<p><span lang="EN-US">The recovery of musical heritage currently necessarily involves its digitalization, not only by scanning images, but also by the encoding in computer-readable formats of the musical content described in the original manuscripts. In general, this encoding can be done using automated tools based with what is named Optical Music Recognition (OMR), or manually writing directly the corresponding computer code. The OMR technology is not mature enough yet to extract the musical content of sheet music images with enough quality, and even less from handwritten sources, so in many cases it is more efficient to encode the works manually. However, being currently MEI (Music Encoding Initiative) the most appropriate format to store the encoding, it is a totally tedious code to be manually written. Therefore, we propose a new format named **mens allowing a quick manual encoding, from which both the MEI format itself and other common representations such as Lilypond or the transcription in MusicXML can be generated. By using this approach, the antiphony Salve Regina for eight-voice choir written by Jerónimo de la Torre (1607–1673) has been successfully encoded and transcribed.</span></p>

In this work, the elements necessary for digitally encoding music contained in manuscripts from the centuries 16th to 17th are introduced. The solutions proposed to overcome the diffi culties that generate some of the aspects that make this notation different from the modern Western notation are presented. Problems faced are, for example, the absence of bar lines or the duration of notes that are based on the context. The new typographic font "Capitán", created specifi cally to represent this type of early notation, is also presented. Key wordsDigital encoding, Music, Hispanic White Mensural Notation, Renaissance, Baroque, Typographical Fonts, Paleography ResumenEn este trabajo se presentan los elementos necesarios para codifi car digitalmente música preservada en manuscritos de los siglos XVI y XVII. Se presentan soluciones, propuestas para superar las difi cultades que generan algunos aspectos que hacen esta notación diferente de la notación occidental moderna. Los problemas abordados son, por ejemplo, la ausencia de líneas divisorias o la duración de las fi guras, que se basan en el contexto. También se presenta la nueva fuente tipográfi ca "Capitán", específi camente creada para representar este tipo de notación antigua. Palabras clave