Submissions & Style Sheet

See Contact for submission addresses.

Scope

The Journal of Medieval Latin looks for articles that examine the wide range of Latin culture during the Middle Ages, including articles that edit and translate new Medieval Latin texts, interpret newly found or re-interpret well-established texts, trace the influences on Medieval Latin texts or trace their influences on other texts, study the dispersion of Medieval Latin texts in schools and libraries, discuss Medieval Latin texts as tools of clerical or worldly power, explain linguistic difficulties in Medieval Latin texts, or place them in a new literary or historic context. The field is wide, covering chronicles, epics, exegesis, grammar, hagiographies, histories, liturgical texts, lyrics, scientific texts, theological treatises, and other genres – as long as they are in Latin and were written in the medieval millennium, i.e. approximately between AD 500 and 1500. The field is wide, and The Journal of Medieval Latin hopes to continue to unearth the many treasures that are still hidden in its soil.

Style Sheet

Beginning with Vol. 26 (2016) these instructions should be followed by authors of articles and reviews intended for the Journal as well as books for the subsidia (Publications of The Journal of Medieval Latin). This document supersedes the style sheets published in JMLat 1 and 8.

Contributors are asked to read these instructions carefully. Typescripts that do not conform to JMLat conventions may be returned to contributors for revision.

I. General

1. Languages

Articles and reviews may be written in either French or English. Most of the rules given below apply to contributions in English, but stylistic matters relating to French are treated passim.

2. Presentation

Articles should be submitted in electronic form as a Microsoft Word document. The editor may request a PDF document or even a hard copy if the article contains unusual formatting. Manuscripts should be double spaced throughout to facilitate copy-editing. Adequate margins should be provided. Pages must be numbered and foot- rather than endnotes should be provided. Right margins should not be justified. Book titles, foreign words etc. (see below, 6. Italicization) should be italicized. Authors should keep formatting codes to a minimum and avoid using features that are specific to their own word-processing programmes. Abstracts, both in English and in French, ought to precede the article proper.

Additional Instructions for Authors Writing in French. As far as possible, the editors wish to observe the conventions that pertain to scholarly articles written in French. These include the use of guillemets, « », and the insertion of a space before a colon and a question mark. Similarly, standard French abbreviations (“v.” rather than “ca.”) should be used, as well as French conventions of citing material. An excellent model is provided in the article by Yves Chartier, “Clavis Operum Hucbaldi Elnonensis: Bibliographie des oeuvres d’Hucbald de Saint-Amand,” JMLat 5 (1995), 202–24.

3. Spelling

In general, JMLat follows modern British spelling, using as its final authority The Concise Oxford English Dictionary. We keep the u in “honour” and the like, and use the spellings “centre” and “metre” rather than the American equivalents. We also prefer “towards” to “toward” and the double l in “travelled.” “Practice” is a noun, “practise,” a verb. “Defence” and “licence” are preferred to “defense” and “license.” We also retain the e in “judgement.” The plural of 860 is 860s, not 860’s. The possessive of names ending in s is formed with an apostrophe + s, not the apostrophe alone: Jesus’s, not Jesus’.

4. Capitalization

In the citation of materials written in English JMLat generally follows American practice, that is, capitalizing the first word, all proper nouns, and all other words that are not articles, conjunctions, or prepositions. An article, however, is capitalized when it occurs after a colon. JMLat retains the usual practice of capitalization in German. French and Italian conventions of capitalization should be used for those languages, that is, upper case for the first word and proper nouns, otherwise lower case. The same rule applies to ancient and Medieval Latin works, e.g. De ciuitate Dei; however, the citation of modern works with Latin titles follows English conventions, e.g. Wasserschleben, Collectio Canonum Hibernensis; Thesaurus Linguae Latinae (when not abbreviated).

Here is a list of some words and word groups that should be capitalized:

Bible (but “biblical”),
Christian/Christianity,
the Church (when referring to the institution),
Medieval Latin,
Middle Ages (but “medieval”; note also the lower case in “antiquity” and “classical”).

Apart from proper names, words commonly found in religious works are not usually capitalized, thus: heaven, hell, incarnation, resurrection, redemption. The words “letter” and “commentary” are capitalized (but not italicized) when they refer to specific writings, e.g. Bede’s Commentary on Genesis, Aldhelm’s Letter to Heahfrith. Titles and offices of persons should be capitalized when they form part of the name, e.g. King Alfred, but not when they are used appositively, e.g. Alfred, king (not “King”) of Wessex.

Roman numerals: Roman numerals used for page numbers in prefaces should be cited in lower-case form. When used to indicate a century indicating the date of a manuscript they should be given as capitals: saec. XII. (See below for more complete information about the form for the citation of manuscript dates.)

Articles Written in French and Citations of French. Only the first word in a reference and proper nouns should be capitalized. If the first word is an article, it alone should be capitalized, for instance « Le scriptorium et la bibliothèque de Saint-Amand d’après les manuscrits et les ancients catalogues », not « Le Scriptorium ». Capitals in French words should receive their normal lower-case accents, e.g. Jean Scot Érigène. This applies to articles written in English as well.

5. Punctuation

a. Quotation Marks

The most important punctuation rule for contributors to observe relates to the use of quotation marks. Here, JMLat follows American practice. We use double quotation marks for all citations except for a quotation within a quotation, where single marks should be employed. Words used as words should also be surrounded by double quotation marks; and, of course, titles of scholarly articles and dissertations should be surrounded by double quotes. The closing quotation mark is placed outside periods, commas, and question marks, but not colons and semicolons. In citing articles affixed with a query, a comma should follow the question mark inside the quotation mark, e.g. Michael Winterbottom, “A ‘Celtic’ Hyperbaton?,” The Bulletin of the Board of Celtic Studies, etc.

When a single quotation mark coincides with a double quotation mark, period and comma should be inside both the single and the double quotation mark, e.g. Martin Camargo, “In Search of Geoffrey of Vinsauf’s Lost ‘Long Documentum,’” The Journal of Medieval Latin 22 (2012), 149–83.

Articles Written in French. Articles and reviews written in French, but not articles written in English citing French, should employ guillemets (« ») in place of quotation marks, following the same rule for the employment of double and single quotes. A single space should follow the opening guillemet and precede the closing one.

b. Hyphens and Dashes

JMLat practice differs from British in the use of hyphens. Hyphens should generally be avoided in noun clusters, e.g. “word groups,” not “word-groups.” They should also not be used in adjectival clusters used predicatively, e.g. “Dr. Bloggs’s work is well known,” not “well-known.” However, they should be inserted in adjectival clusters used attributively, e.g. “The well-known work of Dr. Bloggs,” “a seventh- century computistical text.” Some examples of word groups written as a single word (without hyphens): altogether (but “all together” in the sense of “in unison”), nonetheless, shelfmark, straightaway (meaning “immediately”), wordplay. There should not be a hyphen in names starting with “ps.”: ps. Methodius, ps. Dionysus.

Except for contributions written in French, hyphenated French place names should be replaced by their English equivalents, e.g. St. Omer, St. Amand, St. Denis not Saint-Omer, Saint-Amand, Saint-Denis. Dashes should be used sparingly. When used, they should be written as two hyphens in succession.

c. Commas

Commas should be used to set off dates, but not within dates, e.g. “On 24 September 897, King Bodo I led his troops into the field.” They should be used to set off words like “however,” “nonetheless,” to mark apposition, and to set off non-restrictive clauses. (These last should be introduced by the words “who” or “which,” while restrictive clauses should be introduced by “that.”) JMLat practice differs from British in using commas to set off all the items in a series, e.g. “truth, grace, and beauty,” not “truth, grace and beauty.” Also note “e.g.” and “i.e.” are preceded but not followed by commas.

d. Periods

JMLat practice differs from British in placing periods after abbreviated titles, e.g. Mr., Ms., Dr., Prof., ps.

6. Italicization

Titles of books, but not dissertations, should be italicized; likewise, the titles of journals. An exception is the books of the Bible, which should be cited with neither italics nor quotation marks. The titles of publication series should also be left plain in order to contrast with the italicized title of the particular volume (examples below). Foreign-language words should usually be italicized; this rule applies to individual words and very short groups. Long phrases, whole sentences, and larger groupings in a foreign language should be placed between quotation marks rather than italicized. Latin words commonly used in scholarly contexts are not italicized, thus: e.g., i.e., infra, supra, ibid., etc., passim, verbatim.

7. Bolding

JMLat practice requires the bolding of all letters (capital or lower case) that refer to manuscript sigla, thus: Paris lat. 13026 (P). Bolding is occasionally used elsewhere, at the editors’ discretion, for tables and to introduce new sections.

8. Spacing

A single space should follow each sentence (between the period and the ensuing capital letter); a single space should also follow commas, colons, and other punctuation marks. The first line of new paragraphs should be marked with a tab. There should be no space between initials in personal names: E.A. Lowe, not E. A. Lowe. Additional rules for spacing in the citation of publications will be given below.

9. Numbers

In most cases, JMLat prefers Arabic numbers to Roman. The exceptions are page numbers in the preface of a book, manuscript shelf marks, and, obviously, the direct citation of Latin material containing Roman numerals. Even where there is strong historical precedent for citing a multi-volume work by Roman numerals (e.g. the Patrologia Latina), the editors require that the Arabic numeral equivalent be given. Arabic numbers should not be written in small caps because of the ease of confusion with Roman numerals. Numbers should be given in words if less than 100 (with the exception of quoted material, statistical tables, and the dimensions of manuscripts). Thus: “a twelfth-century missal,” not, “a 12th-century missal,” but “45 × 95 mm.” Numbers in inclusive dates should be given in complete form, thus: “910–930,” not “910–30.” By contrast, inclusive page numbers (and column numbers in the PL) should be cited as follows:

70–76 (not 70–6)
700–6 (not 700–706, or 700–06)
700–52 (not 700–752)
752–56 (not 752–6, or 752–756).

Inclusive page numbers should always be given. Abbreviations such as “ff.” and “sqq.” should be avoided in reviews as well as articles.

Contributions Written in French. The citation of page numbers should follow French academic practice, that is, full figures should be given, e.g. p. 700–752. (Note as well the single p. for pages.)

10. Abbreviations

Following is a selection of acceptable JMLat abbreviations; these should not be italicized. Additional examples will be given in the section on reference, below.

b.: born (in parentheses with a date)
ca.: circa
ch.: chapter
d.: died (in parentheses with a date)
ed.: edited by
esp.: especially (used only in citations)
fol., fols.: folio, folios
MS, MSS: manuscript, manuscripts
n.: note
p., pp.: page, pages
repr.: reprinted
trans.: translator/translated by (see below, III.B.1.d An edited or translated book)
vol., vols.: volume, volumes

Note that these abbreviations should be used only in giving dates or references. Authors of both articles and reviews should avoid referring to “the MSS” and use the full form “manuscript/manuscripts,” except when fully citing a given manuscript by shelf mark (see below). Instead of “cf.” authors should use “compare” or “see,” and “lines” instead of “ll.” (which can easily be confused with the numeral 11.) The abbreviations “op. cit.” should be avoided altogether and a short form of the title should be used instead (see below, II.6. Subsequent References).

Contributions Written in French. Standard French abbreviations should be used, e.g. v. (vers) should be used in place of ca. (circa), Ms. and Mss. should be used in place of MS, MSS, a single p. should be used to represent pages, and the like. (See Chartier’s article in vol. 5 for a model.)

II. Citation of Materials

1. General Style

References should be given in footnotes, not the body of the work. Bibliographies to articles are included only in exceptional cases, and the editors should be consulted beforehand. Accordingly, it is not JMLat style to key references to a bibliography, as is the common practice in Social Sciences publications. Thus it is not acceptable (either in the body of the work or in the notes) to employ a reference such as “Bloggs 1971, p. 00.” Rather, contributors should refer to “an article by Bloggs,” then give a complete reference in a footnote.

2. Name of Cited Author

The first citation of a work should normally include the author’s full given name(s) or else two or more initials for ease of identification. In some cases this may entail additional research; for example, in older French and Belgian publications, authors are often cited by M. or D. (standing for Monsieur, Dom), then a surname. It is the contributor’s responsibility to supply fuller information.

3. Title of Cited Work

The first reference to a publication should give the complete title including any subtitle(s). In the case of a book this should be followed by a reference to a series (where applicable), then place and date of publication, followed by relevant pages. Names of publishers are rarely given. Exceptions are allowed in the case of publications by societies or other circumstances where omission of the publisher’s name would make tracing the publication difficult. Where a date of publication is not available, this should be indicated by “n.d.” For the citation of articles, chapters in books, etc., see below.

4. Place of Publication

English place names should normally be used for place-of-publication data in contributions written in English. Thus Florence, Munich, St. Gall rather than Firenze, München, Sankt Gallen. An exception may be allowed in instances where English equivalents of foreign place names inhibit recognition; thus Livorno is preferable to Leghorn. Publications emanating from smaller centres in the USA should include mention of the state given in the new-style abbreviation, e.g. Davis, CA. Note that Cambridge in England is just Cambridge, while Cambridge in Massachusetts is Cambridge, MA.

Contributions in French. Contributors writing in French should follow French conventions for place names.

5. Editions of Books

Books should normally be cited by their latest edition. Anastatic reprints (where no revision is involved) should not be cited. Contributors should take special care to ensure that they cite the most recent (or else “best”) edition of Latin works. The outmoded, and often inaccurate, editions of the Patrologia Latina should certainly not be used where newer and better ones are available.

Note on the Bible. Bible verses should nearly always be cited according to the Vulgate version. An exception consists in the use of the Vetus Latina versions, where the Beuron editions should be used. If translations of the Vulgate are provided, they should be drawn from a current edition of the Douay-Rheims version.

Note on Classical Latin Texts. Well-known works of classical authors may be cited according to the system of abbreviations in Oxford Latin Dictionary or Thesaurus Linguae Latinae. Full bibliographical data need not be given unless there is reason to dicuss a particular edition.

6. Subsequent References

All subsequent references to secondary literature should consist of the author’s surname only, followed by a short title that should be used consistently throughout. The abbreviation “op. cit.” is not acceptable. “Ibid.” is to be used only in a note immediately following a note containing the same work cited, and should only be employed only when the reference is to the same work and page number(s). Otherwise, the author’s surname and the short title should be given again, followed by the different page numbers. In long contributions it may be useful to refer to the note number of the first citation of a work with the words “as in n. 00” enclosed in parentheses. This is especially useful in cases where the reference is to an author who has written other works cited in the same contribution.

7. Abbreviations of Cited Material

JMLat employs a restricted number of abbreviations; these usually apply to journals concentrating on Medieval Latin language and literature, Latin dictionaries and glossary collections, and the most commonly-recognized text collections.

a. Dictionaries

DMLBS: Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources
OLD: Oxford Latin Dictionary
TLL: Thesaurus Linguae Latinae

Note on the Use of Dictionaries. Generally, Lewis and Short should not be cited as an authority; use instead TLL and OLD for classical/Late Latin works. Du Cange’s sixteenth-century work should be used with extreme caution.

b. Text Collections

PL

Patrologia Latina

PG

Patrologia Graeca

CSEL

Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum

CCSL

Corpus Christianorum, Series Latina

CCSG

Corpus Christianorum, Series Graeca

CCCM

Corpus Christianorum, Continuatio Medievalis

MGH

Monumenta Germaniae Historica

SS: Scriptores
LL: Leges
AA: Auctores Antiquissimi
Epp.: Epistulae
PLAC: Poetae Latini Aevi Carolini
Rer. Mer.: Scriptores Rerum Merovingicarum

RS

Rolls Series

III. Examples of First and Subsequent References

A. Primary Sources

1. Manuscripts

The first full reference to a manuscript should give the name of the city, the name of the library, the shelfmark, and, in parentheses, the manuscript’s date and the origin or provenance. Folio numbers should be given in full:

Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, MS clm 4636, part 2 (saec. XII², Benediktbeuern), fols. 105r–6v.
Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, MS Vat. reg. lat. 321 (saec. IX–X, Fleury [?]), fols. 1r–12v.
St. Gall, Stiftsbibliothek, MS 135 (saec. X–XI, St. Gall [?]), pp. 13–15. (Note that St. Gall Stiftsbibliothek manuscripts are cited by pages, not folios.)

Subsequent references:

Munich, clm 4636, fols. 105r–6v.
Vat. reg. lat. 321, fols. 1r–12v.
St. Gall 135, pp. 13–15.

Other examples of short references:

Leiden Voss. Q.69
London Harley 3376
Munich clm 6302

Frequently repeated references may be reduced to “Voss. Q.69,” “Harley 3376,” and “clm 6302.” Authors may work out their own systems for the more involved references to manuscripts in the Oxford and Cambridge colleges, provided that these are carried out consistently.

Dates for manuscripts should be given as “saec.” followed by the century number in capital Roman numerals, followed by the designations ineunte or exeunte abbreviated as in. and ex. (note periods) and placed without a space next to the Roman numeral:

St. Gall, Stiftsbibliothek, MS 905, saec. Xex., pp. 115r–18v.

An alternative to this system is the use of suprascript numerals next to the century number to indicate first, second, third, or fourth quarter of the century (e.g. saec. XII^3–4, for a manuscript written in the second half of the twelfth century).

2. The Bible (see above under Editions of Books)

The Bible should be cited by an abbreviated title of the particular book based on the standard Vulgate abbreviations, e.g. Gen., Exod., Lev., Num., Deut. This should not be italicized; examples:

Gen. 3.1
1 Cor. 2.5–8

3. Ancient (Classical) Works (see above under Editions of Books)

Normally the author’s name and abbreviated title followed by book, chapter, and section will suffice even for a first reference; in the case of poetry, simply give the book no. followed by the verse(s):

Cicero, De orat. 2.13.54–57
Ovid, Met. 15.879.

If a specific edition is cited, then a line and page ref. to the edition should be given as follows:

Apuleius, Met. 3.22, ed. Helm, p. 68.16–21.

4. Medieval Works

Provide the medieval author’s name and title of the work followed by chapter and book or other division; then give the editor, title of the volume (italicized), the series followed by number (not italicized), publication data in parentheses, then pages.

Bede, De temporum ratione 18, ed. Charles W. Jones, Opera Didascalia Pars II, CCSL 123B (Turnhout, 1977), pp. 339–43.
Ermoldus Nigellus, Carm. Dümmler, MGH PLAC 2 (Berlin, 1884), p. 59. (Subsequent references to vol. 2 may omit the publication data: PLAC 2:61. No separate title is given here, since it is identical to the title of the series subsection.)

Note: Citations from the Patrologia Latina (abbreviated PL) should normally include the A–D reference after the column reference.

B. Secondary Sources

1. Books

a. A freestanding volume

Nora K. Chadwick, Poetry and Letters in Early Christian Gaul (London, 1955), pp. 165–69.

b. A book in a series

John J. Contreni, The Cathedral School of Laon from 850 to 930: Its Manuscripts and Masters, Münchener Beiträge zur Mediävistik und Renaissance-Forschung 29 (Munich, 1978), pp. 48–49.

c. A multi-volume work

Max Manitius, Geschichte der lateinischen Literatur des Mittelalters, 3 vols. (Munich, 1911–1931), 1:229–34.

An alternative to this style:

Max Manitius, Geschichte der lateinischen Literatur des Mittelalters, vol. 1 (Munich, 1911), pp. 229–34.

d. An edited or translated book

Tradition und Wertung: Festschrift für Franz Brunhölzl zum 65. Geburtstag, ed. Günter Bernt, Fidel Rädle, and Gabriel Silagi (Sigmaringen, 1989), pp. 97–105.

(Note that “ed.” stands for “edited by”; this does not vary with the number of editors; the same holds for “trans.” A subsequent reference might be: Tradition und Wertung, ed. G. Bernt et al.)

2. Dissertations

Citations of unpublished dissertations should give the author’s full name, the full title of the dissertation in quotation marks, the words “Ph.D. diss.,” then the name of the university and the date; thus:

C.J. McDonough, “The Verse of Martianus Capella: Text, Translation, and Commentary of the Poetry in Books 1–5” (Ph.D. diss., University of Toronto, 1968), p. 50.

3. Articles

a. Articles in Journals

Michael D. Reeve, “The Transmission of the Historia Regum Britanniae,” The Journal of Medieval Latin 1 (1991), 73–117, at pp. 80–85.

A subsequent reference might be:

Reeve, “The Transmission,” p. 101.

(Note the use of p./pp. here and in the above example.)

Note on Reprinted Articles. If an article appears in a revised and updated form in a collection of the author’s own papers, this version should be cited rather than the original; thus:

Michael Lapidge, “The Hermeneutic Style in Tenth-Century Anglo-Latin Literature,” in Anglo-Latin Literature 900–1066, ed. M. Lapidge (London, 1993), pp. 105–49.

(This style obviates the labour of searching for corresponding page numbers in the original publication.)

In the case of Variorum Reprints, however, the original publication data should be given, e.g.

Charles W. Jones, “The Byrhthferth Glosses,” Medium Ævum 7 (1938), 81–97; repr. in Charles W. Jones, Bede, the Schools and the Computus, ed. Wesley Stevens (Aldershot, Hampshire, 1994), ch. 1.

(Note that page numbers are not repeated because they are identical to those of the original publication.)

b. Articles in Books (Conference Proceedings, Festschriften, etc.)

Walter Berschin, “Sanktgallische Offiziendichtung aus ottonischer Zeit,” in Lateinische Dichtungen des X. und XI. Jahrhunderts: Festgabe für Walther Bulst, ed. W. Berschin (Heidelberg, 1981), pp. 13–48, at 35–36.

(Note how the use of pp. here differs from that of an article citation.)

A subsequent reference might be:

Berschin, “Sanktgallische Offiziendichtung,” p. 37.

A reference to another article in the same collection might be:

Ludwig Bieler, “Liturgische Patrickshymnen,” in Lateinische Dichtungen, ed. W. Berschin, pp. 49–59, at 49.

Note that the phrase “(as in n. 00)” may be used after the editor’s name if there is a long separation between this reference and the first one containing the full bibliographic details.

IV. Special Instructions for Reviews

1. Presenting the Title of the Book under Review

A. A monograph

Author’s name, followed by title (italicized), then the series and series number, publication data, number of pages and plates. Do not give price. Thus:

Richard Newhauser. The Treatise on Vices and Virtues in Latin and the Vernacular. Typologie des sources du moyen âge occidental 68. Turnhout: Brepols, 1993. Pp. 205, 3 plates.

B. A critical edition

The editor’s name should appear first, even if it is not given thus on the title page, e.g.

Elizabeth Revell, ed. The Latin Letters of Peter of Blois. Auctores Britannici Medii Aevi 13. Oxford: Oxford University Press, for the British Academy. Pp. xxxvii, 384.

C. A collection of essays

The title comes first, followed by the editor’s name, then the publication data:

De l’homélie au sermon: Histoire de la prédication médiévale. Actes du Colloque international de Louvain-la-Neuve (9–11 juillet 1992). Ed. Jacqueline Hamesse and Xavier Harmand. Publications de l’Institut d’Études Médiévales 14. Louvain-la-Neuve: Université Catholique de Louvain, 1993. Pp. viii, 380.

2. Other Matters

Reviews should normally be about 1200 words in length. Reviewers should be sparing in their use of footnotes and should follow the guidelines for contributions set out above. The reviewer’s name and university affiliation should be given at the end of the review.

V. Presentation of Bibliography in “The Publications”

The presentation of items in the bibliography of the “The Publications” approximates that of the review section in JMLat, with the exception that the names of publishers are normally omitted. Thus:

A. Book with a Single Author

Speer, Andreas. Die Entdeckte Natur: Untersuchung zu Begründungsversuchen einer ‘scientia naturalis’ im 12. Jahrhundert. Studien und Texte zur Geistesgeschichte des Mittelalters 45. Leiden, 1995.

B. Book with Multiple Authors

Stiene, Heinz Erich and Jutta Grub, eds. Verskonkordanz zur Alexandreis des Walter von Châtillon. Hildesheim, Zurich, and New York, 1985.

C. Article in a Journal

Fowler, D.P. “Narrate and Describe: The Problem of Ekphrasis,” The Journal of Roman Studies 81 (1991), 25–35.

D. Article in a Book

Schmidt, Paul Gerhard. “The Quotation in Goliardic Poetry: The Feast of Fools and the Goliardic Structure cum auctoritate,” in Latin Poetry and the Classical Tradition: Essays in Medieval and Renaissance Literature. Ed. Peter Godman and Oswyn Murray. Oxford, 1990, pp. 39–55.