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Use the Personography (PERS) Spreadsheets

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Introduction

Personography spreadsheets are designed to provide a simple, efficient, and consistent way for encoders to record historical and literary names that are not currently entered in our PERS1.xml database. Before using these spreadsheets, please familiarize yourself with the following definitions, instructions, and suggestions.

Historical Persons

Historical persons are non-fictional individuals born before 1660 who are referred to in primary or secondary sources pertaining to early modern London. Thus, Henry II, the medieval English monarch, will be included in the PERS1.xml database as an historical person, but the present-day literary critic, Stephen Greenblatt is not, even though we may encounter his name in secondary sources.

Literary Persons

Literary persons are fictional individuals or fictional representations of non-fictional individuals who appear in the literature of early modern London. Literary persons can be original characters conceived of by early modern authors, or mythological persons, characters, or beings evoked and/or reinterpreted by early modern authors.

Researching Biographical Information

Entering names into the personography spreadsheets may require biographical research. For your reference, we have found the following resources helpful when researching historical and literary persons related to our project:

Familiarize Yourself with the Spreadsheets

The following section outlines how to access and use a personography spreadsheet. There are currently two personography spreadshseets in use by MoEML encoders:
  • Stow PERS Spreadsheet (for historical and literary names that occur in our edition of Stow’s Survey of London)
  • General PERS Spreadsheets (for historical and literary names that occur in born-digital encyclopedia documents and other primary-source documents)
Note that we may add new personography spreadsheets in the future, as the project expands. Although the data in the two spreadsheets may differ in substance, the spreadsheets are formatted identically and use the same data entry methods.

Access the Spreadsheets

The personography spreadsheets are currently hosted by Google Drive. If you do not already have a Google account, you will need to sign up for one. Once you have a Google account, email Tye Landels and request that he share either or both of the spreadsheets with you.

Spreadsheet Format

The spreadsheets function as simple text-based, single-sheet forms. Knowledge or use of Excel formulae and functions is not required. They are divided vertically into eight sections with the following subheadings:
  • XML:IDs
    • Document @xml:id
    • Encoder’s @xml:id
    • Proposed PERS @xml:id
  • VALIDATION 1
    • Validation 1A
    • Validation 1B
    • Validation 1C
  • NAME INFORMATION
    • Leading Epithet
    • Role Name
    • Forename
    • Middle Name
    • Surname
    • Generation #
    • Trailing Epithet
  • CATEGORIZATION
    • Type
    • Sex
  • VALIDATION 2
    • Validation 2A
    • Validation 2B
    • Validation 2C
  • LIFE DATES
    • Birth Date
    • Birth Precision
    • Birth Certainty
    • Death Date
    • Death Precision
    • Death Certainty
    • Floruit From
    • Floruit To
  • DESCRIPTION
    • Biographical Statement
    • Link to Related Resource
    • Link Acronym
    • Link to 2nd Related Resource
    • 2nd Link Acronym
  • ADDITIONAL INFO
    • Comments
Each subheading corresponds with a spreadsheet column, into which relevant information should be entered. The following section provides instructions on how to do this.

Instructional Comments

There are instructional comments for each subheading integrated into the spreadsheet. To access these comments, simply place your cursor over the subheading for which you would like more information. For example, if you were unsure what to enter for Sex, you would scroll over the Sex column for an instructional comment that reads For sex, 0=unknown, 1=male, 2=female, and 3=other.

Use the Spreadsheet

The following section provides a step-by-step guide for filling out the spreadsheet. Much of the information in this section can also be found in the comments that are integrated into the spreadsheet.

Entering Data

Make sure that all data you enter is precise and accurate, and follows MoEML’s editorial style guidelines. Because this spreadsheet will be used to automatically generate XML code, it is important that there are no inconsistencies in spacing and/or capitalization. Furthermore, encode any linked content or quotations in precise, TEI-compatible XML.
Before you enter any information about a person into the spreadsheet, first make sure that the person is not already in MoEML’s PERS1.xml database. This information can be obtained by using the Ctrl+F function to search for a person’s name in MoEML’s List of @xml:ids Used in the Document Collection.

XML:IDs

The first section of the spreadsheet, XML:IDs, asks you to provide new and existing identifiers that allow us to sort the entry in our document collection and establish meaningful relationships between it and other pieces of data. An @xml:id consists of a unique combination of four letters followed by a number.

Document @xml:id

If the person’s name occurs in a pre-existing MoEML document (e.g. in a mayoral show being transcribed and encoded), insert the @xml:id for the document the person is associated with. For example, if you were to encounter the name William Cockayne in Thomas Middleton’s The Triumph of Love and Antiquity, you would provide the @xml:id LOVE8 (the @xml:id for the aforementioned mayoral show) in this field. Sometimes a person will not be associated with a pre-existing MoEML document; in such instances, you should leave this field blank. Note that the Stow PERS Spreadsheet does not have a Document @xml:id subheading because all spreadsheet entries are associated with the same document, Stow’s Survey of London (1598).

Encoder’s @xml:id (Mandatory)

Insert your @xml:id in this field. For example, if Tye Landels were adding a person to the spreadsheet, he would provide his @xml:id, LAND2, in this field.

Proposed PERS @xml:id (Mandatory)

Insert a unique @xml:id in this field (i.e., an @xml:id that is not already in use by the MoEML document collection or another spreadsheet). Refer to the validation features in the next section, Validation A, to create such an @xml:id. Once you have added a unique @xml:id to this subheading, you may use the @xml:id when encoding draft documents (despite the fact that the @xml:id has not been added to the document collection yet, per se).
Note that you can use the A-Z Index to determine the next available @xml:id.

Validation 1

The second section of the spreadsheet, Validation 1, contains three validation checks designed to assist you in creating a unique @xml:id for the person. If your proposed @xml:id is unique and thus valid, all three validation checks will produce a green cell. If it is not, one or more validation check(s) will produce a red cell. An invalid @xml:id should not be used. Note that it is important to review these validation checks regularly because an @xml:id that was once valid may become invalid as encoders add entries to other spreadsheets and update the document collection.

Validation 1A

Validation 1A checks whether or not the proposed PERS @xml:id is unique to the PERS spreadsheet in which it is being entered (i.e,. has the proposed PERS @xml:id already been entered in the spreadsheet you are using?). If it is unique and thus valid in this regard, a green cell will appear; if it is not, a red cell will appear.

Validation 1B

Validation 1B checks whether or not the proposed PERS @xml:id is unique to the MoEML document collection (i.e., is the proposed PERS @xml:id already in use elsewhere in the website?). If it is unique and thus valid in this regard, a green cell will appear; if it is not, a red cell will appear.

Validation 1C

Validation 1C checks whether or not the proposed PERS @xml:id is unique among the entire collection of MoEML spreadsheets (i.e., has the proposed PERS @xml:id already been entered in another MoEML spreadsheet?). If it is unique and thus valid in this regard, a green cell will appear; if it is not, a red cell with the name of the spreadsheet in which the proposed PERS @xml:id has already been entered will appear.

Name Information

The third section of the spreadsheet, Name Information, asks you to provide all the information we need to give the person the right name. This section consists of eight subheadings, each representing a different component of a name. It is important that we separate the components of a name because they eventually will be tagged using distinct TEI tags. You will find that, in most cases, a person’s name does not include all possible components. If a particular subheading does not apply to a particular person’s name, leave the corresponding cell blank.
Please note that, because the spelling of early modern names is so inconsistent, we constantly need to make editorial decisions regarding which spelling of a name to use in our database. Generally speaking, MoEML uses formal and modernized spellings of names. If you are unsure about how to spell a particular name, please pass this duty onto the Assistant Project Manager. You may do so by adding this information to the Comments subheading of the spreadsheet.

Leading Epithet

A descriptive phrase that often precedes the person’s name, such as Good King Wenceslas. A leading epithet will often consist of a single adjective or a hyphenated adjective.

Role Name

A title that indicates the role, often royal or religious, that a person plays in society, such as Good King Wenceslas. A role name should not be confused with a leading epithet. The former is often objective in nature, whereas the latter could be considered subjective.

Forename

A formal and modernized spelling of a person’s given name. For example, if a man’s forename were to appear in a primary-source text as Chris or Chriſtoffer, you should enter his forename as Chistopher.
If you are entering the name of an allegorical character or mythological character identified by a single name, this name counts as a forename. For example, if you were creating a PERS entry for the allegorical character of Love, then the noun Love counts as a forename.

Middle Name

A formal and modernized spelling of a person’s second given name. If a person has more than one middle name, enter both in the cell provided. Alternatively, if we know only the middle name for a person, enter this name in the forename cell.

Surname

A formal and modernized spelling of a person’s last name. You will need to identify the most common or reputable spelling of a person’s surname. For example, if a person’s surname were to appear in a primary-source text as Thomſonne, you should enter their forename as Thomson.

Generation Number

A number expressed in uppercase Roman numerals that often follows a person’s proper name, identifying the generation of that name. Most names that include a generation number are royal names, such as Elizabeth I.

Trailing Epithet

A descriptive phrase that often follows a person’s name, such as Ivan the Terrible. A trailing epithet often consists of the combined with an adjective functioning as a noun.

Categorization

The fourth section of the spreadsheet, Categorization, asks you to provide information that allows us to sort people meaningfully by category. This information will enable us to answer complex research questions in the future. This section consists of two subheadings, representing the two main ways in which we classify people in our database: by type and by sex. Unlike the Name Information section, it is crucial that both columns in the Categorization contain data.

Type (Mandatory)

Person types were described previously in earlier parts of this document. In this column, use a number 1 to classify historical persons and 2 to classify literary persons. Do not use the spreadsheet to add the names of present-day MoEML contributors.

Sex (Mandatory)

We recognize the issues that can emerge when trying to classify persons into discrete sex types. Nonetheless, MoEML works with the guidelines of the TEI Consortium and therefore is limited in its ability to represent sex and gender complexities. Currently, we use a number 0 to classify unknown sex (a classification that is particularly useful for mythological or allegorical characters with no clear expression of gender), a number 1 to classify male sex, a number 2 to classify female sex, and a number 3 to classify other sex (a classification that might include transsexual or hermaphroditic sex types).

Validation 2

The fifth section of the spreadsheet, Validation 2, contains three validation checks designed to help prevent duplicate database entries for the same person. If the person you are adding to the spreadsheet does not already exist in the PERS1.xml database or is not already in the queue to be added to the PERS1.xml database, all three validation checks will produce a green cell. If they do appear in either instance, one or more validation check(s) will produce a red cell. Due to the inconsistency of early modern spelling, these validation checks can only serve as a warning: validation 2 may produce three green cells when, in actuality, a person already exists in PERS1.xml or is already in the queue to be added to PERS1.xml. For this reason, it is important to always check azindex.htm before adding a person to a PERS spreadsheet to ensure that the person has not already been added to PERS1.xml (make sure to check variant spellings of the person’s name). Alternatively, validation 2 may wrongly produce one or more red cell(s) if a different person with the same name as the person you are adding to the spreadsheet already exists in PERS1.xml or is already in the queue to be added to PERS1.xml. If this happens, check to make sure that the person with the same name is not actually a duplicate, and then add a comment to the appropriate red cell to let Tye Landels know that the entry is not a duplicate.

Validation 2A

Valdiation 2A checks whether or not the person’s name, sex, and type combination is unique to the PERS spreadsheet into which it is being entered (i.e., has the person already been entered in the spreadsheet you are using?). If it is unique and thus valid in this regard, a green cell will appear; if it is not, a red cell will appear.

Validation 2B

Validation 2B checks whether or not the person’s name, sex, and type combination is unique to the PERS1.xml database (i.e., has the person already been added to PERS1.xml?). If it is unique and thus valid in this regard, a green cell will appear; if it is not, a red cell will appear.

Validation 2C

Validation 2C checks whether or not the person’s name, sex, and type combination is unique among the entire collection of MoEML spreadsheets (i.e., has the person already been entered in another MoEML spreadsheet?). If it is unique and thus valid in this regard, a green cell will appear; if it is not, a red cell with the name of the spreadsheet in which the person has already been entered will appear.

Life Dates

The sixth section of the spreadsheet, Life Dates, asks you to provide information about a person’s birth and death. This section consists of six subheadings, each contributing to defined representations of birth and death. In many cases, you will know information about a person’s death but not their birth or, conversely, information about a person’s birth but not their death. In such cases, leave the columns pertaining to the unknown information empty.

Date of Birth

Enter the person’s date of birth in ISO standard format (YYYY-MM-DD). For example, we know that King John was born in 1167 but we do not know the month or date; we should therefore represent his date of birth as 1167. Likewise, we know that James I of Scotland was born in July 1394 but we do not know on which day; we should therefore represent his date of birth as 1394-07. There may also be situations where we know a person’s date of baptism but not their date of birth. In such an instance, please enter the date of baptism in this column with a comment in [square brackets] indicating that it is a baptism date. For example, we do not know Christopher Marlowe’s date of birth; we only know that he was baptized on February 26, 1564. Therefore, we should represent Marlowe’s date of birth as [1564-02-26].

Birth Precision

Indicate how precise your data for date of birth is. Insert a value of either low or high in this field. Unless you are able to identify a specific calendar day on which the person was born, it is likely that your birth date will be low in precision. If your data has medium-level precision, leave the field blank.

Birth Certainty

Indicate how certain your data for date of birth is. Insert a value of either low or high in this column. If you encounter conflicting or inconsistent data pertaining to a person’s date of birth, the certainty of your information is likely low. The opposite is true if you encounter consistent information. If your data has medium-level certainty, leave the field blank.

Date of Death

Enter the person’s date of death in ISO standard format (YYYY-MM-DD). If you lack data about a particular date component, leave the unknown date component empty.

Death Precision

Indicate how precise your data for date of death is. Insert a value of either low or high in this field. Unless you are able to identify a specific calendar day on which the person died, it is likely that your death date will be low in precision. If your data has medium-level precision, leave the field blank.

Death Certainty

Indicate how certain your data for date of death is. Insert a value of either low or high in this column. If you encounter conflicting or inconsistent data pertaining to a person’s date of death, the certainty of your information is likely low. The opposite is true if you encounter consistent information. If your data has medium-level precision, leave the field blank.

Description

The seventh section of the spreadsheet, Description, asks you to supply information that will point our readers to resources and sources. This section consists of six subheadings, each contributing to a qualitative understanding of the person.

Biographical Statement (Mandatory)

Write a sentence or two that summarizes the person’s historical or literary significance. Your summary should be short: the point of this statement is not to provide a biography, but to identify the person in the context of early modern London. For historical persons, simply list the person’s social roles and significant corresponding dates; for example Edward Lloyd’s biographical statement reads Coffee-house keeper, publisher, and namesake of Lloyd’s Insurance. If you find yourself writing a biographical statement for a former lord mayor of London, remember that the title lord mayor is not capitalized unless it is functioning as a proper noun; for example, Sir John Robinson’s biographical statement reads First baronet, merchant, and financier; lord mayor of London in 1631-32. For literary persons, list the text in which they appear and their role therein; for example, the biographical statement for Troya-Nova reads Allegorical character in The Triumph of re-united Britania who personifies the geographic area and settlement of present-day London.
Biographical statements should be marked up using precise and accurate TEI-compatible XML. If you refer to names, places, organizations, texts, or dates in a biographical statement, tag the references using <ref>, <name>, <title>, <date> tags with proper attributes and values. The biographical statement for John Charlewood serves as an example:
Printer, styled himself printer of the Catholic <name ref="mol:HOWA5">Philip Howard, Earl of Arundel</name> until <name ref="mol:HOWA5">Howard</name>’s arrest in <date when-custom="1585" calendar="mol:julianSic" datingMethod="mol:julianSic">1585</date>. Was the printer for the secret press run out of <ref target="mol:ARUN1">Arundel House</ref>.
Note that we use the preposition of (not to) when describing familal or professional relations in biographical satements.
Note also that, at the moment, we do not tag a person’s occupation or membership in a livery company using a corresponding organization tag. For example, the encoder does not tag the phrase Grocer in John Churchman’s biographical statement:
Grocer and sheriff, buried in <ref target="mol:STMA21">St. Martin Outwich</ref>.
Occasionally, you will be unable to find any biographical information about a person whom you are adding to the spreadsheet. In such instances, provide the following standard disclaimer:
<title level="m">MoEML</title> has not yet added biographical content for this person. The editors welcome research leads from qualified individuals. Please <ref target="mailto:london@uvic.ca">contact us</ref> for further information.
Note that you may find it counterintuitive to write XML code in a spreadsheet cell because, unlike oXygen, Google Sheets is not linked with the MoEML or TEI schema and does not autocomplete XML tags for you. For these reasons, you should be extra attentive when marking up biographical statements to avoid making errors that the schematron would usually catch. Some encoders have found it helpful to write and mark up biographical statements in an oXygen document first and then copy them into a spreadsheet cell.

Additional Information

The eighth and final section of the spreadsheet, Additional Information, asks you to provide anything else you want the PERS1.xml database manager to know. In this section there is only one subheading entitled Comments. Leave additional information and clarifications for the database manager in the comments field. The more information you are able to provide about your spreadsheet entries, the better the data can be used, updated, and maintained.

Submit a Spreadsheet

Once you have finished entering a set of names into the spreadsheet, please notify Tye Landels via Asana or via email. He will review your work, follow-up on any flagged content, and upload your spreadsheet entries to PERS1.xml.

Cite this page

MLA citation

Landels-Gruenewald, Tye. Use the Personography (PERS) Spreadsheets. The Map of Early Modern London, edited by Janelle Jenstad, U of Victoria, 26 Jun. 2020, mapoflondon.uvic.ca/PERS_spreadsheet_internal.htm.

Chicago citation

Landels-Gruenewald, Tye. Use the Personography (PERS) Spreadsheets. The Map of Early Modern London. Ed. Janelle Jenstad. Victoria: University of Victoria. Accessed June 26, 2020. https://mapoflondon.uvic.ca/PERS_spreadsheet_internal.htm.

APA citation

Landels-Gruenewald, T. 2020. Use the Personography (PERS) Spreadsheets. In J. Jenstad (Ed), The Map of Early Modern London. Victoria: University of Victoria. Retrieved from https://mapoflondon.uvic.ca/PERS_spreadsheet_internal.htm.

RIS file (for RefMan, EndNote etc.)

Provider: University of Victoria
Database: The Map of Early Modern London
Content: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

TY  - ELEC
A1  - Landels-Gruenewald, Tye
ED  - Jenstad, Janelle
T1  - Use the Personography (PERS) Spreadsheets
T2  - The Map of Early Modern London
PY  - 2020
DA  - 2020/06/26
CY  - Victoria
PB  - University of Victoria
LA  - English
UR  - https://mapoflondon.uvic.ca/PERS_spreadsheet_internal.htm
UR  - https://mapoflondon.uvic.ca/xml/standalone/PERS_spreadsheet_internal.xml
ER  -

RefWorks

RT Web Page
SR Electronic(1)
A1 Landels-Gruenewald, Tye
A6 Jenstad, Janelle
T1 Use the Personography (PERS) Spreadsheets
T2 The Map of Early Modern London
WP 2020
FD 2020/06/26
RD 2020/06/26
PP Victoria
PB University of Victoria
LA English
OL English
LK https://mapoflondon.uvic.ca/PERS_spreadsheet_internal.htm

TEI citation

<bibl type="mla"><author><name ref="#LAND2"><surname>Landels-Gruenewald</surname>, <forename>Tye</forename></name></author>. <title level="a">Use the Personography (PERS) Spreadsheets</title>. <title level="m">The Map of Early Modern London</title>, edited by <editor><name ref="#JENS1"><forename>Janelle</forename> <surname>Jenstad</surname></name></editor>, <publisher>U of Victoria</publisher>, <date when="2020-06-26">26 Jun. 2020</date>, <ref target="https://mapoflondon.uvic.ca/PERS_spreadsheet_internal.htm">mapoflondon.uvic.ca/PERS_spreadsheet_internal.htm</ref>.</bibl>

Personography