The Index Librorum Civitatum (Index of town records of the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Times) as a tool for basic historical research

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The aim of this project is to complete the previously in the Index Librorum Civitatum (ILC) merged information and prepare it so, that for the first time all of the approximately 70.000 until the year 1800 detectable town records of the territory of the former GDR are available in a freely accessible research database. In close connection and as a stimulus for this unique research tool will be executed an in-depth study of the little-studied, but partly complete preserved, town records of the Upper Lusatian cities. This study will show the potentials of the database for comparative studies. The focus of this study are questions of the media, use and the forms of keeping of administrative records and of the possibilities and mechanisms of appropriation, transformation and development of certain forms of administrative literacy from the 13th until the end of the 16th century. The application to a specific historical problem will allow us to refine the analysis and capture criteria of the ILC and to advance them. The combinability of the query criteria of the database is thereby going beyond a mere reference to the cities or location verifications of the records and so it enables problem-oriented research. The widespread gathering of information to previously neglected town records will provide for the first time a broad basis for the evaluation of the phenomenon of the town records in the study area. With the completion of the project will be opened prospects of expanding the coverage area of the ILC.