Cataloguing and digitization of mediaeval manuscripts at the State and University Library (SUB) Hamburg, Carl von Ossietzky. Liturgical manuscripts and chronicles of St. Katharinen (Hamburg) in the context of their tradition

• Applicant: Professor Robert Zepf, since 3/2020
• Subject Area: Roman Catholic Theology ; Medieval History
• Term: from 2019 to 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 428932011

The subjects of the project at the SUB Hamburg are 52 manuscripts (12th–18th centuries) which document the mediaeval situation in Hamburg and Northern Germany. Amongst them, thirteen liturgical codices (15th–16th centuries) and seven chronicles (16th–17th centuries) have not been catalogued so far. Another manuscript which is preserved through a time capsule of the 18th century has to be analyzed as well. 17 manuscripts formerly belonged to the library of St. Katharinen which was the sailors’ patronage church and one of the five principal churches in Hamburg. These manuscripts which are partly illuminated are at the focus of the project as almost nothing is known about their content and form or the conditions of their production and reception. Thus, important information about the liturgy, religious life and the book production in Hamburg in the late Middle Ages is lacking. The desideratum of cataloguing is all the more urgent as the manuscript were made in a period of time in which the clerics of the cathedral and of the five principal churches in Hamburg might have been in vivid contact and foreign influences reached the city by trade.Further 31 liturgical manuscripts of the project formerly belonged to the principal churches St. Jacobi and St. Petri (Hamburg) and to other not identified possessors. These codices will be considered as comparative basis for the cataloguing of the manuscripts of St. Katharinen. All 52 manuscripts have to be digitized in order to provide a source for sustainable use with due conservational care not only for the project in question, but also for the accompanying interdisciplinary and prospectively planned research work. All digital copies will be provided online (CC BY-SA 4.0). The results will be published in print form and electronically in the prospective Handschriftenportal. A workshop and an exhibition will enrich the communication with the scientific community and the general public. Both will contribute to the sustainable use of the results.To sum up: Over the period of ten months, 21 manuscripts have to be catalogued. All 52 manuscripts are planned for digitization.

• DFG Programme: Cataloguing and Digitisation (Scientific Library Services and Information Systems)
• Ehemalige Antragstellerin: Dr. Petra Blödorn-Meyer, until 3/2020