About further development of eSawyer

While the Revised Sawyer database and the online Electronic Sawyer together represent a significant advance on the catalogue as first published in 1968, we are conscious that there are many ways in which this project can be developed further: in the interests of all those working in Anglo-Saxon studies, in the interests of those working on charters from other countries, and in the interests of anyone interested for whatever reason in knowing more about this material.

The priorities and possibilities include:

  • Further development of the Revised Sawyer database, in various respects. For example:
    1. Collection and processing of references to charters in books and articles which have appeared since c. 2005, and regular uploading of this information to the Electronic Sawyer;
    2. Inclusion in entries for Worcester charters of references to the former existence of single sheets now lost;
    3. Inclusion in entries for all Glastonbury charters of an indication whether a surviving text had existed in single-sheet form in the 1247 lists, or had been included in the lost Liber Terrarum;
    4. Revision and development of entries for 'Lost and Incomplete' charters, in various ways;
    5. Provision of further Latin or vernacular texts, as new volumes of the BA-RHS edition become available, and systematic marking-up of these texts for purposes of diplomatic analysis;
    6. Provision of further translations, whether from published books and articles or from elsewhere;
    7. Inclusion of Ordnance Survey co-ordinates for all places, so that it might be possible to generate maps for particular charters, or particular sets of charters, in the Electronic Sawyer.
  • Further development of the Electronic Sawyer. For example:
    1. Arrangements for regular updating from the Revised Sawyer database;
    2. Enhancement of the various browsing and searching options, including diplomatic analysis;
    3. Provision of a facility for generating well formatted printout, for reference purposes;
    4. Provision of a facility for generating maps;
    5. Development of the display pages for each charter, with links to images of any extant single sheets, and links to images of pages in cartularies.
  • Further development of the Kemble website.
  • Publication of a 2nd edition of 'Sawyer', in book form. It remains the intention of this project to produce a new edition of Sawyer's catalogue in book form, but in a modified format. It seems clear that the proper place for the rapidly expanding list of citations of each charter should be in the Revised/Electronic Sawyer; but the interests of scholarship would be well served at the same time by the publication of a new edition of the catalogue, giving essential information for each charter, in a format yet to be decided.

SDK

1 October 2010