Peter of Poitiers conceived the Compendium historiae in genealogia Christi in Paris in the late 12th century. Laid out in the form of a genealogical chart, the work provides a concise overview of biblical history from Adam to Christ. Christ’s ancestors appear alongside lines of ruling dynasties, priests, and prophets. Like a map of time, the Compendium historiae functions as a synoptic picture of diachronic and synchronic relationships. Transmitted on both rolls and in codices, this graphically innovative work spread quickly throughout the Latin West. Our database includes more than 320 manuscript witnesses (many previously unknown). Documenting the breadth and diversity of the tradition, our research platform now offers a more complete picture of the work’s transmission as its variants. 

With respect to its text, the work is transmitted in Short, Interpolated, and Long Text Versions. Graphically and visually, however, these text versions are quite heterogeneous. Our research platform makes the Short Text Version accessible via a visual edition (a navigable graph with two supplementary layers presenting more detailed views of single elements and larger sections) a critical text, and a scholarly commentary on the graphic elements of the work as well as its historical and intellectual context.

 With this foundation, Phase II of the project will investigate the nature of the Compendium historiae as a “living work”. The Compendium’s graphic structure, texts, diagrams, and iconographic program vary widely across its spatially and temporally extensive adaptations. This variance sheds light, moreover, on the work’s diverse functions for different types of users—and thus the sheer extent of its influence.