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This chapter compares the various arrangements and techniques used by medieval compilers across different regions and religions to mould individual texts into a cohesive whole and imbue biographical collections with unified messages. It examines the structure and ordering of the particular biographical collections under consideration in this volume in the wider context of their respective genres. The chapter discusses the different principles compilers used to arrange the individual texts and looks at the devices, such as prologues and titles, they employed to tie the component parts of the collections together. Due to the multiplicity of biographical tracts, the special potential of such compilations to deliver messages of a specific type to their readers is considered, most notably in regard to the authority, legitimacy and historical continuity of particular institutions. The comparison of compilations from different regions and religions highlights the many options available to the compiler and the creativity involved in crafting collections of old or new biographical texts in the medieval period.
Mahoney et al. (Sat,) studied this question.