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I will survive
Working out the survival rates of medieval manuscripts needed surprise input from those studying animal diversity – and reminds us on the left to make sure we keep our own story safe, write ROX MIDDLETON, LIAM SHAW and JOEL HELLEWELL

HISTORIANS must work with limited information about the past.

First, what is set down is a biased subset to begin with. The experiences of the working class in England before the Industrial Revolution, for example, are much harder to reconstruct than the royal court.

Second, even written records can be lost, crumble away in attics, or be burned in library fires. So the evidence that does survive today from the past is a proportion of what once existed. But what is that proportion?

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