Medieval rulers' records are no longer to be seen as mere legal documents, but rather as highly complex media. They reflect the relations of the elites and are expressed in the text as well as graphically. The "Italia Regia" database project systematically records the rulers' certificates of the 7th to 11th century for recipients of Regnum Italiae according to these aspects. The present volume, which summarizes the contributions of the conference "European rulers and Tuscany in the mirror of documentary tradition", introduces the series of the same name. The results of the research on the individual regions will be published in it. The present volume, among other things, presents the project in more detail, as well as individual studies by French, Italian and German authors on document receivers in Tuscany. In addition, until now unpublished documents are edited and published in picture.

"From the Baltic Sea to the Mediterranean" – these two poles not only characterize important stages of Wolfgang Huschner’s life, but also mark fundamental coordinates of his academic interests. The authors of the articles collected in this volume were guided by one of the jubilarian’s areas of research, without leading to a strict thematic restriction. As a result, they reflect a broad spectrum of contents that can be outlined only roughly by the division into five sections on diplomacy, the history of power, medieval long-distance relations, monastic and religious history, and the history of Mecklenburg. In some cases, a different assignment would have been possible – as in the work of Wolfgang Huschner these fields are not strictly isolated from each other, but connected in many ways. In their depth and diversity, the articles represent their own contributions to research and also provide suggestions for further investigations – as such of the academic approaches of the jubilarian and their impact.