SFB 496:  Symbolic Communication and Social Value Systems from the Middle Ages to the French Revolution

• Subject Area: Humanities ; Social and Behavioural Sciences
• Term: from 2000 to 2011
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 5483905

Research at the collaborative research centre 496 centres on the process of symbolic communication in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Times, and the value systems it was based upon. The main areas of politics, law, religion and everyday communication are studied in relation to literature, the arts and philosophy as the main media for the reception, reflection and projection of relevant phenomena. Common goal for all subprojects is to determine what type of reflections and what degree of reasoning can be found in and attributed to the different forms of symbolic communication and the way they convey value systems. Thereby the prevailing opinion in sociology and ethnology is tested which sees symbolic communication as void of rational qualities and reflection. The thirteen subprojects study the central issue historically (topics are conflict and peace rituals, reception ceremonies, rank and status and their representation as well as transition rites in Early Modern Times and around the French Revolution); in literature (court plays and didactic literature); in theology (ritual elements in medieval liturgy); in the arts ('virtus' in artistic theory); and in philosophy (the ethics of virtue).

• DFG Programme: Collaborative Research Centres

Completed projects

• A01 - Urkunde und Buch in der symbolischen Kommunikation mittelalterlicher Rechtsgemeinschaften und Herrschaftsverbände (Project Head Keller, Hagen )
• A02 - Rituals of Conflict and Peace in the Late Middle Ages (Project Head Althoff, Gerd )
• A3 - Herrscherlischer und fürstlicher Adventus und bürgerliche Selbstdarstellung im Reich des späten Mittelalters und der frühen Neuzeit (Project Head Johanek, Peter )
• A04 - Die Messe im späten Mittelalter: Symboltheorie, zeremonielle Praxis und soziale Kommunikation (Project Head Angenendt, Arnold )
• A09 - Visuality of Diplomacy in Late Medieval Europe. The Symbolic Staging in International Political Communication (Project Head Kintzinger, Martin )
• A10 - Symbolic Communication in the Concepts and Practice of Kingship of the Emperor Charles IV. (1346-1378) (Project Head Schlotheuber, Eva )
• B02 - "Virtus" in Art and Artistic Theory of the Italian Renaissance (Project Head Poeschke, Joachim )
• B03 - Theatrical and Social Communication: Functions of Civic and Courtly Drama in the Late Middle Ages and Early Modern Times (Project Head Meier-Staubach, Christel )
• B4 - Die Darstellung der Gesellschaft und ihrer Wertvorstellungen in deutscher didaktischer Literatur des Mittelalters (Project Head Honemann, Volker )
• B05 - Grundlagen und Typen der Tugendethik (Project Head Siep, Ludwig )
• B06 - Papal Ceremony in Early Modern Times (1563-1789). Courtly Representation, Theological Contention and Liturgical Symbolism (Project Head Wolf, Hubert )
• B07 - Book Gifts in Late Medieval and Early Modern England (Project Head Müller-Oberhäuser, Gabriele )
• B08 - Forms of Symbolic Communication in Mass Scoring of the 15th to the 17th Century (Project Head Heidrich, Jürgen )
• C01 - Symbolic Construction of Status and Rank in the Early Modern Period (Project Head Stollberg-Rilinger, Barbara )
• C02 - Symbols, Rituals, and Gestures in Early Modern Conflicts and Everyday Acting (Project Head Mohrmann, Ruth-E. )
• C03 - Symbole im Gerichtsverfahren (15. bis 18. Jahrhundert) (Project Head Schulze, Reiner )
• C4 - Übergangsrituale in der Frühen Neuzeit (Project Head Pfister, Ulrich )
• C05 - Power and Ritual in the Age of French Revolution (Project Head Thamer, Hans-Ulrich )
• C06 - Profane and Sacred: Churchyards as Sites and Spheres of Symbolic Communication in the Rural Society of Westphalia (1400-1900) (Project Head Freitag, Werner )
• C07 - Symbolic Constitution of the Nation: Mexico in the Age of Revolutions, 1786-1848 (Project Head Hensel, Silke )
• C08 - The standardization of judicial formalities and ceremonial behaviours because of Common Decrees (decreta communia) (Project Head Oestmann, Peter )
• C09 - Symbolic Communication and Social Values in Panindian Movements (Project Head Bungert, Heike )
• T - Rituale im Alten Europa (Project Head Stollberg-Rilinger, Barbara )
• Z - Zentrale Aufgaben des Sonderforschungsbereichs (Project Head Stollberg-Rilinger, Barbara )

• Applicant Institution: Universität Münster
• Spokesperson: Professorin Dr. Barbara Stollberg-Rilinger