AGATE

The “Codex diplomaticus Saxoniae” (CDS) is the authoritative edition of the medieval documents of the margraves of Meissen, electors of Saxony and landgraves of Thuringia, the documents of the cities and religious institutions of Saxony as well as the papal documents handed down in Saxony. This wide-ranging collection of documents now comprises more than 30 volumes with a total of over 11,000 documents from the 10th to 15th centuries and, due to the outstanding position of Saxony and Thuringia among the German historical landscapes of the Middle Ages, has far more than regional significance. Founded in 1860, the project experienced a unique boom before the First World War, but then came to a standstill. Only after the Peaceful Revolution and the foundation of the Free State of Saxony in 1989/90 did it become possible to continue this long-term scientific project in a division of tasks between the Saxon Academy of Sciences and Humanities in Leipzig and the Institute for Saxon History and Folklore (Institut für Sächsische Geschichte und Volkskunde e. V.) in Dresden. The Academy takes over the processing of the main part I of the Codex, which comprises the documents of the rulers of Saxony and Thuringia until 1485. It is the aim of the current academy project to produce a complete text-critical edition of the Thuringian and Meissen princely deeds by 1288, making it the only scientific edition project currently devoted to the systematic edition of medieval sovereign deeds of the 13th century.