The Database of Nordic Neo-Latin literature is now accessible on the internet (www):

http://www.uib.no/neol.html

Presented in the database is information on thousands of Neo-Latin texts from or about the Nordic countries, between 1500 and 1800. The language of the descriptions is English.

The database is a tool for students of the history of literature, science, ideas etc. It aims primarily at describing the contents of Nordic Neo-Latin books and publications.

Search for:

      authors
      topics
      dedicatees
      genres
      incipits
      persons mentioned
      etc, etc ...

Here, e.g., you can find out if Mantuan or Thomas More or Nicodemus Frischlin were quoted in the Nordic countries. They were.

The database does not cover the en-tire Neo-Latin literature of the Nordic countries, but large and well-defined portions of this vast material are there (see list below).

In collecting the material, existing national bibliographies have been followed, where such exist. But the de-scriptions in the database are mainly based on independent examination of the books themselves and often present much information not available elsewhere.

The Database of Nordic Neo-Latin Literature is a result of an inter-Nordic research project involving latinists from all five Nordic countries: Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, under the direction of prof. Minna Skafte Jensen, University of Odense, Denmark. It was funded by the national research councils for the humanities of all five countries.

Current editors are prof. Lars Boje Mortensen and Karen Skovgaard-Petersen, University of Bergen, Norway, and Peter Zeeberg, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.

Present state
At present (September 1995) the base describes c. 2500 Nordic Neo-Latin publications, including:
Denmark: All Latin texts 1536-1600 as listed in L. Nielsen: Dansk Bibliografi. All Latin texts from the period 1601 - c. 1610 as in Bibliotheca Danica (occasional literature excepted). Various texts from Holstein, texts by foreigners dedicated to Danes (1536-1600), and some later items. (c. 950 documents).
Finland: Occasional literature from the period 1562-1713 as listed in T. Melander: Personskrifter hanforande sig till Finland (c. 800 documents). Iceland: Mainly texts from around 1600 and the last half of the 18th Century. (c. 60 documents).
Norway: All Latin texts from the period 1519-1650 as listed in L. Nielsen: Dansk Bibliografi, H. Pettersen: Bibliotheca Norwegica, and H. Ehrencron-Muller: Forfatterlexicon. (c. 170 documents). Sweden: Most Latin texts 1523-1600 as listed in I. Collijn: Sveriges Bibliografi intill aar 1600. Various texts from the 17th century. Various political texts from the beginning of the 18th century. (c. 330 documents).

Prof. Lars Boje Mortensen
University of Bergen
Dpt. of Greek, Latin & Egyptology
Sydnesplass 9
N-5007 Bergen

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