International conference “Body and Clerical Order in the Middle Ages: Body and Communication” (Dresden, November 25–27, 2026)

From November 25–27, 2026, the Research Center for Comparative History of Religious Orders (FOVOG) will host an international and interdisciplinary conference entitled “Body and Clerical Order in the Middle Ages: Body and Communication". It is organized in cooperation between the working group Body and Clerical Order in the Middle Ages: Virtue, Power and Representation and the Faculty of Croatian Studies at the University of Zagreb. The working group was founded in December 2023 by Daniela Bianca Hoffmann (FOVOG-Dresden), Jan Lemmer (Ruhr University Bochum), and Matthias Weber (Ruhr University Bochum).

The presentations at this interdisciplinary conference, drawing from the fields of history, art history, medieval German studies and philosophy, will explore the relationship between body and clerical order, with a particular focus on communication about and through the body. In four sections, the conference will first examine disciplined bodies, then outward appearances and clothing, followed by sick and poor bodies, and finally holy and unholy bodies.

The detailed conference program can be found here

To attend the conference in person or online, please register by 20 November by emailing to: Daniela Bianca Hoffmann, daniela_bianca.hoffmann@tu-dresden.de.