Handschriftencensus

Written records – such as works of art and architecture – are an integral part of our cultural heritage, the preservation, cataloguing and provision of which are key societal tasks. Our knowledge of the past is based primarily on texts that have more or less accidentally escaped destruction. These documents preserve the knowledge, beliefs, stories, visions and dreams of humans. They bear witness to past concepts of order in life. They are a repository of cultural memory.

In the Middle Ages, Latin was the dominant written language. But from the Carolingian period onward, especially in the High Middle Ages, lay people discovered the advantages of writing and books for themselves. Knowledge could be recorded, messages, contracts, legal principles, propaganda, but also 'beautiful stories' could be transported over long distances and read and heard again and again.

The “Handschriftencensus” (HSC) aims to catalogue, identify and describe the thousands of surviving vernacular books – often only fragments, scraps or fragments – that are now scattered all over the world. In doing so it preserves a vital part of our cultural heritage and provides a solid foundation for the understanding of the pre‑modern era. 

Upon completion of the project, all handwritten German-language textual witnesses from the medieval period worldwide will have been qualified and recorded using recognised methods. These manuscripts, which may number around 30,000 by the end of the project, are scattered across more than 1,500 libraries, collections and archives, mainly in Europe and North America. For the majority of the manuscripts and works, basic data must first be collected.

In order to cope with the enormous amount of material, the work is being carried out in close consultation with national and international cooperation partners. The results will be made available in a freely accessible online database. As a dynamic resource, the database will be continuously updated, its user interface refined and it will be linked to other relevant information. All of this is indispensable because research into medieval texts and their manuscripts is an ever‑evolving field. The “Handschriftencensus”, therefore, functions simultaneously as a research instrument, a research platform, a standardisation body and a clearing house.