Cataloguing of the occidental medieval manuscripts of the Göttingen State and University Library - Project details (Handschriftenkatalogisierung)

Göttingen State and University Library possesses almost 450 occidental medieval manuscripts which cover a wide range of subjects. After the library was founded in 1734 as a collection for scholarly research, almost all of the medieval manuscripts were gradually acquired at auction sales to complement the universal library’s holdings of printed books. In the 18th century they were shelved together with modern manuscripts according to a broad subject classification. Thus, they document the reception of medieval knowledge by scholars in the time of Enlightenment.

So far, the medieval manuscripts acquired until the year 1894 have only been catalogued insufficiently. Since they touch many fields of knowledge, however, they are relevant for nearly all disciplines with research interests pertaining to medieval times.

The six-years-project’s aim is to catalogue all 231 medieval Latin manuscripts in the classes Historia, Historia literarum, Historia naturalis, Juridica, Philolologia, Philosophia and Theologia and the 74 medieval vernacular manuscripts in all subject classes. The cataloguing is based on the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft's standards for manuscript cataloguing and the work will be shared by two cataloguers. Insufficiently indexed written sources and their material evidence will be catalogued to meet to present research requirements.

During the first three-years-phase of the project we intend to index 78 latin and 74 vernacular manuscripts. The work will be done cooperatively, one cataloguer working at Göttingen State and University Library and the other at the Herzog August Library Wolfenbüttel. The results will be published electronically in the manuscript database of the HAB Wolfenbüttel and in Manuscripta mediaevalia as well as in print.

Lead/Coordination

Project board at the SUB Göttingen

Project staff at the SUB Göttingen

SUB Göttingen departments / units involved in the project

Former project staff of the SUB Göttingen

Doreen Giesecke-Weiß, Dr. Johannes Mangei, Emese Tömösvári, Dr. Lukas Wolfinger