Researching Medieval Memoria: Prospects and Possibilities With an Introduction to Medieval Memoria Online (MeMO) * Truus van Bueren, Kim Ragetli and Arnoud-Jan Bijsterveld PART I INTRODUCING MEMORIA 1 Introduction: Challenges in memoria research Since the 1980s, memoria research has been an important ield in medieval stu- dies. 1 This becomes clear when looking at the historiographical publications in which the developments within the ield are described. Michael Borgolte (1998 and 2002) situates the origins of memoria research in Germany; he explains its different phases, assessing historical and social factors from post-war Germany. The 1950s saw the birth of the study into Memorialüberlieferung, with memorial registers as its object. 2 This resulted in the research of nobility on the one hand, and of monastic commemoration of the dead on the other. In the 1980s this gave rise to the memoria paradigm and the research discussed in this article. As the his- toriography testiies, the commemoration of the dead also drew the attention of medievalists in other countries: Britain and other Anglophone countries, France, Scandinavia, the Netherlands and Central European countries. 3 Michel Lauwers in his historiographical article of 2002 discusses the German memoria research in relation to the French Annales studies into death and attitudes towards death. Anna Adamska assesses the state of research in Central European countries in her article of 2009. A bibliography has recently been made available for Dutch and Belgian memoria research (2009). Other authors concentrated on speciic topics. Megan McLaughlin reviewed the scholarly historiography on the prayer for the * This article resulted from the discussion paper written by Truus van Bueren and Kim Ragetli for the MeMO symposium Researching Medieval Memoria: prospects and possibilities, 26 May 2010 in Utrecht and the paper Arnoud-Jan Bijsterveld presented at the closing of this symposium. The authors thank Jeannette van Arenthals and Charlotte Dikken for translations and corrections of the text and Elizabeth Adriaanse for her help with checking and synchronizing the footnotes and bibliography. The authors also thank Jos Biemans, Koen Goudriaan, Sophie Oosterwijk and Els Rose for their comments on the text and information they kindly provided. 1 Any memorial practices other than those found in European societies of the Middle Ages and Early Modern Period will not be discussed in this article. 2 In this article the word ‘register’ will be used in a general way, not as the limitative archival term. 3 Please note that ‘Commemoration of the dead’ will be used as an alternative for memoria.