Scholarly Knowledge – Horizons of Use and Social Reach

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Birgit Studt
• Subject Area: Medieval History
• Term: since 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 517340986

The project „Scholarly Knowledge – Horizons of Use and Social Reach“ aims to examine the fields of activity, the library, the working practice of a scholarly theologian, and to investigate how knowledge, produced in the university, was brought into the living environment of the late Middle Ages within professional contexts. In this way, the unfolding of cultural, social, and political reaches of university education beyond the scholarly ridge is to be pursued. The theoretical knowledge, collected and prepared in the books and papers of Nicolaus Matz, is examined in connection with his practical work in the parish and cathedral chapter, but also for the founding and first years of the university in Freiburg. Divided into two work programs (A + B), thematic as well as codicological approaches will be used to investigate possible forms of usage of learned knowledge. With the support of Heidelberg University Library (work program C), current application possibilities of the Digital Humanities will be used for the analysis and presentation of research results. This allows for the handling of knowledge on the micro level of the handwritten manuscripts or the reading practice in the printed incunabulum to be made comprehensible in a new way. The in-depth exploration of the papers on different levels offers new possibilities to describe actors and media, practices and processes of knowledge production and application.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants