Jagiellonian Monarchies in the Apostolic Chancellery.

On the Procedure of Searching and Disseminating Data on Central Europe from the Vatican Archives

Abstract

The article presents a new method for searching and publishing materials preserved in the registers of the Apostolic Chancery at the turn of the sixteenth and seventeenth century. The approach is based on the systematic use of archival indexes and digital tools. Traditional methods of working with papal sources are extremely time-consuming and inefficient. Although research in the Vatican Archives has been carried out for almost 150 years, there is still a lack of modern archival aids and digital editions that would enable effective use of these resources for studies on the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. Using the example of Polish affairs from the pontificates of Sixtus IV, Innocent VIII, and Alexander VI, the author demonstrates how historical indexes to the Registra Lateranensia and Registra Vaticana, complemented by targeted searches in the Registra Supplicationum, can be effectively employed to identify and catalogue the preserved source material. The proposed procedure made it possible to locate more than one thousand entries relating to Poland within a single month—a result that, under traditional research conditions, would require decades of work. A comparative analysis with the Repertorium Germanicum confirmed the high effectiveness of the method, which allowed for the identification of over 85 percent of the bulls preserved in the registers. The article also proposes a model for digital publication of the collected data in accordance with the FAIR and Linked Open Data (LOD) standards. This model enables the gradual release of material—from basic metadata to in-depth analyses of individual documents—and the integration of multiple research projects. In doing so, it enhances scholarly communication and increases research efficiency. Although the method has been tested on Polish material, it has a universal character and can be applied to other regions of Europe.