Courses winter term 2025/26
Table of contents
Main seminar
Mirko Breitenstein
Main seminar: Just praying and working? Benedictine monks and nuns in the Middle Ages
Ort: BZW/A152/U
Zeit: Thursday, 2nd DS (9:20 – 10:50)
OPAL-Kurs
Ora et labora! - Pray and work! Benedictine nuns and monks have had a lasting influence on European culture through their combination of asceticism and active life. The seminar will cover the history of Benedictine communities from their legendary founder Benedict of Nursia and his rule to the time of the Reformation. An excursion to the Benedictine monastery of Wechselburg in Saxony is also planned.
Sources and literature for introduction:
Die Benediktsregel (beliebige Ausgaben); Gregor der Große, Vita Benedicti / das Leben und die Wunder des verehrungswürdigen Abtes Benedikt, Stuttgart 2015.
Handbuch der benediktinischen Ordensgeschichte, hg. von M. Albert, Bd 1: Von den Anfängen bis ins 14. Jahrhundert, Bd 2: Vom 14. Jahrhundert bis zum Beginn des 19. Jahrhunderts, St. Ottilien 2019, 2025; M. Breitenstein, Die Benediktiner. Geschichte, Lebensformen, Spiritualität, München 2019; S. Hilpisch, Geschichte der Benediktinerinnen, St. Ottilien 1951.
Offered for the following modules:
Teaching degree old
Gymnasium: PHF- SEGY-Hist-VV
Oberschule: PHF-SEMS-Hist-VE
Teaching degree new
Gymnasium: PHF-SEGY-HIST-PFVM
Gymnasium: PHF-SEGY-HIST-GVAMG
Oberschule: PHF-SEOS-HIST-GVAMG
Oberschule: PHF-SEOS-HIST-PFE
Bachelor History (2007)
Hist AM 1
Hist GM 2
Bachelor GKS new (2023)
PHF-BA-HIST-GVAMG
Bachelor SLK new (2020)
Hist Erg GM 2
MA degree programs
Jörg Sonntag
Main seminar: Love in the Middle Ages (block event)
Ort: BZW/A418/U
Zeit: Donnerstag, 2nd DS (9:20 – 10:50 Uhr) on 30 October 2025, 20 November 2025, 22 January 2026 and a block on 19 February 2026, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
OPAL-Kurs
Love and sex have not only been “occupying” people since they came into existence. Humankind has even made both phenomena a fundamental part of its culture. Thus, in addition to individual feelings, love and sex soon began to derive their meaning increasingly from social, political, religious or, more generally, ethical and moral contexts. In this advanced seminar, we will therefore discuss the ideas and practices of “love” (marriage, homosexuality, polygamy or prostitution) as well as the forms of courtly love and divine love, or techniques of love magic.
This seminar is a block seminar. The first session will take place on 30 October 2025. The subsequent sessions on 16 November 2025 and 22 January 2026 will be followed by a block seminar, which is currently planned for 19 February 2026 (from approximately 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.). However, we will clarify this date together.
Introductory literature
Georges Duby, Die Frau ohne Stimme: Liebe und Ehe im Mittelalter, Berlin 2000; Gabriele Bartz / Alfred Karnein / Lange, Claudio (Hgg.), Liebesfreuden im Mittelalter. Kultur der Erotik und Sexualität in Bildern und Dokumenten, München 2001; Margaret Merrill Toscano, Making love with God. Sex and identity in Two Late-Medieval Women Mystics. Mechthild of Magdeburg and Margery Kempe, University of Utah 2002; Thomas Bein, Liebe und Erotik im Mittelalter, Graz 2003; Love, sex and marriage in the Middle Ages. A Sourcebook, hg. v. Conor McCarthy, London 2004; Jean Verdon, Irdische Lust. Liebe, Sex und Sinnlichkeit im Mittelalter, Darmstadt 2011; Eberhard Schockenhoff (Hg.), Liebe, Sexualität und Partnerschaft. Grenzformen der Intimität im Wandel, Freiburg 2019; Michael Navrátil / Florian Remele (Hgg.), Unerlaubte Gleichheit. Homosexualität und mann-männliches Begehren in Kulturgeschichte und Kulturvergleich, Bielefeld 2021; Guido Ruggiero, Love and Sex in the Time of Plague. A Decameron Renaissance, Cambridge 2021.
Exercise
Mirko Breitenstein
Exercise: Monasteries and religious orders in the Middle Ages. An overview
Ort: BZW/A152/U
Zeit: Thursday, 3rd DS (11:10 – 12:40)
OPAL-Kurs
Christian monasteries shaped the history of Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East for centuries. They were places of worship, but also cultural, economic, and political centers. This exercise aims to provide an overview of this rich history.
Sources and literature for introduction:
G. Melville, Die Welt der mittelalterlichen Klöster. Geschichte und Lebensformen, München 2012.
Offered for the following modules:
Teaching degree old
Gymnasium: PHF-SEGY-Hist-MA
Oberschule: PHF-SEMS-Hist-MA
Teaching degree new
Gymnasium: PHF-SEGY-HIST-EWAMG
Gymnasium: PHF-SEGY-HIST-GVAMG
Oberschule: PHF-SEOS-HIST-GVAMG
Oberschule: PHF-SEOS-HIST-EWAMG
Bachelor History (2007)
Hist AM 1
Hist GM 2
Bachelor GKS new (2023)
PHF-BA-HIST-EWAMG
Bachelor SLK new (2020)
Hist Erg GM 2
Hist Erg AM 1
MA degree programs
Colloquium
Mirko Breitenstein
Colloquium : Research colloquium for exam and final theses FOVOG
Location: Research Center for Comparative History of the Religious Orders (FOVOG), Budapester Str. 34b
Time: Wednesday, 6 DS (16:40 - 18:10) (hybrid participation possible)
OPAL course
Mirko Breitenstein
Colloquium : Research Colloquium New Research on the Comparative History of Religious Orders
Location: Research Center for Comparative History of the Religious Orders (FOVOG), Budapester Str. 34b
Time: Wednesday, 6 DS (16:40 - 18:10)
Participation via Zoom is possible after registration at fovog@tu-dresden.de.
OPAL course
Offered for the following modules:
Teaching degree new SO (from WS 23/24)
PHF-SEGY-HIST-PFVM, PHF-SEOS-HIST-PFE
Teaching degree old SO (until WS 23/24)
PHF-SEMS-Hist-VE, PHF-SEGY-Hist-VV, PHF-SEBS-Hist-VV
MA degree programs
PhF-Hist-MA-SM1, PhF-Hist-MA-FMEW, PhF-Hist-MA-FMSW