Sound conveyed by air, parchment written on by hand, paper printed with machines – the lyrics
from the high Middle Ages have already become acquainted with quite different kinds of media. Now
it has already arrived in the digital age: from summer this year, the German Research Association
(DFG) will be funding the project “Lyrics from the High Middle Ages. An exemplary electronic
edition“, that Prof. Manuel Braun, German medievalist from the University of Stuttgart, designed
together with Dr. Sonja Glauch and Prof. Florian Kragl from the University of Erlangen. The project
fits into the strategy of Digital Humanities, which Stuttgart Humanities pursue consistently and
successfully.
The target of the project is to publish in digital form new editions of all received texts from selected lyricists from the 13th century – the most famous is undoubtedly the “minne singer” Ulrich von Liechtenstein. Compared to a printed edition, this type of digitally prepared text offers decisive advantages. On the one hand, the entire hand-written transmission can be presented in this way for the first time in its enormous diversity since there are no capacity restrictions. On the other hand the edition will be dynamic so that each user will be able to read the medieval text in exactly the form that corresponds to his/her respective interests: as a digital copy of the handwriting, as a transcription true to characters or as an edition text, edited to a varying extent. In any case the texts remain true to their medieval handwriting – the most important are in the libraries of Stuttgart and Heidelberg today.
Comfortably handling 700 year old testimonials
With this the edition takes into account the requirements of a “material philology“, as the
present-day study of literature regularly demands, but to date has seldom redeemed. At the same
time, however, it also offers every imaginable convenience that simplifies handling 700 year old
testimonials from a past culture: explanations of words that are hard to understand, comments on
the transmission situation, references to modern research literature as well as various search
functions. After their completion the new edition is made available on the net free of charge to
any interested party. The interested party can them read it on the screen as he/she chooses, print
out the texts as a PDF file or even sing them once again …
Further information:
Prof. Dr. Manuel Braun, University of Stuttgart, Institute of the Study of Literature,
Department for German Medieval Studies, Tel. 711 6 85-8 30 80, Email: manuel.braun (at)
ilw.uni-stuttgart.de
Andrea Mayer-Grenu, University of Stuttgart, Department University Communication, Tel.
0711/685-82176, Email: andrea.mayer-grenu (at) hkom.uni-stuttgart.de
