Knights, Rulers, Heroes: Heroic Interpretational Models of Warring Elites in the European High Middle Ages (D02 [C01])

• Subject Area: Early Modern History ; Medieval History
• Term: from 2016 to 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 181750155

The project will enquire into alternative models for attributing heroic qualities to warring elites beyond already introduced dichotomies between saints and knights. It concentrates on the 11th and 12th centuries, a widely discussed axial age for the development of knighthood, chivalry, and court culture. The objects of study include historiographic and epic works from the empire north of the Alps, from the towns of northern Italy, and from the culturally hybrid societies of the Latin-, Lombard-, Byzantine-, and Arab-influenced southern Italy and Sicily.

• DFG Programme: Collaborative Research Centres
• Subproject of: SFB 948: Heroes - Heroisations - Heroisms. Transformations and Conjunctures from Antiquity to the Modern Age
• Applicant Institution: Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg
• Project Heads: Professor Dr. Jürgen Dendorfer; Professorin Dr. Birgit Studt