As BREPOLiS marks its 25th anniversary, we are pleased to announce a range of exciting enhancements to our online databases. From a completely redesigned interface for the Library of Latin Texts to enhanced accessibility and search functionalities in our bibliographic databases, the platform continues to evolve to meet the needs of scholars worldwide.
Highlights include:
A new data model and interface for Latin databases
The launch of the Perspecti Citation Plugin for bibliographies
Accessibility upgrades across all platforms
A special extended trial subscription offer for institutions starting in autumn 2025
By introducing new features and continuously enhancing its functionalities, BREPOLiS remains a trusted gateway to high-quality research tools. Download the Newsletter here (PDF, 4 pages)
To mark the 25th anniversary of the launch of our first online database, we are pleased to announce an extended one-year trial subscription at half price, available from September 2025 through the end 2026. Start your subscription in September, pay for just 6 months, and enjoy 16 months of full access !
This offer is limited to new subscriptions and does not apply to renewals of current subscriptions.
Following the death of Pope Francis on 21 April 2025, the papacy is currently sede vacante. A conclave to elect a new pope is scheduled to be held starting today in the Sistine Chapel of Vatican City.
Today’s conclave has its roots in the thirteenth century. Following the death of Pope Clement IV on 29 November 1268, the cardinals who had gathered in Viterbo could not agree on who should be the new pope. It took exactly two years, nine months and two days before the new pope, Gregory X, was elected on 1 September 1271, making this election the longest papal election in the history of the Catholic Church.
The new pope was elected more than a year after the magistrates of Viterbo locked the cardinals in, reduced their rations to bread and water, and removed the roof of the Palazzo dei Papi di Viterbo where the election took place.
As a result of the length of the election, during which three of the twenty cardinal-electors died and one resigned, Gregory X decreed during the Second Council of Lyons in 1274 that the cardinal-electors should be locked in seclusion and not permitted to leave until a new pope had been elected.
If you are interested in Gregory X’s papal letters and documents, the database Ut per litteras apostolicas… Papal Letters Online will be useful for your research. Ut per Litteras Apostolicas provides the complete collection of papal letters from the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries and enables powerful software searches.
Of course, we cannot talk about the subject of the pope and leave out theIndex Religiosus, an internationally renowned bibliography of academic publications in the fields of theology, religious sciences, and Church history. With more than 4,500 hits for the index term Papacy, the Index Religiosus not only covers the medieval period, but the entire history of the Roman Catholic Church.
The BREPOLiS platform currently offers access to 24 databases in a broad variety of research areas of the Humanities. Because it is sometimes difficult to clearly identify the chronological demarcation of each database, we have brought them together in a convenient timeline.
A more detailed version of the timeline, including additional information on the ‘Typology’ of the various databases, the languages they cover, or the product clusters they belong to, can be downloaded here(PDF file).
