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

Spacing A (mm)

Mean ruled-line spacing of section A in mm.

Spacing B (mm)

Mean ruled-line spacing of section B in mm.

Letters A

Mean letters per line in section A.

Letters B

Mean letters per line in section B.

Tolerance (%)

Deviation threshold in percent.

Flag a possible change of scribe under the stated rule: each metric (line spacing, letters per line) is compared by the symmetric percent deviation |a-b|/mean(a,b)*100, and a deviation above tolerance (default 5%) on either metric flags a change. 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]

Spacing dev %

Symmetric percent deviation of line spacing.

Letters dev %

Symmetric percent deviation of letters per line.

Change flagged

True when either deviation exceeds tolerance.

Flagged metric

Which metric exceeded tolerance.

• 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%).

• Contraction Loss Detector

  Measure how many scribal contraction abbreviations survive from exemplar to copy: exact percent change with the stated rating bands (no change at zero, minor under five percent dropped, moderate five to fifteen, major above fifteen, any increase is expansion).

• Iron-Gall Corrosion Grade Rater

  Rate iron-gall ink corrosion on the stated transparent rule: each of four indicators (ink loss, burn-through, halo bleeding, mechanical weakness of the sheet) is scored 0-3 by the observer, and the grade is the rounded mean with labels none/slight/moderate/severe for 0/1/2/3.