The edition of the inscriptions of the district of Krems

Among other types of historical sources inscriptions are of specific value. In contrast to other expressions of writing preserved in archives and libraries, inscriptions are part of the public or semi-public space, found in or on sacred and profane buildings, in context with monuments various in function, material and design. Thus, inscriptions are meaningful media of writing addressed both to a contemporary and a future public as "monuments of memory". Nowadays, they offer an independent and multi-faceted range of historical sources whose systematic documentation and interpretation plays a vital role in regional and national historiography and for different branches of historically oriented disciplines. The project is geographically focussed on the political district of Krems (initially excluding the city of Krems itself), including the Wachau, one of the most remarkable historical landscapes in Austria. The maintenance of shipping on the Danube, manifold interests and rights of lay and ecclesiastic dominions, intensive viniculture and Europe-wide commerce are manifested by a close sequence of castles and noblemen`s houses, churches, towns and early urbanised market-places, in which artistic and cultural influences of different origin were amalgamated. The project, being part of the interacademic edition series Die Deutschen Inschriften, aims to make accessible the entire corpus of epigraphic monuments (i.e. the still existing and - as far as deducible - the formerly existing) of the Middle Ages and the early modern period up to 1650 by the means of a critical edition, essentially contributing to the knowledge about the area`s historic structures. The primary goal of this fundamental source study is an exhaustive catalogue: each inscription is provided with a detailed description of the monument, the edition with critical apparatus (and translation, if necessary), a commentary part for the better understanding of the inscription`s text and a bibliography as well as a list of related archival material. A number of registers facilitate the use of the catalogue (supplied also with a great amount of illustrations for better comparison) and enable the reader to use the epigraphic material arranged according to uniform criteria for various research purposes. Furthermore, the source material can be used as basis for the development of specific questions of social and cultural history, history of mentalities, paleography, history of art and philology against the general historical background.

Located in the public urban space, inscriptions appear as writing in a very special context and address themselves towards a wide public of readers. Thus, they are - alongside with conventional historical sources in archives and libraries - important for the understanding and reconstruction of historic structures. They constitute very special media of writing in which script and the inscribed object form a synthesis of content and design. The messages transported cover simple, often spontaneously produced "witnesses of memory" as well as representative artefacts of high artistic level. For all kinds of cultural studies (including e. g. all historical disciplines, history of art, philology etc.) medieval and early modern inscriptions provide rewarding source material, once they have been systematically collected and painstakingly edited. The medieval and early modern epigraphic sources of the district of Krems (Lower Austria) offer an interesting glimpse into the development of one of the most important settings of Austrian as well as European history, covering with the stretch of the Danube between Melk and Krems the UNESCO World Heritage site of the Wachau. The inscriptions reflect self-consciousness and representation of the local nobility as well as the savoir- vivre of the rich citizens of urban centres and market-places or the influence of foreign land-owners such as the Bavarian monasteries or St. Peter in Salzburg, both holding vast shares of the region`s vineyards from the early middle ages up to the 19th century. The c. 500 inscriptions before 1650 have been collected and prepared for a commented edition according to the guidelines of the "Die Deutschen Inschriften" corpus. The manuscript which is to be published soon supplies new details contributing to the region`s history as well as to social and cultural history or history of confessions and mentalities in general.