Website: https://www.oeaw.ac.at/imafo/forschung/historische-identitaetsforschung/projekte/arithmetic
Manager: Michaela Wiesinger, Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften
Staff: Christina Jackel, Norbert Orbán
Cooperation: Zentrum für Informationsmodellierung der Universität Graz, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Ptolemaeus Arabus et Latinus der Bayrischen Akademie der Wissenschaften
Duration: 01.09.2022-31.08.2027
After the holdings in Hungary, Germany and France, the manuscripts of the widely scattered royal library kept in Austria are being catalogued in this research project. An international and interdisciplinary team of researchers describes the holdings in terms of their text, codicology, illumination, provenance and bindings. (https://www.onb.ac.at/forschung/forschungsblog/artikel/die-reste-einer-koeniglichen-bibliothek)
digital-humanities.at/de/dha/s-project/cataloguing-manuscripts-library-matthias-corvinus-austria
Cooperation: Széchényi-Nationalbibliothek Budapest, Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften
Duration: until 2023
The beginnings of book printing in Vienna in the second half of the 15th century are still unclear. Johannes Winterburger is the first to be well documented biographically and in his extensive work. The first prints can be dated to 1492; he continued his work until his death in 1519, producing around 180 to 200 prints by then. In this research project, all Winterburger prints of the Austrian National Library are rewritten. Comprehensive introductions and comments explain the current state of research.
Staff: Konstanze Mittendorfer, Andreas Fingernagel, Friedrich Simader
Financed by the Austrian National Library
Duration: until 2023
The Austrian National Library has a large number of Greek palimpsests. The project pursues the goal of deciphering important, unique textual witnesses of important ancient Greek and Byzantine texts that are hidden in the erased, palimpsested layer of the Viennese manuscripts and, in cooperation with specialists, to make them accessible to the authors concerned. Palimpsests in the following manuscripts of the ANL are examined: Cod. Hist. gr. 10, Hist. gr. 73, Jur. gr. 18, Phil. gr. 158, Phil. gr. 286, Suppl. gr, 59, Suppl. gr. 189, Suppl. gr. 200, Theol. gr. 177, Cod. 954, Fragm. gr. 2. Modern multispectral photography makes it possible to see and examine the erased manuscripts and texts.
Website: www.oeaw.ac.at/byzanz/sprache-text-und-schrift/buchkultur-palaeographie-und-palimpseste/griechische-palimpseste
Manager: Otto Kresten (ÖAW, Byzanzforschung)
Staff: Jana Grusková (ÖAW, Byzanzforschung)
Financed by FWF and ÖAW
Duration: until 2026
The Scythica Vindobonensia (alias Dexippus Vindobonensis) are new historical fragments found a few years ago in a palimpsest in Cod. Hist. gr. 73 by J. Grusková. They contain a detailed account of Goth incursions into the Roman Empire in the Balkans in the mid-3rd century AD and most likely come from the Scythica of the historian Dexippos. Six pages have already been deciphered and published by J. Grusková and G. Martin, the editors of the new text, in 2014-2015. Now the illegible parts are made readable with the help of the most modern digital retrieval methods, deciphered and the new text is thoroughly analyzed. A critical edition is being prepared.
Website: www.oeaw.ac.at/byzanz/sprache-text-und-schrift/buchkultur-palaeographie-und-palimpseste/scythica-vindobonensia/
Manager: Fritz Mitthof (Universität Wien)
Cooperation: Otto Kresten (ÖAW, Byzanzforschung), Gunther Martin (Universität Zürich)
Staff: Jana Grusková (ÖAW)
Financed by FWF and ÖAW
Duration: bis 2026
The prosodia catholica (general theory of accents) by the Greek grammarian Ailios Herodianos (2nd century AD) was frequently used in late antiquity and Byzantium, but ultimately only survived in epitomes and quotations by later authors. 60 years ago Herbert Hunger discovered some palimpsest leaves of the text in a manuscript of the 10th century in Cod. Hist. gr. 10, which he could partially decipher. The project seeks to reveal the important palimpsest as completely as possible. Particular emphasis is being put on the reconstruction and interpretation of the new fragments of ancient literature. The output will be a critical edition of the Vienna fragments including a full commentary by international specialists: K. Alpers, J. Grusková, O. Primavesi and N. Wilson.
Website: www.oeaw.ac.at/byzanz/sprache-text-und-schrift/buchkultur-palaeographie-und-palimpseste/wiener-herodian-palimpsest
Manager: Otto Kresten (ÖAW, Byzanzforschung)
Staff: Jana Grusková (ÖAW, Byzanzforschung)
Financed by FWF and ÖAW
Duration: until 2026
The Carthusian monastery of Herne has had a profound impact on the cultural history of the Low Countries, as a true hotspot in the production, negotiation and dissemination of vernacular literature for lay audiences, in a time where most written texts were still in Latin. In a short time span (ca. 1350–1400), the members of the community collectively copied a fantastic collection of 25+ Middle Dutch and Latin manuscripts, many of which contain unique texts. The Herne monks, who took a monastic oath of silence, were unusually productive and modest scribes, as suggested by the remarkable lack of self-attributions in their material. It is somewhat anachronistic therefore that recent literary scholarship has almost exclusively focused on an elusive search for the identification of specific individuals in the monastery (such as the famous Bible translator of 1360). In this project, we propose to study the charterhouse as a tight textual community, driven by a shared goal. To this end, we will focus on the scribal practice in the monastery, as a privileged gateway into the collaborations between the monks. Using stylochronometry we will study the evolution of the copying practice of the individual scribes and convergences therein. Because a significant share of these manuscripts are still inaccessible to the scholarly community, we will apply handwritten text recognition to produce diplomatic transcriptions that scholars can search, analyze and edit further. Four manuscripts of the ANL will be involved in this project.
Website: www.uantwerpen.be/en/staff/mike-kestemont/research/
Manager: Universität Antwerpen (Prof. Dr. Mike Kestemont)
Cooperation: Antwerp Centre for Digital humanities and literary Criticism (ACDC)
Financed by Flemish Research Foundation (FWO)
Laufzeit: 01/01/2020 - 31/12/2023
Due to a legally required works meeting, all user facilities of the Austrian National Library (reading rooms at Heldenplatz and collections) will not open until 11.30 a.m. on Thursday, 21 November, 2024.
Please note the opening hours during the holidays.