Exact dating of manuscripts does exist. Sometimes the colophon lists the date (or other evidence, such as the content, provenance, or codicology establishes a date).
But when we are studying the VMS, visually similar examples are sometimes quite scarce. How many exact matches to the containers have we seen? despite the fact that hundreds (maybe thousands) of people are searching for them? Koen's find is rather epic.
I looked for years for tunics before I blogged about them and yet all the best examples fit into a handful of blogs (when counting mine and Koen's blogs together, it's only a few).
Exact dating from a smaller sample set is more difficult. Many manuscripts do not have a date. They have a rough estimate. And many of the ones that match the VMS do not even have an origin. The closest sample I found to match the 116v text is of unknown origin. The best the repository came up with was that it might be from one of the major centers that used Gothic text. So a century-long date estimate and no origin means we are making best guesses, but with these guesses come assumptions.
Does it look like it's from around 1420 because it was made in 1420? Or is it a 1440 manuscript faithfully copied from a 1420 version (including the illustration styles)?
But when we are studying the VMS, visually similar examples are sometimes quite scarce. How many exact matches to the containers have we seen? despite the fact that hundreds (maybe thousands) of people are searching for them? Koen's find is rather epic.
I looked for years for tunics before I blogged about them and yet all the best examples fit into a handful of blogs (when counting mine and Koen's blogs together, it's only a few).
Exact dating from a smaller sample set is more difficult. Many manuscripts do not have a date. They have a rough estimate. And many of the ones that match the VMS do not even have an origin. The closest sample I found to match the 116v text is of unknown origin. The best the repository came up with was that it might be from one of the major centers that used Gothic text. So a century-long date estimate and no origin means we are making best guesses, but with these guesses come assumptions.
Does it look like it's from around 1420 because it was made in 1420? Or is it a 1440 manuscript faithfully copied from a 1420 version (including the illustration styles)?