Books, their Makers and Owners in an Age of Migration (Fifteenth to Sixteenth Centuries)

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Katrin Kogman-Appel
• Subject Area: Religious Studies and Jewish Studies ; Early Modern History ; Medieval History
• Term: since 2025
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 517713369

The multifarious migration movements, both voluntary and imposed, that took place in various regions of Europe from the late 14th century onwards and the resulting demographic changes had a decisive impact on Jewish social, economic and cultural history. In their new living environments, the immigrant Jewish populations had to reorient themselves and develop new patterns of cultural entanglement. Objects that were taken by their owners played a key role in these transfer processes from one environment to another and from the former culturally bound realities to the new ones. Among these, books, as mobile cultural objects, are of particular importance. In the framework of the proposed Research Unit, they are particularly suitable as objects of study. In general, books represent an essential component of the cultural, religious and intellectual life of the Jewish diaspora. Production practices, but also the forms of reception, including the material handling of books (such as the collecting of books) changed continuously during the 15th and 16th centuries. The proposed individual project will study books and book collections belonging to Ashkenazi migrants in Italy. Since immigrants from different regions established new living environments here, books from literally all areas of former Jewish settlements have been found in Italy. In the first funding phase, the focus is on medieval and early modern manuscripts that were brought to Italy from Ashkenaz or were produced there by Ashkenazi migrants. Since the history of early Hebrew printing overlaps with late medieval manuscript culture, early prints will also be considered as case studies. In order to grasp the scope of these dynamics and the role of book culture in them, the following categories will be considered: (a) manuscripts produced in Ashkenaz but with owner notes or similar paratexts added in Italy; (b) books copied in Italy for Ashkenazic commissioners or printed with a specifically Ashkenazic readership in mind; (c) book lists that suggest a migration background; and (d) biographical data on individual book owners, scribes, or printers.

• DFG Programme: Research Units
• Subproject of: FOR 5663: Ashkenaz in New Environments: Actors, Practices and Spaces in Central European Jewish History during the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries