070288 VO Framing the Middle Ages. Approaches to a constructed period. (2023S)

1. The Middle Ages are constructed. This becomes apparent in two ways: firstly, via the temporal distance to the subject matter, which methodologically throws us back to a written and material tradition. Comparative heuristics become the dominant method, which inevitably leads to borrowings from related disciplines (including literary studies, basic sciences, architecture and art history, archaeology or cultural anthropology). Secondly, the predominant oral-visual culture of the period between 400 and 1500 can only be approximated in this way, which is both a challenge and a danger. Challenge, because when dealing with the Middle Ages, we not only have to take research traditions and styles of thought into account, but also always project our own reality of life into this assessment. Like antiquity, the Middle Ages often run the risk of being misused in social discourse as a template for all kinds of purpose-bound back projections. It is therefore important to know the mechanisms of this projection and to critically examine them.

2. Aim of the course:
- A general overview of the different periods of medieval history (roughly between 400 and 1500) and the tradition of their foundation.
- Deep probes into the perception of central medieval events and actors (e.g. the migration of peoples, Charlemagne, the Crusades and the Isam, the emergence of urban communes, the plague epidemic, late medieval wars) as well as structural issues (e.g. permeability of social and gender roles and hierarchies, the emergence and development of political and social institutions, visibility and participation of the general public, lines of conflict between secular and ecclesiastical power).
- The critical examination of the respective time-bound construction, the sources on which it is based, traditions of its interpretation as well as its questions, theories and narratives.
- To situate the image of the 'Middle Ages' in contemporary social discourse.

3. Methods:

The contents of the course are taught in the lecture (1.5 h/session) and through supplementary self-study (4 h/session). The individual sequences are developed in three blocks: A characterisation of structures and events, the specific methodology and history of impact as well as a selective deepening through edited sources.