Since 2017 the database has been compiling the correspondence of all leading churchmen and theologians of the German southwest (some 200 persons) active in the Electoral Palatinate, the Duchy of Württemberg or the imperial city of Strasbourg between 1550 and 1620  (➔ Project description).

The database currently encompasses 3900 letters that have been made accessible online and by the end of the project in 2031 it will comprise approximately 35,000 letters. Each letter is assigned a ID number (Brief-ID), a random five-digit number with no significance for the sequence or number of letters. For the purposes of our project, a letter is defined as a document written to a specific addressee – individual or collective – and in which the above mentioned theologians appear as either the sender or the recipient. The database not only includes letters in the narrower sense, but also expert opinions (Gutachten) and other texts of an epistolary character. Furthermore, dedicatory letters, reprints of letters in contemporary prints and prefaces to the reader also fall within its range. Letters merely mentioned but not quoted are only included if a specific date is known.

Letters are often transmitted in multiple copies, most of them handwritten. The project seeks to identify all known copies as completely as possible. In the case of manuscript copies, our database records the owning institution, the current shelf mark, and the format of the document (rough draft, autograph original, transcription etc.). The order in which the manuscripts are listed does not necessarily reflect the order in which they originated. In addition, reproductions of these letters in modern editions, references to them in research literature, and links to other letter databases are also recorded. Our database is linked to the catalogues of owning institutions if these contain records on individual letters.

We are deeply indebted to Prof. Dr. Hermann Ehmer for generously entrusting us with his voluminous unpublished research on the correspondence of Johannes Brenz.

The database registers essential benchmark data (date, author, place of writing and recipient) for all letters. The following information, if mentioned or inferable, is also recorded for all letters: place of destination, date of presentation, incipit, language, bearer of the letter and itinerary. Extrapolated information and conjectures are always identified as such. The content of each letter is documented by means of an abstract (Regest) and through keywords (Schlagworte) for the persons, places and subjects mentioned. As a matter of principle, all persons and places mentioned in a letter are tagged with keywords. The tagging of subjects lies within the discretion of the respective editor and focusses on the most important contents of the letter.

In the course of time, digital copies of about one third of the letters and transcriptions of a number of letters will be incorporated into the database. In addition, the fully annotated editions of the printed ➔ project volumes will also be made available in the database soon after their publication. The texts are encoded in TEI-XML and can be downloaded.

In the Simple mode the command Freie Suche (Free Search) searches all metadata, descriptions, and transcriptions at once. The Time Search (DD.MM.YYYY) within the simple search searches not only the letter date, but also other time information such as the presentation date. In the search for persons, places and subjects, Freie Suche also finds alternative denotations and designations.

In the Advanced search, several search criteria for letters or persons can be combined and individual attributes can be looked for specifically. For example, the selection "Verfasser: Name" and "Text" can be used to search the texts of all transcribed Brenz letters. The operators NICHT (not) and VORHANDEN (available) offer options for further narrowing down the search results. Because of the consequent tagging of letters with keywords, it is recommended that one use the selection option "Schlagworte: …" when looking for persons, places and typical subjects.

In all searches, special characters are not interpreted as wildcards and are supported as text in most cases. Search entries in text form are also searched within attributes ("includes" instead of "is equal to") and matching is not done at word level but at character level, so that parts of words are also found. The advanced search is case sensitive, whereas the simple mode is not.

Persons, places and subjects can either be looked up in the search modes on the basis of attributes or can be found listed and filtered alphabetically in the index. As a general rule, persons and places are linked with norm data (GND, Geonames). Mythological or literary figures are found under "Persons" if they represent a human being. Other beings and gods are found in the subject index. The place index includes all geographical categories from continents down to buildings. By calling up a person, place or subject, one obtains a list of all letters in which this person, place or subject is mentioned. Within each subject record, superordinate and subordinate terms are also listed, which together form a thematically organized subject index (Sachregister). The subject index encompasses topics discussed in letters, quoted or alluded biblical passages, quotes from or mentions of literary works, historical events and institutions. Institutions such as city councils or universities may additionally appear in the personal index if they appear as the author or addressee of a letter.

The database application was developed within our research project using the MERN stack (MongoDB, ExpressJS, ReactJS, NodeJS) and is constantly being expanded and adapted.

Concept: Daniel Degen

Development: Julian Libor, Moritz Mock, Ramdip Gill, Christopher Magin, Daniel Degen

The XSLT scripts were created by Dario Kampkaspar.