Combining hermeneutic and computer based methods for investigating reliability of historical texts

Within the framework of the project HerCoRe1 we are analyzing two historical works from 18th century “History of Rise and Decay of the Otoman Empire” and “Description of Moldavia” (both written by Dimitrie Cantemir) and investigate them with regard to the historiography of its time. We evaluate the usage of sources by the author and also the reliability of his references. We also seek to shed more light on the motivation behind the writing-process of these works by taking into account the political and cultural dynamics of the time and the position of Cantemir within the Ottoman elite. To determine missing or incorrectly translated parts of the work, the German and English translations are also compared with a copy of the Latin manuscripts. This comparative approach serves also to discuss the causes of the (un)conscious mistakes and omissions in the translations. We are performing this study by means of hermeneutic and IT approaches.