The aim of the project is a systematic analysis of the course and mechanisms of the so-called Alexandrian Schism (1159-1177), which is to be evaluated as a model and comparative case for overarching questions about scenarios of division and escalation with a large spatial extent, with a multi-causal background and with confrontational camp formations at the most diverse levels, as well as for overcoming them as an example case for overcoming crisis phenomena. Through the processing of all relevant knowledge, the systematic interdisciplinary and international cooperation, the innovative digital processing as well as the scientific analysis, an important part of the cultural heritage of this period of upheaval in the 12th century, which is central to the history of Europe, will be made accessible in a new form for research and the interested public.
Among other things, all of the approximately 11,000 known witnesses to the reign of Pope Alexander III (1159-1181) and his rivals will be compiled for the first time, dated and made available for further research in an accessible form according to Open Access criteria in multiple documentation. This will reveal decisive impulses for a deeper historical understanding of the perception, interpretation and management of phases of discord, which in the long term led to a new unity. The project, which has a strong international orientation, will enable interdisciplinary access to questions of pan-European significance through manifold cooperations with numerous projects and partner institutions.