Practice question · Multiple choice
Four independent chronicles agree on the size of an army. How much does the agreement add?
Hints
- Ask where each chronicler got the number.
- Four witnesses who all read the same newspaper. How many witnesses is that?
Show the answer
A. Less than it appears if they share a source
Why
Corroboration requires causal independence, and medieval chronicles copy each other constantly, so establishing filiation comes before counting agreements. Geographic separation does not settle it either, since a widely circulated annal reaches distant houses, which is why stemmatics is done first.
Practise Source Criticism in Practice
The app has 4 more questions on this lesson, and keeps your place in the course. History I is free to start.
More questions on Source Criticism in Practice
- Complete the practice.
- Put the questions of source criticism in their working order.
- Sort each situation: strong corroboration or illusory corroboration?
- Two sources diverge exactly where their interests diverge. What follows?
- Why is purposeless detail often the most trustworthy part of a document?
- Source criticism is the preliminary stage completed before the historical argument begins.
- What makes a historical argument honest?
- Why is admitting what the evidence cannot settle a strength?