Introductory study cases Hájek started from his general knowledge of Bohemian and Moravian history, and it is not sure whether he used any diplomatic source material at all. What also matters is that some recently issued works still accept Hajek’s information as if it were credible. Our edition therefore offers the possibility of direct comparison of the actually preserved source materials with the information presented by Hajek. A special section relates to a few surviving physical sources, including in particular Jewish tombstones (Nr. 246�254) and a rare Jewish merchant’s gold signet ring from the early 13th century (Nr. 245). The sources where mentions of the Jews have the character of a literary cliché, solely quote the Bible or describe the history of the Jews outside of the territory of Bohemia and Moravia (for instance the fates of the Jews in Palestine during the Crusades) have been left aside. Another condition for inclusion was the verifiability of the sources. Those which once demonstrably existed but were recently destroyed or lost were included, if sufficient background information has been preserved (for instance a photocopy or an earlier edition).15 Preserved Hebrew sources have been included, both written and physical (mainly, for our period, the already mentioned tombstones). Hebrew or Aramaic writings that have been preserved only in fragments and therefore could not be more precisely dated or their place of origin determined have been left out, as well as biblical prayer or liturgical manuscripts without a direct connection to historical events. The so-called Canaan glosses were dealt with in a similar way.17 Writings that cannot be precisely dated but we know that they were created up to the middle of the 15th century have been included at the end of the edition. Documents related to Jewish affairs can be divided into several groups. The first group is comprised of extensive documents issued at the request of the Jews by the so- vereign or another authority. They are either edicts, aimed at ensuring the safety and prerogatives of Jews, or privileges, which established the conditions of life (including restrictions on personal contacts with Christians) and doing business (loan and pledge trading) in a Christian society (Nr. 38, 43, 49, 50, 51, 52 etc.). These legislative docu- ments had for purpose to create a legal milieu in which the Jews were allowed to live in 15) A typical example is the formulary collection CODEX JACOBI, the original of which is missing today. 16) Hebrew fragments have become the subject of the European project “Books within books: Hebrew Fragments in European Libraries", on which experts from the Czech Republic have also worked. It is assumed that the fragments of manuscripts can be situated within the wider context and perhaps also some of the lost manuscripts can be identified, see: http:// www.hebrewmanuscript.com/ . 17) Moreover, these glosses have been dealt with by independent separate grant project “Kenaanské glosy ve středověkých hebrejských rukopisech s vazbou na české země" (Canaan glosses in medieval Hebrew manuscripts with a tie to the Czech lands) supported by the Czech Science Foundation (P406/11/0861). Results were published in the volume BLAHA/ DITTMANNÍULIČNÁ 2013. XLI