Prof. Dr. Christoph Dartmann

Department of History

Office hours at the Department of History

Curriculum Vitae:

Memberships:

Publications (Selection):

• Politische Interaktion in der italienischen Stadtkommune 1050-1300, Ostfildern (accepted, forthcoming in 2011).
• Die Sakralisierung König Wambas. Zur Debatte um frühmittelalterliche Sakralherrschaft, in: Frühmittelalterliche Studien, vol. 44 (accepted, forthcoming in 2011).
• (ed. with Günther Wassilowsky and Thomas Weller) Technik und Symbolik vormoderner Wahlverfahren (Historische Zeitschrift, supplement 52), Munich 2010.
• Die Repräsentation der Stadtgemeinde in der Bürgerversammlung der italienischen Kommune, in: J. Oberste (ed.), Repräsentationen der mittelalterlichen Stadt (Forum Mittelalter-Studien, vol. 4), Regensburg 2008, pp. 95-108.
• Die Legitimation von Amtsgewalt in den oberitalienischen Städten des 12. Jahrhunderts zwischen kaiserlichen Ansprüchen und kommunaler Praxis, in: G. Dilcher and D. Quaglioni (eds.), Gli inizi del diritto pubblico. Legislazione e dottrina giuridica nell'età di Federico Barbarossa/Die Anfänge des öffentlichen Rechts. Gesetzgebung und gelehrtes Recht im Zeitalter Friedrich Barbarossas (Annali dell‘Istituto storico italo-germanico in Trento/Jahrbuch des italienisch-deutschen historischen Instituts in Trient. Contributi/Beiträge, vol. 19), Bologna 2007, pp. 327-345.
• (ed. with Carla Meyer) Identität und Krise? Zur Deutung vormoderner Selbst-, Welt- und Fremderfahrungen (Symbolische Kommunikation und gesellschaftliche Werte-systeme, vol. 17), Münster 2007.
• Schrift im Ritual. Der Amtseid des Podestà auf den geschlossenen Statutencodex der italienischen Stadtkommune, in: Zeitschrift für Historische Forschung, vol. 31, issue 2 (2004), pp. 169-204.
• Schiedsgerichtsbarkeit und die gütliche Beilegung von Konflikten in Westfalen: das Beispiel der Abtei Liesborn, in: Westfälische Forschungen, vol. 53 (2003), pp. 241-272.
• Zwischen literarischer Stilisierung und authentischer Selbstaussage. Die Genese und Struktur von Aelreds von Rievaulx ‘De spiritali amicitia’, in: Frühmittelalterliche Studien, vol. 35 (2001), pp. 293-312.
• Wunder als Argumente. Die Wunderberichte in der Historia Mediolanensis des sogenannten Landulf Senior und in der Vita Arialdi des Andrea von Strumi (Gesellschaft, Kultur und Schrift. Mediävistische Beiträge, vol. 10), Frankfurt a. M. et al. 2000.

Publications (pdf)

research interests:

• Cultural history of the political, particularly in high and late medieval Italy
• History of religiousness and christendoms between Late Antiquity and the High Middle Ages
• History of literality
• Medieval cultures of conflict
• Participation in the academic network "Pre-Modern Monarchic Formsof Rule in Trans-Cultural Comparison"
• Benedictine monasticism in the Middle Ages

Project within the cluster:

The Construction of authority in normative texts of the Early Middle Ages

Current cultural-historical research has changed what we know about the claims and manners of use of pre-modern normative texts. In particular it has been established for the history of legislation that both the intentions of the legislators and the application of the bodies of law were part of a completely different context than in the modern period. Here, the matter of the implementation of norms has proven to be just as fruitful as the systematic analysis of the staging and enactment of codes. Particularly for the early Middle Ages, it was even more fundamentally shown that recorded norm sets had a very limited influence in an environment that was largely dominated by oral communication and in which legal customs and non-codified political rules largely shaped political and social acting.

It is striking that within Christendom, extensive normative records were produced in this age in particular. Countless rules were formulated in monasticism between the 4th and the 8th century before above all the Regula Benedicti had been established in the Latin-shaped area as an authoritative monastic rule as of the Carolingian Age; subsequently, the recording of normative texts shifted to noting down cloistral ‘consuetudines’ which codified local practice or transmitted reformative impulses.

While the monastic rules are bound by purely religious motives, the early medieval synods – the records of which constitute the second area of extensive production of normative texts between Late Antiquity and the High Middle Ages – often formed an interface of politics and religion. The rulers presided, implemented the canons through their edicts or got the synodals to confirm acts. Fundamental questions regarding the structure and distribution of power in the synods were also negotiated or staged.

Based on the interconnection of politics and religions both in synodal events and in the synodal records, the characteristics of this cooperation of rulers and churches will be questioned. The starting thesis is that the political exploitation of the church institution was strongly shaped by the guidelines the episcopal congregations had taken over from Antiquity, that the justification of normative validity claims was thus essentially dependent on church imprints also in the political field. The comparison with the monastic rules supports the multiplicity of ways in which textual authority can be established within the Christian traditions. The synopsis of both types of records allows to identify the peculiarities of religious objectives and argument contexts as autonomous factors in the field of competing interests of politics and religion.

courses (in German):

Course archive (pdf)

Current (summer semester 2011):

Visiting professor(ship) of Medieval History the University of Rostock (summer semester 2011 and winter semester 2011/12)

Contact

• :: Recommend Page
• :: Comment on this page, Link will be opened in a new window