As part of his dissertation*, Rainer Hugener has tracked down almost 1300 copies of necrologies and annuals from present-day Switzerland from state, municipal and church archives or libraries. In collaboration with Ad fontes, the author has now prepared this collection of medieval and early modern commemorative records as a database, which is now publicly available on the Ad fontes learning platform of the University of Zurich.
The online database makes it possible to search the corpus in full text and to sort the manuscripts by place of origin, time of origin, genre (type), material or place of storage. The entries can also be sorted by canton.
For each manuscript, additional information such as volume, mentions in the literature, any existing editions, self-denomination in paratextes (colophon, incipit, explicit) as well as further remarks on the writer or on unusual contents (prayers, chronic reports, slaughter seasons) are listed. Links refer to other online resources where originals or editions exist in digital form (e-codices, e-manuscripta, e-periodica, dMGH).
The database thus offers comprehensive access to the testimonies of pre-modern remembrance of the dead ("memoria"), which date from the 9th to the 18th century and are geographically scattered throughout Switzerland and neighbouring countries.
* Rainer Hugener: Buchführung für die Ewigkeit. Totengedenken, Verschriftlichung und Traditionsbildung im Spätmittelalter, Zürich, Chronos Verlag, 2014 [E-Book]