Digital Manager’s Update

[fg]png||Jacob[/fg]In addition to launching the new KAS and members’ stores section of the Society website[fn1], expanding the use of tags and mapping (Figs. 1 and 2), further development of the new 3D models and Virtual Reality section[fn2], and continuing to refine the redesign and new accessibility features, my work over the past few months has often resolved around providing access to fully-accessible HTML (i.e. webpage) versions of the Society’s 150-year history of publications and researches.

This continues the work of various KAS history, transcription and library groups, archivists, authors and independent researchers over several decades, which has made a selection of some of the most cited and useful publications for archaeological and historical research in Kent freely available online.

Over the coming months we will be expanding this effort to all publications and other content made available on the Society website. You can get involved in this project either by contacting me directly or by using the contact form or new comments feature (Fig. 3).

[fg]jpg|Fig 1. Select the tags icon from within any section to explore articles and resources by period, place or topic.|Image[/fg]

[fg]jpg|Fig 2. Select the location icon in any section to open a map of the location tags, or from an article page to see a map of the local vicinity. Made available through ArcGIS.|Image[/fg]

[fg]jpg|Fig 3. Select the comments icon on an article page to highlight relevant information, provide additional context or reflection, or flag an inaccuracy in the text or transcript.|Image[/fg]

[fg]jpg|Fig 4. Select the help icon from any page for an introduction to the website navigation and features.|Image[/fg]

[pg38]Resources newly available through the Society website include the archive of the Romney Marsh Research Trust[fn3] and the projects of several groups of researchers working on the historical records of Rochester Cathedral and its medieval Priory of St Andrew. Hundreds of transcribed and translated texts from three exceptional manuscripts are now available to explore online:

Textus Roffensis[fn4]; one of the most important of all medieval manuscripts. It is actually two books in one compiled in the early 1120s, containing a compilation of early English laws dating as far back as the year 600 and a collection of charters relating to the cathedral priory. Dr Christopher Monk has been working through translating the Old English laws in the manuscript since 2014 and transcriptions and translations of most of the Latin charters have also been published. Æthelberht’s Code[fn5], composed around 600 CE, represents the oldest surviving text written in Old English as well as the oldest English lawcode, and with Hlothere and Eadric’s Code[fn6] (c. 679-685) and The Laws of Wihtræd[fn7] (695), comprise the three lawcodes that have come down to us from the seventh- century kingdom of Kent. Many of the pre-Conquest charters in Textus are also amongst the earliest historical records for areas throughout the west of Kent and beyond.

Custumale Roffense[fn8]; a thirteenth-century customs book full of vivid details not just of the lives of the monks but also offering valuable insight into the servants of the priory and the system of tithes and offerings throughout west Kent in the thirteenth century. Dr Christopher Monk and I (me being far less of an expert!) have been working with other contributors publish transcriptions and translations of the medieval Latin, with the majority of charters and records now available online.

The Rochester Bestiary[fn9] (British Library Royal 12 F XIII); a splendidly illuminated manuscript once in the possession of the priory. Gabrielle Machelletti has now completed a full translation and discussion of this often weird and wonderful work, now available alongside a transcription by Dr Patricia Stewart and the illustrations from the British Library facsimile.

Introductions to each of these new resources by their various authors will feature in upcoming issues of the KAS Magazine. You can also find out more about the website and new features by taking the Website Tour[fn10] or selecting the help button (fig. 4).

To get involved in the Society’s publication, transcription and translation projects contact: jacob.scott@kentarchaeology.org.uk

[pg39]

[fn]1|kentarchaeology.org.uk/stores[/fn]

[fn]2|kentarchaeology.org.uk/models[/fn]

[fn]3|kentarchaeology.org.uk/news/romney-marsh-research-trust-archive[/fn]

[fn]4|kentarchaeology.org.uk/records/textus-roffensis[/fn]

[fn]5|kentarchaeology.org.uk/records/textus-roffensis/1r-3v[/fn]

[fn]6|kentarchaeology.org.uk/records/textus-roffensis/3v-5r[/fn]

[fn]7|kentarchaeology.org.uk/records/textus-roffensis/5r-6v[/fn]

[fn]8|kentarchaeology.org.uk/records/custumale-roffense[/fn]

[fn]9|kentarchaeology.org.uk/records/rochester-bestiary[/fn]

[fn]10|kentarchaeology.org.uk/tour[/fn]