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Help:Data structures

From By The Sword Linked
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(This page needs updating when current changes to forms, templates and properties are complete.)

This page gives an overview of this site's semantic data structures. See also Help:Create a page for a brief guide to the basic entity types and their associated forms.

See Help:Dates for more information about how dates are stored and displayed.

See Help:Page name conventions for more information about how pages are named.

Core properties

These properties are used by most entity types so they are all described here and are mostly not repeated under each type.

  • Has description (type: text; single value): a brief text description of the entity, containing little or no wiki markup. Displayed at the top of the page, similar to Wikipedia:Template:About. Also displayed in query results to help identify the entity without having to click through to the page.
  • Non-semantic field for disambiguation text. Like Wikipedia:Template:About, this is italic text displayed at the top of the page after the description. Text should be in the form: for x, see y. Wikilinks have to be inserted manually.
  • Possibly same as (type: page; multiple values): where this entity could be the same as another entity that has a page in the wiki, but the identification is not certain. Needs to be entered manually on both sides of the relationship.
  • Is instance of (type: page; single value): the type of entity. Also listed under each entity below as some always use the same value, but others can have one of many different values. Should now conform to the principle that a page can only be an instance of one class.
  • Is subclass of: for pages that define classes of things that are more specific subsets of another class but not individual entities themselves.
  • Mentions unidentified name (type: text; multiple values): used in transcribed text to flag names that can't be linked to entity pages. See Help:Transcription conventions#Named entities for more details.

All pages can also be added to wiki categories to classify them in more flexible ways than semantic properties. Categories can still be used in semantic queries. Most forms will have a field to enter categories, with autocomplete suggestions from all existing categories, and a text field for default sort string (if it's likely to be needed), so users won't normally need to know wiki markup for category tags or default sort order.

Special property values

These can be used as values for most properties that have the type 'page'. They represent values that are not known or not applicable.

  • None: the property should have no value because it does not apply in this instance. This is usually preferred to leaving a property blank because it makes it easier to query for properties that have no value, although there are some cases where properties should be left blank if they don't apply.
  • See lower levels: used for some properties of a Collection to indicate that subjects, copyright etc are defined at lower collection or text levels.
  • Unknown: nothing is known about whether the property should have a value or what it should be. This is usually preferred to leaving a property blank because it makes it easier to query for properties that have an unknown value, although there are some cases where properties should be left blank if they don't apply.
  • Not found: the property should have a value but the relevant sources have been checked and the correct value cannot be found.

External identifiers

  • Has Wikidata ID: Wikidata is the main spine for linking to other external identifiers, and is the only external identifier form humans. Identifiers for some other types of entities from some other projects will be linked to directly.
  • Has DOI: used by Article and Thesis to identify online versions.
  • Has JSTOR article ID: used by Article to link to copies at JSTOR.
  • Has EThOS ID: used by Thesis to link to catalogue description (and possibly online version) at EThOS.
  • Has Geonames ID: used by Address to link to canonical record at Geonames. Potentially covers the whole world. Both Geonames and By The Sword Linked make a rigorous distinction between populated places and administrative areas. Wikidata often conflates parishes and settlements into the same item, which has two Geonames IDs.
  • Has Ordnance Survey ID: used by Address to link to Ordnance Survey LOD if the place is in Great Britain. OS data provides National Grid references which are more convenient and precise for maps that only cover Great Britain. These coordinates are not stored directly in By The Sword Linked but can easily be downloaded from OS data and linked to our data.
  • Has Vision of Britain unit ID: used by Area to link to administrative areas in Great Britain. These are historical (Geonames only gives current admin hierarchies) and more rigorously defined than Wikidata.
  • Has ARCHON code: used to link a GLAM to its entry in the Discovery catalogue at The National Archives of the UK.
  • Has MoEML ID: used to link to the Map of Early Modern London.
  • Has ESTC number: for early editions published before 1800 listed in the English Short Title Catalogue.
  • Has ASIN for creating Amazon links to book formats of modern editions.
  • Has ISBN: for book formats of modern editions published after 1970 that have an ISBN.
  • Has BL UIN: for modern editions that can be found in the British Library Main Catalogue. Usually only used as a last resort for books that have no ISBN, but can also be used alongside this to link to BL catalogue records.

Historical entities

These represent entities other than manuscripts and printed texts that existed in the mid-17th century.

Agent

Example: Willingham, George (-1651, London merchant).

Uses Form:Agent and Template:Agent.

Represents people and animals who were alive during the British Civil Wars. Semantic data is fairly minimal and mostly consists of external identifiers because people are well covered by other projects but animals are barely covered anywhere.

Personnel subobject

Uses Template:Personnel subobject.

A repeatable template which creates a subobject embedded in an Agent page to link that person or animal to organizations that they were members of. Will usually record ranks or other roles in a Unit or Area, but can also be used to record usual residence in an Address.

  • Is instance of: always automatically set to Personnel relationship.
  • Has member (type: page; single value): always automatically set to the name of the page that the subobject is embedded in because it refers to that agent, but the agent is a separate entity in relation to the object that represents the relationship. This saves an extra level of query to find out which page the object is on.
  • Has organization (type: page; multiple values): the organization that the agent was in, usually a Unit or Area. Can have multiple values because the same role can be held at the same time in organizations that we model separately. For example, MPs will be related to the House of Commons and a constituency.
  • Ordinal (type: number; single value): the number of the holder of a peerage or baronetcy. For example, '3' for the 3rd Earl.
  • Has role (type: page; single value): the role or rank that the agent held in the organization. Possible values come from Category:Personnel roles and more can be added.
  • start date can use either of the following properties, depending on whether it is known precisely:
  • end date can use either of the following properties, depending on whether it is known precisely:
    • Has definite end date (type: date; single value): if the relationship definitely ended on this day.
    • Has latest known date (type: date; single value): if the relationship is known to have ended on or after this day.
  • non-semantic field to cite sources using free wikitext.

Address

Example: Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire, England.

Uses Form:Address and Template:Address.

Represents physical locations such as towns, villages, streets and buildings.

  • Is instance of: see Category:Address types for possible values.
  • Has WGS84 coordinates (type: coordinates; single value): for a building or settlement, this is a single value representing an arbitrary point somewhere inside it. For streets, it should be about half way along, but can be anywhere in the street.
  • Located in or near (type: page; multiple values). This represents an abstract relationship with another entity. 'In or near' is deliberately defined vaguely. This property is especially useful when an address is given in a source but the exact coordinates of the location can't be known. Values depend on the type that the entity is an instance of:
    • Settlement: an island if it was on a relatively small island, otherwise left blank as settlements usually have coordinates and there isn't any value in relating them to other settlements.
    • Street or Bridge: the settlement that it is in or near.
    • Building: should always include the street and settlement that a building is in or near, if known. In some cases it can also include a larger building that the building is part of or near (or example, 'the White Bear near the Royal Exchange'). Can include an island as well as or instead of other address elements. For example, some castles are on small islands that have no other buildings or settlements on them.

Start and end dates are not represented.

Unit

Example: Holles's Foot Regiment, Essex's Army.

Uses Form:Unit and Template:Unit.

Represents organizations that occupied a specific location and could move (even if they didn't move much in practice). This includes:

  • military units
  • ships (in future these could be split into a separate type with extra properties, but for now they are treated as units)
  • committees
  • guilds and companies
  • households

Properties:

  • Is instance of (single value): existing values are taken from Category:Unit types and more can be added. No longer allows multiple values. In the rare cases where a unit changed type, there should be a separate page to represent each type. For example, Okey's regiment of the New Model Army changed from dragoons to horse in 1650.
  • start date can use either of the following properties, depending on whether it is known precisely:
  • end date can use either of the following properties, depending on whether it is known precisely:
    • Has definite end date (type: date; single value): if the unit was definitely disbanded on this day.
    • Has latest known date (type: date; single value): if the unit is known to have been disbanded on or after this day.
  • Has symbol (type: page; multiple values): used to link to a flag or coat of arms used by this unit.
  • Has clothing (type: page; multiple values): used to link to coat colour or livery used by this unit.
  • Located in or near (type: page; single value): this will be used once on the page if the unit was permanently located in one place. In this case there will be no pages for this unit in the Locations namespace.
  • non-semantic fields to cite sources for start and end dates using free wikitext.

Area

Example: Great Missenden parish, Buckinghamshire, England.

Uses Form:Area and Template:Area.

Represents administrative organizations that covered a geographical area. The boundaries of the area may have changed over time, but the location of the organization can't move drastically. This includes:

  • wartime associations
  • parishes and their sub-units, such as townships and chapelries (although in practice data for most parishes and sub-units won't be imported for a long time, if at all)
  • ecclesiastical units such as rural deaneries, archdeaconries, dioceses, and peculiar jurisdictions
  • civil units such as hundreds, boroughs, and counties. Counties will usually be represented by several areas covering different functions:
    • county at large (the largest extent of a shire, including any corporate counties)
    • commission of the peace
    • shrievalty
    • lieutenancy
  • parliamentary constituencies. These will always be represented separately from other organizations that share their name or coincide with their boundaries, such as counties and boroughs. Settlements will be linked directly to a parent constituency.

Properties:

  • Is instance of: existing values are listed in Category:Area types and more can be added.
  • start date can use either of the following properties, depending on whether it is known precisely:
  • end date can use either of the following properties, depending on whether it is known precisely:
    • Has definite end date (type: date; single value): if the unit was definitely disbanded on this day.
    • Has latest known date (type: date; single value): if the unit is known to have been disbanded on or after this day.

Physical locations are not represented directly, but a rough idea can be given by querying for the coordinates of addresses that are linked to the Area's jurisdiction using the command relationship subobject. More data about locations can also be found through the linked external identifiers.

Event

Example: Edgehill (1642-10-23 JL, battle).

Uses Form:Event and Template:Event.

(This replaces Combat event, which in turn replaced the separate entities Siege and Fight.)

Represents an event. Can cover one day or a range of days.

  • Is instance of: values from Category:Event types. Currently only uses:
    • Combat event for a battle, siege or other combat.
    • Meeting for a formal meeting of an organization such as a court, committee or house of Parliament.
  • Located in or near (type: page; multiple values): For a meeting, the Address where the meeting took place, which should be as specific as possible. For a siege or assault, the settlement or building that was under attack. For a battle in the open, this should be one to four settlements around the battlefield, typically including the place the battle is named after. Can also include any buildings or bridges that played a significant part in the battle. For assaults that were part of a siege, will often be the same as the location of the siege but can also include more specific buildings that were attacked.
  • Has WGS84 coordinates (type: coordinates; single value): Not used for meetings. For a siege or assault, this will usually be the same as the coordinates for the main address that was under attack. For a battle in the open, it should be a single point somewhere on the battlefield. If the location of the battlefield is unknown, then use the coordinates of the place that the battle is named after.
  • Dates: a non-semantic parameter indicates whether the event happened on one day or multiple days.
  • Has parent (type: page; single value): another event that this event is part of. For example, the siege that an assault, sally or relief was related to.
  • a non-semantic parameter to choose whether to include a query for child events. Many events, especially battles, will not have any related events so it's not worth querying every time. This parameter should only be set if child events are known to exist.
  • Has result (type: page; single value): can either be Held or Captured. Only to be entered if this is a combat event that is wholly the capture or attempted capture of a settlement or building (usually a siege, but can include battles that were attacks on a town, such as Torrington).
  • does not currently use any fields for citations for any of the above data as it is expected to be self-evident from the linked sources, and so citing them separately for each fact would be a duplication of effort.
  • queries for participants. The data for these is entered in subobjects in the Events namespace on a page or subpage corresponding to each Agent or Unit (this works like locations).

Source containers

GLAM

Example: British Library.

Uses Form:GLAM and Template:GLAM.

Represents a gallery, library, archive or museum that holds sources that are represented by pages on this wiki. These are currently limited to manuscripts and printed books, but images and material objects could be included in a later phase of the project.

Collection

Example: TNA, SP 16.

Uses Form:Collection and Template:Collection

Represents any group of more than one item held by a GLAM. We do not make any distinction between collections, series, volumes, parts etc. Any level below the GLAM itself and above a single text or object is represented by a Collection. At TNA it can cover a department code, series, sub-series, piece, or part within a piece. At the British Library it includes collections such as Additional or Harley, and individual bound volumes.

Properties:

  • Has parent (type: page; single value): the Collection or GLAM that is the immediate parent of this Collection in the catalogue hierarchy.
  • Is instance of: always automatically set to Collection.
  • Has URL (type: URL; single value): a link to the official catalogue record for this collection in the GLAM's online catalogue. Left blank if this level is not represented in the catalogue, or if the GLAM does not have an online catalogue.
  • Held by (type: page; single value): the GLAM that holds the collection.
  • Has citable reference (type: text; single value): the official catalogue reference that can be used to cite this Collection. Has the value See lower levels if it doesn't have a citable reference.
  • Has orderable reference (type: text; single value): the reference used to order this collection in an archive's reading rooms or similar, if it can be ordered. Has the value See lower levels if it's at too high a level to be ordered.
  • Created by (type: page; multiple values): the people or organizations that created this collection. This may be different from the creators of the individual items in it. For example, the collection TNA, SP 24 was assembled by the Indemnity Committee but contains many individual petitions created by other people.
  • Has main subject (type: page; multiple values): any entities that are the main subject of the collection. This means that the whole collection has to be substantially about them.

The page properties here will often have the special value See lower levels if a value cannot apply at such a high level.

Work

Example: Cruso - Military Instructions.

Uses Form:Work and Template:Work (unnamed works are not used any more).

Represents a work at the most abstract level, independent of any physical formats or different versions of the text. Equivalent to FRBR work level and FRBRoo 'F1 Work' (but we make no further distinctions between individual, complex, container or recording works that FRBRoo does). This is mostly a parent used to group together more specific editions of the text and has little data of its own. It is currently used for written works but in future in could also include printed images.

A work is only represented by a page if there is more than one version of a work or if work level has a Wikidata ID. Otherwise, work level is not explicitly represented at all.

Properties:

  • Is instance of: always automatically set to Work, whether the work is named or unnamed.
  • can have a Wikidata ID.

Manuscript sources

Manuscript text

Example: TNA, SP 16/491/119.

Represents a single text that exists as a manuscript. Equivalent of FRBRoo 'F4 Manifestation Singleton'. Expression level is not represented for manuscripts. Instead a manuscript is linked directly to Work if there is more than one version of the text (including printed editions and manuscript copies), or not linked to any parent if it is the only version of a text.

A manuscript text can be extant or lost:

  • extant manuscripts use Form:Manuscript text and Template:Manuscript text. This covers manuscripts that still exist and whose location is known. Page names are usually based on the archival reference.
  • lost manuscripts use Form:Lost manuscript text and Template:Lost manuscript text. This covers manuscripts that are known to have existed but no longer exist, or whose current location is unknown. Can also be used for extant manuscripts known to be in a private collection where the owner does not want to be identified, or where a small collection does not have any formal system of references. Page names have numbers automatically generated by the form.

In either case, a manuscript text usually represents one individual document such as:

  • a letter
  • a petition
  • a pay warrant
  • an account book
  • a diary

A text can be a parent of another text, for example:

  • a letter book is a text, and each letter copied into it is also a text
  • an account book is a text; if it contains copies of warrants and/or receipts, each of these is also a text
  • a volume of a probate register is a text, and each will copied into it is also a text

Both lost and extant manuscripts share most of the same properties, but some properties are only used for extant manuscripts because they don't apply to lost manuscripts (such as archival references).

Main properties

  • Has parent (type: page; single value): the Collection, GLAM or text that is the immediate parent of this text in the catalogue hierarchy.
  • Is instance of: available values are listed in Category:Manuscript text types. More can be added.
  • Is version of (type: page; multiple values): used to link a manuscript copy to the written work that it is a version of.
  • Lost manuscript text has a non-semantic text parameter to record evidence for the manuscript's existence.

Archival reference properties

  • Has URL (type: URL; single value): a link to the official catalogue record for this document in the GLAM's online catalogue. Left blank if this level is not represented in the catalogue, or if the GLAM does not have an online catalogue.
  • Held by (type: page; single value): the GLAM that holds the text.
  • Has citable reference (type: text; single value): the official catalogue reference that can be used to cite this text.
  • Has orderable reference (type: text; single value): the reference used to order this text in an archive's reading rooms or similar, if it can be ordered. Can refer to a higher level collection if the item cannot be ordered on its own but is part of a volume that can be ordered.


Copyright properties

  • Has copyright status (type: page; single value): the current copyright status of this individual text. All available copyright statuses are listed in Category:Copyright status. Note that some manuscripts will count as published because there is a printed edition, and if the edition is old enough this can lead to the text of the original manuscript being out of copyright, although in these cases, the GLAM may still impose restrictions on reusing images of the original manuscript. Also note that CC0 is treated as a copyright status here even though it is more correctly referred to as a licence. This is because once all rights have been waived by CC0, its copyright status becomes irrelevant, and can be harder to know.
  • Has licence (type: page; single value): indicates whether there are any restrictions on reuse and whether any rights have been waived by a licence, such as CC or OGL. This is only intended to refer to the text of a document and not to images of it, which may have different conditions. If a text is in copyright and no rights have been waived, the value is All rights reserved. Available values are listed in Category:Licences.
  • a non-semantic field to explain the reasons for the copyright status and/or licence using free text. Relevant information can include publication date, death of the author, or whether the document is a Public Record in Crown Copyright. There may be some wiki templates to repeat standard text for common cases.

Date properties

  • Has earliest known date (type: date; single value): the earliest known date when the document is known to have existed. Cannot be set to Has definite start date.
  • Covers period from (type: date; single value): the earliest date that a document refers to. This does not have to have anything to do with the date of creation. If it contains a narrative of events, such as a diary, memoirs, or some letters, this is when the events start. Can also be used for pay warrants to record the period that the pay was for.
  • Covers period from (type: date; single value): the latest date that a document refers to. Similar to 'Covers period from' (see above).
Proved wills only

Related entity properties

  • Created by (type: page; multiple values): the people or organizations that created this text. If the document was created by a committee, only the committee's own page should be linked here, not every individual member of the committee. This often goes for other organizations too, such as armies.
  • Signed by (type: page; multiple values): any individual people who added a signature, mark, initials, or seal to the document. Can only refer to Agent, not any other type of entity. Only used if this is the original document. Should be None if this is a copy that does not have the original signatures or marks, but copies can be used to infer these for the original even if the original doesn't exist (it can be represented by a Lost manuscript text, which can have 'Signed by' values if these can be inferred).
  • Addressed to (type: page; multiple values): the person, organization or address that a document is addressed to. Not just letters: can also include petitions, warrants, and some account books that were submitted to committees.
  • Has main subject (type: page; multiple values): any entities that are the main subject of the text. This means that the text has to be substantially about them, not just mention them.
  • Mentions (type: page; multiple values): a quick and easy way to link to any entity that is mentioned in the text for any reason. Can also be done using links embedded in transcribed text using the name tag, but not all texts will have transcripts and all properties need to be available as form fields. (This property may become unmanageable for long texts that mention many entities. In these cases, the text should be split into sections even if there is no transcript available.)

Manuscript text section

Example: TNA, SP 28/131/3, f. 19r.

Uses Form:Manuscript text section and Template:Manuscript text section.

Represents part of a manuscript text that is not considered a text in its own right. These divisions can be:

  • physical, such as a page or folio
  • logical, such as a chapter
  • arbitrary, such as a passage of a narrative that covers a certain event, even if the author didn't distinguish it in any way (this can be useful for linking accounts of battles, for example)

Properties:

  • Has parent (type: page; single value): the text or section that is the direct parent of this section. In theory there is no limit on how many levels a text can be divided into.
  • Is section of (type: page; single value): always a manuscript text, never a section. This is the ancestor text that this section is ultimately part of, no matter how many other levels of sections are in between. If there are only two levels (text and section), then this property should have the same value as Has parent. Defaults to the same value as Has parent if no value entered.
  • Is instance of: Always automatically set to Manuscript text section.
  • also uses these properties from manuscript text to allow for cases where metadata for the section can be more specific than for the whole text:

Printed sources

Serial publication

Example: Camden Old Series.

Uses Form:Serial publication and Template:Serial publication.

Represents any serial publication published at any time. Probably equivalent to FRBRoo 'F18 Serial Work'.

Includes:

  • 17th-century newsbooks
  • modern academic journals
  • magazines
  • record society series
  • a series of monographs or edited collections

Title is not recorded as a semantic property. This is taken care of by page names and redirects. Name changes can also be added in 'Has description'.

Properties:

  • Is instance of: always automatically set to Serial publication.
  • Has URL (type: URL; single value): the URL of a serial's current official website. For a series of monographs, this can be the series page at the publisher's website. Left blank if the serial doesn't have any website.
  • Is version of (type: page; multiple values): can be used to link a serial to a parent Work. This is for cases where there are different versions of the same serial that go beyond a name change. For example, Mercurius Aulicus was originally published in the 1640s as a weekly newsbook, which will be represented here as a Serial publication with an early edition to represent each week's issue. It was later compiled into a book edited by P.W. Thomas. The whole of this version will be represented as a single modern edition, and both this and the Serial publication representing the original version will be linked to a parent work. This property can also be used where a record society published more than one distinct series with its own sequence of volume numbers. For example, Camden old series and Camden new series will each be represented by a separate Serial publication page, and their parent Work will pull together all of the Camden Society series.
  • Has main subject (type: page; multiple values): the main subject of the serial as a whole. This is for serials that are all about a certain county or person (eg Cromwelliana). Defaults to None because many journals are not expected to have any particular named entity as a subject.
  • New issues expected in (type: text; multiple values): the months in which new issues of a journal are usually published, represented as text strings such as 'Jan', not as dates. If the series is not expected to be published in future, or it is a book series that does not have issues, the value should be 'None'. This property can be used to query for journals which will need their contents updating here at the end of a particular month.
  • Contents last updated (type: date; single value): the date when the contents were last updated on this wiki, or when a new issue was checked and no relevant articles were found. NOT the date when the journal published a new issue.

Books

Books represent any of the following:

  • a monograph
  • an edited collection
  • a record society volume
  • an issue of a 17th-century newsbook or other serial (volumes and issues of modern academic journals are not usually represented here in their own right but they can be represented in some cases)
  • a broadside (not technically a book but classed as a book for convenience)

An edition represents a distinct version or substantial revision of the text. This is mainly a fudge for convenience and doesn't quite meet any rigorous definitions. Similar to FRBRoo 'F24 Publication Expression' but slightly more abstract. The main differences are:

  • doesn't represent exact layout, typeface or graphical additions such as publisher's logos

The main differences from FRBR Expression level are:

  • can be an edition of more than one work at the same time, whereas a FRBR expression can only be an expression of one work.
  • tied to the physical format of a book although still independent of any particular binding or identifier.

Edition level uses different forms and templates depending on whether the edition was published before or after 1800.

Early editions

Example: Cruso - Military Instructions (1st edition, 1632, ESTC S121933).

Uses Form:Early edition and Template:Early edition.

  • Is instance of: always automatically set to Early edition.
  • Is version of (type: page; multiple values): one or more works that this is an edition of.
  • Has ESTC number (type: external identifier; single value): identifier in the English Short Title Catalogue. An early edition should usually correspond to one ESTC number.
  • Has title (type: text; single value): the full title of the book. Not split into main title and sub title like Wikidata does.
  • Created by (type: page; multiple values): people or organizations that are authors, editors, translators, illustrators or other contributors of this edition. Can include people who contributed a foreword. For early editions published in the mid-seventeenth century, can also include publishers and printers.
  • Published in year (type: number; single value): the year in which this edition was published, represented as an integer, not a date.
  • Published as part of (type: page; multiple values): a Serial publication that this edition was part of if the edition is (allows multiple values because occasionally the same edition is in more than one series). For early editions, this is usually an individual issue of a 17th-century newsbook.
  • Has volume number (type: number; multiple values): this edition's volume number if it is linked to a series by the above property. Allows multiple values.
  • Has issue number (type: number; single value): this edition's issue number if it is linked to a series. Editions of 17th-century newsbooks usually use an issue number and not a volume number. It is unlikely that a book edition will have both a volume and issue number, but since these properties exist because both are often needed for a journal article (see below), book editions should use whichever seems more appropriate.
  • To be sold by (type: page; multiple values): one or more people named on the title page as booksellers by whom this edition was to be sold. Should be left blank if not stated on the title page.
  • To be sold at (type: page; multiple values): one or more addresses stated on the title page as places where this edition was to be sold. Should be left blank if not stated on the title page.
  • Has copyright status (type: page; single value): the copyright status of this edition. Should nearly always keep the default value, which is copyright expired, but can be edited because there are a few rare exceptions.
  • Has licence (type: page; single value): licence conditions or restrictions of this edition. Should nearly always keep the default value, which is no restrictions, but can be edited because there are a few rare exceptions.
  • non-semantic field to explain copyright and licence in more detail using free wiki text. Should nearly always keep the default value, but can be edited because there are a few rare exceptions.
  • Covers period from and Covers period to (type: date; single value): the earliest and latest dates covered by this edition. Different editions of the same work may cover different dates if one is an abridged version. Only expected to be used for editions of primary sources that are narratives of events or sequences of administrative documents. Otherwise not really worth using.
  • Has main subject (type: page; multiple values): any entities that this edition is substantially about. Represented here rather than at work level because an abridged version might not have the all the same subjects as a full-length version. This is also why wiki categories are kept at this level and not usually used for works.

Modern editions

Example: Wanklyn - Parliament's Generals (1st edition, 2019).

Uses Form:Modern edition and Template:Modern edition.

  • Is instance of: always automatically set to Modern edition.
  • Is version of (type: page; multiple values): one or more works that this is an edition of.
  • Has title (type: text; single value): the full title of the book. Not split into main title and sub title like Wikidata does.
  • Created by (type: page; multiple values): people or organizations that are authors, editors, translators, illustrators or other contributors of this edition. Can include people who contributed a foreword.
  • Published in year (type: number; single value): the year in which this edition was first published, represented as an integer, not a date.
  • Published as part of (type: page; multiple values): a Serial publication that this edition was part of if the edition is (allows multiple values because occasionally the same edition is in more than one series):
    • a record society volume
    • a monograph that is part of a named series of monographs
  • Has volume number (type: number; multiple values): this edition's volume number if it is linked to a series by the above property. Allows multiple values because some editions of some works are spread over more than one record society volume but can reasonably and conveniently be collapsed into one entity page. Example values:
    • The Journal of Sir Samuel Luke, Oxfordshire Record Society: 29;31;33
  • Has issue number (type: number; single value): this edition's issue number if it is linked to a series. It is unlikely that a book edition will have both a volume and issue number, but since these properties exist because both are often needed for a journal article (see below), book editions should use whichever seems more appropriate.
  • Has copyright status (type: page; single value): the copyright status of this edition. Different editions may have different copyright status depending on when editors or translators died, or because they compile works by different authors.
  • Has licence (type: page; single value): licence conditions or restrictions of this edition.
  • non-semantic field to explain copyright and licence in more detail using free wiki text.
  • Covers period from and Covers period to (type: date; single value): the earliest and latest dates covered by this edition. Different editions of the same work may cover different dates if one is an abridged version. Only expected to be used for editions of primary sources that are narratives of events or sequences of administrative documents. Otherwise not really worth using.
  • Has main subject (type: page; multiple values): any entities that this edition is substantially about. Represented here rather than at work level because an abridged version might not have the all the same subjects as a full-length version. This is also why wiki categories are kept at this level and not usually used for works.

Book format subobject

Repeatable subtemplate edited with Form:Modern edition. Represents a specific physical form of an edition of a book, such as hardback, paperback or ebook. Equivalent to FRBRoo 'F3 Manifestation Product Type'.

Properties:

  • Is instance of: always automatically set to Book format.
  • Is version of (type: page; single value): always defaults to the page that contains the subobject.
  • non-semantic field to specify text to be used as a heading on the page where the sub-template is embedded.
  • Published in year (type: number; single value): the year in which this version was published, represented as an integer, not a date. This may be different from the year in which it was first published.
  • Has URL (type: URL; single value): URL of this book's page at the publisher's website. Also used to generate a link to buy the book further down the page, along with the Amazon link.
  • Has ISBN (type: external identifier; single value): ISBN of a format if it has one. Usually different for each format. Also used to generate link to Blackwells.
  • Has ASIN (type: external identifier; single value): Amazon identifier for a format if it has one. Usually different for each format. Used to generate link to Amazon.

Printed copy

Individual printed copies are currently out of scope.

Printed text section

Sections and transcripts of printed texts are currently out of scope.

Article

Example: Bennett - He Would Not Meddle against Newark (BJMH, 2019).

Uses Form:Article and Template:Article

Represents a journal article or a chapter in an edited collection. Articles are treated differently from books: edition and format levels are collapsed into one, and individual copies are not represented. An article will usually have:

  • one page that covers the version of record of a journal article, combining the online and printed versions into one entity
  • one page for each self-archived version, even if the text is substantially the same as the version of record
  • one page for each time the article is printed in an edited collection

Properties are mostly the same as those used for printed books but combined into one level:

Basic data

Bibliographic data

  • Has title (type: text; single value): the full title of the article. Not split into main title and sub title like Wikidata does for books.
  • Created by (type: page; multiple values): people or organizations that are authors, editors, translators or other contributors of this article.
  • Published as part of (type: page; single value):
    • for journal articles, a Serial publication representing the journal that it was published in. For self-archived versions, this should be None, not the journal that the version of record was originally published in.
    • for chapters in edited collections, a Book edition representing the collection it was published in.
  • Published in year (type: number; single value): the year that the article was published, represented as an integer, not a date. For self-archived versions, this should be the year in which the self-archived version went online, not when the version of record was originally published by the journal.
  • Has volume number (type: number; multiple values): the volume number of the journal that the article was published in. Usually only used for journal article versions of record, not for self-archived versions or collection chapters. May be used with or without an issue number depending on the structure of the journal.
  • Has issue number (type: number; single value): the issue number of the journal that the article was published in. Usually only used for journal article versions of record, not for self-archived versions or collection chapters. May be used with or without a volume number depending on the structure of the journal.
  • Starts on page (type: number; single value): the number of the page that the article starts on.
  • Ends on page (type: number; single value): the number of the page that the article ends on.
  • Has DOI (type: external identifier; single value): the DOI of the online version of the article. The DOI of the version of record should not be used for a self-archived version. A self-archived version either has its own DOI or no DOI.
  • Has URL (type: URL; single value): URL of the online version of the article. Only to be used if it does not have a DOI.

Copyright data

  • Has copyright status (type: page; single value): the copyright status of this article. Will usually be In copyright (published) or Copyright expired.
  • Has licence (type: page; single value): licence conditions for this article. Open Access articles may have Creative Commons licences for the version of record. Some journals use the same CC licence for every article but others have different licence conditions for individual articles.
  • non-semantic field to explain copyright and licence in more detail using free wiki text.

Dates and subjects

  • Covers period from and Covers period to (type: date; single value): the earliest and latest dates covered by this article. Only expected to be used for editions of primary sources that are narratives of events or sequences of administrative documents. Otherwise not really worth using.
  • Has main subject (type: page; multiple values): any entities that this article is substantially about.

Thesis

Example: Roy - Royalist Army (thesis, 1963).

Uses Form:Thesis and Template:Thesis.

Represents a thesis or dissertation.

Basic data

  • Is instance of: always automatically set to Thesis.
  • Has URL (type: URL; single value): URL of the record of this thesis in the online library catalogue of the institution where it was submitted. This is always different from the EThOS ID. Left blank if there isn't an online catalogue record or the online catalogue doesn't have permalinks.
  • Created by (type: page; single value): the person who is the author of the thesis. Not expected to have multiple authors.
  • Has title (type: text; single value): the full title of the thesis. Not split into main title and sub title like Wikidata does for books.
  • Completed in year (type: number; single value): the year in which the thesis was completed, represented as an integer, not a date.

Copyright data

Subjects

  • Has main subject (type: page; multiple values): any entities that this thesis is substantially about.

Shared subtemplates

Event participant subobject

Uses:

Repeatable subtemplate that creates a subobject that links events that an Agent or Unit participated in.

Events for an Agent or Unit are kept on separate pages in a separate namespace. The main events page has the same page name as the Agent or Unit but with the prefix 'Events:'. It can have subpages to make large numbers of locations more manageable (for example, MPs in the Long Parliament attended the House of Commons on very many days, and each day will be represented as a separate event). An Event, Agent or Unit page can easily query for all linked event subobjects without any need to know which page they're stored on. The main events page for each Agent or Unit is usually created from a red link on the page for that Agent or Unit, which ensures that the correct page name and form are used.

Properties:

  • Is instance of: always automatically set to Agent event participant relationship or Unit event participant relationship.
  • Has participant (type: page; single value): the Unit or Agent that participated in the Event. Always set automatically based on the page name.
  • Has event (type: page; single value): the Event that the Unit or Agent participated in.
  • Has allegiance (type: page; multiple values): the allegiance faction that the Unit or Agent belonged to when participating in a combat event (should be left blank for other types of event). Allows multiple values because some people and units changed sides during a battle (for example, Sir Faithfull Fortescue at Edgehill). Possible values listed in Concept:Autocomplete allegiance factions. Stored in this subobject to make it easier to query for participants by allegiance and sort query results into sides, and because there may be cases where we know that a person was on a certain side at a certain battle but not which unit they were in.
  • Has role (type: page; multiple values): the Agent or Unit's role in the Event. Possible values listed in Category:Event participant roles, and more can be added in future. Allows multiple values for example if the same person was wounded and captured in a battle.
    • Units:
    • Agents:
      • for a meeting, each agent should usually have either sitting member or called before (more roles, such as chair or speaker, could be added in future).
      • for casualties or prisoners of a combat event, the values killed, wounded, mortally wounded and captured can be used. If they have at least one of these values, there is no need to add any other value to indicate that they took part in the event. Combat event pages include queries for casualties and prisoners.
      • combatant for agents who fought in a combat event but were not casualties or prisoners.
    • present can be used for agents or units if they were present but no more specific value applies.
  • non-semantic field to cite sources using free wikitext.

Location subobject

Uses Form:Location page and Template:Location subobject.

Repeatable subtemplate that creates a subobject that represents locations of an Agent or Unit in relation to an Address.

Locations for an Agent or Unit are kept on separate pages in a separate namespace (except that if a unit had one permanent location, this will be stored on the unit's page in the main namespace and there will be no equivalent pages in the Locations namespace). The main location page has the same page name as the Agent or Unit but with the prefix 'Locations:'. It can have subpages to make large numbers of locations more manageable (for example, we can know where Charles I was every day for several years). An Agent or Unit page can easily query for all location subobjects linked to the Agent or Unit without any need to know which page they're stored on.

Properties:

  • Is instance of: always automatically set to Location relationship.
  • Is location of (type: page; single value): the Unit or Agent whose location this represents. Always set automatically based on the page name.
  • Located in or near (type: page; multiple values): one or more Addresses that this entity was in or near on the stated dates. Takes multiple values to represent movement between several places on the same day.
  • start date can use either of the following properties, depending on whether it is known precisely:
  • end date can use either of the following properties, depending on whether it is known precisely:
  • non-semantic field to cite sources using free wikitext.

Command relationship subobject

Uses Template:Command relationship subobject.

Repeatable subtemplate that creates a subobject that represents command relationships between organizations. Parent is usually a Unit or Area; subordinate can be Unit, Area, or Address.

Adapted from Linking Experiences of WW1 template Infobox command structure which in turn was adapted from Wikipedia:Template:Infobox command structure.

  • Is instance of: always automatically set to Command relationship.
  • Has role: allows multiple values because a parish is often a civil and ecclesiastical parent of places within it, and because a military unit might have the same tactical and administrative parent. Available values listed in Category:Command relationship types.
  • Has subordinate (type: page; single value): the subordinate organization in the relationship. Always automatically set to the page name of the entity whose page the subobject is embedded in.
  • Has parent (type: page; multiple values): the parent organization in the relationship. Allows multiple values because the same relationship type might apply to more than one entity at the same time.
  • start date can use either of the following properties, depending on whether it is known precisely:
  • end date can use either of the following properties, depending on whether it is known precisely:
    • Has definite end date (type: date; single value): if the relationship definitely ended on this day.
    • Has latest known date (type: date; single value): if the relationship is known to have ended on or after this day.
  • non-semantic field to cite sources using free wikitext.

Other things

Author

Example: Roy, Ian (historian).

Uses Form:Author and Template:Author.

Represents a person who was not alive during the British Civil Wars and is only included here as an author or editor of a printed source. The main purpose of an Author page is to link internal and external resources, so semantic data about the author is minimal.

Subject heading

Example: Sequestration and compounding.

Uses Form:Subject heading and Template:Subject heading.

Represents a general theme that can be used as a value of Property:Has main subject.

  • Is subclass of: can be any other subject heading. Headings are always subclasses, never instances

Type definition

Example: Horse troop.

Uses Form:Type definition and Template:Type definition.

Defines entity types used as values of Property:Is instance of.

Properties:

By default the template automatically creates a query to find all instances of this type but this can be overridden in cases where there are too many instances or where an abstract class is not expected to have any instances.

Role definition

Example: Colonel of Foot.

Uses Form:Role definition and Template:Role definition.

Defines roles used as values of Property:Has role in:

Properties:

  • Property:Has description
  • Property:Is subclass of: another role definition. Some definitions will be abstract classes used to group types together and should not be assigned directly to personnel relationships.
  • Property:Is role in: links to type definitions of organizations or events that this role can be used with. Not used for command relationships.
  • Property:Has Wikidata ID: in some cases blank because my definitions don’t match anything on Wikidata.
  • non-semantic parameter to define whether the role is for command, event or personnel.

Property hierarchies

This wiki does not use Semantic MediaWiki's built-in subproperty feature because this can make it difficult to display property values in query results where the query searches for the parent property but the values are assigned to one or more subproperties. Instead we represent a simple two-level hierarchy by assigning the same value to the parent and child property at the same time. This means that a query for the parent property can directly display the value.

In the following list, the values assigned to the second-level properties (which are usually displayed on an entity's page and entered through the relevant form) are also silently assigned to the first-level properties:

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