Corpus Inscriptorum Vitebergense (CIV). Members of the University of Wittenberg from its foundation until the end of the thirty years war (1502 until 1648)
Final Report Abstract
Until well into the 17th century, professors and students of the Electoral Saxon State University in Wittenberg had formative influence on the reception and implementation of the Reformation, Lutheran theology, but also of academic legal and medical knowledge not only in numerous territories and cities of the Holy Roman Empire, but also in large parts of Central, Northern and Eastern Central European countries. As an intellectual and scientific hub, the Leucorea had consistently high enrolment rates and contributed decisively to the education of politically, socially and culturally influential Protestant elites within and outside the Holy Roman Empire. Nevertheless, there has been a lack of valid historical-personal data for tracing the Europewide processes of knowledge distribution and diffusion initiated in Wittenberg. The research project "Corpus Inscriptorum Vitebergense (CIV). Members of the University of Wittenberg from its Foundation until the End of the Thirty Years' War (1502 to 1648)" provides data from essential serial sources on the history of Wittenberg University for further research in the form of a database. The research project is characterised by its strong reference to the original sources, which were digitised in cooperation with the respective institutions and made accessible online. The basis for this is the import of the approximately 64,000 entries in the Wittenberg university register in the respective period, which could previously only be accessed via older, sometimes incorrect editions. In the further course of the project, personal data were added from other serial sources on the history of Wittenberg University, which have until today received little or no attention from researchers. In addition, for around 1,000 database entries, it was also possible to identify corresponding entries to the German National Library's Integrated Authority File (Gemeinsame Normdatei or GND) and add links to further research repositories. Also integrated into the database are biographical and theological articles of 158 graduates of the Wittenberg Faculty of Theology, which were compiled as part of a sub-project. The integration of the results of corresponding projects on the Faculty of Medicine and the Faculty of Law is planned. As a scientific service in the sense of historical basic research, the CIV database can be used interdisciplinarily – not only by genuinely historically working scholars of all disciplines, but also, for example, by philosophers, literary and cultural scholars and researchers on the history of education, furthermore by historically interested laymen also. Further information on the members of Wittenberg University can be posted via the integrated comment function and thus be shared with all interested users of the database.
