Willehalm in Context (WiK digital): Digital edition of Willehalm and its supplementary poems in their contexts of transmission

• Applicants: Dr. Jochen Apel; Professor Dr. Bernd Bastert; Professorin Dr. Lina Herz
• Subject Area: German Medieval Studies (Medieval German Literature)
• Term: since 2025
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 551807585

Wolfram von Eschenbach's Willehalm belongs to the group of "classics" that are regularly treated in German medieval studies. Wolfram's unfinished text is very often found in a stable manuscript tradition, in which it is preceded by a prequel (Arabel) and followed by a sequel (Rennewart), which presented Willehalm, to an audience between the 13th and 15th centuries, as the centerpiece of a three-part cycle. In research and academic teaching, however, Willehalm is hardly ever treated in this context. This is not least because there is a lack of appropriate editions. The aim of the 'WiK digital' project is, therefore, to digitally reproduce the cycle Arabel - Willehalm - Rennewart in all contexts of the manuscript tradition using heiEDITIONS, the infrastructure for digital editions at Heidelberg University Library. As a result, also those research interests can be served (e.g. linguistic, lexicographical, paleographical or art-historical analyses) that cannot rely solely on a printed edition. With the digital edition, the entire tradition is presented lucidly - something that research has always declared impossible for the cycle in a printed edition due to the quantity of the manuscript tradition. Once the project is finalized, the three-part cycle will be accessible in all the forms in which they were produced and received in their time. During the course of the project, the digital edition is to be successively supplemented by a reading edition, which will also be available in book form (diamond open access). As it has been produced in a standardized TEI format, the reading text, the New High German (NHG) translation and the commentary will also be accessible via the Heidelberg online portal in addition to the book edition. The book edition will ensure the long-term persistence of the compiled output beyond the possibilities of dynamic online publication and is in some cases more suitable for quick orientation or in academic teaching as the much more comprehensive online edition which focuses on special interests. While the book edition, divided into three volumes - Arabel, Willehalm and Rennewart - presents a slim critical apparatus based on the text editing priority on manuscript H, all textual variants will be easy to find via the digital edition. Furthermore, for the first time, Wolfram’s cycle will be available entirely translated into NHG and annotated with regard to its dominant manuscript tradition.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants