The Formulae - Litterae - Chartae Werkstatt brings together hundreds of examples of early medieval formulaic writing, primarily formulae, charters, and letters, to allow scholars to examine these sources in context with each other. In the Werkstatt, the user can read several texts side-by-side in order to compare their content, style, language, etc. It is also possible to do complex searches in order to find formulae and/or charters that are related in terms of vocabulary, phraseology, or date.

These texts come from two primary sources. First are new critical editions, along with their German translations, of the formulae that are being produced in the project. We have already digitized several formulae collections and more will be made available as they are completed. The second source are retro-digitized editions of charters. These charters stand in close relationship to the formulae and are thus essential to the understanding of the formulae. Most of these retro-digitized editions are out of copyright and are thus openly available here. Some, however, are newer and are therefore still at least partially under copyright. These copyrighted texts are searchable but the user will have to consult the print edition for the actual text. All texts that are not under copyright are made available here under a Creative Commons license. The formulae are available under a more restrictive Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives (CC-BY NC ND) license, since they have yet to be published in print in the MGH. The charters, on the other hand, are under a simple Creative Commons Attribution license (CC-BY). That means that as long as one notes that the digital text comes from us, one can do with it whatever one wishes.

In the end, the Formulae - Litterae - Chartae Werkstatt should serve to promote and simplify research into the important sources of early medieval cultural, social, and legal history as well as providing a linguistic source for early medieval Latin. If there is anything that you believe could be improved in the Werkstatt to make it an ever better research platform, please don't hesitate to contact us. And if you want to learn more about the Formulae - Litterae - Chartae Project, you can visit our website.

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