Digitalising Medieval Livonia – Between AI and Expert Knowledge

Medieval Livonia — the territory of modern Latvia and Estonia from c. 1200 to 1550 — leaves only a limited corpus of handwritten sources, making every transcription decision matter. This paper presents the development of the first HTR model for the region, reflecting honestly on the balance between AI automation and the irreplaceable expertise of historians, and on what it means to apply digital tools to a place where the source material is both precious and scarce.