Corpus Masoreticum: The Inculturation of the Masora in Western European Jewish Learning Culture from the 11th to the 14th Centuries. Digital Development of a Forgotten Culture of Knowledge

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The aim of this project is the first ever philological engagement with the Western European Masora tradition from the 11th to the 14th centuries. The Masora refers to rules of orthography, syntax, vocalization and cantillation of the consonantal text of the Hebrew Bible. The earliest Masoretic notes in Oriental Bible codices (9th–10th centuries) were written in linear form and designed to ensure accurate transmission and copying of the text. These Masoretic traditions arrived in medieval Ashkenaz (Germany and Northern France) from the 11th century onwards and differ from the Oriental Masora not only with respect to their philological content but also regarding their layout and mise-en-texte in the form of micrographic illustrations. In its first funding stage, the project’s work has focused on deluxe calligraphic Ashkenazi Bibles from the 12th to 14th centuries and their reception by Ashkenazi Jewish scholars. The masora figurata plus considerable portions of the linear masora magna of four of 24 manuscripts have been edited. Ground-breaking results have been achieved owing to research into the philological quality of the masora figurata and its function and purpose in different manuscripts and cultural settings as well as into the Ashkenazi Masoretic Bible as a historical artifact. The digital infrastructure, consisting of the Confluence platform and the workspace BIMA 2.0 as a shared digital repository for the entire editing work and any further philological, exegetical, linguistic or paleographical research, has already reached the essential objectives for this research period, and has established itself as an essential tool for diplomatic digital editions of any kind. As part of its outreach to the scientific community, Corpus Masoreticum has installed an international advisory board and issues its own publication series. By way of public outreach, two documentary videos on the project’s objectives and methods have been produced (https://t1p.de/BIMA-Video1; https://t1p.de/BIMA-Video2). In the second funding stage, research staff will continue editing masora figurata and linear masora parva and magna, but will also focus on text-critical issues and the characteristic features of Ashkenazi Bible text recensions, a topic which has come up in particular in relation to the study of the masora parva. The selection of manuscripts and the portions to be edited therein have been slightly revised. BIMA 2.0 will be developed in a number of ways: data modeling within the Text-as-a-Graph model will further focus on list structures and patterns that elucidate medieval methods of knowledge storage and transfer. Additional diplomatic transcription tools and collaborative revision workflows will be implemented. Finally, we will focus on fully TEI compatible XML exports of editions created in BIMA 2.0. The TEI export workflow will provide our cooperation partner, the German Bible Society, with high-quality edition formats for the Biblia Hebraica Quinta.