
in perpetuum non perire. Eapropter omnibus hanc paginam
intuentibus innotesco tam viventibus quam victuris publice
perficiendo quod ego animo deliberato cum consensu filii mei
heinrici et aliorum heredum meorum duodecim mansos
proprietatis tytulo ad me spectantes sitos in villulis
infrascriptis videlicet aput Tyliam, quinque possesso Item in
Tzeltz duos possessos, et in Replach quinque unum mansum
cultum, ete quatuor desolatos cum rebus et hominibus, agris,
pascuis et silvis cultis et incultis quaesitis et ingerendis ac cum
omnibus suis pertinentiis et iuribus quocumque nomine
conseantur … Ad huius res evidenciam et robur perpetue
firmitatis spedicto conventui et monasterio dedi meo
appenso sigillo hanc litteram communitatem. Datum et
actum in Mitterburch anno domini millesimo ccco xviio
sabbato quod procedit domenicam que in Passione domini
intytulatur.

11. In nomine domini Amen. Ego Karolus miles de Mitterburch,
cernens thezaurum omnem rerum temporalium aut ante
mortem deficere aut deserere nos in morte sed quicquit ad
cultum divinum in salutem animarum sinceriter convertatur#
in perpetuum non perire. Eapropter omnibus hanc paginam
intuentibus innotesco tam viventibus quam victuris publice
perficiendo quod ego animo deliberato cum consensu filii mei
heinrici et aliorum heredum meorum duodecim mansos
proprietatis tytulo ad me spectantes sitos in villulis
infrascriptis videlicet aput Tyliam, quinque possesso Item in
Tzeltz duos possessos, et in Replach quinque unum mansum
cultum, ete quatuor desolatos cum rebus et hominibus, agris,
pascuis et silvis cultis et incultis quaesitis et ingerendis ac cum
omnibus suis pertinentiis et iuribus quocumque nomine
conseantur … Ad huius res evidenciam et robur perpetue
firmitatis spedicto conventui et monasterio dedi meo appenso
sigillo hanc litteram communitatem. Datum et actum in
Mitterburch anno domini millesimo ccco xviio sabbato quod
procedit domenicam que in Passione domini intytulatur.

12. Vitez Karel iz Pazina (Karolus miles de Mitterberch)
podari s soglasjem svojega sina Henrika (Heinrici) in
dedičev stiškemu opatu in konventu (abbati et
conuentui monasterii Sythicensis) dvanajst kmetij:
pet kmetij v kraju Lipje (Suha krajina) (aput Tyliam),
dve kmetiji v kraju Tolčane (pri Zagradcu) (in Tzeltz),
pet kmetij (obdelano in štiri puste) v kraju Rapljevo
(pri Ribnici) (in Replach) ter desetino v Šmihelu pri
Žužemberku (de sancto Michahele) in v vasi Klečet
pri Žužemberku (in Gletschach). Listino je pečatil
njen izstavitelj.

13. Charters
• Texts documenting legal facts
• with a specific form
– Visual marks for authentication (seal, signature)
– Wording
• To create legal credibility

14. What’s interesting about them?
• Source for facts
– Facts created by the document (legal content)
– Facts documented anyway: naming places, persons etc.
– Forgeries: some of them are not what that pretend to be:
charter criticism (external and internal features fit to producing
institution, period, area, …)
• Linguistic resources
– Vernacular!
– Dated and localized!
• (Legal) culture
– E.g. influences from Italian cities (notarial instruments), Austrian
noblemen (seals) or Nothern clerical institutions (notitia)?

15. Basic Digital Methodology
• Digitise
• Describe
• Annotate
• Search
• Analyse
• Talk, blog, write, comment

16. Digitise
• Images:
– about 5.000 charters in monasterium.net with
images but without a detailed description
– ca. 20.000 originals from 600.000 charters with
transcription
http://monasterium.net/mom/DE-ABP/Urkunden/1159_XI_11/charter

17. Digitise: Transcription
• Transcriptions by OCR from existing editions:
google OCR

18. http://monasterium.net/mom/GrafenVonAndechs/488e7371-ef56-43d9-b4d4-b9892d06da0f/charter

19. Digitise: Transcription
• Transcriptions by OCR from existing editions:
google OCR
• Transcription with EditMOM, T-Pen etc.

21. Digitise: Transcription
• Transcriptions by OCR from existing editions:
google OCR
• Transcription with EditMOM, T-Pen etc.
• Transcription with automatic Handwritten Text
Recognition

22. Handwritten Text Recognition
http://transcriptorium.eu - https://transkribus.eu

23. Digitise: Digital Edition
• Encoding of situations, which cannot be expressed
on a book page
• E.g.
– aduentu or adventu?
– dni or domini?
• both!: <choice>
<orig>aduentu</orig><reg>adventu</reg>
</choice>

24. Digitise: Digital edition
• Encoding of special situations, which cannot
be expressed on a book page
• Allow for multiple approaches to the text:
– Text-image linking

25. Digitise: Digital Edition

26. Digitise: Digital edition

27. Digitise: Digital edition
• Encoding of special situations, which cannot
be expressed on a book page
• Allow for multiple approaches to the text:
– Text-image linking
– A authenticated copy is
• An original?
• A copy?

28. ArchiviodiStatodiPavia
<charter status="original">
<quote>
<charter status="copy">In nomine sancte et
individue trinitatis ….</charter>
</quote>
<signature>Ego Guillelmus sacri palacii notarius
autenticum huius exempli vidi et legi
…</signature>
</charter>

29. Why Digitize?
• Accessibility
– Easy research (less travel)
– Democratization (everybody with internet access)
• Better form of publication
– Text-image linking as teaching tool
– Explaining what is really there
– Rich encoding of phenomena

30. Describe

31. <charters>
<charter>
<chDesc>
<idno>94</idno>
<physicalDesc>
<hand ref="#BA'"/>
</physicalDesc>
</chDesc>
</charter>
<charter>
<idno>108</idno>
<physcialDesc>
<hand ref="#BA'"/>
</physcialDesc>
</charter>
</charters>

32. Categorisation
• From:
Vitez Karel iz Pazina (Karolus miles de Mitterberch) podari s
soglasjem svojega sina Henrika (Heinrici) in dedičev
stiškemu opatu in konventu (abbati et conuentui monasterii
Sythicensis) dvanajst kmetij: pet kmetij v kraju Lipje (Suha
krajina) (aput Tyliam), dve kmetiji v kraju Tolčane (pri
Zagradcu) (in Tzeltz), pet kmetij (obdelano in štiri puste) v
kraju Rapljevo (pri Ribnici) (in Replach) ter desetino v
Šmihelu pri Žužemberku (de sancto Michahele) in v vasi
Klečet pri Žužemberku (in Gletschach). Listino je pečatil
njen izstavitelj.
• To:
<issuer>vitez Karel iz Pazina</issuer>
<recipient>stiška cistercijanska opatija</recipient>

33. Controlled Vocabulary
<skos:Concept rdf:about="http://www.cei.lmu.de/VID/#VID_16">
<skos:prefLabel xml:lang="fr">auteur d'un acte écrit</skos:prefLabel>
<skos:altLabel xml:lang="de">Aussteller</skos:altLabel>
<skos:altLabel xml:lang="en">issuer</skos:altLabel>
<skos:altLabel xml:lang="es">autor del documento</skos:altLabel>
<skos:altLabel xml:lang="it">autore del documento</skos:altLabel>
<skos:definition xml:lang="fr">L'auteur d'un acte écrit est la
personne au nom de qui cet acte est intitulé.</skos:definition>
<skos:inScheme rdf:resource="http://www.cei.lmu.de/VID/"/>
<skos:broader rdf:resource="http://www.cei.lmu.de/VID/#VID_TOC_1"/>
</skos:Concept>

34. Describe
• Formalisation of categories
– Description standards:
• Data exchange
• Definition of scope of categories
• Controlled Vocabularies
– alternative names (multilingual)
– Relationships, e.g. super-/subordinate terms

35. Annotation
1. Semantic annotation

36. Annotation: semantic
… in villulis infrascriptis videlicet aput
<placeName>Tyliam</placeName>, quinque
possesso, Item in
<placeName>Tzeltz</placeName> duos
possessos, et in
<placeName>Replach</placeName> quinque
unum mansum cultum, et quatuor desolatos …

37. Annotation: semantic
… in villulis infrascriptis videlicet aput <placeName
ref="#Lip">Tyliam</placeName>, quinque
possesso, Item in <placeName
ref="#Tol">Tzeltz</placeName> duos possessos, et
in <placeName ref="#Rap">Replach</placeName>
quinque unum mansum cultum, et quatuor
desolatos …
<place xml:id="Lip">Lipje (Suha krajina)</place>
<place xml:id="Tol">Tolčane (pri Zagradcu)</place>
<place xml:id="Rap">Rapljevo (pri Ribnici)</place>

38. Annotation
1. Semantic annotation:
– Place / person name + link to place / person
database
2. Linguistic annotation:
– Linguistic function „Part of Speech“
– Textual structure

39. In nomine domini Amen. Ego Karolus miles de Mitterburch,
cernens thezaurum omnem rerum temporalium aut ante
mortem deficere aut deserere nos in morte sed quicquit ad
cultum divinum in salutem animarum sinceriter convertatur#
in perpetuum non perire. Eapropter omnibus hanc paginam
intuentibus innotesco tam viventibus quam victuris publice
perficiendo quod ego animo deliberato cum consensu filii mei
heinrici et aliorum heredum meorum duodecim mansos
proprietatis tytulo ad me spectantes sitos in villulis
infrascriptis videlicet aput Tyliam, quinque possesso Item in
Tzeltz duos possessos, et in Replach quinque unum mansum
cultum, ete quatuor desolatos cum rebus et hominibus, agris,
pascuis et silvis cultis et incultis quaesitis et ingerendis ac cum
omnibus suis pertinentiis et iuribus quocumque nomine
conseantur … Ad huius res evidenciam et robur perpetue
firmitatis spedicto conventui et monasterio dedi meo appenso
sigillo hanc litteram communitatem. Datum et actum in
Mitterburch anno domini millesimo ccco xviio sabbato quod
procedit domenicam que in Passione domini intytulatur.

40. Annotate: textual structure
<seg type="invocatio">In nomine domini Amen.</seg> <seg
type="intitulatio">Ego Karolus miles de Mitterburch,</seg> <seg
type="arenga">cernens thezaurum omnem rerum temporalium aut
ante mortem deficere aut deserere nos in morte sed quicquit ad
cultum divinum in salutem animarum sinceriter convertatur in
perpetuum non perire.</seg> <seg type="publicatio">Eapropter
omnibus hanc paginam intuentibus innotesco tam viventibus quam
victuris publice perficiendo quod</seg> ego animo deliberato cum
consensu filii mei heinrici et aliorum heredum meorum duodecim
mansos proprietatis tytulo … <seg type="corroboratio">Ad huius res
evidenciam et robur perpetue firmitatis spedicto conventui et
monasterio dedi meo appenso sigillo hanc litteram
communitatem.</seg> <seg type="datatio">Datum et actum in
Mitterburch anno domini millesimo ccco xviio sabbato quod procedit
domenicam que in Passione domini intytulatur.</seg>

41. Search
• By description categories

42. Search: by description category

43. Search
• By description categories
• Normalisation and alternative names for
persons / places
– Mitterburg = Pazin = Pisino
• Patterns (regular expressions)

44. German dating clauses:
13th century
• de Boor 1975
– South west German model:
• dis geschach do man zalte von gotes gebúrte zwelf
hundert und niun und niunzig jar.
– South east German model:
• ditz ist geschehen, do es waren von christes geburt
tousent zwaihundert und darnach in dem niun unde
niunzegisten jare.

45. Search: patterns
This happened when (counting|there were)
after the birth of (God|Jesus Christ) .*?
years
[Dd][aov]
([uv][ao]n|nach)
(([Gg]ot{1,2}[ei]{0,1}[sz])|
(([Cc]h|[cCkK])rist[eisz]*?)|
([uv]n{1,2}s[ei]{0,1}r[ei]{0,1}[sz]
[hH]er{1,2}[ei]{0,1}n))
([Gge]*?[PBpb][uv][oe°]{0,1}ri{0,1}[td][hte]*?)
(w[ao]^{0,1}[rzs][ien]*?)

46. Some results from monasterium.net
• 13th century:
– 433 texts
– “zalt”-model (south west German): 24, all but 5 from
Chartularium Sangallense
– “waren”-model (south east German): 137, all but 15 from
archives from Bavaria or Austria
• 14th century:
– 8354 texts
– “zalt”-model: 2478, from which 964 not from St. Gall
– “waren”-model: 350, only 13 from St. Gall

47. Language distribution in Slovenian
charters in MOM-CA
Language
1100-
1199
1200-
1299
1300-
1399
1400-
1499
1500-
1599
1600-
1699
1700-
1799
1800-
1899
undefin
ed
total
3 3
_ ostali jeziki 1 1
angleški 1 1
latinski 3 4 8 10 14 18 5 1 63
latinšcina 2 8 4 14
latinščina 2 48 54 94 10 2 210
latinščina,
nemščina
2 2
latinščina;
POŠK.
1 1
latinščina;
tiskan
formular
1 1
nemšcina 1 4 4 9
nemški 38 204 216 165 361 105 6 1095
nemščina 6 131 254 26 5 9 1 1 433
nemščina,
latinščina
2 2
slovenski 2 2

48. Analyse: Counting
http://voyant-tools.org – here: http://voyant-tools.org/?corpus=4358d062a0128ae286dc977c83b45a82

49. Analyse: Visualise
Some of the persons
named in lower Austrian
charters in the 14th
century
(data captured in
monasterium.net,
analysed with gephi
http://gephi.org)

50. People of Medieval Scotland
http://db.poms.ac.uk/sna/all/42/

51. People of Medival Scotland: Witnesses
in charters of King David I (1124-1153)
Witness Degree centrality Eigenvector centrality
Hugh de Moreville (I) (d.1162) 122 100%
John, bishop of Glasgow (d.1147) 109 92.6%
Herbert, bishop of Glasgow (d.1164) 86 69.4%
Duncan (I), earl of Fife (d.1154) 78 66.5%
Walter Stewart (I), son of Alan (d.1177) 73 76.2%
Edward, bishop of Aberdeen (d.1171) 72 64.5%
William de Somerville (I) 68 72.4%
Herbert, king's chamberlain 68 57.9%
William, son of King Duncan II (d.1151x4) 68 70.6%
William Lindsay (I) 64 72.9%

52. Analyse: machine learning
• Detection of illuminated charters by machine
learning
PfarrarchivPrad,Pos.4
http://monasterium.net/mom/IlluminierteUrkunden/1347-06-23_Prad/charter

53. Confusion Matrix
(Christlein 2017)
Humanattribution
Automatic attribution zu
Niveau 1 Niveau 2 Niveau 3 Niveau 4 precision
Niveau 1 336 87 4 25 74%
Niveau 2 97 1459 90 288 75%
Niveau 3 1 56 342 75 72%
Niveau 4 32 897 113 6094 85%
Niveau 1 historiated
decoratredNiveau 2
Niveau 3 Graphical authentication
Niveau 4 No graphical elements

54. Analyse: maps
• Detection of illuminated charters by machine
learning
• Correlate temporal and geographical
distribution

55. Emperor Charles IV.
http://telota.bbaw.de/constitutiones/index.html#timeMap

56. Nicolas Perreaux: Des structures
inconciliable? Cartographie
comparée des chartes et des
édifices « romans » (Xe –XIIIe
siècles), BUCEMA 9 (2016), fig.
8

57. Analyse: sluster
• Detection of illuminated charters by machine
learning
• Correlate temporal and geographical
distribution

58. Nicolas Perreaux: L’écriture
du monde (II).
L’écriture comme facteur de
régionalisation et de
spiritualisation du mundus :
études lexicales et
Sémantiques, in: Bucema 20
(2016), fig. 24

59. Analyse: compare
• Detection of illuminated charters by machine
learning
• Correlate temporal and geographical
distribution
• Date undated documents

60. DEEDS
http://deeds.library.utoronto.ca/
• English priavte charters of the 13th century don't
dates
• database of ca. 9000 documents
• Calculate distribution
of arbitrary word
pairs
• Date documents
by matching the
text to this data-
base
Figure from: Gelila Tilahun, Michael Gervers and Andrey Feuerverger: A review of statistical methods
for applying chronology to undated English medieval documents, in: Digital Diplomatics 2014

61. DEEDS-Dater
http://monasterium.net/mom/SI-ARS/ARS/SI_AS%7C1063%7C5229/charter - 1238 december 11.

62. DEEDS dater:
statistics of arbitrary word pairs

63. Hermeneutics of digital methods
Research
question
Corpus:
data model, method of
acquisition, structure
Method:
Model, count,
calculate
Result:
Proportion, distribution,
interpretation
Don‘t believe anything because it‘s formalized or counted!
Don‘t believe anything you cannot formalize or count!

64. Worth, giving it a try!?
Georg Vogeler
georg.vogeler@uni-graz.at
http://www.i-d-e.dehttp://informationsmodellierung.uni-graz.at
Digital Methods in the
Humanities

65. • http://monasterium.net/mom
• https://books.google.com/ngrams
• http://transkribus.eu
• http://t-pen.org
• http://www.cei.lmu.de
• http://www.tei-c.org
• http://gephi.org
• http://xml-copy-editor.sourceforge.net/
• http://oxygenxml.com/
• http://voyant-tools.org