Decision-Making by Drawing Lots in the Middle Ages and Early Modernity (C03)

• Subject Area: Early Modern History ; Medieval History
• Term: from 2015 to 2019
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 252080619

Drawing lots separates decision-making from the rational weighing of options and shifts it to an external level not accessible to the actors involved. Nevertheless, it can serve as a strategically used element of procedure. This project examines how lots have been applied in the framework of pre-modern processes of collective decision-making and the election of spiritual offices and municipal councils in particular. It inquires into their presuppositions, framing conditions, objectives and effects.

• DFG Programme: Collaborative Research Centres
• Subproject of: SFB 1150: Cultures of Decision-Making
• Applicant Institution: Universität Münster
• Project Heads: Professorin Dr. Barbara Stollberg-Rilinger; Professor Dr. Wolfgang Eric Wagner