Al di là delle Alpi? Storici tirolesi e carinziani tra grandi e piccole patrie

This essay examines the relationship between medieval studies, “local patriotism” and nationalism in Tyrol and in Carinthia from the second half of the nineteenth century to the First World War. In this context, the work of historians who studied at the Austrian Institute of Historical Research (e.g. A. von Jaksch) is examined, in particular their research into and application of an historical-critical method that, at the local level, united philology with a strong patriotic sentiment. The essay examines in particular the case of the edition of Carinthian and Tyrolean medieval sources such as Monumenta Historica Ducatus Carinthiae and the Tiroler Urkundenbuch. These linked the present to the medieval past through a “document genealogy” which unified the past and contributed to the construction of regional political identities.