1.
Bits of Charters: Putting Carolingian
Charters into a Database
Rachel Stone, King’s College London
rachel.stone@kcl.ac.uk

2.
http://www.charlemagneseurope.ac.uk

3.
King's College London’s digital experience
• 1987 Elite prosopography: Prosopography of the
Byzantine Empire
• 2000 Society-wide prosopography: Prosopography of
Anglo-Saxon England (http://www.pase.ac.uk)
• 2005 Socio-economic data and mapping: PASE II, Profile
of a Doomed Elite
• 2007 Charter-specific databases: People of Medieval
Scotland (http://www.poms.ac.uk/)

4.
6000+ charters
from 768-814

5.
What is a charter?
• A material object
• A text
• A source of information

6.
Lichtbildarchiv älterer Originalurkunden (http://lba.hist.uni-marburg.de/lba/)

7.
Codice diplomatico
della Lombardia
medievale
(http://cdlm.unipv.it/)

8.
Charters Encoding Initiative (http://www.cei.lmu.de/index.php)

9.
DKAR 1:169: What to mark up (1)?
Tassilo ‘had caused a monastery to be newly built in honour
of the Holy Saviour within our forest at the place called
Kremsmünster in the pagus of Traungau’ (in monasterium
honore sancti Salvatoris infra waldo nostro loco qui dicitur
Chremisa in pago nuncupante Drungaoe novo opere construere
fecisset)

10.
DKAR 1:169: What to mark up (2)?
•‘the venerable abbot Fater’ (vir venerabilis Fater abbas )
•‘abbot Fater’ (Fater abbas)
•‘the said abbot Fater’ (prefatus Fater abbas)
• ‘the said abbot Fater and his successors as abbots of the
said monastery of Holy Saviour’ (sepe dictus Fater abbas
suique successores, qui fuerint rectores ipsius monasterii
sancti Salvatoris)

11.
What is a factoid?
‘an assertion made by the project team that
a source ‘S’ at location ‘L’ states something
(‘F’) about person ‘P’’
Bradley, John, and Short, Harold, 'Texts into databases: the evolving
field of new-style prosopography', Literary and Linguistic Computing 20,
Supplement (2005), 8

12.
Factoid
Factoid type
Authority List
Charter
Agent (Person/Institution)
Possession
Place
has type
Simplified data structure diagram for Charlemagne’s Europe factoids
is characterized
using
is evidence forhappened at
involves
involves
can be related to

13.
Looking at data: dealing with people
Precarial grant by Wolfbold and his children to St Gall
(SGA 1, 148)
Wolfbold & children (granter – lessee; additional information on
persons, e.g. sex, and on relationship, e.g. Wolfbold = father of
Bernegarius & Otsinda; Bernegarius & Otsinda = siblings &
children of Wolfbold & Adalswinda etc.), St Gall & abbot Werdo
(recipient – lender); mancipia (if named; additional information:
[former] property of Wolfbold, [later] property of St Gall) (or
should mancipia only be listed as objects? or as both? as
both but with different data structures?); witnesses & scribe
comments from April 2012

14.
Collating data
• CHARTER TYPE/TRANSACTION TYPE
PROVISIONAL LIST
• Charter type potentially overlaps with Transaction
type. POMS used Document type for different
formats of documents e.g. Agreement, Charter,
Inquest, Letters patent, Notitia, Papal privilege,
Settlement and Transaction type for contents:
Possible categories for use, with examples (where
known) of less common types
 (DT) Charter
 (DT) Chirograph charter – two copies of charter
written on same piece of parchment and then
separated, so that their edges match for checking
authenticity
 (DT) Letter
 (DT) Notitia (St Gall II-10, Manaresi 22, DK 69)
MKCHEUR: SUGGESTED INITIAL
AUTHORITY LIST OF RELATIONSHIPS
(version 1, 4/5/12)
Familial relationships:
POMS has category "Familial relationship".
PASE has 7 categories, which seems
excessive)
o Adoptive relative (Not sure how far we'll need
to break this down, but there are some
examples of this).
o Ancestor
o Aunt (amita/matertera)
o Bride/betrothed (f.) (sponsa)
o Bridegroom/betrothed (m.) (sponsus)
o Brother
o Children (liberi)

15.
Tassilo
Charlemagne
30 Slavs Men of
Eberstalzell
Kremsmünster
12 places
Dietach &
Sierning
Eberstalzell
22 possessions
Right to hold land
(possession)Unconditional terms
Terms of
service
founded
without permission of
granted
to
on
cleared
land at
without permission of
cleared
land at
at
belonging to
belonging to
including
including
confirms
grants
at
to
on
to

16.
Geographical range of charter witnesses:
Wendy Davies, Small Worlds: the Village
Community in Early Medieval Brittany (1988)
Numbers of original charters from France:
Mersiowsky, Mark. 2003. ‘Y-a-t-il une influence
des actes royaux sur les actes privés du
IXe siècle?’ (2003)

17.
Monasterium.net version of
Kremsmünster confirmation charter
• Karolus Dei gratia Rex Francorum et Langobardorum et
Patritius Romanorum. Si petitionibus Sacerdotum vel
servorum Dei, in quo nostris auribus fuerint prolatae,
libenter obaudimus et eas in Dei nomine ad effectum
perducimus, regiam consuetudinem exercemus et hoc
nobis ad mercedem vel stabilitatem regni nostri pertinere
confidimus.
• Text from http://monasterium.net/mom/AT-
StiAKr/KremsmuensterOSB/0791_I_03/charter

18.
Data
schema:
from this...

19.
...to this

20.
Dealing with place names
DKAR 1:169
‘infra waldo nostro loco
qui dicitur Chremisa’

21.
Names in charter texts:
DKAR 1:169 (plus ENN 2:2)
• Bettinbah/Petenpach/Petinpach
• Allinchova/Allinchofa/Allinchhof
• Liubilinbah/Liubilinpach/Livpilinpach
• actum Wormacie
....

22.
Name
instances:
Liubilinbah,
Liubilinpach
DKAR 1:169
Place role:
Location of
possession
Place
descriptor:
locus
Medieval
hierarchy:
in Traungau

23.
Name
instances:
Liubilinbah,
Liubilinpach
DKAR 1:169
Place role:
Location of
possession
Place
descriptor:
locus
Medieval
hierarchy:
in Traungau
Orbis Latinus
(http://www.columbia.edu/acis/ets/Graesse/contents.html)

24.
Name
instances:
Liubilinbah,
Liubilinpach
Standardised
medieval name
Liubilinbah*
DKAR 1:169
Place role:
Location of
possession
Place
descriptor:
locus
Medieval
hierarchy:
in Traungau

25.
Name
instances:
Liubilinbah,
Liubilinpach
Standardised
medieval name
Liubilinbah*
Identified
modern place:
Leombach
DKAR 1:169
Place role:
Location of
possession
Place
descriptor:
locus
Medieval
hierarchy:
in Traungau
Certainty of
identification:
certain

26.
Name
instances:
Liubilinbah,
Liubilinpach
Standardised
medieval name
Liubilinbah*
Identified
modern place:
Leombach
DKAR 1:169
Place role:
Location of
possession
Place
descriptor:
locus
Medieval
hierarchy:
in Traungau
Certainty of
identification:
certain
Geolocation:
48.11667 / 14.08333
Modern hierarchy:
Upper Austria, Austria

27.
Name
instance:
Teginga
Standardised
medieval name
Teginga*
MON 124
Place role:
Location of
possession
Place
descriptor:
locus
Identified
modern place:
Deining
Geolocation:
47.95171 / 11.49745
Modern hierarchy:
Bavaria, Germany
Identified
modern place:
Töging am Inn
Geolocation:
48.26018 / 12.5846
Modern hierarchy:
Bavaria, Germany
Identified
modern place:
Döging
Geolocation:
47.96685 / 12.4934
Modern hierarchy:
Bavaria, Germany

28.
Tassilo
Charlemagne
30 Slavs Men of
Eberstalzell
Kremsmünster
12 places
Dietach &
Sierning
Eberstalzell
22 possessions
Right to hold land
(possession)Unconditional terms
Terms of
service
founded
without permission of
granted
to
on
cleared
land at
without permission of
cleared
land at
at
belonging to
belonging to
including
including
confirms
grants
at
to
on
to

29.
Tassilo
Charlemagne
30 Slavs Men of
Eberstalzell
Kremsmünster
12 places
Dietach &
Sierning
Eberstalzell
22 possessions
Right to hold land
(possession)Unconditional terms
Terms of
service
founded
without permission of
granted
to
on
cleared
land at
without permission of
cleared
land at
at
belonging to
belonging to
including
including
confirms
grants
at
to
on
to

30.
Tassilo
Charlemagne
30 Slavs Men of
Eberstalzell
Kremsmünster
12 places
Dietach &
Sierning
Eberstalzell
22 possessions
Right to hold land
(possession)Unconditional terms
Terms of
service
founded
without permission of
granted
to
on
cleared
land at
without permission of
cleared
land at
at
belonging to
belonging to
including
including
confirms
grants
at
to
on
to

31.
Tassilo
Charlemagne
Men of
Eberstalzell
Kremsmünster
12 places
Eberstalzell
22 possessions
Right to hold land
(possession)Unconditional terms
Terms of
service
granted
to
on
at including
confirms
grants
at
to
on
to

32.
Tassilo
Charlemagne
Men of
Eberstalzell
Kremsmünster
12 places
Eberstalzell
22 possessions
Right to hold land
(possession)Unconditional terms
Terms of
service
granted
to
on
at including
confirms
grants
at
to
on
to

33.
Tassilo
Charlemagne
Men of
Eberstalzell
Kremsmünster
12 places
Eberstalzell
22 possessions
Right to hold land
(possession)Unconditional terms
Terms of
service
granted
to
on
at including
confirms
grants
at
to
on
to

34.
Tassilo Kremsmünster
12 places
22 possessions
Unconditional terms
granted
to
onat
Agent Name Agent Role
Tassilo Granter
Kremsmünster Recipient
...
Place Name Place Role
Leombach Location of possession
...
Possession role Object type Location Terms & conditions
Transferred Land Leombach
...

35.
Agent Name Agent Role
Tassilo Granter
Kremsmünster Recipient
Place Name Place Role
Leombach Location of possession
Unknown 715
(Raotola)
Location of possession
...
Possession role Object type Location Terms & conditions
Transferred Land Leombach
Transferred Vineyard Unknown 715
...

36.
Agent Name Agent Role
Charlemagne Confirmer
Kremsmünster Recipient
Men of
Eberstalzell
Recipient
...
Place Name Place Role
Leombach Location of possession
Eberstalzell Location of possession
...
Possession role Object type Location Terms & conditions
Held Land Leombach
Transferred Right to hold land Eberstalzell Service to monastery
...
?

37.
List of
possessions
given by
Tassilo in
DKAR 1:169

38.
List of
possessions
given by
Tassilo in
DKAR 1:169

39.
Flows in sales
Agent 1 Agent 2
Transferred
possessions
Price
Agent Name Agent Role
Agent 1 Vendor
Agent 2 Buyer
...
Possession
role
Object type Quantity Location Terms &
conditions
Return
Transferred Land Place 1
Price solidi 30 X

40.
Charlemagne
Men of
Eberstalzell
Kremsmünster
Eberstalzell
Right to hold land
(possession)
Terms of
service
grants
at
to
on
to

41.
Representing third-party returns
Agent 1 Agent 2 Agent 3
Transferred
possessions Return

42.
Cinderella Sisters by saturninus
(http://saturninus.deviantart.com/art/Cinderella-Sisters-10178181)

43.
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50.
Selected agents and places in DKAR 1:169
Tassilo
Fader
Decania of Slavs
Kremsmünster
beekeepers
Worms
Raotola
Alkoven
Leombach

51.
Selected agents and places in DKAR 1:169
Tassilo: granter
Fader: petitioner
Decania of Slavs: object of
transaction
Kremsmünster:
recipient
Beekeepers: object of
transaction
Worms: location
of transaction
Raotola: location
of possession
Alkoven: location
of possession
Leombach: location
of possession

52.
Agents and places: generalised rules
granter
petitioner
object of transaction
recipient
object of transaction
location of transaction
location of possession
location of possession
location of possession

53.
Digital + historical
• Understanding historical documents
• Reinventing the wheel
• Responding to your historical period
• Consistent inputting
• Imperfect databases