Formulae-Litterae-Chartae

2017 – 2032

The ‘Formulae-Litterae-Chartae’ research project is funded by the Academy of Sciences and Humanities in Hamburg and carried out in cooperation with the University of Hamburg under the leadership of Professor Dr Philippe Depreux. Over the course of 15 years from 2017 to 2032, the project aims to research and produce critical editions of early medieval formulae, which will be made available, along with letters and charters, in an online platform dedicated to investigating formulaic writing in early medieval Europe.

Formulae are an important resource for early medieval research because many of the texts they contain are otherwise not found in archives. This is especially true for charters with secular recipients since the chances that such documents survived are extremely small. Formulae were either created from anonymized charters or drawn up as models for writing exercises, have been typically preserved in collections, and often offer unique insights into the early medieval world. It is thus imperative that these texts be viewed not only as textual, but also as important historical sources. The edition, which will also be published in book form by the Monumenta Germaniae Historica (MGH), aims to do justice to the special state of preservation of these documents. To do this, each formula will be independently edited and published along with its own commentary and German translation. These historically influential collections will also be brought together and made freely available in an online digital edition. Additionally, research into early and high medieval Latin formulaic writing requires comparison with contemporary letters and charters. The project’s online research environment, with integrated e-Lexicon and an extensive corpus of related documents, allows both in-depth analysis of the formulae and detailed comparison with these other resources. In doing so, the project aims to promote the understanding of early medieval society while at the same time providing an essential tool for further research.