Regesta Civitatum Imperialium Records as a basis for research into the small and medium-sized south-west German imperial cities in the late Middle Ages (up to 1521)

• Applicants: Professor Dr. Steffen Krieb; Professor Dr. Jörg Rogge
• Subject Area: Medieval History
• Term: since 2025
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 552897463

In this project, relevant charters, letters and records from 34 archives of former small and medium-sized imperial cities in the present-day federal states of Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg are made available to researchers in calendar form (regesta) in the online database Regesta Civitatum Imperialium. The database is the basis for systematic studies of these towns. The project examines their role and function in the imperial constitution, their networks, communication and alliance systems, their practices of conflict management, and their efforts to maintain and secure their status as imperial cities. These fields of research have so far been dealt with primarily based on large imperial cities and their sources. The small and medium-sized imperial cities have been studied less frequently because their rich medieval tradition is difficult to work with due to the poor accessibility of the city archives. For the publication of the born digital regesta, the project relies on the cooperation with the academy project Regesta Imperii on the subsequent use of an established and efficient digital infrastructure in order to achieve a maximum of visibility for the project results within medieval research without costly new developments.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants