Project Details
Projekt
Walahfrid Strabo (808-849): Political Poetry in the Age of Reform and Crisis of the Carolingian Empire
Applicant
Professor Dr. Stefan Esders
Subject Area
Medieval History
Term
from 2014 to 2018
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 265210706
Walahfrid Strabo (808-849), monk and later abbot of Reichenau Abbey in the Lake of Constance, may not only be ranked among the most important scholars and poets of the Carolingian age, but also played an active part in discussions on contemporary politics. As is often the case with multi-talented intellectuals, Walahfrids multi-faceted personality and his wide-ranging literary interests have become separated by modern scholarship according to academic subjects. This happened quite undeservedly so, since his poetry is full of allusions and hints on the political debates and conflicts in the reign of Louis the Pious (814-840) and his sons, in which the poet became personally involved. The overarching aim of this project is to read Walahfrids major poems as statements on contemporary debates over issues of ecclesiastical policy, theology and the administration of justice. For this purpose, the topics referred to in the poems and his use of metaphors and allegorical interpretation will be interpretated as part of a political discourse that involved clergy and royal courts. A major question that will be raised is what precisely the contribution was that poetry could make within this setting, namely which topics could only be addressed by use of imagery and metaphorical language and to what extent poetry could generate new modes of perceiving political messages. In doing so, the projects seeks to highlight the intellectual and literary culture of the so-called Carolingian Renaissance. Moreover, it will also provide for a better understanding of religious and political communication in the period of late antiquity and the earlier middle ages.
DFG Programme
Research Grants
International Connection
Austria, France
