News | Rang & Ordnung/RANK
Exhibition on the Wittelsbacher
The internet site of the exhibition Die Wittelsbacher am Rhein. Die Kurpfalz und Europa shown at the Reiss-Engelhorn-Museen Mannhein from 8-9-2013 is now online. At http://www.wittelsbacher2013.de, you will find further information.
Medieval History Seminar Heidelberg-Cambridge
The fourth Medieval History Seminar Heidelberg-Cambridge took place at the University of Cambridge on 30 April and 1 May 2012. All the members of RANK were present. This event, which alternates between Heidelberg and Cambridge, is a great opportunity for young medievalists to share and discuss their research. Thirteen PhD students and post-docs presented varied subjects, including the landscape of power, migration and crusades, questions around the papacy and the nobility, as well as violence and the use of space in castles. As a special treat, the Germans guests were taken around into the streets and colleges of Cambridge. PD Dr. Jörg Peltzer and Prof. Rosamund McKitterick were very satisfied with the seminar and are already planning the 5th edition, which will be held at Heidelberg.
Frederick the Victorious
At a conference held at Neustadt, 15-17 March 2012, on Frederick the Victorious (1425–1476), Thorsten Huthwelker’s contribution concentrated on the tomb and obsequies of this count Palatine as an expression of his rank.
During the conference, Thorsten Huthwelker and Maximilian Wemhöner offered a guided tour through the Collegiate Church of Neustadt.
The building activities of the counts Palatine in the Middle Ages
In January 2012, Thorsten Huthwelker und Maximilian Wemhöner participated in a conference held at Manheim, Die Wittelsbacher und die Kurpfalz im Mittelalter – Eine Erfolgsgeschichte? They presented the subject ‘Representation of rank through architecture’ by talking about the castle of Heidelberg, the Collegiate Church of Neustadt and the tomb of Frederick the Victorious in the Franciscan church of Heidelberg.
The Rank of the counts Palatine
A short overview of the development of the rank of the counts Palatine in the 13th and 14th centuries was given by Jörg Peltzer at the conference Die Wittelsbacher und die Kurpfalz im Mittelalter. Eine Erfolgsgeschichte?, held at Manheim in Januar 2012.
Publication of the conference proceedings Princely Rank in Late Medieval Europe. Trodden Paths and Promising Avenues
Comparative studies in late medieval history are still relatively rare. This volume aims to prepare the ground for comparative work on the aristocracies in late medieval Europe, notably on the English earls and the imperial princes. Leading scholars from England, Germany and France analyse past, present and potential future approaches to the study of late medieval princely elites. Case studies shed light on issues including the way in which surviving records shape the historian’s image of the earls and imperial princes, how rolls of arms can be exploited as a source for studying princely rank, how magnates used the architecture of their castles to display their status and the other strategies they deployed to support their ambitions.
The series RANK publishes studies on the social and political fabric of medieval polities. The series focuses, in particular, on the processes of social diff erentiation and the ways in which individuals and groups communicated their position within contemporary society.
Idoneitas: a matter of rank?
At the conference Idoneität – Genealogie – Legitimation held at Dresden in December 2011, Jörg Peltzer explored to what extend idoneitas was defined by rank looking at the king’s elections and the promotions to the rank of an imperial prince in the 13th and 14th centuries.
A new Sainte Chapelle?
On the 18 Nov. 2011 Thorsten Huthwelker and Max Wemhöner talked at the Arbeitsgemeinschaft für geschichtliche Landeskunde am Oberrhein e. V. in Karlsruhe about:
The Palatine Sainte Chapelle. Ruprecht I and the Collegiate Church in Neustadt
Their article on this subject has been accepted for publication in a forthcoming issue of the Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte.
Castles and Palaces
Max Wemhöner and Géraldine Victoir held a talk at the conference of Oberfell, 4-6 Nov. 2011, on the theme 'Medieval and Renaissance Architecture - Symbole of Power and Authority?':
The rank of the patron. Princely castles and palaces of the fourteenth century in France and England
The Marriages of the English Earls
The marriages of nine comital families in England in the 13th century were analysed by Jörg Peltzer in a paper given at the conference Plantagenet Britain and its Neighbours, 1180 – 1330. Thirteenth-Century England 13. held at Aberystwyth in September 2011. The paper took a social perspective looking at the rank of the spouses and their children.
The dignity of the office
In June 2011, Jörg Peltzer held a talk about La dignité de l'office au bas Moyen Age at the conference held at Metz: Hiérarchie des pouvoirs, délégation de pouvoir et responsabilité des administrateurs dans l'Antiquité et au Moyen Age. The paper compared the significance of an office at the royal court for magnates in the Empire and in England in the 13th and the 14th centuries.
Seals of lay magnates
Jörg Peltzer participated in the conference "Autorität und Akzeptanz. Das Reich im Europa des 13. Jahrhunderts" (Authority and Acceptance. The Empire in Thirteenth-Century Europe), which took place on 23-25 July 2010. The abstract (in German) of his talk on the seals of imperial princes and English earls in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries can be read here.
The numbers of the curia maior and the curia minor, presented at Limoges
Jörg Peltzer talked at the conference: "Entre ambitions princières, idéal de gouvernement et principe de réalité : les effectifs des serviteurs princiers et royaux à la fin du Moyen Age, de l'Europe du Nord à la Péninsule ibérique", the 6th of Nov. 2009 at Limoges. The proceedings of the conference will be soon published.
Les chiffres de la curia maior et minor. Evaluer le rang dans l’Empire au bas Moyen Âge
La mise en scène du seigneur tentant de maintenir ou d’améliorer son rang était directement liée au nombre de personnes composant sa suite, et à la qualité des membres de celle-ci. En ce qui concerne l’envergure de l’hôtel ou de l’entourage assemblé pour une curia maior, le seigneur s’alignait sur les seigneurs qu’il considérait du même rang ou d’un niveau social auquel il aspirait. Les considérations financières étaient alors d’une importance secondaire. Cependant, la divergence entre l’ambition et les moyens financiers ne devait pas être trop grande, car l’effet souhaité pouvait alors s’inverser.
L’article considère sous plusieurs angles la signification des chiffres absolus dans le contexte élargi de l’hôtel. En ce qui concerne la taille de l’hôtel princier d’abord, il est difficile d’obtenir des chiffres précis pour les XIIIe et XIVe siècles. Mais il semble que vers 1500, le chiffre de 300 personnes s’était établi comme la norme pour un hôtel princier dans l’Empire. Il semble aussi évident que le droit d’établir les quatre grands offices était un indicateur du statut princier – un droit qui était recherché surtout à la fin du XIIIe et au XIVe siècle. Cependant, comme l’exemple des comtes palatin du Rhin le démontre, l’importance du chiffre quatre était plus théorique que pratique. En ce qui concerne l’entourage immédiat du seigneur, il semble qu’on ait attribué une certaine importance au chiffre 12 qui, faisant référence aux apôtres et aux paladins de Charlemagne, constituait la taille idéale d’une suite.
Starting Independent Researcher Grant
With effect from 1st October 2008 the European Research Council will support the research group with a total of 900 000 € for approximately five years until 2013. It is the only project in the field of medieval history to have been awarded a Starting Independent Researcher Grant.
News release by the University of Heidelberg
Press releases by the ERC about the Starting Grant
Article about the ERC-Program in DAAD-Letter
Interview with Dr. Peltzer in LERU Annual Report
