This incipit index is a database of Latin incipits available on CD-ROM and via the World Wide Web. They are taken from the files and library reference materials of l’Institut de Recherche et d’Histoire des Textes (IRHT) in Paris, France, and the Hill Museum & Manuscript Library (HMML), and cover Latin literature from the pre-classical age to the renaissance.

In Principio is an invaluable tool for the scholar tracing the development of a text or simply seeking the identity of a codex. Since the number of incipits in the world of medieval Latin literature is vast, regular supplements have augmented this corpus. The software uses special indices to optimize the search for, and speed the recovery of, information about medieval Latin texts. With a few simple key strokes, this index can save the scholar hours of searching and weeks of travel.

Through the years, IRHT and HMML have developed the two largest incipit card files in the world. These incipit collections are taken from two diverse manuscript collections, making the incipit files complementary. When IRHT planned to convert its files to computer format, it enlisted the aid of Brepols Publishers. Brepols is famous for its academic publications, but more importantly for having editors with training in manuscript research and personnel well-versed in the use of French, Latin, German, Italian and Spanish texts. In addition to academic and computer expertise, Brepols possessed the marketing capabilities essential to disseminate academic materials in book and computer formats.

The tenth and newest edition of In Principio offers more than 900,000 incipit entry records. The computer program offers basic fields of information: incipit, explicit, author, title, manuscript identification, and brief bibliographic and catalogue information. All fields are not always represented, but eventually, as research continues, information for more of the fields will be included in future releases. User comments are always welcome.

Having the incipit files available digitally can represent a substantial saving of time and energy for the scholar, since the contributing libraries are some 5,000 miles apart. The incipit files are available without the necessity of travel. By publishing these two collections as part of In Principio, most of the incipits from the major manuscript resources of Europe will be accessible electronically.

In comparison to other incipit collections, In Principio is distinguished by its wide-ranging, “generalist” character. Chronologically, it covers all Latin texts that have been transmitted in manuscript since the origins of Latin literature up to about 1600 when the manuscript is replaced by the printed text. In Principio thus covers ancient, patristic, medieval, and humanist Latin literature.

In addition, all literary genres are included: the liberal arts and theology, history and poetry, medicine and liturgy, civil law and canon law, the exact and occult sciences, summas and sermons, glossaries and correspondence, cooking recipes and cursing formulas, large treatises and small, isolated sentences. All literary texts in the broadest sense have their place in In Principio.