kildekrøniking

Kildekrøniking is a term used in archival and historical research to describe the systematic process of recording and interpreting the provenance, context, and usage of primary source materials. The word is formed from the Scandinavian words “kilde” meaning “source” and “krønike” meaning “chronicle,” and it is most commonly applied in Nordic scholarship, though analogous practices exist worldwide.

The practice involves creating detailed metadata for each item in a collection, documenting its creation, ownership, physical characteristics, and the circumstances of its acquisition. Historians use kildekrøniking to trace how documents have been altered, cited, or redistributed over time, thereby establishing reliability and significance. In digital archives, kildekrøniking often includes encoding the object in Standards such as METS or Dublin Core to enable interoperability and long‑term preservation.

Kildekrøniking is also crucial for critical editions of historical texts, where editors must examine variant manuscripts, marginalia, and later copies. By revealing the lineage of a text, scholars can better assess its rhetorical strategies and the biases of its creators. Moreover, the method supports legal and ethical considerations in handling cultural heritage, ensuring that source material is accurately represented in research and public dissemination.

The discipline intersects with provenance research, textual criticism, and digital humanities, and it continues to evolve as new tools for recording and visualizing source histories become available.