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After Honours degrees in Classics and English Literature and in Computer Engineering, Peter Stokes completed a PhD at Cambridge on English Vernacular minuscule ca 990-ca 1035. He was then Research Associate from 2005 to 2007 on the LangScape project of Anglo-Saxon boundary-clauses at the Centre for Computing in the Humanities before receiving a Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship in Palaeography at the Department of Anglo-Saxon Norse and Celtic in Cambridge, where he developed new methods of quantitative and computer-based palaeography.
He then returned to the Centre for Computing in the Humanities to work on the Anglo-Saxon Cluster and Electronic Sawyer projects before being awarded a major research grant from the European Research Council for his Digital Resource for Palaeography, Manuscript Studies and Diplomatic.

 He has spoken at conferences on name-studies, lexicography, Anglo-Saxon charters, image-processing and palaeography. He has been lecturing in palaeography and codicology at the University of Cambridge since 2004, in digital publishing at the Institute of English Studies since 2010, material culture of the book at King's College London in 2011, and formerly in medieval history at the University of Leicester in 2009-10.

• Palaeography and manuscript studies
• Digital Humanities, particularly the application of digital tools and techniques to palaeography and manuscript studies
• Old English, Latin language and literature
• Medieval studies, early medieval history

Journal Articles

'The Vision of Leofric: Manuscript Text and Context', Review of English StudiesAdvanced Access (2011).  dx.doi.org/doi:10.1093/res/hgr052

'The Digital Dictionary', Florilegium 26 (2009): 367-69  

'King Edgar's Charter for Pershore (AD 972)', Anglo-Saxon England 37 (2008), 31–78. doi:10.1017/S0263675109990159 

'Palaeography and Image Processing: Some Solutions and Problems', Digital Medievalist 3 (2007/8). www.digitalmedievalist.org/journal/3/stokes/

'The Regius Psalter, 198v: A Reexamination', Notes & Queries 54 (2007), 208–11. doi:10.1093/notesj/gjm152 

'Shoots and Vines: Some Models for the Ascenders and Descenders of English Vernacular Minuscule', Quaestio: Proceedings of the Cambridge Colloquium in Anglo-Saxon, Norse, and Celtic, 5 (2005), 98–109 

Proceedings and Chapters in Books

'Modeling Medieval Handwriting: A New Approach to Digital Palaeography', inDH2012 Book of Abstracts (Hamburg, 2012). www.dh2012.uni-hamburg.de/conference/programme/abstracts/modeling-medieval-handwriting-a-new-approach-to-digital-palaeography

'Estimating the Distinctiveness of Graphemes and Allographs in Palaeographic Classification', by N. Levy, L. Wolf, N. Dershowitz and P.A. Stokes in DH2012 Book of Abstracts (Hamburg, 2012). www.dh2012.uni-hamburg.de/conference/programme/abstracts/estimating-the-distinctiveness-of-graphemes-and-allographs-in-palaeographic-classification/

'The Problem of Grade in Post-Conquest Vernacular Minuscule', in Producing and Using English Manuscripts in the Post-Conquest Period, ed. by E. Treharne, O. Da Rold and M. Swan. Special issue of New Medieval Literatures13 (2011, forthcoming).

'Palaeography and the "Virtual Library" of Manuscripts', in Digitizing Medieval and Early Modern Material Culture, ed. by B. Nelson and M. Terras. New Technologies in Medieval and Renaissance Studies 3 (Arizona, forthcoming).

'Recovering Anglo-Saxon Erasures: Some Questions, Tools and Techniques', in Palimpsests and the Literary Imagination of Medieval England, ed. by R. Chai-Elsholz, T. Silec, and L. Carruthers (New York, 2011), 35–60.

'Rewriting the Bounds: Pershore's Powick and Leigh', in Place-Names, Language and the Anglo-Saxon Landscape, ed. by N.J. Higham and M.J. Ryan (Woodbridge, 2011), 195–206.

'Teaching Manuscripts in the "Digital Age"', in Kodikologie und Paläographie im Digitalen Zeitalter 2 — Codicology and Palaeography in the Digital Age 2, ed. by F. Fischer, C. Fritze and G. Vogeler, in collaboration with B. Assmann, M Rehbein and P. Sahle. Schriften des Instituts für Dokumentologie und Editorik 3 (Norderstedt, 2010), 229–45.

E. Pierazzo and P.A. Stokes, 'Putting the Text back into Context: A Codicological Approach to Manuscript Transcription', in Kodikologie und Paläographie im Digitalen Zeitalter 2 — Codicology and Palaeography in the Digital Age 2, ed. by F. Fischer, C. Fritze and G. Vogeler, in collaboration with B. Assmann, M Rehbein and P. Sahle. Schriften des Instituts für Dokumentologie und Editorik 3 (Norderstedt, 2010), 397–430. 

P.A. Stokes and E. Pierazzo, 'Encoding the Language of Landscape: XML and Databases at the Service of Anglo-Saxon Lexicography', Perspectives on Lexicography in Italy and Europe, ed. by S. Bruti, R. Cella, and M. Foschi Albert (Newcastle, 2009), 203–38. 

Digital Resources

Principal Investigator: Digital Resource and Database for Palaeography, Manuscripts and Diplomatic (DigiPal).
http://digipal.eu/>, King's College London (2011–)
King's College London (2011–).

Analyst and Developer: The Electronic Sawyer (2010/11 release).
http://www.esawyer.org.uk/
King's College London (2011).

Lead Analyst; Developer: Anglo-Saxon Cluster. 
http://www.ascluster.org
King's College London (2010).

Sole analyst and developer: HandAnalyser and ImageViewer software (first 'alpha' release 30 Sept. 2009). 
http://sourceforge.net/projects/handanalyser/
[Java software for quantitative palaeographical analysis and for viewing and enhancing images of damaged manuscripts, as described in contributions to Rehbein et al. and Chai-Elsholz et al. respectively.]

Research Associate; Database-related development: LangScape: The Language of Landscape: Reading the Anglo-Saxon Countryside.
http://www.langscape.org.uk, version 0.9 (2008).

Reviews, Booklets and Encyclopedia Entries

Three articles in the Handbook of Medieval Studies: Terms, Methods, Trends, ed. by A. Classen, 3 vols (Berlin, 2010).

1. 'N.R. Ker', pp. 2398–401. doi:10.1515/9783110215588.2398
2. 'E.A. Lowe', pp. 2484–87. doi:10.1515/9783110215588.2484
3. 'Scripts', pp. 1217–33. doi:10.1515/9783110215588.1217

Ten articles in The Literary Encyclopedia, ed. by R. Clark et al.:

1. 'The Vercelli Book' (2009): http://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=5767
2. 'The Beowulf Manuscript' (2008): http://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=5552
3. 'Junius 11' (2008): http://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=5553
4. 'Codicology' (2006): http://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=1679
5. 'Cynewulf' (2006): http://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=1102
6. 'Sir Robert Cotton' (2006): http://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=1034
7. 'John Joscelyn' (2006): http://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=11743
8. 'Lawrence Nowell' (2006): http://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=11744
9. 'Matthew Parker' (2006): http://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=3481
10. 'Humfrey Wanley' (2006): http://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=11742

D.N. Dumville and P.A. Stokes, Liber Vitae Dunelmensis (Trial Version, 2 parts, Cambridge, ASNC 2001)

Review of A.R. Rumble, ed., Writing and Texts in Anglo-Saxon England(Woodbridge, 2006), for English Historical Review 124 (2009), 113–14. doi:10.1093/ehr/cen421

Review of D.P. O'Donnell, Cædmon's Hymn: A Multimedia Study, Edition and Archive (Woodbridge, 2005), for Digital Medievalist 5 (2009). http://www.digitalmedievalist.org/journal/5/stokes/

Select Conference Papers and Talks

2012

Meeting of the Working Group on Manuscripts and Textual Tradition, 'Medioevo Europeo - Medieval Cultures and Technological Resources' COST Action IS1005, Santiago de Compostela, 6–8 November. [Invited 'expert']

Dagstuhl Perspectives Workshop on Digital Palaeography, Saarbrücken, 19–21 Sept. 2012. [Coorganiser, with Tal Hassner (Open University of Israel), Lior Wolf (Tel Aviv University) and Malte Rehbein (Universität Würzburg)]

'The Wayfaring Scholar: Charting New Routes for Academic Pursuit in the Age of Globalization', Workshop sponsored by the Medieval Academy, International Medieval Congress, Leeds, 9–12 July 2012. [Invited participant]

'Rule and Variation in English Vernacular Minuscule', Session sponsored by APICES, International Medieval Congress, Leeds, 9–12 July 2012. [Reviewed paper]

'Digitising the Book' pre-conference workshop and 'Digitising the Document' panel, Australasian Association for Digital Humanities Conference, Canberra Australia, 28–30 March 2012. [Workshop organiser and panel participant respectively]

2011

Meeting of the Working Group on Manuscripts and Textual Tradition, 'Medioevo Europeo - Medieval Cultures and Technological Resources' COST Action IS1005, Heidelberg, 3–5 November. [Invited 'expert']

Digital Resources for Palaeography Symposium, London, 5 Sept. 2011. [Conference co-organiser]

'Measuring the Immeasurable? A New Approach to the Study of Medieval Script', International Society of Anglo-Saxonists (ISAS) Biennial Conference, Madison WI, July 31–6 August [Conference paper; see abstract at http://conferencing.uwex.edu/conferences/isas2011/PeterStokes.cfm]

'Anglo-Saxon Script: Computing for Palaeography, Manuscripts, and Diplomatic', and 'Digital Anglo-Saxons: Charters, People, and Script', International Medieval Congress, Leeds, 13 July [Conference paper and Session Organiser respectively]

Round-table, Image Analysis and Systematic Palaeography Symposium, Paris, 14 April 2011 [Invited participant]

For further information please visit http://peterstokes.org

Research

Peter Stokes’s principal research is the Digital Resource for Palaeography, Manuscripts and Diplomatic, funded by a European Research Council Starting Grant (FP7). This is a major, four-year project which will finish in autumn 2014. Its goal is to bring digital technology to bear on scholarly discussion in new and innovative ways by combining digital photographs of medieval handwriting with detailed descriptions and characterisations of the writing, as well as the text in which it is found, and the content and structure of the manuscript or document as a whole. It will incorporate different ways of exploring and manipulating the information, such as annotated images, dynamic maps and timelines and image-processing as well as more conventional text-based browse and search. It will therefore allow scholars to apply new developments in palaeographical method which have been discussed in theory but which have proven difficult or impossible to implement in practice, thereby opening new possibilities for more precisely dating and locating scripts, scribes and manuscripts.

Teaching

Peter Stokes currently teaches several modules at undergraduate and graduate level. He is responsible for two MA modules Material Culture of the Book and a planned new module Digital Resources for Historical Studies. He is also principal coordinator of ‘Medieval Manuscript Studies in the Digital Age’, a five-day intensive course for PhD students funded by the AHRC. He teaches the Digital Publishing module for the MA in the History of the Book and London Rare Book School at the Institute of English Studies, University of London, and lectures in palaeography and manuscript studies in the Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic at the University of Cambridge. He has formerly taught medieval Latin in Cambridge and has been Associated Lecturer in medieval history at the University of Leicester.

tbc

Peter Stokes is an elected member of the Executive Board of Digital Medievalist and Associate Editor of the Digital Medievalist journal. He advises several projects including the Scientific Advisory Committee, Album interactif de paléographie médiévale / Interactive Album of Mediaeval Palaeography (EHESS Lyon), the Project Advisory Committee and Board of the Wellcome Arabic Manuscript Cataloguing Partnership, and the Medieval Medicine Document Identification System project (MMEDIS). He is a member of several professional organizations including the Association for Literary and Linguistic Computing (LLC), Association Paléographique Internationale-Culture- Écriture- Société (APICES), and the International Society of Anglo-Saxonists (ISAS).