Institut für Mittelalterforschung (IMAF) - Institute for Research of the Middle Ages, Vienna

The Institut für Mittelalterforschung (IMAF) – Institute of Medieval Research, Vienna, a department of the Austrian Academy of Science, was established in 1998 and specializes in four main fields of study: 

1) the edition of medieval charters of the rulers of the Holy Roman Empire for the “Diplomata-“series of the Monumenta Germaniae Historica (MGH)

2) the collection of written sources to the medieval history of the Holy Roman Empire with the aim of drawing up an annotated chronological inventory of all documenary and historiographical sources for the series of “Regesta Imperii” (RI) 

3) the collection, documentation and edition of medieval and early modern inscriptions in Austria and Southern Tyrol (series “Deutsche Inschriften”)

4) investigations in the tradition and transmission of early medieval sources, their interpretation and edition, and, in more general terms, research in early medieval history with a focus on ethnic identities and peoples and the principal foundations of the European Middle Ages.

The institute has been organizing a series of conferences in relation with its main fields of research, and workshops focusing on “The Use of Writing”, “Power and Identity” and “Past and Remembrance of the Past”.

Apart from publishing editions and the results of individual investigations, the institute produces a series, “Forschungen zur Geschichte des Mittelalters”, of which several volumes are published each year, ranging from the publication of conference papers to collections of thematically related essays and monographs.