Using the Database

From a conceptual point of view the LangScape database has two main components: Metadata and Texts. These reflect the two main ways in which the database can be interrogated:

  1. via the metadata, which comprises information about the bounds and about the charters which contain them. You would use this to answer such questions as: what bounds are there in the London area? what 9th century grants contain bounds? what are the earliest surviving manuscripts containing bounds? what bounds are associated with the Exeter archive? where are the 5-hide estates containing bounds? The metadata can be searched in the Locate Bounds section.
  2. via the words in the texts, which have been manually identified and glossed. Querying these will allow users to see, for example, what boundaries contain the words ‘ford’ (ford), ‘swin’ (pig) or ‘cwealmstow’ (place of execution); what features 'sealt' (salt) is associated with; whether the name Grendel occurs anywhere; and what sorts of personal names are associated with the word ‘beorg’ (barrow). The words occuring within the texts can be searched in the Explore Texts section.

Both these components can be either Browsed or Searched:

  1. Under Locate Bounds you can Browse or Search the metadata (Browse for Bounds or Search for Bounds)
  2. Under Explore Texts you can Browse or Search the texts via the LangScape Glossaries (Browse Headwords or Search Headwords); additionally you can search the texts directly by performing a Free Text Search.

Whichever way you interrogate the material, you will be able to follow the LangScape number links to the texts themselves. You will also be able to view the locations of your results on Google Maps.

For new users it is advisable to start off in Browse mode.