How to use the database

Each file contains the text of one work by Christine de Pizan as it has been published in a modern scholarly edition. (Any variants which form part of that edition are not included.)

The text files, a corpus of 518702 words, have been analysed with the aid of the Oxford Concordance Program (OCP) to produce a series of lists and concordances.

For copyright reasons users of the database cannot access the text files.

Layout of the text files

The computer files used to generate the lists and the concordances replicate so far as possible the lay-out of the scholarly edition on which they are based.

Dashes which occur at the end of a printed line have been treated in one of two ways as follows:

1) Where the printer has hyphenated the word and set it on two consecutive lines in order to justify the text, the word has been restored by omitting the hyphen and pulling back the letters carried over to the line following.

2) Where the word was divided by Christine herself, for example by postponing the adverbial suffix -ment to the line of verse next following, the two parts of the word have been reunited. Thus plainiereMent forms part of lines 14-15 of Autre balade 45: the internal capital letter serves to indicate that Christine divided the word between two verse lines.

3) Superscript letters are marked by a circumflex, thus .II.^e^, .X^me^.

Alphabet

The standard alphabet has been adapted to take account of the usage of early fifteenth-century scribes for whom 'i' and 'y' were largely interchangeable. In the alphabet used here 'i' and 'y' are combined and come between 'h' and 'j'.

Accents

The editors of Christine de Pizan's works have adopted widely differing practices so far as accents are concerned. While there is a high degree of consistency in the use of the cedilla, the same cannot be said of the diaeresis or acute and grave accents: thus tres, très and trés are all found, as are à and a.

The diaeresis is applied erratically, even in the editions of Christine's poetry where its consistent use would have made the syllable count clear.

The Alphabet is so arranged that vowels, with or without an accent, are sorted together, allowing the examples of tres, très and trés to be combined under a single headword.

References

Each reference is made up of THREE or FOUR parts, as follows:

1) The volume number (where appropriate) and the page number of the scholarly edition used

2) The line number, as given in the edition

Where the lines are not numbered, as is often the case with Christine's prose works, line numbers have been supplied, each page being separately numbered.

An unnumbered title or rubric at the beginning of a work has been treated as line 0, whenever it is possible to do so. If titles or rubrics have not been included in the line numbering, they are treated as part of the line immediately following. Where the edition has no line numbers, lines containing titles or rubrics have been numbered along with the rest of the text.

3) The item number (in the case of a collection), the part and chapter number (if appropriate).

4) The label assigned to the work, a sequence of four capital letters, allocated according to the list of Labels in Alphabetical Order.

Concordance

All the graphemes found in Christine de Pizan's works are listed in the order of the alphabet as defined.

Each headword is followed by a number which indicates the frequency with which it occurs.

References and contexts, limited to a maximum of 90 characters, are given for each grapheme which occurs 50 times or less; where the context extends over a single line, the break between lines is marked by the symbol '//'. For graphemes which occur between 51 and 500 times, references only are given. Where the examples are more numerous still, the first 500 examples are listed, and the list ends 'ETC.' (The total number of examples found is given after the headword.)

Wordlist

The Wordlist is, strictly speaking, not a list of words, but a list of graphemes and their frequency, since homographs have not been differentiated. Thus the examples of estre include both the infinitive 'to be' and the substantive 'abode, dwelling'. Likewise fais, 'burden' is combined with fais, 'deeds' and parts of the verb faire.

For these reasons the wordlist should be used with caution. It does, however, provide a convenient way of establishing whether or not Christine's works contain a particular word or grapheme. Before searching the Wordlist, it is important to read the section on the Alphabet.

Reverse Wordlist

As its name indicates, the Reverse Wordlist lists the graphemes in reverse order; it also gives the frequency with which they occur.

Index of Names

The Index of Names does not differentiate between personal and geographical names. It would be useful to know whether users would prefer the index to be sub-divided, perhaps into an Index nominum and an Index locorum.

To establish the Index of Names has proved to be anything but straightforward. What categories of name should be included? Names of people must clearly figure in the list, as must allegories and personifications. Although Christine's editors have marked most names in these categories with a capital letter, allegories and personifications cause particular problems. For example, it is often difficult to distinguish between nature, the abstract noun, and Nature, the personification or the goddess. The list of names includes, alongside examples of Fortune, Mort, Nature etc. which editors have capitalized, examples of fortune, mort, nature etc. where Christine seems to have intended some degree of personification.

Given the problems just outlined, comments about the Index of Names will be particularly welcome. Suggestions about additional names or further examples to be included will be gratefully received, as will comments about any words which should be excluded.

Errata and Corrections

Any errata listed in the edition have been silently incorporated in the text files.