Editions and source booklets Editionen und Kleine Quellenhefte
The Institute's editorial work rests on two long series, the charters of the dukes of Lüneburg and those of the monasteries of Hildesheim. The first began in 1968 and has taken more than fifty years to reach four volumes; the second began in 2021 and is the trial ground for the conventions of the present generation. Smaller collections of material are issued separately as source booklets. This page lists the volumes of both series, the eight booklets, the three works in preparation, and how to cite them.
1. Lüneburg ducal charters
| Vol. | Year | Dates and number of items | Editor | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I | 1968 | 1248–1350, 380 items | I. von der Heyde | The Institute's first edition; fixed the practice of following the original in the text and explaining matters in the commentary. A list of corrections was added to the second impression of 1979. |
| II | 1992 | 1388–1420, 512 items | I. von der Heyde and M. Schott | Published as series vol. 4. The first volume with an index of subjects. |
| III | 2014 | 1420–1450, 604 items | H. Schwabendiek | Published as series vol. 27. From this volume the indexes of persons and places follow the authority file. |
| IV | in preparation | 1450–1470, about 520 items | H. Schwabendiek | About seventy per cent done. Work has been set aside for a year while the DFG project starts; expected 2026. |
The charters in volume I are held in three archive administrations in the Land; the Institute worked from images and from older copies, as the preface to that volume states. From volume II onwards, any doubtful reading has been checked against the original, which is why the commentary in the later volumes is fuller.
2. Hildesheim monastery charters
| Vol. | Year | Dates and number of items | Editor | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I | 2021 | 1180–1320, 296 items | L. Moebius | Published as series vol. 33. The first use of the fourth edition of the conventions, with readings that cannot be decided printed side by side. |
| II | in the press | 1320–1400, 344 items | L. Moebius | Text settled, indexes being made; publication autumn 2025. |
| III | in preparation | 1400–1470, extent not yet fixed | L. Moebius | Material being listed. This volume will also deal with the three fragments acquired by the Institute in 2018. |
3. In preparation, 2025 to 2027
| Reserved as | Title | Prepared by | Expected |
|---|---|---|---|
| Series vol. 36 | Regional coin catalogue, fascicle 6: Hildesheim and Goslar, 1520–1620 | M. Kaltenbrunner and J. Lammers | spring 2025, in the press |
| Series vol. 37 | Hildesheim monastery charters, volume 2 | L. Moebius | autumn 2025 |
| Series vol. 38 | Charters of the Brunswick–Lüneburg duchy, volume 1, from project WI-2024-07 | H. Schwabendiek and the project group | 2027 |
Volume numbers run in one sequence, so that proceedings, catalogues and editions are interleaved and the work of a single division is not numbered consecutively. The arrangement dates from the founding of the series in 1989 and has survived every proposal to change it.
4. Source booklets
| No. | Year | Title | Editor | Pages |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1978 | Tables of coinage, weights and measures for Lower Saxony and the upper Weser | W. Engelbrecht | 64 |
| 2 | 1983 | Abbreviations and signs commonly found in regional charters | I. von der Heyde | 88 |
| 3 | 1992 | Tables for converting dates: church festivals and secular reckonings | Division II | 52 |
| 4 | 1997 | Making and keeping seal impressions: a working note | H. J. Rehder, from his papers, revised by the Institute | 40 |
| 5 | 2004 | Using the Institute's card indexes, 6th edition | M. Schott and the academic office | 32 |
| 6 | 2012 | Tables of coinage and measures revised: a supplement to no. 1 | J. Lammers | 24 |
| 7 | 2019 | Register of regional hoards, 1901–2015 | J. Lammers | 176 |
| 8 | 2022 | Ownership marks, part 1: the Institute's own holdings | M. Vogt | 124 |
| 9 | 2024 | Index of chancery formulae, part 1: notification and disposition | J. Peters and T. Lenz | 96 |
Still available: nos. 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9. No. 2 went out of print in 2001 and its contents will be absorbed into part 2 of the index of chancery formulae, expected in 2026. Apply to the academic office, giving the number and how many copies; the booklets are charged at cost, postage extra, and no receipt other than an invoice is issued. Current prices are on the backlist page.
5. Citing, and applying for copies
| Matter | Practice |
|---|---|
| An item in an edition | Give the series, the volume and the number of the item — for example "Lüneburg ducal charters, vol. III, no. 217" — and the page. The Institute's reference number, if you have it, is a help. |
| A source booklet | Give the number and the page. Tables such as the conversion tables may be copied freely for research, with the source and the Institute's name stated. |
| A single article from a volume that is out of print | Apply under section 4.4 of the rules of use for an image or a copy. Whole volumes are not copied. |
| The content of a work still in preparation | Not supplied. Until publication the text is the editor's. Where research genuinely requires earlier sight of the material, the relevant cards and images may be consulted under the rules of use, but the draft itself is not made available. |
| Corrections | Corrections found after a volume has appeared are printed in the "corrections" section of the next Mitteilungen; no separate lists are issued. A list of all corrections since 1992 may be had on application. |
An old rule. Since the Institute's foundation, every correction sent in after a volume has appeared has been entered in the register of corrections (archive, ref. ED-2) and dealt with in the preface to the next volume. The name of the person who sent it is entered too, unless they ask otherwise. The register has been kept since 1968 and now holds 1,140 corrections, of which 806 have been adopted.
Compiled from the publications register (archive, ref. PUB-1); last checked on 1 September 2026.
Page WI-PUB-02 · compiled by H. Schwabendiek and M. Tiedemann · read by the publications committee · last modified 18 September 2026