The Nordic Ballad in the Context of Forms of Piety in the High and Late Middle Ages

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Klaus Böldl
• Subject Area: General and Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies
• Term: from 2014 to 2017
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 257086843

It is possible to read the Nordic saints ballads as a manifestation of a new religious as well as lay religious mentality and practice. Their ideological and theological equivalents can be found in the devotional literature of the late Middle Ages, for instance in the Scandinavian versions of the Seelentrost. Moreover, there is an extensive variety of significant iconographic contributions in clerical art that can serve as reference material, especially the abundance of lime paintings dating back to the late Gothic period with its frequent style of depiction shaped by the influence of folkloristic elements. When subjected to closer analysis, the so-called nature-myth ballad, also displays a surprising amount of Catholic motifs and patterns of thought. In spite of the transformations this genre has undergone since the early modern age, it mirrors discourses that are characteristic of the period between the fourteenth century and the time of Reformation. Those discourses can be outlined with terms such as internalisation but also popularisation and visualisation of matters of faith. The analysis of the ballad as part of the ensemble of media employed to express piety during the late Middle Ages also importantly includes the question of what position of the church took towards lay plays and dances. The widespread assumption of a strict rejection or diabolisation is wrong. This project will examine the intermedial references between different genres of piety. It will also take a closer look at the performance of the ballad and traditions in its proximity as well as at the mental attitude of people in the late Middle Ages towards the dancing song in the broadest sense. This task will be undertaken on the basis of sermons, exempla and miracle narratives.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• Participating Persons: Professorin Dr. Annegret Heitmann; Professor Dr. Wilhelm Heizmann; Professor Dr. Steffen Höder; Dr. Katarina Yngborn