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DIGITAL BIRGITTA is an open-access, multi-feature database of books and objects related to St. Birgitta of Sweden and Syon Abbey, that survive from medieval England. It integrates:

  • Database entries of books, works, people, and places  provide a wealth of information about all traces of Birgitta in England before the Reformation. The database uses linked data, which means that entries connect to each other and thus facilitate exploration of all the connections between entries.
  • Network graphs visualize the relationship between these books, people, places, and institutions.
  • Digital editions offer new, accessible editions of specific Birgittine texts, while manuscript image viewers give an instant view in to specific manuscripts.

By searching in DIGITAL BIRGITTA you can discover new connections between texts, readers, and textual communities that help to show the full breadth of Birgitta’s influence.  

SCOPE

DIGITAL BIRGITTA includes:

  • all the instances of the Revelations and related texts, in both Latin and Middle English, that originated in England or were known in medieval England

  • individually copied excerpts from the Revelations, in both Latin and Middle English

  • devotional compilations, in both Latin and Middle English, that borrow from the Revelations

  • any other sources, book objects or otherwise, that refer to Birgitta or show reception of her Revelations

  • many of the books owned by members (especially nuns) of Syon Abbey, the sole Birgittine house in England

ABOUT DIGITAL BIRGITTA

Digital Birgitta has been developed as part of a multi-year project "Re-assessing St. Birgitta of Sweden and her Revelations in Medieval England: Circulation and Influence, 1380-1530", led by PI Laura Saetveit Miles, professor of British literature at the Department of Foreign Languages, University of Bergen.  

Digital Birgitta is created with Omeka S and was a collaboration with the University of Bergen Library. 

Prosject team members previously or currently involved in Digital Birgitta include: 

  • Julia King, PhD student at UiB and now rare books librarian at Lambeth Palace Library, London
  • Katherine Zieman, former post-doc and now Maîtresse de Conférences en littérature médiévale at the University of Poitiers, France
  • Anine Englund, former research assistant and now PhD student at the University of Oxford

STATUS OF THE DATABASE

Work on Digital Birgitta is mainly done as of 2022, but some items remain to be added, and new items are added as they are found. If you know of books, manuscripts, or other artifacts that should be in the database - or you find any errors - please contact laura.miles@uib.no

OPEN ACCESS

All the data in Digital Birgitta is available Open Access. Please email laura.miles@uib.no for more information.