When we started working on the database, we thought that we would have to search for annotated manuscripts in order to fill it with data. We estimated that roughly every other manuscript would have annotations. But when we started looking at random collections of manuscripts that were available to us, it soon became clear that not every other manuscript has some form of annotations, but rather 8 or even 9 out of 10. It would be completely impossible, therefore, to describe in detail all early medieval manuscripts with annotations.
We narrowed our selection down to some focal points of research, each driven by specific research questions that we had. Thus a rather random but nicely spread set of data was assembled, some of them gathered around some clearly defined focal points:
– ca 180 manuscripts from the Bavarian region (digitally available on the website of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek München, mainly collected by Evina Steinova);
– ca 20 manuscripts now kept in the Leiden University Library, a rich collection especially for Carolingian copies of ancient and late-antique texts (studied in situ, mainly collected by Mariken Teeuwen);
– ca 30 manuscripts from 8th-century Lorsch (digitally available on the Bibliotheca Laureshamensis website, mainly collected by our intern Robin van de Water);
– ca 40 manuscripts from 9th-century Corbie (digitally available on different websites, explored though the groundbreaking research of David Ganz, Corbie in the Carolingian Renaissance, Sigmaringen 1990, mainly collected by our intern Birgit ter Horst);
– ca 30 manuscripts from 9th-century Auxerre (digitally available on different websites, explored through the research of Charlotte Denoël and Franck Cinato, mainly collected by our intern Lenneke van Raaij).