The Historical-Geographical Dictionary of the Polish Lands in the Middle Ages has undergone a gradual change in the last years. Expanding queries in unpublished sources meant that, in addition to the task of showing the settlement network, the Dictionary began to play the role of a data repository, including for social and economic history. This role was bolstered by developing Dictionaries for other Polish lands and by making them available online. New chances of development are opened by technological advances, which may facilitate even data retrieval and Dictionary compilation. This panel aims to discuss the Dictionary’s role in the research toolkit of various disciplines, its social significance, and its conceptual shape. Hence, the division into two parts. The first part will show the history of the Dictionary, the changes taking place in it and the possibilities for its digitalisation, and will also present the new historical-geographical series launched in recent years.
Coordinators
Instytut Historii im. Tadeusza Manteuffla Polskiej Akademii Nauk
Instytut Historii im. Tadeusza Manteuffla PAN
Papers
The Historical-Geographical Dictionary of the Polish lands in the Middle Ages - idea, concept and its changes
prof. dr hab. Tomasz Jurek
Instytut Historii im. Tadeusza Manteuffla Polskiej Akademii Nauk
The presentation is intended to give a brief overview of the Historical-Geographical Dictionary of the Polish Lands in the Middle Ages: its history, basic concept and its changes. It is intended to show how the Dictionary has been developed to date. This is a necessary introduction to the discussion that will fill our meeting, which on the one hand is intended to show other approaches to a similar matter, and on the other to gather opinions from users of various specialties. All in all, this should lead to proposals for changes in the concept and method of compiling the Dictionary for subsequent territories.
The Historical-Geographical Dictionary of the Podlasie Voivodeship in the Middle Ages – present and future
dr Andrzej Buczyło
Instytut Historii im. Tadeusza Manteuffla Polskiej Akademii Nauk
The presentation will discuss the work on the Historical-Geographical Dictionary of the Podlasie Voivodeship in the Middle Ages. Originally, the study of this area was to be undertaken by Prof. Jerzy Wiśniewski, but his untimely death derailed these plans and caused the suspension of activities for several decades. They were resumed only in 2015. The paper will present the concept adopted by the team, which in some aspects is different from the previously developed Dictionaries from other regions, but also from some of the aspects of Prof. Wisniewski's original concept. This is due, among other things, to the historical, legal and source specific nature of the area in question. We will also consider our experiences that emerged during the preparations for the publication of the first volume of the Podlasie Dictionary and will present our plans.
The Concept of Historical-Geographical Dictionaries of the Ruthenian lands of the Crown in the Middle Ages and early modern period
dr Janusz Szyszka
Instytut Historii im. Tadeusza Manteuffla Polskiej Akademii Nauk
The concept of historical-geographical dictionaries outlined by K. Buczek also included the territories of the Crown Ruthenia, however, they were not initiated (except for the Sanok land). At the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries, the Section for the Historical-Geographical Dictionary of Lesser Poland revisited the idea of a Dictionary of the Crown Ruthenia, which led to the creation of a settlement database for Lviv land. Based on new experiences, it was also decided to simultaneously develop settlement databases for Przemyśl and Halych lands. Since 2022, work has begun on the Historical-Geographical Dictionary of Lviv land. I will discuss the concept of these dictionaries, considering the specificities of the Ruthenian lands, which include the distinct nature of the source base, ethnic, religious, and legal differences, as well as the scale and pace of economic modernization. Finally, I will present further plans for the development of these dictionaries.
The Dictionary of Silesian Villages in the Middle Ages – Concept, Implementation, Resignificance
dr hab. Dominik Nowakowski
Instytut Archeologii i Etnologii PAN
The aim oft he Dictionary of Silesian Villages in the Middle Ages is to publish source material on medieval villages of Silesia. In contrast to other historical regions of Poland, it has been developed not in an alphabetical order of villages but according to administrative divisions - modern counties. The work, carried out by an interdisciplinary team of researches, involves extensive archival and field studies. The textual content is complemented by carefully selected illustrative material. Ultimately, the project aims to cover all the villages of historical Silesia, including those that no longer exist. Despite its scientific character, the Dictionary also has a significant popularising dimension. Its structure and method of data presentation make it a valuable resource not only for researchers but also for enthusiasts of regional history and teachers.
Historical-Geographical Dictionary of Prussia in the Middle Ages: methodical and methodological reflections
dr hab. Radosław Biskup
Uniwersytet Mikołaja Kopernika w Toruniu
The paper will present the project of the historical-geographical lexicon of Prussia in the Middle Ages, implemented since 2017 at the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, covering at the first stage the areas of part of Lower Prussia (Germ. Niederland) and the Warmian dominion. The adopted structure of the entries will be presented, and above all, the specificity of the source base used (in comparison with Polish regions), and the resulting factors affecting the source searching methodology (including the upper chronological range of the sources included to the source base), as well as some methodological assumptions underlying the preliminary analyses of the source material carried out in the course of work on the individual entries.
Digital edition of the “Historical-Geographical Dictionary” – current status and possibilities of further development
dr Michał Schmidt
Instytut Historii im. Tadeusza Manteuffla Polskiej Akademii Nauk
The Historical-Geographical Dictionary of the Polish Lands in the Middle Ages is a huge resource of information on Poland's past. However, the publication of new volumes and the expansion of queries make the amount of collected material complicated to search. This has been facilitated by the development of a digital version of the Dictionary, containing a searchable text of the published volumes. While the current digital edition has undoubtedly made the Dictionary's content easier to use and accessible to a wide audience, it also has its limitations. The progressive development of digital humanities and its tools has made it possible to undertake further improvements to the digital version, such as precise search filters or identifiers for individuals and places. To achieve this, the TEI standard text annotation method will be used. The paper is intended to provide an overview of the planned digitalisation of the Dictionary content.
