Relic Labels. Materiality and Presence in a Neglected Type of Early and High Medieval Writing Practice (A08)

• Subject Area: German Medieval Studies (Medieval German Literature)
• Term: from 2015 to 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 178035969

The project sees itself as a fundamental research project about early and high medieval written and cultural history – a topic that has not been investigated until now. From the analysis of individual surviving examples and artefact arrangements that have evolved over time, the project seeks, through diatopic and diachronic comparison, to characterize the development of the material, format, protocol, certification, provenance and exchange of relic labels. A further goal is to develop a cultural history of the materiality and the praxeology of relic labels in the early Middle Ages. In addition, we expect to offer basic insights into the history of writing and linguistics.

• DFG Programme: Collaborative Research Centres
• Subproject of: SFB 933: Material Text Cultures. Materiality and Presence of Writing in Non-Typographic Societies
• Applicant Institution: Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg
• Project Head: Professor Dr. Tino Licht