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From Clavis Canonum

Clavis canonum – Selected Canon Law Collections, ca. 500–1234: Handbook and Database

The Clavis canonum project gathers information on Latin canonical collections and their manuscripts from the earliest such collections of ca. 500 (like the Dionysiana) up to and including the Liber Extra of 1234. It has four main parts:

  1. Collections: The core of the Wiki are articles on all collections in the database of the same name, and a growing number of other Latin canon law collections. In a first step, the content of Fowler-Magerl's 2005 Clavis canonum handbook was uploaded (see the contributions of User:Linda Fowler-Magerl). Gradually, the articles were revised by other users, and supplemented by new articles on collections not covered by her book. As of 4 November 2024, the Wiki contains 281 articles on canonical collections. This includes 7 collections newly added to the database, 6 collections to be added soon, and further 137 collections not described in the 2005 Clavis handbook. See Description of the collections and Category:Canonical Collection for an overview.
  2. Manuscripts: Since 2023, a growing number of articles on manuscripts has been added. Here, our main source was (and still is) Kéry's invaluable manual. The largest single addition are more than 600 Gratian manuscripts. For an overview, see our List of manuscripts (more than 2000 entries) and Category:Manuscript (418 articles on manuscripts as of 4 November).
  3. Bibliography: We have included a revised version of the bibliography of the Clavis canonum handbook. The bibliography also contains the short titles for books and articles frequently quoted in the handbook. Have a look: Bibliography.
  4. Database: The database, like the handbook, is in the course of beeing updated; compared to the 2005 version, there are more collections and new search functions. For the keys used here, see the relevant lists: List of collections (keys and titles only) and List of author group keys. The database itself is found here https://data.mgh.de/databases/clavis/db/.

We also plan the have (more) articles on editions (Category:Edition), and for some collections compile separate lists of manuscripts (see Category:List).

Getting started

Misc

For some documentation (and discussion) of past and future developments, see the Category:Wishlist.

For collections which are being prepared to be added to the database, see the Category:Work in Progress.

Templates are useful (but more for advanced users).