St. Osmund's New Legacy: The Scriptorium Informs Electronic Text

Fifty manuscripts produced in the scriptorium of the cathedral at Old Sarum in the last quarter of the eleventh century help us reflect on the flurry of digitization today. St. Osmund, the first bishop of Salisbury and the developer of the scriptorium and library, is described. The selection and acquisition of exemplars and production of copies are examined. Comparisons are drawn between the selection and acquisition of scriptorium exemplars and digitized texts. The legacies of the fifty manuscripts to current historians and the potential legacies of digitized texts to future historians are examined, and cautions are given.