Advanced Latin Liturgical History: Usuarium
Latin Liturgical History is not for the faint of heart.
Neither is this website.
So let me start with their clear copyright: Data retrieved from USUARIUM: A Digital Library and Database for the Study of Latin Liturgical History in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Period (http://usuarium.elte.hu) built by Miklós István Földváry et al. at Eötvös Loránd University (Budapest, Hungary), Research Group of Liturgical History—from 2015 onwards.
My hat is off to you, sirs.
Who it's For:
I love going deep into the weeds for things, but let me be honest. This site is probably for advanced graduate students in Church history. If you want to be here, you already know Latin and history.
Cost:
Free, as far as I can tell, but login required for access as many files are from libraries.
In Detail:
"A Digital Library and Database for the Study of Latin Liturgical History in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Period"
What it is is what it is.
I was actually referred to this site by someone who probably saw “Latin” and “church” and assumed it would be something I’d like.
They weren’t wrong, but there also isn’t much for me to do with it other than admire that it exists. And I do. So I will help to spread the word by giving it a boost here.
The Primary Sources for Latin Liturgical History
How did the Church’s liturgy come into being? What shift were there, or were there not!, based on being transferred into other cultures and geographies.
Or, really, how well intact did the Greek and Latin stay over the centuries?
Usuarium will help scholars explore those questions and more for the entire Middle Ages and Early Modern Period.
It lists different sources, types of liturgical manuscripts, printers of the manuscripts, and location/library of the primary source.
Items are also crosslinked with the “Cantus Index” which is a whole resource specifically on chant.
And people think antiquity and modernity don’t go along. People love digitizing!
Nothing Outside Latin Liturgical History
But if you are not already on the inside of the knowledge society here, this site isn’t going to get you far.
It would probably also help to know Hungarian.
But if everything from the Middle Ages, Latin, or Ecclesiastical is your jam, you will love this piece of the pie. It can be impossible to get access to some of these manuscripts. Take advantage.
Ad scientiam,
Magistra
Rating
Claudius/Augustus