'St. Anselm's Dialogue with Mary' - Digital Catalogue, Analysis and Edition of All German Manuscripts and Prints (Fourteenth to Sixteenth Century)

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Simone Schultz-Balluff
• Subject Area: Applied Linguistics, Computational Linguistics
• Term: from 2010 to 2018
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 177690075

St. Anselmi Fragen an Maria (St Anselm's interrogation of Mary) presents a singular case of medieval transmission: the only treatise on Christs Passion in the form of a dialogue was copied across the German speaking area and from the 14th to the 16th centuries, in verse and prose. The corpus includes 198 mss and 33 prints in Latin (162), German (64), Dutch (4) und English (1); this makes St. Anselm one of the most frequently copied religious texts of the late Middle Ages. Cutting across periods and regions of the German speaking area, the dialogue opens up new fields in language history and dialectology. By editing the data and results simultaneously digitally and in print, new strategies are developed which in turn can become templates of new research.On this basis, significant qualitative and quantitative results can be achieved across a range of subjects: Linguistics, Literary and Cultural Studies. It is imperative to integrate a Digital Humanities approach right from the start into the methodology, not just in the final presentation. This furthers interdisciplinary studies and will transform our understanding of transmission history of the late Middle Ages. The dialogue structure of the text allowed users active participation in modelling the text. Via the speaker Anselm of Canterbury, it became possible to formulate questions for Mary on the Passion of her son. This opened the text up for editing, amplifying and modeling details. The different versions show a broad transmission in monasteries, but also among clergy and lay-audience.The main aims are- To open up a singular corpus for the Early New High German and the Middle Low German period with annotations on different levels- To analyze the composition of the codices, the integration of the treatise within miscellanies, and to identify their provenanceMethodological approach via- Combining new research questions with an integrated digital approach- Generating the print edition on the base of the digital format- Teamwork and scientific exchange via the research-platform- Testing the material of the virtual work environment- Improving measuring philological distances (analogue to computing distance in the linguistics) from lexis and semantics up to macro structure of the textThe data and results will be made sustainable via- A research platform including digital edition, in- and external links, access to ongoing research results- A quotable print edition that reflects the complex transmission- A workshop Monastic Contexts prepared and monitored via the research platform - A publication of the results in a companion volume

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• Participating Person: Professor Dr. Klaus-Peter Wegera