Digital project revolutionizes Willehalm: A look back into the future!

Digital project revolutionizes Willehalm: A look back into the future!

On April 4, 2025, the initiation of a groundbreaking research project for the digital edition of Wolfram von Eschenbach's work “Willehalm” was announced. Under the direction of junior professor Dr. Lina Herz at the University of Hamburg, this project aims to preserve the historical tradition of this important text in Middle High German literature and make it accessible for research. uni-hamburg.de reports that the project will be funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) over a period of ten years.

“Willehalm” is one of the most frequently transmitted Middle High German works, with around 90 known manuscripts and fragments. The novel is unfinished and is treated in a three-part cycle, which also includes the works “Arabel” (previous story) and “Rennewart” (continuation). These stories were presented to a wide audience between the 13th and 15th centuries and are still important in Germanic medieval studies today. However, the “Willehalm” in academic teaching is often not considered in the context of this cycle, which is what the current project addresses. ub.uni-heidelberg.de emphasizes that the digital edition is intended to present the entire historical record in a clear manner.

Innovative methods of digital humanities

The research project relies on innovative methods from the Digital Humanities to identify and analyze the various texts. This includes the use of artificial intelligence for text recognition. Dr. Angila Vetter and a team of four student assistants are supporting the work, which begins in April 2025. The aim is to create a sustainable digital infrastructure for research and teaching and to promote interdisciplinary exchange.

The “WiK digital” project will present the complete history of the cycle in TEI format and includes reading texts, modern translations and commentaries. This digital edition will progressively bring out a reading edition in book form (diamond open access) and guarantee comprehensive visibility of all readings. For this purpose, the cycle is being completely translated and commented on in New High German for the first time. ub.uni-heidelberg.de reports that a book-bound edition in three volumes (Arabel, Willehalm, Rennewart) will be created during the project period.

Wolfram von Eschenbach and his meaning

Wolfram von Eschenbach is known not only for “Willehalm”, but also for his most important work “Parzival”, which was created around 1200 and is continually reinterpreted in research. A central point of the discussions are the problems of Parzival interpretation, which are also dealt with in the study edition published by De Gruyter in 2003. degruyter.com shows how deeply rooted these stories are in German literary history and what relevance they have for today's research.

In summary, it can be said that this extensive project not only serves to preserve “Willehalm”, but also makes an important contribution to promoting young scientists and interdisciplinary collaboration in research. The use of digital technologies will revolutionize access to these historical texts and make them available to future generations of researchers.