Image: Royal MS 10 E IV f.222r (The British Library)

Conference Report: “Loss of Consensus. Forms of Dissent in Medieval Monasteries and Orders”

From 6–9 July 2023, historians of different nationalities discussed contention, squabbles and discord within medieval monasteries and orders. The conference, entitled “Loss of Consensus. Forms of Dissent in Medieval Monasteries and Orders” was organized as part of the project “Monasteries in the High Middle Ages. Laboratories of Innovation for European Designs of Life and Models of Order” of the Heidelberg and the Saxon Academies of Sciences and Humanities. It resumed the discussion of a 2021 conference in Zagreb on “Authority and Consent”, which asked about mechanisms of communal agreement.
Despite the often-cited guiding principle of brotherly love within the vita religiosa, dissent was all too often encountered in everyday life. Disobedient conversi, quarreling monks and nuns, physical conflicts, disputes between abbots, with the pope, within the ritual, or even internal disputes only with oneself testify to a wide spectrum of recurring controversy. With analytical approaches, but above all on the basis of individual case studies, the speakers illustrated situations of disagreement in order to be able to examine causes, evaluations, forms of appearance and execution, as well as solutions. The results and open questions could be bundled with a concluding round table on different perspectives on the phenomenon. The numerous and heterogeneous points of view, which were brought together by this conference, could thus be saved from unbridgeable dissent.

© HAdW

Conference Report: "SchriftRaum Kloster. Zur Präsenz von Inschriften in religiösen Gemeinschaften des Mittelalters"

From 04.10. to 06.10.2023, the WIN conference "SchriftRaum Kloster. On the Presence of Inscriptions in Religious Communities of the Middle Ages" took place in Heidelberg.
The concept "SchriftRaum Kloster" was considered by this conference to be a close-meshed, communicative network of linguistic signs and interwoven writing practices, which, according to our thesis, contributed decisively to the stabilisation of the corporative characteristics of the respective institutions.
In numerous lectures in a total of four sections, the function and placement of script-bearing artefacts in the SchriftRaum Kloster as well as their embedding in divergent patterns of action and spatial configurations were discussed.

© FOVOG

Programme

18.10.2023
Mirko Breitenstein
Monasteries before Modern Media. Kurzer Überblick der Geschichte von Klöstern und religiösen Gemeinschaften

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25.10.2023
Nathalie Schmidt (Dresden)
Zwischen Segen und Selfie – Klöster und Ordensleben auf Instagram

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08.11.2023
Anke Napp (Hamburg)
"Klirrende Schwerter und klirrende Münzen" – Die Darstellung des Templerordens in Kino, TV und Doku-Drama

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29.11.2023
Michael Hänchen (Dresden)
Monastische Motive in fiktiven religiösen Gemeinschaften

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13.12.2023
Toshio Ohnuki (Tokyo)
Rezeption und Darstellung des mittelalterlichen Mönchtums in japanischen Mangas, Romanen und Spielen

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10.01.2024
Mirko Breitenstein (Dresden)
Franziskus im Spielfilm

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24.01.2024
Simone Wagner (Potsdam)
Geschlecht als Faktor? Die Darstellung von Mönchen und Nonnen in modernen Medien

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31.01.2024
Abschlussdiskussion

Prisma Vormoderne: Das Mittelalter an 13 Orten [Prism Pre-Modern Era: The Middle Ages in 13 Places]

On the basis of thirteen paradigmatically selected sites of the Middle Ages, the lecture aims to provide a highlight-like insight into this fascinatingly complex, millennial epoch. Each session will focus on a specific place where historically significant developments can be traced and thus central themes of European cultural history can be depicted. To this end, we will not only visit Jerusalem, Byzantium, Rome or Aachen, but also Cluny, the light of the world, the Viking settlement of Haithabu, the battlefields of Liegnitz and Azincourt, the Hanseatic city of Novgorod and the end of the world.

Zöpfe, Bärte, Glatzen. Die Macht des Haares im Mittelalter [Braids, Beards, Bald Heads. The Power of Hair in the Middle Ages]

Hair can fascinate and accomplish a lot. Even children experience this early on in the myths and fairy tales of their respective cultures. With the help of an explicitly systematic approach, we analyse in this seminar the symbolic power of hair as such and that of its use in culture-bearing contexts, such as ethnicity, rank, fashion, law, guilt and shame, sexuality, gender, religiosity or magic.

Using a broad spectrum of sources ranging from early medieval chronicles, high medieval mirrors of princes and monastic customary texts to literary works of late medieval English literature, the exercise also provides very different insights into courtly, monastic, peasant or urban life.

Die Wikinger [The Vikings]

They were feared and infamous - the Vikings. In this class, we will explore their myth, which is still powerful today, and compare it with historically tangible facts. Among other things, we will ask where they came from, how they lived and fought, what their religion was like and how they died. Basically, the course will try to further decipher the cultural impact of the Vikings on the Middle Ages, as these 'Northmen' left a lasting mark on large parts of Europe - through the spread of fear and the power of their beliefs as well as through their trade, their ship technology or the establishment of new empires.

Das multimediale Mittelalter: Der Name der Rose – Buch, Spielfilm, Serie und Spiel [Multimedial Middle Ages: The Name of the Rose – Book, Feature Film, Series and Game]

In 1980 Umberto Eco published his novel "Il nome della rosa", which was translated into German after only two years. A Franciscan priest and his young novice act as detectives in a Benedictine abbey and have to solve a series of mysterious murders. They succeed in solving the crimes, but only at the price of the abbey's downfall. Eco's text creates a colourful and multi-faceted picture of the time: beliefs, political conflicts and actors of the early 14th century are portrayed with great impressiveness. The book triggered a new enthusiasm for the Middle Ages, which increased again when Jean-Jacques Annaud adapted the material in 1986 with Sean Connery in the leading role, thus creating what is surely the best-known monastery film. This was followed by a radio play adaptation, a board game, a television series and finally a musical adaptation of the material.

The seminar will first look at the historical events and circumstances of the early 14th century to which Umberto Eco and - following him - others refer in films and plays. Subsequently, the view will be broadened and the nature of the relationship of the various media forms will be analysed in their relation to Eco's novel and the historical events. At the same time, the aim is to examine the way in which historical themes are treated in modern media.

© M. Hänchen

Interview with Bruce Brasington

Prof. Dr Bruce Brasington was a visiting scholar at the Research Center for Comparative History of Religious Orders (FOVOG) in Dresden in May 2023. He researches and teaches at West Texas A&M University in the USA. He has been associated with FOVOG for a long time. In this short interview, he talks about his research, his interest in German studies and the differences between the US and German university systems. The interview was conducted by Rebecca Hoppe.

© M. Hänchen

Interview with Florent Cygler

Florent Cygler is a frequent guest at the Research Centre for Comparative Religious History and has been associated with it since its beginnings. He currently works and teaches at the Université in Nantes. In this short interview, he talks about his connection to FOVOG, his current teaching and the difficulties of research in France. The interview was conducted by Rebecca Hoppe.

© LIT-Verlag

Gilbert Fournier/Balázs J. Nemes (Hgg.), Die Kartause als Text-Raum mittelalterlicher Mystik-Rezeption

In this volume, the question of the relationship between Carthusians and mysticism is addressed on the basis of the transmission of those 'mystical' books that were actually available in individual Carthusian monasteries. Of particular interest is how these books were regarded in the context of the discourses of knowledge, writing practices and constellations of transmission specific to the Order and to individual Carthusian monasteries. With theologia mystica, revelationes and meditationes, the contributions cover precisely those areas that are also relevant for the modern discussion on the definition of a 'mystical' text corpus.

Mirko Breitenstein

Die tönende Stille. Vom Klang des klösterlichen Schweigens, in: Klangräume des Mittelalters, ed. Nikolas Jaspert / Harald Müller (Vorträge und Forschungen 94), Ostfildern: Jan Thorbecke 2023, pp. 91–125.

Klostereintritt und -austritt als Gegenstand von Konzilsbeschlüssen. Ein Überblick, in: Annales Historiae Conciliorum 51 (2021) [2023], pp. 245–270.

Beten lernen, aber wie? Franziskanische Gebetsanleitungen des 13. Jahrhunderts, in: Homo orans – Das Gebet im Christentum und in anderen Religionen, ed. Mariano Delgado / Volker Leppin (Studien zur christlichen Religions- und Kulturgeschichte 30), Basel: Schwabe / Stuttgart: Kohlhammer 2022, pp. 183–206.

Die Consolatio optima in temptationibus. Zu einer Gruppe von Texten gegen Kleinmut und Gewissensskrupel, mit Texteditionen, in: Mittellateinisches Jahrbuch 57 (2022), pp. 384–427.

Jörg Sonntag

Hybride Perfektion. Verheiligungstechniken im Optimierungswettbewerb religiöser Gemeinschaften des Hochmittelalters, in: Historisches Jahrbuch 143 (2023), pp. 5–27.

Old Material and New Perspectives: Master Ingold’s ‘Golden Game’, in: P. Rychterová / J. Odstrcilik u. a. (eds.), Translations and Their Readers (The Medieval Translator 20). Turnhout 2023, pp. 185–203.

© FOVOG

PD Dr Jörg Sonntag Deputy Head of Chair of Medieval History

PD Dr. Jörg Sonntag, department head of the project Klöster im Hochmittelalter. Innovationslabore europäischer Lebensentwürfe und Ordnungsmodelle, will assume the role of Deputy Head of the Chair of Medieval History at the Technische Universität Dresden starting in the winter semester 2023/24.

PD Dr. Jörg Sonntag completed his doctorate in 2007 on "Klosterleben im Spiegel des Zeichenhaften. Symbolisches Denken und Handeln hochmittelalterlicher Mönche zwischen Dauer und Wandel, Regel und Gewohnheit" and edited, among other things, the statutes of the Wilhelmites (1251–1348) and the legislation of the Caulites in the 13th century.  His habilitation thesis "Der spielende Gott im Mittelalter. Eine kulturhistorische Annäherung" is currently in print. Due to his numerous fellowships abroad, amongst others at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, USA, and Tel Aviv University, Israel, he enjoys an international reputation.

In addition to the comparative history of religious orders, his research focuses on games in the Middle Ages, imitations as a cultural technique, and the body and hair as cultural anthropological topics.

© Öffentlichkeitsarbeit GSW

FOVOG at Dresden Science Night 2023

On 30 June 2023, the 20th Dresden Science Night took place with the theme "Schlaugemacht bis Mitternacht!" – and the Research Centre for Comparative History of Religious Orders (FOVOG) participated with the event „Mönch, ärgere dich nicht. Klöster im Spiel und in modernen Medien“. The event took place in cooperation with the Chair of Modern and Contemporary History and Didactics of History.