Covered by the ‘canon storm’ of the 1960s, it was easy to lose sight of the fact that there have always been texts for certain people that were considered exceptionally valuable and whose knowledge had a unifying effect. While intensive research on texts perceived as classical has been established in the national literatures, such studies on canons of different epochs, regions, or genres are largely lacking in the field of Neo-Latin literature.

The aim of this subproject is to clarify which Neo-Latin texts were attributed greater importance through the canon-building processes, such as editions, translations, and commentaries, inclusion in school or academic curricula, citations in scholarly literature, references in other works, etc. than other texts that did not receive such
treatment. Which texts enjoyed such attention only for a limited time or region, which had an impact beyond their epoch or area of origin? In order to see which texts were more widely received than others, it is necessary to process as large a volume of data as possible: Catalogue queries can show distribution patterns, but with the means
available today (e.g., machine-readable texts, automated text recognition), large quantities of text can be scanned for the citation of other texts. A database records the references found in this way and allows researchers interested in the impact of a text to make a data-supported query. Different regionally or temporally defined canons will be identified and studied, and the material and tools will be prepared for big data analysis.