Actions, Perceptions, Calculations. A new methodology for late medieval economic history

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Tanja Skambraks
• Subject Area: Medieval History
• Term: from 2015 to 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 282895535

In the Late Middle Ages, the world was changing: The timespan between the 14th and the 17'thcentury is widely believed to be the era that paved the way for phenomena and questions thatstill shape our world today. Capitalism, proto-industrialisation, European imperialism, humaninvention in nature at an unprecedented scale - to name just a few examples - took formduring these centuries. We can gain a better understanding of these dynamics if we study theeconomy of the Late Middle Ages with combined forces from cultural as well as economichistory. In the last years, mutual interest and cooperation between these two disciplines hasbeen growing. It is time now to develop the mutual interest into a concrete, reflective andfruitful cooperation between both disciplines.Therefore, our network aims at discussing and focussing on approaches from cultural history,social sciences and economic theory, connecting these approaches and thereby creating a newand deeper-reaching methodology.In order to better analyse the economy as a constitutive sector of society, we want to deal withfive basic areas of research: the market; work; credit and money; consumption; production,including agriculture. These areas of research will not only frame our discussions, but alsoconstitute the chapters of the book we are planning to write collectively. The discussions aswell as the chapters will cover questions of the applicability of different methodologicalapproaches, their possible combination and the range and types of sources available for a newhistory of the late medieval economy.

• DFG Programme: Scientific Networks