Saints in collections, collected sanctities. Practices of collecting and religious role-models in legendaries of the High and Late Middle Ages

• Applicants: Professor Dr. Andreas Bihrer; Professorin Dr. Julia Weitbrecht
• Subject Area: German Medieval Studies (Medieval German Literature) ; Medieval History
• Term: since 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 523415362

The project analyses the formation of religious models based on the selection and compilation of short legends in extensive collections ('legendaries'). Such practices of collecting hagiographical texts are assumed to have an impact on the narrative form of the legends the compilations contain, because they are continually readapted in order to meet specific interests and pragmatic contexts. The project focuses on collections that were produced and used in monasteries of the Cistercian order. In contrast to former research that emphasizes processes of standardization and normation, the project aims to a better understanding of the multifunctional modes of adapting legendary narratives in different collections. Especially collections of the Cistercian order must be understood in their relations to both norm and practice. Each monastery apparently had a certain amount of freedom in compiling and combining hagiographical texts, an aspect that has not yet been examined. Although these collections responded to the order's efforts to standardize textual practices, the Cistercians also followed local interests. Therefore, two exemplary case studies on Cistercian Latin legendaries of the 12th century (subproject 1) and German vernacular legendaries of the 15th century (subproject 2) will analyze the specific shifts and dynamics regarding concepts of sanctity in different monastic milieus and groups of actors. Subproject 1 examines three legendaries (Cîteaux, Clairvaux and the 'Magnum Legendarium Austriacum') that represent the beginnings of Cistercian collection practice. The main focus is on the changes in collection strategies in the context of shifting local interests vis-à-vis the universal claims of the new order. Subproject 2 investigates collection strategies and concepts of legendaries compiled by the Lichtenthal scribe Regula. Her oeuvre will be described in relation to Cistercian collecting practices as well as the variability and processuality in legendary narrative. Thus, the subproject promises insights into the transformation of religious models in the context of vernacular textuality and monastic reform in the 15th century. The project aims to view Cistercian collections of legends from both a historical and systematic perspective to describe the dynamization of religious models in different social and institutional contexts as well as in processes of réécriture and translation.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants