Medieval Manuscripts, Hypertext and Reading. Visions of Digital Editions

How was a medieval manuscript meant to be read? This is a question that has concerned me for a long time in my work with Old Swedish manuscripts from Vadstena Abbey. In many manuscripts we can find traces of the historical reading situation; for example, pointing hands, marginal notes, etc. Such signals had an important function for the medieval reader, but they are rarely put forward in modern printed editions. I maintain that many of these paratextual notes can be explained with the help of hypertext theory, and be emphasized in a digital edition. I discuss this possibility by giving some examples from Scandinavian composite manuscripts. I show how digital technology together with new philological theory can give new life to medieval manuscripts, as digital editions together with the use of linking give the modern reader a deeper understanding of manuscript culture. This is possible because new philology revalues the concrete textual witnesses of a manuscript and takes each single version of a text into discussion. A printed edition is a much too clumsy tool if the aim is to give the modern reader a clear view of the uses of manuscript during the Middle Ages, but with digital technology an edition can be more complete by applying different layers of information. Lit&Ling19_1 105-118 fqg039 FIN 23/2/04 9:35 am Page 105