Jaffé

By 1851, Philipp Jaffé had compiled a catalogue of the most important papal documents up until 1198, containing brief summaries of the documents’ contents. The second edition of his catalogue, published in 1885/1888, listed a total of 17,679 documents. Now, over a century later, Jaffé’s work has become in need of revision for several reasons. New discoveries as well as the addition of decretal letters and the charters issued by papal legates have probably just about doubled the number of documents known to us. A considerable quantity of documents can now be determined with much more certainty as either “original” or “forged”. Many of the editions listed by Jaffé are either difficult to access or have become superseded by newer editions. The bibliographical details listed by Jaffé are outdated and have to be replaced by references to recent scholarship.

The “new” Jaffé will provide scholars with a much more complete and standardized portal to the largest body of sources for the history of the Middle Ages. To facilitate the addition of future scholarly research, the “new” Jaffé is being prepared in a web-based version as well.

The following volumes have been published so far:

Vol. I: Peter to Gregory I. (39–604), published 2016
Vol. II: Sabinian to Gregory IV. (604–844), published 2017
Vol. III: Sergius II. to Benedict VIII. (844–1024), published 2017
Vol IV: Johannes XIX. bis Alexander II. (1024–1073), published 2020

Researchers:

Judith Werner

Kochstr. 4
D - 91054 Erlangen
Tel.: +49-9131-85-25835
Fax: +49-9131-85-25891

Mail: Judith.Werner[at]fau.de