The Late Medieval Prince and his Historiographical Representation as Warrior, Military Leader and Warlord in the South German, Austrian, Bohemian Area

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Grischa Vercamer
• Subject Area: Medieval History
• Term: since 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 543638907

The project focuses on the narrative depiction of late medieval princes (1250-1517) in their function as warriors, military leaders and warlords in contemporary historiographical works. Armed conflict as a " field of activity" of princes plays a central role in the historiographical representation and is highly relevant for medievalist research on the practice of rule in the late Middle Ages. Forty-seven works from the southern German-Austrian and Bohemian regions are used as a source corpus. The chosen area proves to be particularly suitable, as the source situation is favourable and various dynasties (Habsburgs, Wittelsbachs, Luxembourgers) competed for power and rule here. With the methods of the history of perception and narratology, all text passages in which princes are staged as warriors, military leaders and warlords are to be collected in a database with the aid of clearly defined analysis parameters. On the basis of these parameters, information can be systematically collected on the differentiation of the role of the prince in the armed conflict (direct participation in conflicts as a warrior, indirect participation as a military leader, externally directed organisation and financing of the conflict/war as a warlord), on the staging of the prince in the event of conflict on the basis of symbols used (crown, banner, etc.) and performative-ritual actions (mass, banquet, etc.) on the form (field battle, siege, war of devastation) and legitimisation of a conflict (general war, legitimised feud, illegitimate revenge). Late medieval warfare also changed dynamically within the 250 years of the study due to technical innovations (gunpowder, fortress construction, etc.) and new structures (mercenaries, recruitment) - it is to be expected that this dynamic was also reflected in the historiographical representation of the prince in conflict situations. Using the methods of narratology, the selected text passages will be analyzed in terms of relevance, narrative mode, stylistic devices, etc. in order to assess the significance of the individual passages in the overall narrative and to distinguish standard narratives from individual approaches. The project will make an important contribution to the history of the conception of late medieval rule in war and conflict. The products will be a monograph (300-350 pages), an open access database, a conference/conference proceedings and three articles.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants