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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 5 December 2025, the Wiki contains 321 articles on canonical collections. Most of them (303) are pre-Gratian, 163 of which are 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 Kéry's invaluable manual. The largest single additions are 546 Gratian manuscripts (see List of Gratian Manuscripts) and 724 copies of the Liber Extra (see List of Liber Extra manuscripts). As of 5 December, the Clavis Wiki contains 2,933 articles on manuscripts, including 116 manuscripts of pre-Gratian canonical collection not covered in the 1999 manual. For an overview, see the Category:Manuscript.
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. We added new search functions, designed a new user interface, and added new collections (including the Decretum Gratiani, key GR in the database) to the database. All in all, there are 7 collections newly added to the database and 7 more to be added soon. 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 to have (more) articles on editions (Category:Edition), and for some collections to compile separate lists of manuscripts (see Category:List). For information on 470 archives and libraries holding canon law manuscripts, see the Category:Library.

Getting started

• What is Clavis canonum anyhow? See here for a very brief description of the project.
• I know what the Clavis canonum is, but I'm new here, what can I do? Well, click here to find out!
• Once you have played around with this wiki, you may find the following links useful:
  • Help - help on very basic issues like "how do I insert a link?"
  • Categories are very useful, and an easy way to improve existing pages.
    • See here for an overview on the categories used here. Copy&paste to improve entries on collections and manuscripts.
    • If you want to find articles by using the existing categories, have a look here.
  • A checklist for good articles (for advanced to perfectionist users)
  • Wishlist - Any features the database (or the Wiki) is lacking? Any issues with the wiki in general? List them here!
  • Typos - Have you found a typo or other error in the database? Please let us know!
• Do you want to prepare new entries for the database? See our Guidelines for new entries

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).