This chapter defines the corpus for the study, introducing fourteen late Middle English manuscripts of works by Richard Rolle, John Gower, and John Lydgate and outlines the methodology which will be applied for unpacking the postulated multimodal functions of abbreviations applied by the scribes in manuscripts under consideration and argues for a multidisciplinary approach, integrating multimodality theory as well as visual code-switching and visual pragmatics models to examine the visual, linguistic, and pragmatic functions of abbreviations. The palaeographic, codicological and linguistic characteristics of the manuscripts selected for the study is provided in order to provide context for the analysis which will ensue in the following chapter.