Quickstart: Tagging Survey of London

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¶Introduction

At MoEML, we use a specific set of elements, attributes, and values. In our editions of Survey of London, we tag bibliographical codes, dates, organizations, toponyms, and people. So far, we have progress charts of our 1598 and 1633 editions to track who did what and what remains to be finished:

¶Tagging Bibliographical Codes

As an encoder working on a primary source document, your main job is to represent the original source document as faithfully as possible. In other words, you are using markup to describe how the text appears (alignment, italics, etc.). The overriding concern here, however, is to tell the truth. We do not mark up texts with the goal of rendering them in a particular way; we mark up texts truthfully to capture information about the page and then we render them how we would like based on the markup. A good way to think about bibliographical code markup is this: the MoEML website may not exist fifty years from now, but the underlying XML documents that make up the website will. Therefore, when marking up a document, an encoder’s focus should not be on how the document appears on the current MoEML website, but to make sure that all bibliographical codes (paragraphs, italicization, punctuation, capitalization, etc.) are captured in a way that is helpful for future researchers and students.

¶Proofing the Transcription

Our editions of Survey of London began as EEBO-TCP diplomatic transcriptions, which means that most of the text was transcribed by non-MoEML encoders. Because of this, MoEML research assistants need to proof each chapter against the manuscript to fix errors and to make sure the text conforms with our project-wide conventions.

Before you start proofing the transcription against the manuscript, read Conventions for Diplomatic Transcriptions. It is a short document that outlines which typographical, orthographical, and compositorial features we retain in our editions of primary source texts.

The pages you will need are already linked to each page:

You can also use this link to flip through UVic’s copy of the 1633 Survey of London that was digitized by Special Collections.

In addition to proofing the actual text, you will need to proof a few common bibliographical codes: line beginnings, hyphens, line groups, italics, and marginal notes. Each is explained with examples below.

¶Line Beginnings and Hyphens

Self-closing <lb> elements are used to indicate line beginnings in prose:

One being their Chieftain was called Robin Hoode, <lb/>who required the king and his company, to ſtay & ſee his men ſhoot <lb/>whereunto the king granting, Robin Hoode whiſtled, and al the <lb/>200. Archers ſhot of, looſing all at once, and when he whiſtled a<lb type="hyphenInWord"/>gaine they likewiſe ſhot againe, their arrowes whiſtled by craft <lb/>of the heade, ſo that the noiſe was ſtrange and lowde, which great<lb type="hyphenInWord"/>ly delighted the king and Queene and their Companie.

If you are adding a <lb> to your work, you only need to use the one self-closing element because you are not qualifying a text node (notice the / within the element). In the above example, note that some of the line beginnings occur in the middle of words. For these cases we use a self closing <lb> element with an attribute of @type and a value of "hyphenInWord". As you can see, the hyphen character (-) is not transcribed. Only transcribe the hyphen character when it is actually part of a word:

(or ſlip) of Gilli-flowers

¶Line Groups

Most of Survey of London is written in prose and is encoded with  (paragraph) and <lb> (line beginning). When Stow swtiches to poetry, however, we use <lg> (line group) instead of  (paragraph) and wrap each line in <l> (line):

<lg>
 <l>Mighty Flora, Goddeſſe of freſh flowers,</l>
 <l>which clothed hath the ſoile in luſtie greene.</l>
 <l>Made buds ſpring, with her ſweete ſhowers,</l>
 <l>by influence of the Sun ſhine.</l>
 <l>To doe pleaſance of intent full cleane,</l>
 <l>vnto the States which now ſit here.</l>
 <l>Hath Vere downe ſent her owne daughter deare.</l>
</lg>

¶Renditions

Below are images of the 1598 Survey of London (left) and the 1633 Survey of London (right):

Note that in 1598, the text sometimes changes font, and in 1633, the text is sometimes italicized. These features are called renditions.

Since certain features of the text (i.e., font, italics) tend to appear the same way throughout our editions, it would be impractical to individually style every case (for example, imagine having to add the font type, font weight, and font size every time you wanted to italicize something). Instead, we add descriptions called renditions to the teiHeader of our primary source documents and refer back to them in our encoding. All renditions are nested under <tagsDecl>. If you are interested in learning more about the teiHeader and styling more generally, see Encoding Primary Sources. If you are interested in learning more about styling in Stow specifically, see our documentation on using rendition elements and attributes in Stow and our list of standarized renditions for Survey of London.

These are the elements, attributes, and values you will use to tag 1598:

Element: <hi>
Attributes: @rendition
Values: "#stow_1598_xml:id_R"

These are the elements, attributes, and values you will use to tag 1633:

Element: <hi>
Attributes: @rendition
Values: "#stow_1633_xml:id_IR"

As you can see, the part of the tag that changes when you use renditions is the value. To encode the different font in 1598, use the value "#" + xml:id of the chapter (i.e., "stow_1598_xml:id") + "_R". To encode the italics in 1633, use the value "#" + xml:id of the chapter (i.e., "stow_1633_xml:id") + "_IR". There are more renditions than these (find them under <tagsDecl> in your document), but these are the main ones you will need to know.

Here is how the text node looks when it is marked up. The rendition element in the header is also shown:

<rendition scheme="css" xml:id="stow_1598_FARR1_R">font-family: "Georgia";</rendition>  <name rendition="#stow_1598_FARR1_R" ref="mol:FISH10">Iohn Fiſher</name> Mercer gaue <hi rendition="#stow_1598_FARR1_R">600</hi>.

Note that if the text node is already wrapped in a <name> or <ref> element (both of which are explained in depth below), you can add the attribute (@rendition) and value ("#stow_1598_xml:id_R" or "#stow_1633_xml:id_IR") directly to the present element. If not, wrap the text node with the <hi> element and then add the correct attributes and values.

¶Marginal Notes

Like italics, marginal notes tend to appear the same way throughout Survey of London. Because of this, the same system with the teiheader and styling is used. For now, all you need to know is what elements, attributes, and values are needed to wrap the text node of a marginal note.

These are the elements, attributes, and values you will use to tag marginal notes in 1598:

Element: <label>
Attributes: @place
Values: "margin-left", "margin-right"

These are the elements, attributes, and values you will use to tag marginal notes in 1633:

Element: <label>
Attributes: @place, @rendition
Values: "margin-left", "margin-right", "#stow_1633_xm:id_lmlabel"

Marginal note in 1598:

THe ſecond warde within the wall on the eaſt part is called Ealdgate warde, <label place="margin-left">Ealdgate ward</label> as taking name of the ſaide gate, the principall ſtreete of this warde begineth at Ealdgate.

Marginal note in 1633:

Now in Friday ſtreet, <label rendition="#stow_1633_BREA3_lmlabel" place="margin-left">Friday ſtreet.</label> ſo called of Fiſhmongers dwelling there.

As you can see in the above examples, marginal notes are located directly within the text. When it comes to rendering, they render either to the left or right ("margin-left" or "margin-right") in line with the surrounding text.

This is is a side-by-side comparison of the 1598 Survey of London manuscript on EEBO and the edition we have created on the MoEML website. As you can see, our text looks similar to the manuscript:

¶Tagging Dates, Companies, Toponyms, and People

In addition to tagging bibliographical codes, we also tag dates, organizations, toponyms, and people. By doing this, we are able to link our texts to MoEML’s rich encyclopedia which includes an orgography, placeography, and personography.

Here is a quick summary of what the tags will look like. They will be explained in more detail below:

Situation	Example
Julian Date	<date when-custom="1598" datingMethod="mol:julianSic" calendar="mol:julianSic">1598</date>
Reign of Monarch	<date when-custom="r_HENR6" datingMethod="mol:regnal" calendar="mol:regnal">reigne of <name ref="mol:HENR6">king Henry the ſecond</name></date>
Specific Year within Reign of Monarch	<date when-custom="r_HENR6_09" datingMethod="mol:regnal" calendar="mol:regnal">ninth of <name ref="mol:HENR6">king Henry the ſecond</name></date>
Organizations	<name ref="mol:META1" type="org">Merchant Taylors’ Company</name>
Places	<ref target="mol:TOWE5">Tower of London</ref>
People	<name ref="mol:STOW6">John Stow</name>

Before we discuss how to tag Survey of London, try to identify the elements, attributes, values, and text nodes in the above examples—remember they are colour coded!

¶Tagging Dates

In Survey of London, you will need to know how to tag three types of dates: regular dates in the Julian calendar, reigns of monarchs, and specific years within reigns of monarchs.

These are the elements, attributes, and values you will use to tag dates:

Element: <date>
Attributes: @when-custom, @datingMethod, @calendar
Values: "mol:julianSic", "mol:regnal", "mol:r_xml:id", "mol:r_xml:id_#"

The Julian calendar was used in England until 1752. In Survey of London, therefore, we must tell the computer that the dates being tagged are from the Julian calendar:

He died on the <date when-custom="1417-09-28" calendar="mol:julianSic" datingMethod="mol:julianSic">28 of September in 1417</date>

Note that the attribute @when-custom is used for the Julian calendar (the attribute @when is used for the Gregorian calendar, which you will not need to tag Survey of London).
Note that the value of @when-custom is the date mentioned in the text in year-month-day format (YYYY-MM-DD).
Note that the value of @calendar and @datingMethod is "mol:julianSic". There is also "mol:julianMar" (when the source considers March 25 the start of the new year) and "mol:julianJan" (when the source considers January 1 the start of the new year). We use "mol:julianSic" in Survey of London because it is unclear which calendar Stow used.

In 2019, the MoEML team created a new way to tag the reigns of monarchs and specific years within reigns. This means that in the 1598 Survey of London, regnal dates have been tagged slightly differently. Use the method below to tag 1633:

In the <date when-custom="r_MARY2" datingMethod="mol:regnal" calendar="mol:regnal">reigne of <name ref="mol:MARY2">Queene Mary</name></date>

Note that the word the is not included in the text node.
Note that the value of @when-custom is "r_xml:id". Insert the xml:id of the monarch in question (in this case, "MARY2").
Note that the value of @calendar and @dathingMethod is "mol:regnal".

To tag a specific year of a reign, add the year after the xml:id:

In the <date when-custom="r_EDWA1_08" datingMethod="mol:regnal" calendar="mol:regnal">eighth of <name ref="mol:EDWA1">Edward the first</name></date>

The value of @when-custom is "r_xml:id_#". Insert the xml:id of the monarch in question and the year of their reign (in this case, "r_EDWA1_08").

For a thorough explanation of how to encode all different types of dates, see Encode a Date in Praxis.

¶Tagging Organizations

Tagging organizations is relatively straightforward. The most complicated part is determining what should/should not be tagged and what should/should not be part of the text node.

These are the elements, attributes, and values you will use to tag organizations:

Element: <name>
Attributes: @ref, @type
Values: "mol:xml:id", "org"

Roles/occupations are not tagged:

<name ref="mol:LEOF1">Leafſtanus</name> the Goldſmith

Companies as a whole are tagged:

He was free of the <name ref="mol:VINT3" type="org">Vintners</name>.

Of London is not part of the tag and should be tagged as a location:

The <name ref="mol:META1" type="org">Marchant Taylors</name> of <ref target="mol:LOND5">London</ref>

Most of the organizations Stow mentions in Survey of London are the Twelve Great Livery Companies (Mercers, Grocers, Drapers, Fishmongers, Goldsmiths, Skinners, Merchant Taylors, Haberdashers, Salters, Ironmongers, Vintners, and Clothworkers). There are also lesser livery companies. To see the full list, visit the Orgography. Note that organizations can also be groups (e.g., Black Friars) or other companies (e.g., East India Company).

¶Tagging Toponyms

Tagging toponyms is one of the most important parts of marking up Survey of London. While the tag itself is not complicated, it can be difficult to determine certain toponyms because (1) location names in the early modern period were not standardized, and (2) some locations have multiple (very different!) names.

Let’s take Arundel House as an example. Here are just a few of its variant names: Arondell-Howse, Bath House, Bath Inn, Bath Place, Charterhouse, City-House, Hampton Place, House of the Bishop of Bath and Wells, Howard House, Inn of the Bishop of Bath and Wells, Seymour Place.

You are obviously not expected to just know that Arundel House was also called Bath Inn or Hampton Place—that’s what MoEML is for! Therefore, when you come across a location in the Survey of London, you have a two options:

Check previous MoEML editions of Survey of London to see how the location was tagged.
Search the Gazetteer for variant names (See note below).

Note that our editions of Survey of London have not yet been fully proofed and peer reviewed. While you should definitely consult the 1598 edition when tagging the 1633 edition, it is important to do your own research. If you feel confident that there is a mistake in 1598, feel free to fix it. If you are unsure, do not hesitate to ask another team member or bring it up at a team meeting. The 1633 version is also substantially longer than 1598, so there will be large sections of your file that have never been tagged before. The same goes for using our Gazetteer when tagging the 1633 edition. The Gazetteer is currently a draft and may contain errors, so it should be used wisely. If you find an error in the Gazetteer, follow the same procedure as you would for a potential error in 1598 (change it yourself or seek help if you are unsure).

These are the elements, attributes, and values you will use to tag places:

Element: <ref>
Attributes: @target
Values: "mol:xml:id"

The word the is not included in the text node:

vp by the <ref target="mol:GUIL1">Guildhal</ref>

When Parish is part of a name, it is included in the text node:

to the <ref target="mol:STAU3">Parish Church of S. Augustine</ref>

Parishes can be locations in themselves:

Messuage in the <ref target="mol:STOL104">Parish of S. Olave</ref>

Also note that the xml:id of parishes is usually the xml:id of the church, plus 100 added to the number. For example, the xml:id of All Hallows the Less is "ALLH7" and the xml:id of the parish of All Hallows the Less is "ALLH107". The xml:id of St. John Zachary is "STJO6" and the xml:id of the parish of St. John Zachary is "STJO106".

¶Tagging People

Like early modern placenames, the names of people in Survey of London can be tricky. While some people are obvious (e.g., king Henry the thirde is Henry III in our Personography), others are less so (e.g., we currently have six different people named William Brown(e) in our Personography). Since spelling was not standardized in the early modern period, you often have to rely on contextual clues to determine who Stow is referring to.

Note that, due to early modern spelling variations, it is sometimes difficult to find the person you are looking for in the A-Z Index. For example, this is how Henry le Waleys appears in different sections of Survey of London:

1598 Temporal Government: Henry Waleys
1598 Cheap Ward: Henry Wales
1633 Dowgate Ward: Henry Wallis
1633 Farringdon Within Ward: H. Wales

If you were to search for Henry Waleys in the A-Z Index, you would not find his entry because he is listed as Henry le Waleys. To get around this problem, we recommend that you include many variant spellings of a person’s name in your search. It can also be helpful to search small parts of names (e.g., Henry or Wal) and manually click through the results.

These are the elements, attributes, and values you will use to tag names:

Element: <name>
Attributes: @ref
Values: "mol:xml:id"

Titles (i.e., King, Queen, Sir, Dame, Lord, Lady, etc.) are included in the text node:

<name ref="mol:HENR7">king Henry the thirde</name>

<name ref="mol:YARF1">Sir Iames Yarforde</name>

Indirect references/pronouns are not tagged (even if we know who is being referred to):

He dwelled right againſt the <ref target="mol:GOLD2">Goldſmithes Hall</ref>.

¶Common Mistakes

Compare these passages from Survey of London to the examples explained above. Can you tell what should be fixed?

Question 1:

<name ref="mol:WITT1">Robert Wittingham</name>
<name ref="mol:DRAP3" type="org">Draper</name> laide the thirde ſtone, <name ref="mol:BART5">Henry Barton</name> then Maior.

Answer: In this passage, Draper refers to the occupation of Robert Wittingham and should not be tagged.

<name ref="mol:WITT1">Robert Wittingham</name> Draper laide the thirde ſtone, <name ref="mol:BART5">Henry Barton</name> then Maior.

Question 2:

Lower downe from this pariſh church bee diuers fayre houſes namely one wherein of late Sir <name ref="mol:BAKE9">Richard Baker</name> a knight of Kent was lodged, and one wherein dwelled maiſter <name ref="mol:GORE2">Thomas Gore</name> a marchant famous for Hoſpitality.

Answer: Sir should be included in the text node.

Lower downe from this pariſh church bee diuers fayre houſes namely one wherein of late <name ref="mol:BAKE9">Sir Richard Baker</name> a knight of Kent was lodged, and one wherein dwelled maiſter <name ref="mol:GORE2">Thomas Gore</name> a marchant famous for Hoſpitality.

Question 3:

One the moſt ancient houſe in this lane is called the <ref target="mol:LEAD3">leaden porch</ref>, and belonged ſomtime to <name ref="mol:MERS1">Sir Iohn Merſton</name> knight: <date when-custom="r_EDWA3_01" datingMethod="mol:regnal" calendar="mol:regnal">the 1. of <name ref="mol:EDWA6">Edward the 4</name></date>.

Answer: The word the should not be included in the text node and the value "r_EDWA3_01" is incorrect in the <date> element (i.e., "EDWA3" should be "EDWA6").

One the moſt ancient houſe in this lane is called the <ref target="mol:LEAD3">leaden porch</ref>, and belonged ſomtime to <name ref="mol:MERS1">Sir Iohn Merſton</name> knight: the <date when-custom="r_EDWA6_01" datingMethod="mol:regnal" calendar="mol:regnal">1. of <name ref="mol:EDWA6">Edward the 4</name></date>.

Question 4:

Then is <name ref="mol:ABCH1">Abchurch lane</name>, which is on both the ſides, almoſt wholly of this ward.

Answer: Since Abchurch lane is a location, it should be tagged with <ref> and @target, not <name> and @ref.

Then is <ref target="mol:ABCH1">Abchurch lane</ref>, which is on both the ſides, almoſt wholly of this ward.

The more time you spend tagging Survey of London, the better you will become at noticing mistakes. We encourage you to refer back to the examples in this document as you work. Before you know it, the rules listed above will become habit.

Cite this page

MLA citation

LeBere, Kate. Quickstart: Tagging Survey of London. The Map of Early Modern London, Edition 6.6, edited by Janelle Jenstad, U of Victoria, 30 Jun. 2021, mapoflondon.uvic.ca/edition/6.6/quickstart_stow.htm.

Chicago citation

LeBere, Kate. Quickstart: Tagging Survey of London. The Map of Early Modern London, Edition 6.6. Ed. Janelle Jenstad. Victoria: University of Victoria. Accessed June 30, 2021. mapoflondon.uvic.ca/edition/6.6/quickstart_stow.htm.

APA citation

LeBere, K. 2021. Quickstart: Tagging Survey of London. In J. Jenstad (Ed), The Map of Early Modern London (Edition 6.6). Victoria: University of Victoria. Retrieved from https://mapoflondon.uvic.ca/editions/6.6/quickstart_stow.htm.

RIS file (for RefMan, RefWorks, EndNote etc.)

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

TY  - ELEC
A1  - LeBere, Kate
ED  - Jenstad, Janelle
T1  - Quickstart: Tagging Survey of London
T2  - The Map of Early Modern London
ET  - 6.6
PY  - 2021
DA  - 2021/06/30
CY  - Victoria
PB  - University of Victoria
LA  - English
UR  - https://mapoflondon.uvic.ca/edition/6.6/quickstart_stow.htm
UR  - https://mapoflondon.uvic.ca/edition/6.6/xml/standalone/quickstart_stow.xml
ER  -

TEI citation

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