The Polonsky Foundation has funded a digitisation project which will open up new opportunities for research and collaboration across the library collections of Oxford’s Bodleian Libraries and the German library, Herzog August Bibliothek in Wolfenbüttel.
The three-year project, which launched last month, will ensure that more than 600 western medieval manuscripts from both libraries’ remarkable collections are made freely available online to researchers and the public worldwide through a special online resource at https://hab.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/en.
The project will teach us a great deal about the European Middle Ages and about the history of Germanic monastic traditions and will be of interest to scholars in religious studies, German studies, medieval studies and history, among others. The website will not only showcase thousands of images of rare manuscripts and provide detailed explanation about the texts, and their unique differences, but will also provide background on the manuscripts’ origins via an interactive map.
Most of the manuscripts held at the Herzog August Bibilothek were collected in the 17th century by Duke August and the Dukes of Brunswick-Lüneburg in Wolfenbüttel while the items held in the Bodleian Libraries were brought to England by Archbishop William Laud around the same time and included 46 important Latin manuscripts.
Richard Ovenden, Bodley's Librarian, says: ‘Transforming these ancient documents into digital form helps transcend the limitations of time and space which have in the past restricted access to knowledge. Scholars will be able to interrogate these documents in new ways as a result of their availability in digital form. The Bodleian Libraries are pleased to have the opportunity to work closely with the Herzog August Bibliothek in this cross-cultural collaboration. We are immensely grateful to The Polonsky Foundation for their inspirational support.’
Peter Burschel, Director of the Herzog August Bibliothek, adds: ‘Thanks to the far-sighted and generous support of The Polonsky Foundation, two long-established libraries in Europe will join forces in an innovative approach to digitisation driven by the actual needs of scholars and scholarship.’
Other major projects made possible by contributions from The Polonsky Foundation are the digitisation of the Bodleian's exceptional collection of over 25,000 Cairo Genizah fragments and the digitisation of ancient Greek, Latin and Hebrew manuscripts and incunabula between the Bodleian Libraries and the Vatican Library.
Dr Leonard S Polonsky CBE, Founding Chairman, The Polonsky Foundation, says: ‘Following our support for the Bodleian's path-breaking collaboration with the Vatican Library, we are proud to support its significant collaboration with the Herzog August Bibliothek. Benefiting from the extraordinary opportunities afforded by digitisation, the project brings together the riches of Western Medieval civilisation and makes them available to researchers and the wider public in innovative and attractive ways.’