Abstract

Nearly everything that has been written about the organisation and origins of the Old Hall manuscript (OH) has rested upon certain assumptions about the quiring of the manuscript and the identity of the scribes. These assumptions originate in casual or unscientific descriptions in the writings of Barclay Squire, Ramsbotham and Dom Anselm Hughes, and while many other things have been questioned, new theories have been constantly re-erected on the same foundations. It seemed to me that the only way of testing any of these hypotheses and, should they be found wanting, of seeking substitutes for them, was to start afresh on the manuscript itself.