Regesta Imperii - Online Quellen zur Reichsgeschichte

RI-Online

Leitung:

Yannick Pultar M.A.

Mitarbeiter:

• Prof. Dr. Andreas Kuczera
• Dr. Dieter Rübsamen

Anschrift:

Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur

Uferstraße 31

D-55131 Mainz

Telefon:

work +49(0)6131-577-211

E-Mail:

• yannick.pultar@adwmainz.de
• Andreas.Kuczera@adwmainz.de

Already in the 1990s the project was planning the publication of their research results. In the first instance a CD-version of the cumulated first ten regesta issues of the department Frederic III was realised in 1998. In order to use the quickly developing Internet technology for research purposes, all regesta volumes published to this date were retrodigitised in a DFG-project in cooperation with the Bavarian State Library (BSB) in 2001. Since then the RI Online has been available for the general public.

I. Regesta Database

In the Regesta Database all volumes of the regesta imperii published since 1839 are available in full text. Thus more than 140.000 regesta of ruler and papal deeds from the Carolingians up to Maximilian I. (751-1519) are researchable. All forthcoming publications are made digitally available as soon as possible.

The database is freely accessible, unrestrictedly searchable and covered by a CC BY 4.0 International licence. The content of the printed volumes were copied unaltered in order to maintain long-term transparency and citeability. To nevertheless compensate the heterogeneity of the underlying data and to facilitate working with the entire database, attempts were made to align design and structure of the presentation as far as possible. Thus subdivisions into regesta texts, tradition and commentary are to be found to a large extent. Additionally the dating and the place of issue are always indicated. Gradually original dating, chancery memorandums, witnesses, incipits etc. are being optically processed and being made searchable separately.

Apart from online database’s numerous search functions, which thanks to a comfortable and effective research are able to handle the immense data volume and are especially fit to compensate the disadvantages of the divisions Regesta of Frederick III and of Louis the Bavarian published by provenance, a big advantage also lies in the fact that the digital data remain expandable and correctable. Since 2009 this has been guaranteed by user generated addenda which by now makes almost 100 hints and suggestions for improvement from our users – after examination by our editorial staff– visible for the general public. Furthermore were the volume editors’ published corrections themselves integrated into the corresponding regesta data records via the note “improvements and addendums”

As opposed to the printed volumes the database moreover provides the opportunity to directly link the literature referred to in the RI-OPAC and thus even dissolves ambiguous short titles. Similarly references to other regesta and external services, which offer images or full texts of deeds, are linked. Thus reciprocal cross-linking with the images of Marburger Lichtbildarchiv (LBA) and the Hessian state archive in Marburg via the archive database Arcinsys were created. Additionally the pieces of the editions of the (digital) MGH and of the Württembergischen Urkundenbuchs Online are linked. Those links are to be found with the respective regest in single view via “further information” in the right column. At the same time the respective tradition quality of the linked piece was identified where possible.

The regesta database may also be accessed via rest interface, which includes a representation of the regesta according to the CEI-pattern (Charters Encoding Initiative of the LMU Munich). Further informationen about the API can be found here.

To the Regesta Database
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II. Register

Registers of persons and places are an essential tool when working with regesta. They are vital for research in the regesta database, as the problem of variants and linguistic diversities becomes apparent here. Within the full-text search entries may be overlooked, which the register by corresponding references to all entries belonging to a regest records. They are only available as PDFs and only the cumulated register of emperor Frederick III can be searched as a database (beta version). The Integration of the register into the database will provide the opportunity to refer to external biographical databases, to include cartographic material and thus to register personnel-spatial networks in future.

registers as PDF documents

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III. RIplus

After long preliminary works RI Online will enrich the regesta database under the label “RIplus” from mid-2015 onwards with regesta, which have not been published in the printed volumes of the Regesta Imperii. Thus the database shall on the one hand be supplemented by work-in-progress data, partially as advance versions of volumes which have not yet been published, partially as addendums. With this the partially edited version of the regesta of Charles IV, which has so far only been offered as PDF, as well has the in the meantime digitised Nachlass of Wilhelm Hanisch (†1985), which includes extensive and unpublished material on King Wenceslaus and his time (which has not yet been covered by the RI), will be made available and searchable.

Furthermore, the regional powers shall be included in the database, in consideration of the significance of the Great for the empire’s history. The basis for this are the regesta volumes having been compiled in diverse contexts outside of the Regesta Imperii. Those are harmonized which allows a new approach by searching through the entire database. Firstly the regesta of the counts Palatine of the Rhine and the Margraves of Baden were added. By integrating the regesta of the Archbishop of Mainz the database quasi offers the history prior to the Mainz “Ingrossaturbücher” (minute and administrative books), which were already partly digitised by the Institut für Geschichtliche Landeskunde (institute of historical regional studies) in Mainz. With RIplus a platform shall be offered, which enables other institutions to make their digitised sources on the empirical powers available online. As partners we have found the academy project to the German court of justice, the project FEMPOW whitch collected documents on the actions of the queens from the House of Luxembourg and the “Schwäbische Forschungsgemeinschaft” SFG (Swabian research community). The FSG is publishing the regesta of the Augsburg Bishops in 16 volumes to 1517 here. Currently you can find more than 50.000 regesta in the RIplus-section.

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V. RI OPAC

The RI OPAC is an openly accessible literature database for the medieval research into the entire European linguistic area, taking all specialist disciplines into consideration.

The database completely records the zitierte Literatur in the regesta publications and serves as a linked bibliography to the online service. Furthermore, it is available as an universal research tool due to a deep development of dependent literature (essays, book proceedings) from a Variety of journals and edited volumes even from remotest provinces, due to the broad registration of all medievalist branches and of publications from the 16th century up until today. Nowadays more than 2,6 million titles, of which 2 million alone are essays, have been gathered. The OPAC is being updated and expanded continously by periodical updates

The systematic Thesaurus offers the possibility of displaying database entries arranged by subject, time periods or regional allocation and thus searching for specialist literature specifically. Within the Thesaurus field “authors” Integrated Authority File-links are offered. By accurate linking to the Karlsruhe Virtual Catalogue (for monographs and anthologies) or to the Zeitschriftendatenback (German union catalogue of serials) (for journals) the RI OPAC additionally allows finding stock details for dependent literature. Publicly accessible digital contents are also referred to.

We are looking forward to your references to publications not recorded. You can contact us here.

search the OPAC

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VI. Publications