Legendary Narration in the Middle Ages. Forms, functions, and contexts of German hagiography

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Julia Weitbrecht
• Subject Area: German Medieval Studies (Medieval German Literature)
• Term: from 2015 to 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 268525656

The proposed network is designed to meet a desideratum of researchposed by the current lack of any comprehensive account of medievallegendary literature. Comprising a voluminous as well as variedcorpus of writings, the genre must elude any immediate attempts atexhaustive definition, wherefore the main objective is to recapitulatethe inherent diversity of legendary narration under particularconsideration of the latters discursive flexibility and susceptibility toconstant actualisation. Instead of applying any ontological concept ofsanctity, the network will venture to delineate and explore the wholerange of corresponding notions projected by the material. Eachtextual witness is to be discussed systematically as well as historicallyin terms of both the way in which specific concepts of gender, body,and identity are applied in order to constitute the respective saint, andthe way in which sanctity is established qua mobilisation of aparticular set of narrative techniques. In this context, the concept ofimitatio Christi is of key importance. It is by no means to be conceivedof as belonging exclusively to the intratextual sphere, as imitation ofthe passion, but may also either imply intertextual phenomena (e.g. inthe case of imitatio auctorum), or be realised by performative means(such as the involvement of the audience through the speech act ofprayer). Accordingly, the project is going to lend particular attention tothe different forms of religious functionalisation that legendarynarrations are subject to. Analysing the latter, institutional and medialcontexts are to be considered, to the effect that our discussion of thedifferent ways in which sanctity is medialised and narrativised must beindissolubly interlaced with inquiries into the historical conditions ofliterary production and reception. This approach promises to rendernuanced insights into the flexibility of legendary literature in the faceof historically varying validity conditions. Engaging three levels ofanalysis, the network will examine contents-related aspects (projectedsaint/subject matter/motif/s), formal criteria (language, narrativepattern, genre/format), and matters of context (tradition, institution,religious functionalisation) together with their specific interrelations inorder to extrapolate their respective roles in the construction of saints.This way, the interplay of invariable and variable aspects in legendaryliterature can be described in terms of a process of constantrecombination of diverse discursive and narrative traditions. Thematerial result of the projected networks research, a co-authoredmonograph on legendary narration in the Middle Ages with specialemphasis on German hagiography, will examine history andsystematics of the genre of legend as a key medium of religiouscommunication, thus providing an important contribution to bothliterary history and the history of religion of the Middle Ages.

• DFG Programme: Scientific Networks