Scrolls for the King. The Format of Scrolls in Royal Administration and Historiography in the Late Middle Ages in Western Europe (B10)

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

Alongside the codex, rolls were increasingly used from the 12th century onwards especially in Western Europe in both royal administrative contexts and historiography. This project examines this practice from the 12th until the 15th century comparing England and the Empire, with a glance also to France. On a material level, the central question concerns the possible connection between the form of the roll and the structure of its content. Is it important whether one records accounts or official documents in rolls or in codices, or whether one develops genealogies in rolls or books? On a praxeological level the central focus is on the function and usage of rolls in their specific contexts in the complex process of nation building in (Western) Europe.

• 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. Jörg Peltzer