Nobility and archives. Towards a social history of archives

档案学和档案学最近开始在人文学科中引起新的关注。这在一定程度上是由于最近的社会和技术发展，但也在一定程度上反映了人文科学方法的变化。在各种各样的学科中，信息、信息管理和知识生产问题已经成为富有成果的话题。通常，当前的争论仍然集中在当代问题上，直到最近，档案史和作为一种社会实践的档案史才得到历史学家更有力的关注。该项目试图为“档案史”这一新兴领域贡献新的视角。目前，历史学家在研究档案史和档案史时，通常研究大型国家和教会机构(皇家和宫廷档案等)，强调档案发展与国家官僚机构的联系。然而，这个项目依赖于这样一个基本假设，即只有我们考虑到许多非国家和非中央化的档案机构，才能充分评估欧洲转向档案的全部力量和重要性。积极地说，我们需要尽可能广泛地概述档案历史，包括新的归档运动的所有社会表现。该项目将通过关注被忽视的档案建造者的社会群体--欧洲贵族来实现这一点。对被忽视的“档案与贵族”史的研究提出了三条途径：从档案通史的角度研究档案的贵族做法，研究封建冲突中档案的具体使用形式，以及贵族、档案和谱系之间的关系。通过将这三种方法结合起来，这个项目将把欧洲贵族呈现为欧洲文化转向档案的主要参与者。

Archives and Archiving have recently started to attract new attention in the humanities. This is, partly, due to recent social and technological developments, but partly also reflects methodological changes within the humanities. Questions of information, information management, and knowledge production have, in a wide variety of disciplines, emerges as fruitful topics. Usually, current debates remain focussed on contemporary issues, and only very recently has the history of archives and of archiving as a social practice gained the historians' attention more forcefully. This project attempts to contribute new perspectives to this emerging field of "history of archives". It does so by attempting to refocus our research perspectives.Currently, when historians investigate the history of archives and archiving, they usually study the big state- and church institutions (royal and palace archives etc.), highlighting the connection of archive-development and state bureaucracies. This project, however, relies on the basic hypthesis that the full force and importance of Europe's turn towards archiving, which started sometime in the Middle Ages, can only be adequately assessed if we take into account the many non-state and non-centralized archival institutions. Put positively, we need to sketch as broadly a perspective of archival history as possible, including all social manifestations of the new drive to archiving.This the project will do by focussing on a neglected social group of archive builders, the European nobility. Three approaches to study the neglected history of "archives and nobility" are suggested: the study of noble practices of archiving in relation to the general history of archives, the specifically noble forms of using archives in feudal conflicts, the relationship between nobilities, archives, and genealogy. By combining these three approaches, this project will present the European nobility as a major playor in Europe's cultural turn towards archives.