Series ‘Interdisciplinary Contributions to the Middle Ages and Early Modern Times’

In recent decades, inter- and transdisciplinary approaches have become highly important in the scientific development of the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Times and have fertilized research work in the individual disciplines. The new series aims to further promote this trend. Thematically, methodically and theoretically, she pursues a cultural-scientific and cultural-historical profile. The already programmed volumes show accentuations in the field of cultural materiality and mediality as well as comparative literature and art studies, but also consciously include linguistic, archaeological and medical-historical approaches. The aim is to appeal to the scientific public and students, but also to an interested public. The series therefore also offers a space for volumes that seek to convey topics of mediaevistic and early modern research in a systematizing and more widely-effective way. It is also open to relevant monographs, qualifications, conference and anthologies which have not been produced within the framework of the research work carried out by the issuing institutions.

The editors are the Interdisciplinary Center for Medieval and Early Modern studies of the University of Salzburg and the Institute for Realestate studies of the Middle Ages and early modern times of the University of Salzburg in Krems.

The series is published by the university publisher WINTER Heidelberg.

Vol. 13: Framing - Deframing - Reframing

Framing – Deframing – Reframing

Ways, Mechanisms and Strategies of Cultural Appropriation in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Times

This interdisciplinary volume focuses on phenomena of cultural appropriation in the pre-modern period. It is less about the concrete ‘what’ than the ‘how’ of appropriation. In ‘framing’, but above all in the process from ‘deframing’ to ‘reframing’, ‘appropriation’ is already praxeologically contained. The structures, mechanisms and strategies of ‘framing’ processes and the cultural productivity associated with them are examined, as are the power relations (re-)produced through them.
It examines the motivation and commitment of the actors who position appropriated objects in new patterns of interpretation, the conditions under which such objects lend themselves to adoption, as well as the mechanisms of the ‘framing’ processes themselves and the resulting shifts and new formations. Historical, Germanic, art and literary-historical, ethnological and theological approaches are brought together.

Christina Antenhofer / Heike Schlie (eds.), Framing – Deframing – Reframing. Wege, Mechanismen und Strategien kultureller Aneignung in Mittelalter und Früher Neuzeit, Heidelberg 2024 (Interdisziplinäre Beiträge zu Mittelalter und Früher Neuzeit 13).

Vol. 12: The Art Of Judgement

The Art of Judgment In and About Literature and Art

The idea that self-determined judgment is an ability that every individual possesses dates back to the early modern period and forms the basis of modern civil societies. Against this background, this volume examines how individual judgment has developed in the fields of literature and art. On the one hand, it deals with the way in which judgment is staged ‘in’ visual and literary works and how forms and genres emerge that create new spaces for autonomous judgment.

On the other hand, it shows how, in the course of history, judgements are made ‘about’ literary and artistic objects, whereby normative judgement in the form of state and church censorship, discursive judgement in the medium of public debate and self-empowered individual judgement interact with one another. This interdisciplinary and comparative volume focuses on the early modern period, from the end of the Middle Ages to the late 18th century.

Peter Kuon (ed.), Die Kunst des Urteils in und über Literatur und Kunst, Heidelberg 2022 (Interdisziplinäre Beiträge zu Mittelalter und Früher Neuzeit 12).

Vol. 11: Mediality And Materiality Of "Grand Narratives"

Mediality and Materiality of “Grand Narratives”

Religious (Re-)Formations

Narratives are fundamental constituents of social identities that have a tradition-forming and stabilizing effect within communities, but can also trigger processes of change. Their performative mediation involves human actors as well as material objects as information carriers. Through their specific properties, materials and formats not only “frame” narrative settings, but also shape narratives in terms of form and content. These translations transcend the boundaries of thematic, formal and medial categories. They represent the field of research that is examined in this volume from an interdisciplinary perspective.

The volume brings together contributions from the conference of the same name, which was organized by the Institute for Medieval and Early Modern Realia Studies together with the Interdisciplinary Centre for Medieval and Early Modern Studies in Krems an der Donau.

Manfred Kern / Thomas Kühtreiber / Isabella Nicka / Alexander Zerfaß (eds.), Medialität und Materialität „großer Narrative“. Religiöse (Re-)Formationen, Heidelberg 2021 (Interdisziplinäre Beiträge zu Mittelalter und Früher Neuzeit 11).

Vol. 10: Poetry Of Contradiction

Poetry of Controversy

Establishment and Polemics in the Literatures of the Middle Ages

The history of the literatures of the Middle Ages is not only a history of continuity and awareness of tradition, but also one of manifold innovations: the emergence of new poetic writing languages and styles, and thus of a new and newly reflected literariness as a whole. The establishment of the new always has an agonal to polemical dimension, which must be examined in its aesthetic, cultural-historical and cultural-theoretical significance.

This volume takes a different perspective from conventional accounts by examining the ‘generative’ forces that make up the specific profile of the literary field in the Middle Ages, not in terms of patterns, schemes and traditions, but in terms of agonal relations and moments of aesthetic and cultural friction. The focus is on Romance, Middle High German, Middle English and Latin texts and textual traditions from the end of the 12th to the 14th century.

Anna Kathrin Bleuler / Manfred Kern (eds.), Poesie des Widerstreits. Etablierung und Polemik in den Literaturen des Mittelalters, Heidelberg 2020 (Interdisziplinäre Beiträge des Mittelalters und Früher Neuzeit 10).

Vol. 9: The World And God - God And The World?

The World and God – God and the World?

On the Relationship between Religiosity and Profanity in the “Christian Middle Ages”

The contributions collected in this volume are largely based on the lectures given at the conference of the same name, which was organized by the Institute for Medieval and Early Modern Realia Studies in Krems in 2011. The aim of the conference was to question the thesis of the “Christian Middle Ages”, which has since become an axiom, in the sense of the transcendental penetration of all areas of life.

A broad spectrum of disciplines dealt with medieval discourses, concepts of space, concepts of time and aspects of material culture in the field of tension between the profane and the religious. On the basis of various source genres, the question of whether the Christian monopoly on meaning was ubiquitous or whether models of thought, ways of life, patterns of behavior, etc. can also be identified that eluded religious interpretation or competed with it. In general, it is also a question of whether processes of secularization can be identified in the Middle Ages.

Elisabeth Vavra (ed.), Die Welt und Gott – Gott und die Welt? Zum Verhältnis von Religiosität und Profanität im „christlichen Mittelalter“, Heidelberg 2017 (Interdisziplinäre Beiträge zu Mittelalter und Früher Neuzeit 9).

Vol. 8: The Cultures Of The Book

Cultures of the Book in Late Antiquity, the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period

The term ‘cultures of the book’ refers to the diverse manifestations, usage situations and symbolizations that shaped the use of books in the pre-modern period. The focus is less on the individual, magnificent artifact than on its ‘place in life’, its relationship to other forms of transmission and its role in religious, social and intellectual culture.

This interdisciplinary anthology includes contributions from the fields of history and literature, art history and restoration studies, patristics and Jewish studies as well as American studies – from late antiquity through the Middle Ages to the early modern period. It is aimed at a specialist audience as well as students and interested readers, for whom introductory explanations are provided in each contribution.

Michael Brauer (ed.), Kulturen des Buches in Spätantike, Mittelalter und Früher Neuzeit, Heidelberg 2017 (Interdisziplinäre Beiträge zu Mittelalter und Früher Neuzeit 8).

Vol. 7: The Art Of Fencing

The Art of Fencing

Within the artes literature of the Middle Ages and the early modern period, fencing and ring books represent a large, multifaceted corpus of sources whose potential content has by no means been exhaustively explored by all the disciplines in question. They offer material for broad-based, interdisciplinary research approaches, such as those pursued by the twelve contributions collected in this anthology.

They approach the object of investigation from the perspective of various disciplines. They focus their analyses on the entire corpus or individual outstanding manuscripts. The results impressively document the possible diversity of knowledge gained for different disciplines and show once again that fencing and ring binders should not only be the subject of specialist prose research. The essays are largely based on lectures given at an interdisciplinary round table discussion at the Institute for Medieval and Early Modern Realia Studies in Krems in 2009.

Elisabeth Vavra / Matthias Johannes Bauer (eds.), Die Kunst des Fechtens, Heidelberg 2017 (Interdisziplinäre Beiträge zu Mittelalter und Früher Neuzeit 7).

Vol. 6: Continuities, Ubheavels and Ceasuras

Continuities, Upheavals, Caesuras

The Construction of Epochs in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Times in an Interdisciplinary Perspective

This volume is the result of the conference of the same name, which took place in Krems an der Donau from May 14 to 17, 2014. It was the first official co-organization of the Institute for Medieval and Early Modern Realia Studies (IMAREAL) with the Interdisciplinary Centre for Medieval and Early Modern Studies (IZMF) at the University of Salzburg, to which the Institute has been affiliated since the end of 2012. Even though a conference volume of the Institute for Realienkunde had already been published in the series “Interdisziplinäre Beiträge zu Mittelalter und früher Neuzeit”, this book formally represents even more the integration of IMAREAL into the new research institution and thus also reflects a significant caesura – one could say: a change of epoch – in the history of the institute.

In terms of content, it aims both to question classical constructions of epochs and to open up alternative perspectives on the temporality of cultural phenomena for interdisciplinary discourse. From a cultural studies perspective, the ordering of things according to social conventions provides insights into world views and social constitutions: Scientific systematics and narratives therefore require a critical examination of their ideological foundations, narrow perspectives and blind spots. In the sense of an interdisciplinary process of reflection, the aim is also to reveal criteria for ‘measuring the speed’ of cultural change. The seventeen contributions in this volume shed light on the dynamics of epochal constructions from antiquity to the early modern period from various disciplinary perspectives – including history, art history, musicology, literary studies and archaeology. However, they also deal with phenomena of tradition formation and analyze the multi-layered cultural processes that are related to phases of persistence (in the sense of consciously or unconsciously handing down ‘old traditions’) or to phases of innovation, upheavals and caesuras. The respective narratives and ‘traditional’ perspectives in the history of the discipline are always reflected upon and critically scrutinized.

Thomas Kühtreiber / Gabriela Schichta (eds.), Kontinuitäten, Umbrüche, Zäsuren. Die Konstruktion von Epochen in Mittelalter und früher Neuzeit in interdisziplinärer Sichtung, Heidelberg 2016 (Interdisziplinäre Beiträge zu Mittelalter und Früher Neuzeit 6).

Vol. 5: Experiencing And Understanding The World

Experiencing and Unterstanding the World in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Times

The subject of this interdisciplinary book is world views and models of world exploration in the Middle Ages and early modern period. It deals with questions about the formation, impact and change of corresponding concepts in philosophy, theology and history as well as their significance for the various discourse formations: Which cosmological conceptions of the world determine theological, philosophical and universal-historical traditions? To what extent are they based on cultural transfer, for example between antiquity and the Christian Middle Ages? What interferences or competitions exist between sacred and ‘secular’ world models? What role does the fundamental hierarchy between immanence and transcendence play? Which genres and media are used to shape ‘ideas of the world’, and to what extent are they pluralized in the arts? The book is aimed at both a specialist audience and students, for whom it provides introductory explanations.

Anna Kathrin Bleuler (ed.), Welterfahrung und Welterschließung in Mittelalter und Früher Neuzeit, Heidelberg 2016 (Interdisziplinäre Beiträge zu Mittelalter und Früher Neuzeit 5).

Vol. 4: The 'Narcisscus Song' by Heinrich von Morungen

The ‘Narcissus Song’ by Heinrich von Morungen

On Medieval Love Poetry and its Philological Development

Heinrich von Morungen’s ‘Narzisslied’ is one of the most beautiful, impressive and (therefore) most discussed German Minnelieder. With its twofold erotic mirror(ing) scene, the text refers to the ancient myth of narcissism and the tense relationship that Christian exegesis has with ancient mythology as a whole; it also enters into the ambivalent medieval mirror discourse and can be understood as a complex and profound testimony to cultural-historical and cultural-theoretical problem areas that can be described with the keywords subject identity, loss of self and poetic psychology.

In addition to a documentation of the tradition, this volume offers twelve contributions that attempt to do justice to the aesthetic complexity and the hermeneutical challenges of this best piece of medieval poetry from the perspectives of edition philology, metaphorology, discourse history and intertextuality.

Manfred Kern (ed.), Das ‚Narzisslied‘ Heinrichs von Morungen. Zur mittelalterlichen Liebeslyrik und ihrer philologischen Erschließung, Heidelberg 2015 (Interdisziplinäre Beiträge zu Mittelalter und Früher Neuzeit 4).

Vol. 3: Crises, Wars, Catastrophes

Crises, Wars, Catastrophes

Dealing With Fear and Threat in the Middle Ages

Wars, epidemics, extreme forces of nature and famine had a decisive impact on people’s lives in the Middle Ages. They were key factors in population development, shaped contemporary mentalities and were also intensively reflected in literature.

This anthology brings together interdisciplinary contributions from the fields of history, German studies, Romance studies, Slavic studies, art history, musicology and forensic genetics. It examines the patterns of perception, interpretation, coping and memory of catastrophes in medieval society, real events as well as mythical defeats and the apocalypse. The thematic arc ranges from the way people dealt with natural hazards and epidemics to political and social crises and their effects on society to the fear of death and the Last Judgement.

Christian Rohr / Ursula Bieber / Katharina Zeppezauer-Wachauer (eds.), Krisen, Kriege, Katastrophen. Zum Umgang mit Angst und Bedrohung im Mittelalter. Beiträge zur 9. Ringvorlesung des Interdisziplinären Zentrums für Mittelalterstudien (IZMS) an der Universität Salzburg im WS 2009/10, Heidelberg 2018 (Interdisziplinäre Beiträge zu Mittelalter und Früher Neuzeit 3).

Vol. 2: Room Structures And Furnishings In Castles

Room Structures and Room Furnishings in Castles in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Period

The aim of this publication is to discuss from an interdisciplinary perspective how castles and palaces as “built environments” of medieval and early modern elites allow us to make statements about socio-cultural concepts and life practices. The present contributions illuminate in a variety of ways the field of tension between materialized ideology, which manifests itself in the building concept, conceptual attribution of spatial structures in pictorial and literary works of art and the written as well as archaeological traces of life in built structures.

However, the focus is on the actor’s perspective of people acting in and interacting with space, which brings these perspectives together again: The example of the nobility is used here to show how building and living functioned as central media of social identity in historical societies.

Christina Schmid / Gabriele Schichta / Thomas Kühtreiber / Kornelia Holzner-Tobisch (eds.), Raumstrukturen und Raumausstattung auf Burgen in Mittelalter und Früher Neuzeit, Heidelberg 2015 (Interdisziplinäre Beiträge zu Mittelalter und Früher Neuzeit 2).

Vol. 1: Imaginative Theatricality

Imaginative Theatricality

Scenic Procedures and Cultural Potentials in Medieval Poetry, Art and Historiography

Although the Middle Ages did not know the institution of the theater, medieval poetry, historiography and art developed extremely differentiated methods of scenic representation and perspective. Of particular interest here is the tension between a “theatrical” level, which is always already inherent in the literary or pictorial work of art (i.e. “textualized” or “visualized”), and the medieval culture of reception, which was eminently related to representation, presence and performance. Under the guiding concept of “imaginative theatricality”, the 21 contributions in this volume examine historically specific configurations in medieval poetry, epic poetry and historiography as well as in the media interference space opened up by manuscripts, but also by sculptural ensembles and wall paintings. The aesthetic ambivalence that artistic forms of expression create imaginatively seems to release potentials for cultural dynamization.

Manfred Kern (ed.), Imaginative Theatralität. Szenische Verfahren und kulturelle Potenziale in mittelalterlicher Dichtung, Kunst und Historiographie, Heidelberg 2013 (Interdisziplinäre Beiträge zu Mittelalter und Früher Neuzeit 1).