Mapping Medieval Vienna The Social Topography of Vienna in the 15th Century

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Thomas Ertl
• Subject Area: Medieval History
• Term: since 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 460256739

The project investigates the social topography of the city of Vienna in the "long" 15th century. For this purpose, some of the city's land registers will be transcribed for the first time and published online together with the facsimiles. Since the neighbors of the buyers, sellers, and creditors are always named in the transactions and borrowings documented in the land registers, these data make it possible to locate all the house owners spatially. In most cases, the exact location and size of the individual plots can only be determined in combination with further (archaeological) information. We therefore work together with Viennese city archaeologists, who are not only involved in the exploration of the architectural remains of the Middle Ages themselves, but also have experience with GIS. In this way we will be able to create GIS-based parcel plans in at least some parts of the city. For the Widmerviertel in particular, we have tax lists from the years 1448 and 1526, which list the inhabitants of this quarter in order. These lists serve as a reference point for our social topographical work. The main goal of our work is to describe and analyze neighborhood relations from a socio-historical perspective. Which occupational groups lived where and in which conditions and how did the social composition of individual streets and neighborhoods change during the period under study? Some preliminary work has already been done in recent years. At the end of the project, we will therefore be able to draw up a comprehensive social topographical picture of the Viennese community. In the course of the project, we will work closely with our Viennese partners and above all include their archaeological studies in our work. Our results will be integrated by the Wien Museum into the new permanent exhibition on the history of the city. Museum visitors will be invited to explore the medieval city according to socio-economic criteria using interactive media.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: Austria
• Cooperation Partners: Dr. Michaela Kronberger; Dr. Martin Mosser