We use TEI

E. Menota header

E.1 Introduction
E.2 Minimal header for a single-text source
E.3 Minimal header for a multi-text source
E.4 Downloading sample XML headers

Version 2.0 (16 May 2008). Links updated 12 July 2016.

E.1 Introduction

We recommend that all texts in the Medieval Nordic Text Archive contain a minimal amount of information about the text, its background and its encoding. This should be entered in the <teiHeader>, which is an integral and essential part of any XML/TEI document.

Below are two examples of headers for Medieval Nordic texts. The first example is of a header for a primary source with only a single text; the other for a source with more than one text.

A header may contain much more information than exemplified here. What we have specified in these examples is the recommended minimum amount of information.

Cf. the TEI P5 Guidelines ch. 2 “The TEI Header” for a discussion of headers in general and also the notion of minimal and recommended headers (ch. 2.6).

Important! Note that both headers will only be valid when using a Menota DTD schema. If you would like to use a RELAX NG schema you must add the Menota namespace to the very first line, as explained in ch. 1.9 and Appendix D.2:

<TEI xmlns="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0" xmlns:me="http://www.menota.org/ns/1.0">

The list in ch. 1.9 is a complete list of elements and attributes belonging to the Menota namespace. They must all be prefixed by “me:” when using a RELAX NG schema.


E.2 Minimal header for a single-text source

Although many medieval manuscripts contain more than one text, there are some manuscripts which only contain a single piece of text. That is also generally true of charters (diplomas). We have chosen Holm perg 6 fol (also referred to as Sth. perg. fol. nr 6) as an example of a single-text source. This manuscript carries the text of Barlaams ok Josaphats saga, although with some parts missing.

Please note that the distinction between single-text and multi-text sources is not straightforward and ultimately rests on the definition of key concepts such as “text” and “work”. If in doubt, we recommend using the established categories in catalogues and indices, e.g. the index volume of Ordbog over det norrøne prosasprog (Copenhagen 1989).

We have chosen Holm perg 6 fol also in order to demonstrate how a cumulative process of text encoding can be documented. This text was initially transcribed and edited in an electronic version by Magnus Rindal in the late 1970ies (the printed edition in 1981 was generated from this file). Subsequently, Jon Erik Hagen and Odd Einar Haugen lemmatised the text, i.e. added information about lemma and grammatical form for each running word. Finally, Christian-Emil Ore converted the file from its original customised format into Menotic XML. Thus, four people have contributed to the making of the present electronic version of the text, and should be credited accordingly.

<TEI xmlns="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0">
  <teiHeader xml:lang="eng">
    <fileDesc>
      <titleStmt>
        <title>Holm perg 6 fol (Barlaams ok Josaphats saga): 
          an electronic edition</title>
        <respStmt>
          <resp>Edition by </resp>
          <name>Magnus Rindal 
            <orgName type="affiliation">University of Bergen</orgName>
          </name>
        </respStmt>
        <respStmt>
          <resp>Lemmatisation and morphological encoding by </resp>
          <name>Jon Erik Hagen 
            <orgName type="affiliation">University of Bergen</orgName>
          </name>
          <name>Odd Einar Haugen 
            <orgName type="affiliation">University of Bergen</orgName>
          </name>
        </respStmt>
        <respStmt>
          <resp>Conversion to Menotic XML by </resp>
          <name>Christian-Emil Ore 
            <orgName type="affiliation">University of Oslo</orgName></name>
        </respStmt>
      </titleStmt>
      <editionStmt>
        <p>First draft, <date when="2004-02-01">1 February 2004</date>
        </p>
      </editionStmt>
      <publicationStmt>
        <distributor>Medieval Nordic Text Archive</distributor>
        <idno type="Menota">Ms. 1</idno>
        <date when="2004-03-01">1 March 2004</date>
        <availability status="restricted">
          <p>This text is available for purposes of academic research 
            and teaching only. Re-distribution in any form without prior 
            permission is prohibited. Short extracts may be cited with 
            full acknowledgment of the source.</p>
        </availability>
      </publicationStmt>
      <sourceDesc>
        <msDesc>
          <msIdentifier>
            <country  key="SE">Sweden</country>
            <settlement>Stockholm</settlement>
            <repository>Kungliga Biblioteket</repository>
            <idno>Holm perg 6 fol</idno>
            <msName>Barlaams ok Josaphats saga</msName>
          </msIdentifier>
          <msContents>
            <msItem n="1">
              <locus from="1r" to="102v">ff. 1r–102v (pp. 1–204)</locus>
              <title type="main">Barlaams ok Josaphats saga</title>
              <title type="abbreviated">Barl</title>
              <textLang mainLang="onw">Old Norwegian</textLang>
            </msItem>
          </msContents>
          <physDesc>
            <objectDesc form="codex">
              <supportDesc>
                <support>
                  <p><material>Parchment</material>, but with 
                    five younger <material>paper</material> leaves 
                    added; two at the front (the last being blank) and 
                    three at the back.</p>
                </support>
                <extent>102 parchment leaves and 5 paper leaves; 
                  210 mm (height) by 155 mm (width).</extent>
                <foliation>
                  <p>The manuscript is paginated on the recto pages 
                    of the parchment leaves, 1–204.</p>
                </foliation>
              </supportDesc>
            </objectDesc>
          </physDesc>
          <history>
            <origin>
              <p>Written in <origPlace>Eastern Norway</origPlace> 
                <origDate notBefore="1250" notAfter="1300">c. 1275</origDate>.
              </p>
            </origin>
          </history>
        </msDesc>
      </sourceDesc>
    </fileDesc>
    <encodingDesc>
      <projectDesc>
        <p>This manuscript text has been encoded according to the standard 
        set out in <title>The Menota handbook</title> (version 2.0), at 
          <ref target="http://www.aksis.uib.no/menota/guidelines">
            http://www.aksis.uib.no/menota/guidelines</ref> 
          as of <date>2006-03-30</date>.</p>
      </projectDesc>
      <editorialDecl>
        <correction status="high">
          <p>This text was proofread by Magnus Rindal and colleagues 
          before the publication of the printed version in 1981. It is 
          unlikely that it contains any significant number of errors. 
          However, it can not be ruled out that the subsequent 
          conversion of the file may have introduced some 
          systemic errors.</p>
        </correction>
      </editorialDecl>
    </encodingDesc>
    <profileDesc>
      <langUsage>
        <language ident="oic">Old Icelandic</language>
        <language ident="onw">Old Norwegian</language>
        <language ident="osw">Old Swedish</language>
        <language ident="oic-onw">Old Icelandic with Old Norwegian traits
        </language>
        <language ident="onw-oic">Old Norwegian with Old Icelandic traits
        </language>
      </langUsage>
      <handNotes>
        <handNote xml:id="h1"/>
        <handNote xml:id="h2"/>
      </handNotes>
    </profileDesc>
    <revisionDesc>
      <change>
        <date>2008-01-09</date>
        <name>Tone Merete Bruvik</name>, 
        <orgName type="affiliation">Aksis</orgName>: Updated the
        header to make it valid according to the Menota P5 DTD.
      </change>
      <change>
        <date>2006-04-18</date>
        <name>Tone Merete Bruvik</name>, 
        <orgName type="affiliation">Aksis</orgName>: Changed the attribute use 
        in the textLang element from xml:id into mainLang.
      </change>
      <change>
        <date>2006-03-30</date>
        <name>Tone Merete Bruvik</name>, 
        <orgName type="affiliation">Aksis</orgName>: Revised the transcription 
        in accordance with v. 2.0 of the Menota handbook 
        and the corresponding Document Type Definition.
      </change>
      <change>
        <date>2003</date>
        <name>Christian-Emil Ore</name>, 
        <orgName type="affiliation">University of Oslo</orgName>: Converted the 
        electronic files (the transcription and the lemmatisation) into XML 
        (Extensible Markup Language) according to the guidelines in 
        the Menota handbook.
      </change>
      <change>
        <date>1988</date>
        <name>Jon Erik Hagen</name>, 
        <orgName type="affiliation">University of Bergen</orgName> and 
        <name>Odd Einar Haugen</name>, 
        <orgName type="affiliation">University of Bergen</orgName>: Supplied 
        lemmata (dictionary entry words) and grammatical forms for all words 
        in the file. Published separately on microfiche in Norske 
        språkdata vol. 22, Bergen 1989.
      </change>
      <change>
        <date>1980</date>
        <name>Magnus Rindal</name>
        <orgName type="affiliation">University of Bergen</orgName>: 
        Finalised the electronic text and prepared it for publication 
        in book form (published by Norsk Historisk 
        Kjeldeskrift-Institutt in 1981).
      </change>
    </revisionDesc>
  </teiHeader>
  <text xml:lang="onw">
    <body>
      <div>
        <p>The text of the first chapter goes here.</p>
      </div>
      <div>
        <p><handShift new="h2"/>The text of the second 
          chapter goes here.</p>
      </div>
      <div>
        <p>The text of the third chapter goes here.</p>
      </div>
    </body>
  </text>
</TEI>

The body follows immediately after the header. This is where the actual transcription is located. Note that the <div> element is used to organise the various sections of the manuscript, in this case the individual chapters.

<text xml:lang="onw">
  <body>
    <div>
      <p>The text of the first chapter goes here.</p>
    </div>
    <div>
      <p><handShift new="h2"/>The text of the second chapter goes here.</p>
    </div>
    <div>
      <p>The text of the third chapter goes here.</p>
    </div>
  </body>
</text>

The source text is placed within the <text> element. The attribute @xml:lang specifies the language of the text (cp. <profileDesc> above). If the text contains sporadic words or sentences in another language, e.g. Latin, the attribute @xml:lang can be used to specify these exception from the rule, whether on the level of the word, <w>, paragraph, <p> or chapter, <div>.

This is also an example of how change of scribal hands in the source can be recorded. Note that rather than putting each hand in an element of its own (which would cause problems of overlapping) the actual change is recorded using a milestone element, <handShift>. Note that the number of hands must be recorded in the <profileDesc> element of the header.


E.3 Minimal header for a multi-text source

AM 242 fol – often referred to as Codex Wormianus or Órmsbók – is a good example of a multi-text source. It contains the prose version of Edda (by Snorri Sturluson), the four grammatical treatises, and a few other poetic texts (e.g. Maríukvæði and Rígsþula). Snorra Edda is usually divided into four sections; the Prologue, Gylfaginning, Skaldskaparmál and Háttatal. However, in the present manuscript, Háttatal is not placed in conjunction with the other sections of Snorra Edda, but towards the end of the manuscript, and Maríukvæði has been divided into two parts with a few other texts intervening. The structure is shown in fig. 1.

Fig. 1. The sequence of texts in Codex Wormianus (AM 242 fol). Háttatal is commonly regarded as the fourth part of Snorra Edda, but is located towards the end of the manuscript, and Maríukvæði has been divided into two parts.

Based on an analysis of the contents of the texts, Háttatal should be placed as the fourth part of Snorra Edda, but the two parts of Mariukvæði have been analysed as separate items and thus not joined. This interpretation is shown in fig. 2.

Fig. 2. The contents structure of texts in Codex Wormianus (AM 242 fol). Háttatal has been placed as the fourth part of Snorra Edda.

Although fig. 2 gives a better representation of the text structure of this particular manuscript, we recommend that the individual parts of the manuscript are encoded in sequential order, as shown in fig. 1. In general, we believe that the encoding of a source should keep closely to the source itself and not impose unnecessary interpretations on it. Even if there are good reasons for regarding e.g. Háttatal as the fourth part of Snorra Edda, the transcription should show that it is not located as the fourth part in the manuscript – and that this in fact may be intended by the scribe (or redactor).

The header of a multi-text source should specify the various parts of the source within the <msContents> element. Here, each part is described as an item, <msItem>, and linked with an @id number to the relevant section in the text itself. In the text, <div> elements identify the corresponding parts of the source.

If the source is encoded as recommended here, the text can be displayed in the sequence of the source itself, i.e. as in fig. 1, or by following the @id numbers, in the order of its contents (as analysed by the transcriber/editor), i.e. as in fig. 2.

<TEI xmlns="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0">
  <teiHeader xml:lang="eng">
    <fileDesc>
      <titleStmt>
        <title>AM 242 fol. (Codex Wormianus): an electronic edition</title>
        <respStmt>
          <resp>Transcription, lemmatisation and morphological encoding by 
          </resp>
          <name><persName>Karl G. Johansson</persName>,  
            <orgName type="affiliation">University of Oslo</orgName></name>
        </respStmt>
      </titleStmt>
      <editionStmt>
        <p>First draft, <date when="2002-11-01">1 November 2002</date>.</p>
      </editionStmt>
      <publicationStmt>
        <distributor>Medieval Nordic Text Archive</distributor>
        <idno type="Menota">Ms. 2</idno>
        <date when="2003-03-23">23 March 2003</date>
        <availability status="restricted">
          <p>This text is available for purposes of academic 
            research and teaching only. Re-distribution in any form without 
            prior permission is prohibited. Short extracts may be cited with 
            full acknowledgment of the source.</p>
        </availability>
      </publicationStmt>
      <sourceDesc>
        <msDesc>
          <msIdentifier>
            <country key="DK">Denmark</country>
            <settlement>Copenhagen</settlement>
            <repository>The Arnamagn&aelig;an Institute</repository>
            <idno>AM 242 fol</idno>
            <msName type="nickname" xml:lang="lat">Codex Wormianus
            </msName>
          </msIdentifier>
          <msContents>
            <msItem n="1">
              <locus from="1v" to="35v">pp. 2-82 (including paper 
                leaves)</locus>
              <title>Edda Snorra Sturlusonar</title>
              <title type="abbreviated">SnE</title>
              <textLang mainLang="oic">Old Icelandic</textLang>
              <msItem n="1.1">
                <locus from="1v" to="4v">pp. 2–8</locus>
                <title>Prologus</title>
              </msItem>
              <msItem n="1.2">
                <locus from="4v" to="20r">pp. 8-44</locus>
                <title>Gylfaginning</title>
              </msItem>
              <msItem n="1.3">
                <locus from="20v" to="35v">pp. 44-82</locus>
                <title>Sk&aacute;ldskaparm&aacute;l</title>
              </msItem>
            </msItem>
            <msItem n="2">
              <locus from="36r" to="54r">pp. 83-119</locus>
              <title>The four grammatical treatises</title>
              <title type="abbreviated">Gramm</title>
              <textLang mainLang="oic">Old Icelandic</textLang>
              <msItem n="2.1">
                <locus from="36r" to="36r">p. 83</locus>
                <title>Prologus</title>
                <title type="abbreviated">GrammProl</title>
              </msItem>
              <msItem n="2.2">
                <locus from="36v" to="39v">pp. 84-90</locus>
                <title>First grammatical treatise</title>
                <title type="abbreviated">Gramm1</title>
              </msItem>
              <msItem n="2.3">
                <locus from="40r" to="41v">pp. 91-93</locus>
                <title>Second grammatical treatise</title>
                <title type="abbreviated">Gramm2</title>
              </msItem>
              <msItem n="2.4">
                <locus from="41v" to="50r">pp. 94-111</locus>
                <title>Third grammatical treatise</title>
                <title type="abbreviated">Gramm3</title>
              </msItem>
              <msItem n="2.5">
                <locus from="50r" to="54r">pp. 111-119</locus>
                <title>Fourth grammatical treatise</title>
                <title type="abbreviated">Gramm4</title>
              </msItem>
            </msItem>
            <msItem n="3">
              <locus from="54v" to="54v">p. 120</locus>
              <title>Mar&iacute;ukv&aelig;&eth;i</title>
              <textLang mainLang="oic">Old Icelandic</textLang>
            </msItem>
            <msItem n="1.4" defective="true">
              <locus from="55r" to="60v">pp. 121-154 (including 
                paper leaves)</locus>
              <title>H&aacute;ttatal</title>
              <title type="abbreviated">SnE</title>
              <textLang mainLang="oic">Old Icelandic</textLang>
            </msItem>
            <msItem n="4" defective="true">
              <locus from="61r" to="61v">pp. 155–156</locus>
              <title>R&iacute;gs&thorn;ula</title>
              <title type="abbreviated">Edda</title>
              <textLang mainLang="oic">Old Icelandic</textLang>
            </msItem>
            <msItem n="5" defective="true">
              <locus from="62r" to="63r">pp. 167-169</locus>
              <title>&Oacute;kennd heiti (Orms-eddu-brot)</title>
              <textLang mainLang="oic">Old Icelandic</textLang>
            </msItem>
            <msItem n="6">
              <locus from="63v" to="63v">p. 170</locus>
              <title>Mar&iacute;ukv&aelig;&eth;i</title>
              <textLang mainLang="oic">Old Icelandic</textLang>
            </msItem>
          </msContents>
          <physDesc>
            <objectDesc form="codex">
              <supportDesc>
                <support>
                  <p><material>Parchment</material>, but 
                    with some <material>paper</material> leaves 
                    added in the 17th century for the purpose of 
                    completing the text (pp. 61-72, 121-138, 
                    151-154, 157-166).</p>
                </support>
                <extent>85 leaves, including the younger paper 
                  leaves; 280 mm (height) by 202 mm (width).</extent>
                <foliation>
                  <p>The manuscript, including the younger 
                    paper leaves, is paginated on the recto pages, 1-169.</p>
                </foliation>
              </supportDesc>
            </objectDesc>
          </physDesc>
          <history>
            <origin>
              <p>Written in <origPlace>Iceland</origPlace> in 
                <origDate notBefore="1350" notAfter="1400">the second half of 
                  the 14th century</origDate>; there are many 
                later additions, principally from the 17th century.</p>
            </origin>
          </history>
        </msDesc>
      </sourceDesc>
    </fileDesc>
    <encodingDesc>
      <projectDesc>
        <p>This manuscript text has been encoded according to the standard 
          set out in <title>The Menota handbook</title> (version 2.0), at 
          <ref target="http://www.aksis.uib.no/menota/guidelines">
            http://www.aksis.uib.no/menota/guidelines</ref> 
          as of <date>2006-03-30</date>.</p>
      </projectDesc>
      <editorialDecl>
        <correction status="high">
          <p>This text has been proofread by <name>Karl G. Johansson</name>
            <name type="affiliation"> University of Oslo</name>.</p>
        </correction>
      </editorialDecl>
    </encodingDesc>
    <profileDesc>
      <langUsage>
        <language ident="oic">Old Icelandic</language>
        <language ident="onw">Old Norwegian</language>
        <language ident="osw">Old Swedish</language>
        <language ident="oic-onw">Old Icelandic with Old Norwegian traits</language>
        <language ident="onw-oic">Old Norwegian with Old Icelandic traits</language>
      </langUsage>
      <handNotes>
        <handNote xml:id="h1"/>
        <handNote xml:id="h2"/>
      </handNotes>
    </profileDesc>
    <revisionDesc>
      <change>
        <date>2008-01-09</date>
        <name>Tone Merete Bruvik</name>,
        <orgName type="affiliation">Aksis</orgName>: 
        Updated the header to make it valid according to the Menota P5 DTD.
      </change>
      <change>
        <date>2006-04-18</date>
        <name>Tone Merete Bruvik</name>, <orgName type="affiliation">Aksis</orgName>: 
        Changed the attribute use in the textLang element from xml:lang into mainLang.
      </change>
      <change>
        <date>2006-03-30</date>
        <name>Tone Merete Bruvik</name>, <orgName type="affiliation">Aksis</orgName>: 
        Revised the transcription in accordance with v. 2.0 
        of the Menota handbook and the corresponding Document Type Definition.
      </change>
      <change>
        <date>2004-05-10</date>
        <name>Karl G. Johansson</name>, <orgName type="affiliation">University 
          of Oslo</orgName>
        Revised the transcription in accordance with v. 1.1 of the Menota handbook 
        and the corresponding Document Type Definition.
      </change>
    </revisionDesc>
  </teiHeader>

The body follows immediately after the header. This is where the actual transcription is located. Note that <div> elements are used to organise the various parts of the manuscript, referring to the divisons set out in the <msContents> element of the header.

<text xml:lang="oic">
  <body>
    <div n="1.1">
      <head>
        <supplied>Prologus</supplied>
      </head>
      <p>The text of part 1.1 goes here.</p>
    </div>
    <div n="1.2">
      <head>
        <supplied>Gylfaginning</supplied>
      </head>
      <p>The text of part 1.2 goes here.</p>
    </div>
    <div n="1.3">
      <head>
        <supplied>Sk&aacute;ldskaparm&aacute;l</supplied>
      </head>
      <p>The text of part 1.3 goes here.</p>
    </div>
    <div n="2.1">
      <head>
        <supplied>Prologus</supplied>
      </head>
      <p>The text of part 2.1 goes here.</p>
    </div>
    <div n="2.2">
      <head>
        <supplied>The first grammatical treatise</supplied>
      </head>
      <p>The text of part 2.2 goes here.</p>
    </div>
    <div n="2.3">
      <head>
        <supplied>The second grammatical treatise</supplied>
      </head>
      <p>The text of part 2.3 goes here.</p>
    </div>
    <div n="2.4">
      <head>
        <supplied>The third grammatical treatise</supplied>
      </head>
      <p>The text of part 2.4 goes here.</p>
    </div>
    <div n="2.5">
      <head>
        <supplied>The fourth grammatical treatise</supplied>
      </head>
      <p>The text of part 2.5 goes here.</p>
    </div>
    <div n="3">
      <head>
        <supplied>Mar&iacute;ukvæ&eth;i (1)</supplied>
      </head>
      <p>The text of part 3 goes here.</p>
    </div>
    <div n="1.4">
      <head>
        <supplied>H&aacute;ttatal</supplied>
      </head>
      <p>The text of part 1.4 goes here.</p>
    </div>
    <div n="4">
      <head>
        <supplied>R&iacute;gs&thorn;ula</supplied>
      </head>
      <p>The text of part 4 goes here.</p>
    </div>
    <div n="5">
      <head>
        <supplied>&Oacute;kennd heiti</supplied>
      </head>
      <p>The text of part 5 goes here.</p>
    </div>
    <div n="6">
      <head>
        <supplied>Mar&iacute;ukvæ&eth;i (2)</supplied>
      </head>
      <p>The text of part 6 goes here.</p>
    </div>
  </body>
</text>

The source text is placed within the <text> element. The attribute @xml:lang specifies the language of the text (cp. <msContents> above). If the text contains sporadic words or sentences in another language, e.g. Latin, the attribute @xml:lang can be used to specify these exception from the rule, whether on the level of the word, <w>, paragraph, <p> or chapter, <div>.

The divisions of the text correspond to the list of <msItem> elements in <msContents> above, using the same numbers (1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 2.1, 2.2, etc.)

The <head> element specifies the title of the work (or a part of it). If the title is not stated in the source, the attribute type with the value supplied should be used. If the title is stated as a rubric in the manuscript, the type attribute should still be used, but with the value rubric.


E.4 Downloading sample XML headers

We offer the two headers in this chapter for free downloading:

Download the header of Holm perg 6 fol as a sample XML file

Download the header of AM 242 fol as a sample XML file

Please note that some browsers may try and interpret and open this sample file. In order to download the file to your disk, use alt-click (Mac) or right-click (Windows) on your browser, unless your browser has other preferences.


First published 20 May 2003. Last updated 12 July 2016. Webmaster.