Statistical Study Applied to Europe’s Medieval Literature

ANTWERP, BELGIUM—According to a Science News report, Mike Kestemont of the University of Antwerp and environmental statistician Anne Chao of National Tsing Hua University applied a technique developed by Chao to account for undetected species in field surveys of biological diversity to medieval European literature. Kestemont and his colleagues wanted to estimate the number of medieval European adventure and romance tales, written in six languages, that have been lost over time. Such literary manuscripts may have been lost in library fires, or through recycling into other practical objects, Kestemont explained. In this application of Chao’s statistical technique, the stories were treated as species, and surviving copies were treated as sightings of a species. The study suggests that more than three-quarters of the medieval stories written in German, Irish, and Icelandic have survived in at least one document, while just about half of the Dutch and French tales and 38 percent of English works are still known. Ireland and Iceland may have had more copies of their documents, making them more likely to last, while the Norman invasion of England in 1066 could account for the greater loss of English documents. To read about a page of a medieval illuminated manuscript found in the eaves of an English house, go to "Artifact."