ABSTRACT
As editors know better than anyone else the tradition of medieval literature is a process of producing manifold variants, be it mechanically created erroneous variants or deliberately intended variants. 219 To distinguish between these variants is often diffi cult, but it is essential to judge the scribe’s intentions. Nevertheless, both mechanical and deliberate variants contribute to the character of a new version of a text, although it is sometimes just a matter of a decision on whether to call a transcript a slightly altered manuscript copy or a new text version. As an aid in making a decision on whether to speak of a new version, one can ask a simple question: does the reworked transcript show a signifi cantly meaningful difference compared to the copied text? In formulating an answer, one has to rely on an examination of the quantity and quality of the variants and on one’s iudicium , that is to say one’s assessment of the evidence.
