FAQ: Getting Started with the Website

The following is a list of FAQs selected to give you an overview of how to use this website.

Where do I start?

It depends what you are looking for, but for most people the best place to start is probably the Table of Contents. This gives you an overview of the entire manuscript and its content. If you click on an item in the Table then you will see an image of the manuscript at the relevant point, along with the Latin text and an English translation of the text. This is the 'Text Viewer', and information on how to use it is given below.

What is Exon Domesday?

For an introduction to Exon Domesday, see An Overview of the Exon Domesday Book on this site.

How do I search for a place?

  • If you know the location of the place you can use the Map function.
  • If you know the English name of the place then you can search for it via the English Translation: select 'Search English Translation' in the top menu bar, then enter the name in the 'Keywords' box on the left.
  • If you know the Latin place-name then you can search for it via the Latin Text: select 'Search Latin Text' from 'Search' in the top menu bar and enter the name in the 'Keywords' box on the left.

Note: using the 'Keywords' box will search the full English translation or Latin text and will catch catch all references to a particular place whatever the context. To narrow your search you can use the lists on the left of the search page, for instance 'Hundred', 'Vill' or 'Place Name'.

Note also that the 'Keywords' box should work for wildcards such as * and boolean forms such as AND or OR.

How do I search for a person?

This works in the same way as for place names:

Remember that wildcards such as * should work here.

Note again that this will find any occurrence of the name. To narrow your search, see if the name appears in the lists of TIC (Tennants in Chief) on the left.

What system of reference is being used for the entries? What are these numbers that look like '234b6'?

The scribes of Exon Domesday divided their text into separate entries using paragraph, or paraph, marks. These have been converted into a numerical sequence using a system devised by Frank Thorn. If you go to 'Search for Images of Letters' and selecting 'Gallows Mark' then you will see a selection of these marks as they appear in the manuscript.

Each entry is given a unique identifier comprising three parts: a number, a letter, and a number:

  • The first number records the folio, or parchment page, of the manuscript;
  • The letter, a or b, records whether the entry occurs on the recto (front) or verso (back) of the leaf;
  • The final number places the entry in a numerical sequence on each recto or verso.

The sequence has been expanded to record all interventions by the original group of scribes, that is rubrication and other material. For further details see the Introduction to the Latin Text (in PDF).

What viewing options do I have? How does the Text Viewer work?

The Text Viewer allows the user to display different types of information simultaneously, to navigate through the manuscript; to close or resize individual panes allowing a one-, two- or three-pane view; and so on.

Moving between entries or pages:

  • To move forwards or backwards through the manuscript from one entry or page to the next, the easiest way is to click on the arrows (< >) near the top left of the screen. All the panes will automatically stay linked and will move together throughout the document.
  • If you want to jump to a specific entry or page then you can simply type the number into the box immediately to the left of the arrows near the top left of the screen. You can also select a number from the drop-down list in the same place.
  • You can decide whether to move through the book entry-by-entry or page-by-page. To change this, select the relevant option from the box at the left of the group of navigation buttons. You will see either an icon representing a page ('Locus'), which allows for navigation by page, or a black triangle ('Entry') which allows for navigation by entry.

Resizing or hiding panes:

  • You can make any of the three panes larger or smaller by dragging the border between the panes.
  • You can hide a pane by clicking on the darker grey box in the middle of the borders between the panes.

Changing the content of the panes:

You can change the content that is displayed in each pane. To do this, select the relevant option from the drop-down list on the right of the menu-bar for each pane. The options are: the Latin text, the English translation, the manuscript page, Ellis’s 1816 edition, and the Palaeographical and Codicological description.

Please note that the Palaeographical and Codicological description is organised only by page, so it will not work if your navigation is set to work by page.

The In-Pane Menu Bar: What are the icons that keep appearing and disappearing in the Text Viewer? How can I see or download the XML source for the texts? How can I download the images?

As well as changing the content, each pane has other options that you can select. To see these options, move your mouse over the grey menu-bar in a given pane. Two new icons will appear:

  • The eye-shaped Icon: changing the display of the panes. For most panes, there are options to change the way that the material is displayed. For instance, you can chose to show the Latin text as it would normally be read (the default view), or to show it in abbreviated form as it appears in the manuscript. To select these options, move your mouse over the grey menu-bar in the relevant pane. An eye-shaped icon will appear, and if you click on it then you will see a set of options. These options will change depending on what is available for the current content of that pane.
  • The down-arrow icon: downloading the text. For textual content you have the possibility of downloading the text in various formats (HTML, TEI XML and plain text). To do this, select the relevant format from this download menu. For further details on what you may do with this text see Copyright and Permissions (under 'About').

Please note that the images of the manuscript are Copyright © Exeter Cathedral Dean and Chapter and are not available for download from this website. If you need images for your own work then you must contact the cathedral directly. See further Copyright, Image Rights and Permissions (under 'About').

How can I preserve my current layout of the Text Viewer? How do I return to the same layout tomorrow or in future? How can I share it with someone else? Why are the Text Viewer URLs so long?

To save the layout of the Text Viewer, simply bookmark the web page in your browser, or make a copy of the URL. Next time you return to that bookmarked URL it will reproduce the order at the moment you created the bookmark. You can therefore create as many bookmark as you wish and share them with other people simply by sending them the link.

Why are there coloured boxes on the images?

Most images of the manuscript have coloured boxes on them. These boxes indicate those parts of the image that have been marked up for one of two reasons:

How do I view a full manuscript page?

There are two ways of doing this:

  1. 'Locus' is an option within the Text Viewer which permits you to view the manuscript using the full manuscript page rather than by individual entries. Use this function if you want to view a page alongside other information (see further Viewing Options above).
  2. Alternatively, go to 'Search for Manuscript Images' under 'Search' in the top menu bar. From here, if you click on the icon that looks like a picture on the right of the screen then you can see each image one by one. You can move backwards and forwards throughout the manuscript by clicking on the arrows or selecting the numbers in the box immediately above the image. Clicking on the double-headed arrow (↔︎) will show the image in 'wide' view.

Where do I find information about the structure of the manuscript?

There are three main repositories of information:

  1. The Palaeographical and Codicological Description offers a detailed survey. You can find this from 'Search' in the top menu bar. Alternatively, the Description may be selected from the Text Viewer (the three-pane view) when the Locus tab is selected (see above, Viewing Options).
  2. An experimental Codicological Visualisation of the data it contains can be found in the Labs section.
  3. A record of the structure of individual booklets in the manuscript was made by Dr Christopher Clarkson when he disbound the manuscript in 2011. It can be accessed here [COMING SOON].

What is 'My Collection (0)'? What are the stars that appear when I hover my mouse pointer over images?

For most images, including images of whole pages, individual letters or entries, when you hover your mouse over them a star appears in the upper right corner. If you click on the star then the image will be added to your Collection. This is a way of saving images that interest you for any reason. If you click on 'My Collection' in the top menubar then you will be able to see all the images that you added to your collection. The number shown in the menu bar is the number of images in your current collection. If you want to remove an image from your collection then simply click again on the star in that image. From the Collections page you can also send one or more images to the Lightbox, where you can manipulate them in different ways.

Your collection is stored in your browser cookies, meaning that it will remain available as long as you use the same browser and do not clear your cookies. However, the collection not intended for long-term storage, so you should not consider it to be permanent or stable.

Where is folio 74?

There is no folio 74 in the manuscript.