Cataloguing and digitisation of illuminated manuscripts of central European origin from the holdings of the Bavarian State Library (1350-1425)

• Applicant: Dr. Dorothea Sommer, since 6/2025
• Subject Area: Art History ; Medieval History
• Term: since 2025
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 557981620

Illuminated manuscripts constitute an essential corpus for the history of art in the Middle Ages. In addition, they are also highly relevant sources for other disciplines of mediaeval studies, as they not only transmit textual and visual information, but also enable researchers to gain insights into interests of recipients, levels of decoration and text-image-relations. For systematic access to this material, detailed descriptions of illuminated manuscripts with regard to their art-historical evaluation based on stylistic features and history of origin as well as their content and iconographic meaning are required. The project undertakes to create a reliable and coherent informational basis for further research in this area for specialized art historians and general mediaevalists alike. In continuation of an already completed enterprise which produced descriptions of mediaeval manuscripts illuminated in Germany and Austria until 1350, the current project aims at cataloguing (178 manuscripts) and digitisation (135 manuscripts) of manuscripts illuminated in central Europe dating from 1350 until 1425. The descriptions will follow the DFG's cataloguing rules and will be published together with the digitised material in the German manuscripts portal.

• DFG Programme: Cataloguing and Digitisation (Scientific Library Services and Information Systems)
• Ehemaliger Antragsteller: Dr. Klaus Ceynowa, until 6/2025