Computational philology at the intersection of games and prognostication: an edition of the German “Prenostica Socratis Basilei” (PSB)
Project leader
Jun.-Prof.in Dr. Elisa Cugliana
Project team
Theresa Fuchs
Duration
1 March 2026 – 28 February 2029
‘Prenostica Socratis Basilei’ – in English, ‘The Predictions of King Socrates’ – is the title of a Latin book of sorts that was translated from Arabic into Latin in the first half of the 13th century (Fig. 1). In addition to two different Latin versions, there are six different German-language versions of this text, which were produced in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries. The aim of our research project is to digitally edit these German-language versions, which have been preserved in six manuscripts and four printed editions. Due to the unusual textual structure of these sortes texts, our team faces particular challenges that require new technical solutions. This project will therefore not only produce the first scholarly digital edition of a sortes text, but also conduct fundamental research on the modelling of historical texts as graphs.
Sortes texts, also known as books of sorts or books of fortune, are divination texts documented since the 2nd century CE, which can also be used as interactive conversational games. Sortes texts are not read linearly; instead, a random mechanism (dice, divination wheels or similar) determines which section (sors/lot) is read. These sortes tell the readers and players something about themselves and their fate or – as in the ‘Prenostica Socratis Basilei’ and its German versions – answer specific questions. The texts feature a multi-level reference system comprising headings, tables, diagrams and drawings, through which readers and players must follow the clues to their answers (see Fig. 2).
Traditional methods of editing used to produce digital editions are inadequate for representing the structural variation, the interactive nature and the lack of linearity of sortes texts. The transcriptions of the German textual sources for the ‘Prenostica Socratis Basilei’ editions are therefore modelled using the Applied Text as Graph editor in a Neo4j graph database, which allows for multiple levels of annotation and the marking up of intra- and intertextual connections. The database also allows export to common exchange formats such as XML and RDF. Ultimately, this method of text capture is intended to facilitate phylogenetic analyses not only of the textual structure but also of the diagrammatic and ludic structure of the ‘Prenostica Socratis Basilei’ adaptations using binary matrices. Linking the named entities and realia mentioned in the text to authority data (GND, Wikidata) is also intended to facilitate comparison between recurring components of the works – such as their questions, lists of themes and authorities – and thus enable the identification of patterns of change. How and why has the text changed over the course of five centuries? Which questions and motifs remained relevant throughout the entire period? And which socio-historical and cultural developments in society, religion, science and the media influence the texts?
The resulting online edition is intended to appeal to both the medieval studies research community and a wider audience, and to be useful for academic teaching. The edition will therefore offer both a text mode and an interactive mode. It will contain critical, diplomatic and normalised texts for each of the German versions of the ‘Prenostica Socratis Basilei’ and will also provide a synoptic presentation to facilitate text comparison. Furthermore, it will enhance the interactive dimension of these sources by creating a game mode that focuses on their multimodal character.
List of works to be edited and textual witnesses
- Prenostica Socratis Basilei, German
- Augsburg, University Library, Cod. II.1.2° 123, folds (fragment: parchment stripes used for binding; Swabia, 14th century)
- Konrad Bollstatter: Seltzsams Loßpuͦch
- Munich, State Library, Cgm 312, fol. 120r–143r (Augsburg: Konrad Bollstatter and Johann Bämler’s workshop, at various times between 1448 and 1474)
- Losbuch gereimt II
- Heidelberg, University Library, Cpg 552, fol. VD, 1v–40v (Grünsfeld near Tauberbischofsheim: Heinrich Meise of Würzburg, for Count Asmus of Wertheim-Freudenberg [c. 1453–1509], 1492)
- Munich, State Library, Cgm 472, fol. VD, 1r–55r (Northern Bavaria, second half of the 15th century)
- Nuremberg, Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Library, Ms. 7032, fol. VD, 1r–55r (Vienna, c. 1459–1462, ownership inscription: Procopius de Crumlovia studens Wiennensis, Prokob from Český Krumlov (Krumau on the Vltava), student in Vienna)
- Konrad Bollstatter: Losbuch gereimt II Bearbeitung
- Munich, State Library, Cgm 252, fol. 129r–137r (incomplete [part of a collection of fragments by Konrad Bollstatter], Augsburg: Konrad Bollstatter, 1475)
- Geomantia-Losbuch
- Geomantia. Eyn kunst des warsagens, die bey den allten in geheym und grossen wirden gehalten ist worden, durch welche auch vil zukünfftiger ding, es sey zu glück odder zu unfal, eröffnet werden […]. Mainz: Peter Jordan 1532. (VD16 G 1314)
- Geomantia. Künstlicher vnd rechtschaffner gebrauch der alten kleynen Geomancey […]. Mainz: Peter Jordan 1534. (VD16 G 1315)
- Geomantia. Eine Kunst des warsagens de by den olden heimlick vñ in groter werdicheit geholden ys worden Dorch welcke ock vele thokuempstiger dinge ydt sy geluecke edder vnfall eroepent werden […]. Hamburg: Joachim Löw 1566. (VD16 G 1316)
- Bernhardt Heupold: Losbüchlein
- Bernard Heupoldt, EJn Künstlich, Lustig vnnd sehr Kurtzweylig Loßbüchlin, sampt einer angehenckten Tafel von Träumen, darinnen zuerkündigen, was uff jeden Tag die Träum zubedeuten. Frankfurt am Main, Egenolff, Christian d.Ä. (Erben), 1595. (VD16 H 3286)
Talks and activities
- Marco Heiles: Okkulte Wissenschaften im Spätmittelalter? Zur Superstitionskritik und divinatorischen Praxis im Wien des 15. Jahrhunderts, Universität Wien, Vortrag auf der Tagung: Das okkulte Wien – Brüche und Kontinuitäten vom Mittelalter bis zur Moderne. Interdisziplinäres Symposion 16.–19. September 2026, Universität Wien.
- Marco Heiles: Kosmologie und Astrologie in den deutschsprachigen Losbüchern des 14.–16. Jahrhunderts, Gastvortrag im Rahmen der Vorlesung "Sonne, Mond und Sterne. Weltbild und Kosmos im Mittelalter" (Prof. Dr. Simone Schultz-Balluff), Universität Halle-Wittenberg, 21.05.2026, https://doi.org/10.17613/vrbd8-jq446.
Relevant publications by team members
Elisa Cugliana, Andreas Mertgens, Patrick Sahle, Johannes Ioannu, Lennart Rouxel, und Eleanor Goerss, Towards a Multimodal Stemmatology: Visual Genealogies through a Feature Matrix for Diagrammatic Variation in the Compendium historiae, in: Zeitschrift für digitale Geisteswissenschaften (submitted).
Elisa Cugliana, Andreas Mertgens, Patrick Sahle, Johannes Ioannu, Lennart Rouxel and Eleanor Goerss, Phylogenetische Überlieferungsanalyse mit Feature-Matrizen zur Bild- bzw. Diagrammbeschreibung. Ein Versuch an den Handschriften des 'Compendium Historiae' (12. Jh.ff), in: DHd 2025 Under Construction (DHd2025) Bielefeld 2025, https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14943154.
Elisa Cugliana, Sebastian Enns und Andreas Kuczera: ›Sortes Dictae Sunt‹. Methods for Editing Mediaeval Books of Fortune, in: Zeitschrift für digitale Geisteswissenschaften 9 (2024), https://doi.org/10.17175/2024_005.
Elisa Cugliana, Andreas Kuczera, Max Grüntgens, Aengus Ward und Joris Van Zundert, Computational Approaches and the Epistemology of Scholarly Editing, in: International Journal of Digital Humanities 6 (2024), 169–188, https://doi.org/10.1007/s42803-024-00088-z.
Marco Heiles, Björn Reich und Matthias Standke: Gedruckte deutsche Losbücher im 15. und 16. Jahrhundert. Das Losbuch im Medienwechsel, in: Gedruckte deutsche Losbücher des 15. und 16. Jahrhunderts. Hrsg. von Marco Heiles, Björn Reich und Matthias Standke, Band 2 (Ludica. Historische Bibliothek der Spiele 3), Stuttgart: Hirzel 2025, IX–XLII.
Gedruckte deutsche Losbücher des 15. und 16. Jahrhunderts. Hrsg. von Marco Heiles, Björn Reich und Matthias Standke, Band 2 (Ludica. Historische Bibliothek der Spiele 3), Stuttgart: Hirzel 2025.
Gedruckte deutsche Losbücher des 15. und 16. Jahrhunderts. Hrsg. von Marco Heiles, Björn Reich und Matthias Standke, Band 1 (Ludica. Historische Bibliothek der Spiele 2), Stuttgart: Hirzel 2021.
Marco Heiles, Sortes, in: Matthias Heiduk, Klaus Herbers und Hans Christian Lehner (Hg.), Prognostication in the Medieval World. A Handbook, 2. vol., Berlin/Boston 2021, 978–983, https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110499773-084.
Marco Heiles, Das Losbuch. Manuskriptologie einer Textsorte des 14. bis 16. Jahrhunderts (Beihefte zum Archiv für Kulturgeschichte 83), Köln/Weimar/Wien: Böhlau 2018.
Project funding
