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krottmas edited this page May 27, 2025 · 3 revisions

The Compendium historiae

Peter of Poitiers, a renowned scholar in Paris, originally designed the Compendium historiae as a tool to help his students learn the complexities of biblical history. He innovated a linear synopsis to visualise time, a graph designed so that synchronous and diachronic relationships of people and events can be read simultaneously. The sequence of generations from Adam to Christ forms a central axis, correlated with the lines of biblical families and other diagrams representing biblical events. The Compendium historiae clarifies the scientific and theological underpinnings of history, while providing a mnemonic tool to facilitate learning. Peter of Poitiers’ synopsis quickly spread throughout the Latin West. Over three hundred manuscript witnesses survive from the late twelfth to the early sixteenth centuries. Despite its prevalence, the Compendium historiae has neither been edited nor studied with regard to its graphics — a “metastructure” for the order of history.

Objectives

The aims are

  • a comprehensive overview of the tradition of the Compendium historiae,
  • an analysis of the graphic metastructure as well as the texts, diagrams and images embedded in it (recording variants),
  • a critical scholarly edition,
  • an investigation of socio-cultural context.

The project will result in

  • a codicological database,
  • a navigable visualisation of the graphic metastructure,
  • a critical edition of the text,
  • publications and lectures regarding individual case studies of manuscript witnesses, socio-cultural context, and other aspects of the tradition.

Digital and freely accessible, the digital edition breaks new methodological ground with graphic and textual elements displayed in a navigable graph. In making accessible one of the most visually innovative and influential works of the Middle Ages, the project sheds new light on the history of the visualisation of knowledge.

Team

Core-Team

  • Prof. Dr. Andrea Worm, Institute of Art History, University of Tübingen
  • Dr. Eleanor Goerss, Institute of Art History, University of Tübingen
  • Maria Streicher, M.A., Institute of Art History, University of Tübingen
  • Katharina Bauer, M.A., Institute of Art History, University of Tübingen
  • Dr. Laura Cleaver, School of Advanced Study, University of London [Mercator Fellow]
  • Prof. Dr. Patrick Sahle, History Department, University of Wuppertal
  • Dr. Elisa Cugliana, History Department, University of Wuppertal (until 10/2023)
  • Dr. Agnese Machiarelli, History Department, University of Wuppertal
  • Andreas Mertgens, History Department, University of Wuppertal
  • Prof. Dr. Franz Fischer, Venice University Center for Digital and Public Humanities, University of Venice [Mercator Fellow]
  • Dr. Roman Bleier, Department of Digital Humanities, University of Graz
  • Jakob, Sonnberger, Department of Digital Humanities, University of Graz
  • Sina Krottmaier, MA, Department of Digital Humanities, University of Graz

Collaborators

  • Dr. Jennifer Bunselmeier, History Department, University of Wuppertal
  • Dr. Daniele Fusi, Venice University Center for Digital and Public Humanities, University of Venice
  • Tiziana Mancinelli
  • Lukas Alexander Schievelbusch, University of Wuppertal

Student assistants

  • Melina Behnke, Institute of Art History, University of Tübingen
  • Annabelle Berghof, Institute of Art History, University of Tübingen
  • Lennart Rouxel, History Department, University of Wuppertal

Interns and Student Assistants

  • Teresa Potenza, Department of Digital Humanities, University of Graz; --> Erasmus internship
  • Michele Potenza, Department of Digital Humanities, University of Graz --> Erasmus internship
  • Beatrice Tomada, Venice Centre for Digital and Public Humanities, Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia --> internship
  • Matteo Cigardi, Venice Centre for Digital and Public Humanities, Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia --> internship
  • Johannes Ioannu, Fakultät für Geistes- und Kulturwissenschaften, Bergische Universität Wuppertal --> research intern
  • Lennart Rouxel, Fakultät für Geistes- und Kulturwissenschaften, Bergische Universität Wuppertal --> student assistant
  • Lukas Schievelbusch, Fakultät für Geistes- und Kulturwissenschaften, Bergische Universität Wuppertal --> student assistant
  • Melina Behnke, Kunsthistorisches Institut, Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen --> student assistant
  • Annabelle Berghof, Kunsthistorisches Institut, Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen --> student assistant

chigc documentation

administrative and organisational stuff

manuscript detection, description and presentation

data models

workflows and tools

digital presentation

There's a debate going on concerning the way we want to present our NavGraph. Possibilities are: 1) having the NavGraph simulating a roll, which is scrollbar and starts from the top; 2) showing the NavGraph as a whole, with the option of zooming in to see the details of the different nodes/diagrams/texts. This choice is connected with a more general reflection on the affordances and potentials of the digital medium: if we are to remedialise our sources, what are the most effective solutions we can opt for?

Navigation-graph

ongoing discusssions and miscellaneous notes

wiki data

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