The Chair of German Medieval and Renaissance Literature and Culture

The Chair of German Medieval and Renaissance Literature and Culture explores German literature and culture of the Middle Ages from the beginnings of written records in German (around 800 AD) to the end of the 16th century. Medieval studies and early modern research cover a wide range of texts, from literature in the narrower sense to non-fictional texts.

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Das Team

Holder of the Chair

Prof. Dr. Marina Münkler has been employed at TU Dresden since 2010 and holds the professorship for Early Modern German Literature and Culture. Her teaching and research activities focus, among other things, on "Invectiveness in Reformation debates", "Figurations and narratives of risk in the early modern period" and "The ethos of friendship. Discourses and narratives of public spirit in medieval literature".

The secretariat

Verena Wielens is where everything comes together. This is where appointments are made, inquiries are processed and small and large problems of students, staff and professors are solved. If you would like to visit us or have an inquiry about the professorship, you will find all the information you need here.

Employees at the chair

Our professorship employs four research assistants, a secretary and a number of students who support us as tutors and teaching assistants. Here you will find the contact details and office hours of our team as well as information on the research activities of our academic staff.

Welcome to the Chair of German Medieval and Renaissance Literature and Culture

Welcome to our Chair

The Chair of German Medieval and Renaissance Literature and Culture studies the German literature and culture of the Middle Ages from the beginnings of written records in German (around 800 AD) to the end of the 16^th century. Medieval studies and early modern research cover a wide range of texts, from literature in the narrower sense to non-fictional texts.

Medieval literature, which is centered around the courts of different sovereigns, expanding cities, and also monasteries, is characterized by its closeness to the exercise of power as well as the mixture of secular and spiritual references. Embedding the literary texts in these contexts and understanding their close relationship to medieval and early modern culture is one of the key objectives of the degree program. Since we are no longer familiar with the Middle Ages or with the early modern period and their social and cultural order, the texts can only be understood in relation to the culture surrounding them. At the same time, they teach us about the limits of our own culture. The examined texts range from medieval biblical and legendary texts, teachings on nature, secular love poetry, heroic epics, court novels and spiritual dramas to Reformation writings and the prose novel of the early modern period.

In order to be able to interpret the breadth of these texts, we present a variety of methods and theories that can be used to explore them. In doing so, we discuss aspects of textual tradition as well as approaches of literary theory and literary sociology.