Courses Summer Term 2024

In the summer semester 2024, numerous courses will once again be offered by members of FOVOG.

The lecture "The World of the High Middle Ages", held by PD Dr. Jörg Sonntag, delves into the exciting and fascinating phase of the High Middle Ages and presents the most important of these and other phenomena from a cultural studies perspective.

In the advanced seminar "Imitation in the Middle Ages", held by PD Dr. Jörg Sonntag, the basic role models taken from Christianity, pagan antiquity, Germanic myths or Islam are extracted and analyzed and their structural interdependence and social relevance for the functioning of the patchwork culture of the Middle Ages are examined.

In the proseminar "Childhood and Youth in the Middle Ages", held by Prof. Dr. Mirko Breitenstein, contemporary concepts of childhood and youth as well as the corresponding realities of life are recorded and analyzed on the basis of various social spaces (monastery, noble court, town, village).

In the exercise "Recht haben und Recht machen - Statutes in the High and Late Middle Ages", held by Nathalie Schmidt, participants will look at the proper law of various religious communities. While the often well-known rules of religious orders such as the Rule of St. Benedict or the Rule of St. Augustine provide a basis for living together, statutes show the respective needs of the communities. How do these texts come about and what do they regulate? What differences are there between the communities? These and other questions are addressed in this exercise.

In the exercise "Beginning, progress, completion - discipline and 'self-optimization' in the Middle Ages using the example of David of Augsburg's doctrinal treatise "On the outer and inner man"", held by Dr. des. Marcus Handke, selected chapters of the treatise, which is available in German translation, will be read and placed in the contemporary context of the novitiate, religious writings and ideas about the formation and 'optimization' of the human being. On the basis of this multi-perspective approach, an introduction to the everyday life of medieval religious orders and their underlying world of ideas will also be given.

In the reading course "Chronicles of the Middle Ages", held by PD Dr. Jörg Sonntag, well-known and lesser-known works - from the great world chronicles to chronicles of a genealogical nature to works of urban or monastic historiography - will be read and insights gained into the ideas of the world, the origins of peoples and dynasties as well as the lifeworlds of the Middle Ages in general.

In addition, the international research colloquium "Stars of historical research up close", held by PD Dr. Jörg Sonntag, internationally renowned historians, including Patrick Geary (Princeton), Jean-Claude Schmitt (Paris), Mikhail Boytsov (Moscow), Constant Mews (Melbourne), Volker Leppin (Yale), Bruce Brasington (Canyon/Texas), Claudia Zey (Zurich), Pavlina Rychterová (Vienna) and Unn Falkeid (Oslo), will speak on current topics in medieval history. You can download the schedule here.

An overview of all courses can be found here.