Historical research is based on sources: handwritten sources kept in public or private archives such as correspondence or the documentation of administrative bodies, etc., older printed material such as laws and regulations, newspapers, pamphlets, auction catalogues ... Some of these sources are consulted very often because they are relevant for research from multiple perspectives. Historians then go to the archives to consult the same sources over and over again. This is time-consuming, and not very efficient, as archival work is redone each time.

The aim of this project is to make a series of polyvalent historical sources dating from the early modern period (late 15th-late 18th century) available in the form of databases. The great example is what the Huygens Instituut voor Nederlandse Geschiedenis has achieved with regard to the correspondence of William of Orange (1533-1584): all letters to and from William of Orange found in some 200 European archives were scanned and included in the database. More than 13,000 letters have thus become very easy to consult, from behind one's own computer screen. The next step, which is now being prepared, is to convert all those handwritten letters into an easily readable form (typed), so that one no longer has to struggle with difficult-to-read handwriting. Another similar example, is the (paying) database ‘Oxford Historical Treaties’, which brings together the international treaties concluded from the late Middle Ages to the early 20th century. This database is consulted very frequently.

Together with some colleagues, and with master students, I want to set up a similar operation for normative sources from the Habsburg Netherlands, and by that I mean (1) princely laws, (2) regional and local rules and regulations, and (3) customary law. In the 19th century, quite a few such sources were already published in print, especially the common or customary law. All that will be integrated into the database. In recent years, together with a series of students, I have been very active in preparing the publication of princely legislation in the 17th century, which has resulted in a four-volume book publication of the legislation of Philip IV, 1621-1665 (about 1,800 pages). We have also pretty much finished the period of Charles II (1665-1700). But we no longer want to publish these in book form, as consulting them is cumbersome and extremely inefficient. If we collect the already available publications of princely legislation - they were mostly published in the 19th century and are now completely royalty-free - and add them to our own results of this kind of research, we can already finish for (1) princely legislation, the entire early modern period (16th-18th centuries). Also for (3) customary law, a lot of material is already available. For (2) local and regional rules and regulations, we are working on the regulations in some important cities (Antwerp, Ghent , Bruges and Namur).

Through this project, we can therefore make a lot of research results available to the whole research community. The normative sources we can compile in this database will be consulted by both legal historians and historians, and are highly relevant to all kinds of questioning: commercial history, ecological history, social history, private law questioning, etc.

The requested funding will be used for the creation of the databases, for any travel and reproduction costs in the context of archive visits, and for data entry (e.g. by job students). There are no personnel costs involved. After completion, the database can be transferred to a scientific publisher, or to a public scientific body such as the Royal Flemish Academy of Sciences.