**6. Early modern attempts to collect written information on quake events, the case of Bavaria**

Earthquakes which can be perceived in Bavaria are, in most cases, not "Bavarian" earthquakes *sensu stricto*. "Real" Bavarian earthquakes have usually been less severe so far, stronger events took place in the neighbouring countries Switzerland or Austria, sometimes also in Italy. Some of the earthquake events perceived in Northern Bavaria have occurred in what is today the Czech Republic. Kárník (1988) remarks that "the important role of historical data is most evident in regions of medium or low seismicity", just as is the case in Bavaria. In order to find out about the epicentres of historic earthquakes, the simplest way is to screen and assess historical documents, especially written documents.

Since a thorough assessment of historical documents (the value of which has been proven many times, foremost in the field of hydrology, cf. Stedinger & Cohn, 1986; Alexandre, 1987; Baker, 1987; to name only a few of the eminent publications on that topic) filed in the numerous archives all over the state of Bavaria would have proven too time-consuming and costly by far (cf. Coeur et al., 1998; Barnikel & Becht, 2004), a new way had to be found to gather as much relevant information as possible in a shorter period of time. Especially local archives, which have found to be among the most productive and important sources for documents describing hazardous natural events from the 1800s and older (cf. Barnikel & Becht, 2003) cannot be screened by natural scientists alone. Eventually, people with access to local documents, like librarians or historians, need to be encouraged to contribute to the growing data base as a kind of open-source catalogue.
