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# Using the database on CD-ROM

  Anglo-Saxon Texts
  Source Texts
  Author Reference Summaries
  Bibliography
  Tips and Warnings

1. The opening screen offers THREE options:

Fontes Database - takes you into the database on the CD-ROM

Information - takes you to a variety of documents giving you information about the project and its use

Fontes on the Web - takes you into the database on the web (for which you will need to have a browser and an internet link)

2. Click on Information to go into the files about the project and the database. Follow the links to navigate. To return to the opening screen use the Back button at the top or the Fontes Database button at the bottom.

3. Clicking on Fontes Database takes you into the CD-ROM version of the database. The default page is Anglo-Saxon Texts and shows a list of the Anglo-Saxon authors and works which are included in the database.

### Anglo-Saxon Texts

4. To select a particular Anglo-Saxon text, click on the central box and then scroll up and down or use one of the ordering or searching boxes at the top. Anglo-Saxon texts are identified by their author, title and edition (in summary form), and by a reference number (for Old English texts this is the number of the text in Angus Cameron's 'List of Old English Texts', printed in A Plan for the Dictionary of Old English, edited by R. Frank and A. Cameron (Toronto, 1973), preceded by C; for Latin texts it is the number given in the list of Anglo-Latin texts being prepared by Michael Lapidge and Rosalind Love, preceded by L). The date is that on which this set of entries was first published; if subsequent additions or corrections were made, the date will be given in the 'Updated' box. The transmission box records brief information about the transmission of an immediate source to the author who drew on it, or on the possible relationship of alternative sources, or about the likely relationship of an antecedent source to an immediate one. The bibliography includes secondary works drawn on by the contributor, which have provided new information about the identification of sources or analogues.

5. When you have found and highlighted the text you want, click on Show Sources for Selected A-S Text at the bottom left to get a list of passages in that text for which sources have been identified. Scroll down to find the passage you want, or use one of the boxes at the top to find a particular source or passage.

Use the Reset button to change the criteria for a search.

Passages in the Anglo-Saxon text are identified by line-numbers or other appropriate reference, and by the opening and closing words (or a full quotation if it is very short). Source texts are identified by their author (including Anonymous and Biblia Sacra for books of the Bible), title, and edition (in abbreviated form), followed by a location reference and the opening and closing words of the relevant passage. (NOTE: For citations from the Bible, source quotations are often not given since they are so readily accessible.) We use as far as possible standard, widely accessible editions of source-texts to make it easy for users to follow up references, especially on databases such as PLD (Patrologia Latina Database) and Cetedoc (Library of Christian Latin Texts on CD-ROM). These are not always the most recent editions, and in some cases different editions of the same text have been cited, usually because they contain distinct versions of the source-text. If you need an explanation of the location references, check the source texts in the bibliography.

Any comments by the contributor on the particular passage or its source, details of source studies relevant to the particular passage, and details of manuscripts which provide an unprinted source-text, or a significant variant reading, may appear in the boxes labelled Comment, Bibliography and Manuscript. The BHL number relates to hagiographic sources, and refers to the number given for that text in Bibliotheca Hagiographica Latina (2 vols., Brussels 1898-1901; Subsidia hagiographica 6); with supplements in 1911 (Subsidia hagiographica 12) and 1986 (Subsidia hagiographica 70).

The Explain Sigla box gives you a drop-down menu which explains the various sigla used to define the nature of the source relationship - a certain or only probable or possible source, a direct or antecedent source, a single source or one of two or more cited for that passage.

When you have highlighted a particular Anglo-Saxon passage and its source in this way, you can find out more about the use of that particular source text by Anglo-Saxon writers generally by clicking on the blue Source Text box at the bottom to switch to the Source Texts screen. This will take you to the same passage but now viewed in the context of other uses of the same source. For instance, if you select the first Anglo-Saxon Text in the list, Abbo of Fleury's Passio Eadmundi, the first record shown will cite a passage drawing on the Bible, specifically the Book of Judges; clicking on the Source Text box will take you to a list of passages from the Book of Judges used in Anglo-Saxon Texts, starting with the Abbo example and continuing with examples from Bede and the Old English Heptateuch.
Use the Return button at bottom left to return to the previous screen.

6. Use the Return button to return to the main screen.

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### Source Texts

7. Click on Show Source Texts at top right to get a list of all the sources recorded for Anglo-Saxon Texts in the database. (NOTE: some texts will appear in both lists; thus Abbo of Fleury's Passio Eadmundi appears as an Anglo-Saxon Text because it was written in Anglo-Saxon England, but it also appears as a Source Text because it was used as a source in other Anglo-Saxon Texts, such as Ælfric's Life of St Edmund.) To select a particular Source Text, scroll up and down or use one of the boxes at the top to find the one you want.

8. When you have found the Source Text you want, click on Show A-S References to Selected Source to get a full list of the passages from that Source Text which are recorded in the database as being used by Anglo-Saxon Texts. The passages are listed in order of the Source Item number if there is one (this is the number of the item within a particular collection of works by a single author, e.g. the sermons or letters of Augustine), and otherwise by location (page or column reference, or book and chapter number, etc., in the specified edition of the source), but you can rearrange the list in the order of the Anglo-Saxon authors who use that source, using the box at the top, or select a particular passage using other boxes.

9. When you have highlighted a particular passage of a Source Text and the Anglo-Saxon Text passage which uses it in this way, you can click on the red Anglo-Saxon Text button at bottom left to switch to the Anglo-Saxon Texts screen. This will take you to the same passage but now viewed in the context of other passages from the same Anglo-Saxon Text. For instance, if you select the first Source Text in the list, Abbo of Fleury's Passio Eadmundi again, the first record shown will cite a passage used in Ælfric's Old English Passion of St Edmund. Clicking on the Anglo-Saxon Text button will take you to the full list of passages from that text, with the current passage highlighted. This will enable you, for instance, to view what other sources might be cited for the same Anglo-Saxon passage, and what sources are cited for the preceding and following Anglo-Saxon passages.
Use the Return button at bottom left to return to the previous screen.

10. Use the Return button to get back to the main screen.

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### Author Reference Summaries

11. The Author Reference Summaries give you quick access to the range of authors and texts covered by the database.

If you click on any of the Anglo-Saxon Authors on the left a list of all the texts by that author that are covered by the database will appear in the central box, and a list of all the source authors used by that Anglo-Saxon author will appear on the right. Click on a particular title and a list of the source authors used for that text will appear on the right and a list of the source texts will appear below (scroll down to see the full list).

12. Click on the Show Sources for selected A-S text button to get detailed records for that text, and use Return to get back to Author Reference Summaries.

13. Click on the Deselect button in the middle to change to a different text. Click on the Red Deselect button on the left to choose a different author or to move to the Source Author list on the right.

14. Click on any Source Author in the right-hand list to get a list of texts by that author which are included in the database in the central box and a list of Anglo-Saxon authors who use that source author on the left.

Click on a particular title to get a list of Anglo-Saxon authors who use that source on the left and a list of Anglo-Saxon texts which use it below.

Click on the red Show A-S references to Selected Source button to get full details for the use of that source.

Click on Return to move back to the Author Reference Summaries, and use the Deselect buttons for a different text or author.

Use Return to get back to the main screen.

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### Bibliography

15. Use the Bibliography button to get to the bibliographies page. This gives full publication details for a variety of works cited in the database, principally:
a) Editions of Anglo-Saxon Texts (AST), e.g. Ælfric, Catholic homilies 1.1, Clemoes 1997
b) Editions of Source Texts (ST), e.g. Vergil, Aeneid, Mynors 1969
c) Source studies (SS), e.g. Turville-Petre 1963
It also gives a list of Abbreviations used, mainly for series such as PL (= Patrologia Latina) or journals such as LSE (= Leeds Studies in English). You can deselect one or two of the three categories by clicking on the relevant circle at top left; but do note that boundaries between the categories are inevitably fluid.

Use the Return button to go back to the point where you were.

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### Tips and Warnings

1. Computer applications are not good at sorting numbers into the correct sequence unless the numbers are of very limited kinds, and these limitations are hard to reconcile with the traditional ways in which texts and editions are referred to. You will often find that numbers like 2 and 3 come after 10 and 11, or 72 after 121, since the application likes to sort by the first digit. We have corrected this wherever we can but do watch out for sequences which are not in the expected order, e.g. passages from a text, such as lines 23-30 coming after lines 111-5, or numbered texts by the same author, or numbered items within a text; you will often find the item you want by scrolling down the list.

2. The category 'Source Texts' includes some texts that are not in fact sources but are cited as analogues where no source has been identified but the presence of similar details in another text, perhaps a contemporary or later one, testifies to the use of a source which may be lost or yet to be discovered. These are not marked as analogues in the main listings but are shown by the sigla SX or MX in the individual records.

3. The Bibliography includes under Source Studies not only the expected modern critical studies which are cited within the database, but also some editions of AS Texts which have been cited because they include significant discussions of sources, and some alternative editions of Source Texts because they include significant variant versions which have been cited in the database. Thus Scragg 1992 may be listed as the specified edition of an AS Text (the Vercelli Homilies) and as the specified edition of certain source-texts which are only accessible in his apparatus or commentary, but also as a Source Study for the identification of particular sources. Fabricius 1719 is listed as the specified edition of certain source texts, but also appears under Source Studies when it is cited for its variant versions of other source texts. As an edition, Scragg 1992 and Fabricius 1719 will appear in the Bibliography under the edition field; as a source study they will appear in the author field.

4. Re-attributions and new identifications of source texts
Source texts are identified by their author, title and edition. In identifying authors we have tried to keep abreast of modern re-attributions and identification, but since these are constantly changing users should be prepared to look for other possibilities (e.g. by consulting Clavis Patrum Latinorum for patristic texts). Texts formerly ascribed to a known author but now of unknown authorship will appear, e.g., as Anonymous (Ps.Bede) or Anonymous (Ps.Gregory). Texts formerly attributed to one author but now ascribed to another might appear, e.g., as Quodvultdeus (Ps.Augustine).

5. Anonymous Texts
Since an enormous number of Anglo-Saxon texts are anonymous, we have divided Anonymous as author into two major groups, Anon (OE) and Anon (Lat.), for English and Latin texts, and further separated Anon (OE Martyrology) to isolate the nearly 300 texts which form the Old English Martyrology. In the list of Source Texts, there are again many that are anonymous, and there is often no consensus about the titles of works. Many anonymous works in English are given here with titles beginning Old English. Hagiographic works will generally begin Acta, Passio or Vita.

6. If you have a relatively slow PC you may find that the Source Texts page takes a long time to load, since it is calculating details for the whole database. If you know what you are looking for you may find it quicker to use the Author Reference Summaries to locate the Source Author and Text.

7. If you are using your own Access 2000 program to run the application and have not installed the Runtime version, you will find that as you navigate between different 'pages' of the application a small window or tab appears at the foot of the screen for each of them. It is possible to navigate back and forth by clicking on these instead of using the Return buttons within the application; but if you do the application will soon crash and you will have to exit and open it again. If you wish to avoid the temptation you can try installing the Runtime version as shown above even if you have Access 2000 already, and the windows will then not appear. But such installation is somewhat unpredictable and we do not recommend it.

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