Wege zur Urkunde - Wege der Urkunde - Wege der Forschung

The volume contains contributions from a workshop that was held in Vienna with mostly younger scholars from Austria, Germany, Switzerland and the Czech Republic. Its subject is the analysis of the genesis, use and effect of medieval charters within the paradigm of pragmatic literacy. The use of charters in oral and written discourses, ways of communication, textual strategies, material aspects, the symbolic value of charters as well as the structure of medieval administrative authorities are the key themes of the contributions. The authors attempt to stimulate a "histoire total" of charters and to give insights into the social dimension of literacy. The contributions cover the time from the 9th to the 15th century and the area from the Netherlands to Italy and from France to Slovakia. The authors show that already in the 9th and 11th centuries wishes and thoughts of a ruler were integrated into the text of his charters (Scharer); how a forger in the 12th century used wide historical knowledge as well as fiction to achieve the intended textual strategy (Köhler); how the analysis of the historical context leads to the correction of a writer`s mistake in a 13th century charter (Wihoda); that the importance of the recipient and the letter`s content determined the form of expedition of a papal letter and that some customs are evident in the papal chancellery during the 12th and 13th century (Egger); that one town`s places of recording were competing and underwent changes in their importance until the town`s administration became the primary place of literacy for the inhabitants (Šediv); that the issue and the possession of a king`s charter had a symbolic importance for the recipients in the 15th century, even if the charter`s content was less important (Brun); that the ducal administration in Burgundy worked very effective issuing the duke`s charters and that the duke could be absent of the issue`s place (Dünnebeil); how with the agreement about the date of the issue of a king`s charter the dispositio was already realized before this date and how the recipient had great influence on the content of a king`s charter in the 14th century (Hruza); what different ways of communication were used to bring a mandate to the addressee (Von Seggern). Two contributions on the history of research are dealing with the term "Privaturkunde" (private charter) (Herold) and with the development of the project "Regesta Imperii" from 1863 to 1906 (Niederkorn). The book proofs that research on the source "charter" under the paradigm of literacy leads to valuable results, that are not only of importance for the auxiliary sciences but also for history in general.