New Edition of the Historical Gazetteer of Saxony

Head of Project: Karlheinz Blaschke
Researcher: Susanne Baudisch
Research Staff: Lieselotte Bormann, Annelie Fitz, Anita Hartmann, Anja Schulz, Thomas Thieme
Project period: 1999 - 2006

Contact HOV online: Jens Klingner/Henrik Schwanitz

As a historical-topographical directory with almost 6 000 entries the Historical Gazetteer of Saxony is among the indispensable reference works of Saxon regional history. It comprises all existing as well as formerly independent settlements on the territory of the kingdom resp. the Free State of Saxony and offers the most important information on the respective places. Already published in 1957 by Karlheinz Blaschke, the Historical Gazetteer was completely re-edited from 1999 to 2006 and adapted to the status of research of the time. About 800 new articles on the regions were added and previously existing entries expanded. Additional information (inter alia) include population numbers and administrative structures up to December 31, 2000 as well as geographical data linked to historical and topographical maps. If available, you also find references to the respective places as mentioned in regional history reference books. While formerly the directory was organized geographically along greater landscapes, now a new alphabetical order was introduced. In addition, with a focus on the Middle Ages, selected historical data were fundamentally re-edited. The dates when locations were first mentioned as well as the tradition of historical place names, were directly synchronized with the DFG-project „Historisches Ortsnamenbuch von Sachsen“ under the direction of Prof. Dr. Ernst Eichler and Prof. Dr. Hans Walther at the Saxon Academy of Sciences at Leipzig. The new approach of the project was methodologically based on the interdisciplinary cooperation of linguistics, history, and geography as well as on the electronic implementation as a database. Following the publication in 2006, the digitization of the Historical Gazetteer was made possible. The digital Index has been available since January 2008.

Literature:

Jens Klingner/Henrik Schwanitz, Die digitalen Quellen des ISGV, in: Institut für Sächsische Geschichte und Volkskunde 1997–2017 (Spurensuche. Geschichte und Kultur Sachsens 7), hrsg. vom Institut für Sächsische Geschichte und Volkskunde, Dresden 2017, S. 109-119, hier S. 109-112.

Susanne Baudisch, Historisches Ortsverzeichnis und Historisches Ortsnamenbuch von Sachsen. Zwei Lexika – ein Wissenssystem, in: Namenkundliche Informationen 93/94 (2008), S. 195-219; URL: https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:bsz:14-qucosa-62505

Link to the online database:: https://hov.isgv.de; Further information on the background and usage: https://hov.isgv.de/info/projekt