Introduction

Clavis Clavium, or ‘Key of Keys’, is the go-to database to access Late Antique and Medieval Christian literature. It incorporates the almost 8,000 pages of data found in six so-called claves: the Clavis Patrum Latinorum and the Bibliotheca Hagiographica Latina, the Clavis Patrum Graecorum and the Bibliotheca Hagiographica Graeca, the Clavis Apocryphorum Veteris Testamenti and the Clavis Apocryphorum Novi Testamenti. Together, these six indispensable tools provide researchers (whether historians, theologians, philologists, or philosophers) working on the extensive field of Early Christian, Medieval and Byzantine literature with essential information regarding authorship, authenticity, chronological and geographical contexts, manuscript transmission, and editorial history.

Now, with the creation of the Clavis Clavium database, researchers can for the first time access this enormous mass of printed data in an integrated and accessible way. The database allows all six claves to be searched together, for maximum efficiency, and it offers huge versatility through search options that can combine different categories (e.g. title, incipit, desinit, author, or saint). Continuously updated (after peer review) with material brought together by specialists in the field, the Clavis Clavium is a dynamic research tool that will continue to be expanded and updated in the future as new claves and material are added, and by serving as a gateway to other (third-party) information and functionalities. And crucially, all of this information is freely available, brought to you by Brepols Publishers in Open Access.

Key Features

• Presents the mass of printed data in an integrated and accessible way: no more comparing different claves to gather all available information about one and the same text or author
• Versatile: you pick the way you want to access the data (via title, incipit, desinit, author, saint, … or via a combination of two or more of these categories)
• Continuously updated: no more waits for a new printed update. ClaCla is continuously updated – not, as in the past, by one or two scholars, but by a host of specialists, whose contributions are subjected to peer review
• Ever-expanding: the list of claves we plan to add in the future is long, e.g. Clavis Patristica Pseudepigraphorum Medii Aevi, Théologie Byzantine, Traditio Patrum, …
• The data of the printed claves have been amended when necessary (the main amendments are listed in an Excel file)
• Open Access database (link)
• The free Clavis Clavium Browser Extension allows you to access Clavis Clavium much more quickly, directly from the toolbar of your browser

Flyer

English version (PDF)

Related Databases

The database is an essential gateway to other full-text databases available on BREPOLiS, such as Library of Latin Texts or Sources Chrétiennes Online.

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KU Leuven, Leuven, 2022
Brepols Publishers, Turnhout, 2022
Société des Bollandistes, Bruxelles, 2022