Use of Databases for Attributive Purposes: The Case of Alcuin’s Inscriptions
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.60923/issn.2532-8816/23453Keywords:
Authorship attribution, Digital philology, Alcuin, Epigraphic poetry, Textual analysisAbstract
This paper aims to illustrate the methods and outcomes of employing the two digital databases Poetria Nova 2 and Corpus Corporum in the analysis of style and authorship of Alcuin’s metrical inscriptiones. The study builds upon the research of Hans-Dieter Burghardt, who, in his unpublished 1960 doctoral dissertation defended at Heidelberg, conducted a pioneering attempt at authorship attribution for all the poems ascribed to Alcuin found in the now-lost Saint-Bertin manuscript, published by André Duchesne in 1617. The paper is structured as follows: first, it outlines the criteria used to determine the authenticity of an epigraphic text, focusing particularly on the identification of intratextual parallels; second, it presents the practical methods by which the texts were queried (types of searches conducted within the databases, expected vs. observed results, etc.) using the digital tool Poetria Nova 2; third, it discusses how the Corpus Corporum database was employed to address cases in which attribution remained problematic based solely on the previously outlined elements, and where Alcuin’s authorship was more difficult to establish. The paper concludes with a brief assessment of the cases in which Poetria Nova 2 and Corpus Corporum proved decisive for determining authorship.
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