The Paper Revolution in Late Medieval Europe. Comparative Investigations into Changing Technologies and Culture in the "Social Space" (A06)

• Subject Area: Medieval History
• Term: from 2011 to 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 178035969

Working with a comparative-cultural-studies perspective, the project examines the reasons why paper superseded the previously dominant parchment in the high and late Middle Ages in Europe and the substantial socio-cultural consequences effected by this change. The change from parchment to paper is traditionally regarded as a necessary condition for the rapid growth of literacy as well as for the evolution of printing culture in Late Medieval Europe. However, there has been a dearth of studies up until now that have empirically examined this thesis and gauged the extent of paper consumption and use.

• 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. Bernd Schneidmüller