Hybrid Cultures in Medieval Europe

Kulturen sind keine monolithischen Blöcke. Sie sind hybrid, setzen sich also aus Elementen verschiedenster Herkunft zusammen und bringen aus ihnen Neues hervor. Das DFG-Schwerpunktprogramm "Integration und Desintegration der Kulturen im europäischen Mittelalter" hat sich zum Ziel gesetzt, die Geschichte Europas im Mittelalter vom permanenten Kontakt und Austausch her zu denken und die sich daraus ergebenden Prozesse kultureller Innovationen zu analysieren. Auf einer "International Spring School" im April 2008 präsentierte sich das Schwerpunktprogramm einer breiten wissenschaftlichen Öffentlichkeit. Der Band vereint die dort gehaltenen Vorträge und Workshops. Das Phänomen der Hybridität von Kulturen und die Differenzen der mittelalterlichen Welt zwischen Island und der Levante, zwischen Skandinavien und Nordafrika werden aus den Blickwinkeln verschiedener Disziplinen (Byzantinistik, Skandinavistik, Mediävistik, Germanistik, Kunstgeschichte, Orientalistik, Judaistik, Osteuropäische Geschichte) und Wissenschaftsnationen (Ungarn, Italien, Niederlande, Russland, Frankreich, Israel, Griechenland, USA, Island, Deutschland) beleuchtet

Responsabilità e creatività. Alla ricerca di un uomo nuovo(secoli XI-XIII. Atti del Convegno Internazionale,Brescia 12-14 settembre 2013

The new cycle of La Mendola-conferences suggests that we fi rst look at ethics. While dealing with ethics at a more philosophical level or from the vantage point of the history of philosophy, the papers are mostly concerned with ethical contexts – environments, that is, in which ethics was implemented, represented and, judging from most papers’ conclusions, defi ned: the monasteries and the schools, as one may expect, but also the cities, the courts and even the countryside. Both this diversity and this creativity refl ect the dynamism of European societies between the 11th and 13th centuries. Yet they may also make ethics more practical than even the classical distinction between theoretical and practical wisdom – to which ethics belonged– suggests. Far from endorsing Aristotle’s social conservatism, the papers point to a shift from an aristocratic and monastic environment to a more diverse and dynamic society and culture in which schools and universities, the communes, secular courts and independent artists occupy the central ground

Travel writing reception theory and the history of reading reconsidering the late Middle Ages

This article seeks to explore the value of a reader-oriented approach to late medieval European travel writing. It offers a brief overview of the development of reception theory and the ‘history of reading’ before discussing issues related to the definition of the genre in this period. Examining how medieval readers approached the celebrated accounts of Marco Polo and John Mandeville, as well as a broader range of literature pertaining to travel, it argues that reconstructing the contemporary reception of such works can help us to better understand their position in late medieval culture. Particular attention is paid to the permeability of boundaries between fact and fiction, with a case study exploring two literary imitations of travel accounts produced in early fifteenth-century Florence. The article concludes with some considerations regarding the significance of the reader for our understanding of travel writing’s historical development