Use this palaeographic utility to apply a stated dating, script, abbreviation, codicological, metrological, layout, or condition rule consistently while preparing manuscripts for scholarly review.

Proposed years

Proposed dating years in calendar years.

Condense several proposed datings of a manuscript into a consensus by reporting their numeric median (mean of the two central values for even counts), arithmetic mean, spread, and tally. The tool evaluates the supplied inputs together and returns the named outputs below; it does not infer omitted operating conditions or change the units shown.^[1]

Median year

Median of the proposed years after ascending sort.

Mean year

Arithmetic mean of the proposed years.

Spread

Newest minus oldest proposed year.

Proposals

Number of proposals received.

• Script and manuscript evidence varies by language, region, institution, period, scribe, material, restoration, and cataloguing convention. A heuristic flag or score is not an authoritative date, hand attribution, reading, provenance, or conservation diagnosis.
• Use finite inputs in the displayed units and preserve more precision than the final presentation requires. Independently verify safety-critical, financial, compliance, or production decisions.

Retain page images, scale, foliation, material, provenance, diplomatic transcription, uncertainty, and comparison exemplars; confirm conclusions with codicological context and specialist judgment.

• Nib / X-height Consistency Checker

  Check that repeated x-height measurements agree within tolerance under the stated rule: spread is (max-min)/mean in percent and the hand counts as consistent when spread does not exceed the tolerance (default 10%).

• Anglicana vs Secretary Discriminator

  Compare the number of observed Anglicana traits against the number of observed Secretary traits on your checklist and return the majority script with the tally margin, declaring a tie indeterminate (transparent arithmetic comparator, no contested letterform weighting).

• Hand Count Cluster Variance

  Test whether proposed hands are plausibly distinct under the stated rule: report the population variance and coefficient of variation of the per-hand means, the smallest gap between neighbouring means divided by the pooled within-hand standard deviation, and treat gaps of at least two standard deviations as distinct hands.