The ''Monumenta Germaniae Historica'' (''MGH'') is a comprehensive series of carefully edited and published

primary source In the study of history as an academic discipline, a primary source (also called an original source) is an artifact, document, diary, manuscript, autobiography, recording, or any other source of information that was created at the time under ...

s, both

chronicle A chronicle ( la, chronica, from Greek ''chroniká'', from , ''chrónos'' – "time") is a historical account of events arranged in chronological order, as in a timeline. Typically, equal weight is given for historically important events and lo ...

and

archival An archive is an accumulation of historical records or materials – in any medium – or the physical facility in which they are located. Archives contain primary source documents that have accumulated over the course of an individual or ...

, for the study of Northwestern and Central European history from the end of the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediterr ...

to 1500. Despite the name, the series covers important sources for the history of many countries besides Germany, since the Society for the Publication of Sources on Germanic Affairs of the Middle Ages has included documents from many other areas subjected to the influence of Germanic tribes or rulers (Britain, Czech lands, Poland, Austria, France, Low Countries, Italy, Spain, etc.). The editor from 1826 until 1874 was

Georg Heinrich Pertz Georg Heinrich Pertz (28 March 17957 October 1876) was a German historian. Personal life Pertz was born in Hanover on 28 March 1795. His parents were the court bookbinder Christian August Pertz and Henrietta Justina née Deppen. He married twi ...

(1795–1876); in 1875 he was succeeded by Georg Waitz (1813–1886).

History

The MGH was founded in Hanover as a private

text publication society A text publication society is a learned society which publishes (either as its sole function, or as a principal function) scholarly editions of old works of historical or literary interest, or archival documents. In addition to full texts, a text p ...

by the

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...

n reformer Heinrich Friedrich Karl Freiherr vom Stein in 1819. The first volume appeared in 1826. The editor from 1826 until 1874 was

, who was succeeded by Georg Waitz. Many eminent medievalists from Germany and, eventually, other countries, joined in the project of searching out and comparing manuscripts and producing scholarly editions. The motto chosen, ''Sanctus amor patriae dat animum'' ("Holy love for the fatherland gives the spirit"), is explained as linking

Romantic nationalism Romantic nationalism (also national romanticism, organic nationalism, identity nationalism) is the form of nationalism in which the state claims its political legitimacy as an organic consequence of the unity of those it governs. This includes ...

with professional scholarship. In 1875, the MGH was established as a more formal institution with headquarters in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

. In 1935, the organization was taken over by the state and renamed the ''Reichsinstitut für ältere deutsche Geschichtskunde'' (National Institute for Older German History). This was abolished in 1945, at the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. However, the institute was subsequently revived under its original name with the support of German institutions and the Austrian Academy of Sciences. The Monumenta Germaniae Historica Institute has been located in Munich since 1949 and possesses a large specialized library on the medieval history of Germany and Europe, including Church history, along with 130,000 monographs and approximately 150,000 dependent writings. It moved into its current premises in the building of the

Bavarian State Library The Bavarian State Library (german: Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, abbreviated BSB, called ''Bibliotheca Regia Monacensis'' before 1919) in Munich is the central " Landesbibliothek", i. e. the state library of the Free State of Bavaria, the big ...

in 1967. The project, a major effort of historical scholarship, continues in the 21st century. In 2004 the MGH, with the support of the

Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft The German Research Foundation (german: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft ; DFG ) is a German research funding organization, which functions as a self-governing institution for the promotion of science and research in the Federal Republic of Germ ...

, made all of its publications in print for more than five years available online, in photo-digital reproduction, via a link on the MGH homepage.

Divisions

The series falls into five main divisions, ''Antiquitates'', ''Diplomata'', ''Epistolae'', ''Leges'' and ''Scriptores'', with an additional smaller division of ''Necrologia''. Many subsidiary series have also been established, including a series of more compact volumes for school use (''Scriptores in usum scholarum'') and special studies (''MGH Schriften'').

References

Bibliography

* Reprinted in

External links

2015 list of publications

The MGH homepage

Digital MGH homepage

Monumenta Germaniae Historica on Archive.org
{{Authority control 1826 non-fiction books Book series introduced in 1826 History books about Germany Series of books Documents Text publication societies 19th-century history books Academic publishing 19th-century Latin books Germanic studies

History

Divisions

See also

References

Bibliography

External links