Transregional Correspondences in the Reformation Era: Scholarly Networks – Communication Structures – Systems of News Dissemination
Location: Vienna, Austrian Academy of Sciences
Direction and concept: Dr Astrid Schweighofer (Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna) and Dr Daniel Gehrt (Gotha Research Library)
Organisers: Gotha Research Library and Institute for the Study of the Habsburg Monarchy and the Balkan Region of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna
The interdisciplinary conference examines transregional structures and systems, sustained primarily through correspondences, that arose in connection with the Reformation and Confessionalisation in Europe in the 16th and early 17th centuries. It inquires into the content, forms, functions, practices and European dimensions of transregional correspondences and networks and aims to shed led upon their significance.
Information and programme for the conference
The interdisciplinary conference will focus on two formally similar, vividly illuminated manuscripts of the genre Biblia pauperum (Poor People's Bible) in the Gotha Research Library (Memb. I 54) and in the Thuringian University and State Library in Jena (Ms. El. f. 51b). The Jena copy, dated 1462, was produced in Lower Bavaria. The Gotha copy clearly arose in the same chronological and topographical context. Both belong to a group of 68 surviving manuscripts from the 14th and 15th centuries in which events from the Old and New Testaments are typologically related.
Of course, these two manuscripts have not escaped the attention of researchers, but apart from being catalogued in the relevant manuscript catalogues, they have mostly only been touched upon. Central aspects such as the background to the production and the technical examination of the manuscripts, their location in late medieval book illumination, the sometimes strikingly different iconography in the two sister manuscripts, the script and the text versions have not yet been examined.
The conference will bring together experts in late medieval book culture and intellectual history who will discuss questions of provenance history, palaeography, text and art history as well as the history of the reception of this widespread book type.
Illustrations: ‘Birth of Christ’, flanked by the Old Testament scenes ‘Moses and the burning bush’, ‘Aaron and the greening rod’, ‘Prophets’
Days: September 29 - October 1, 2025
Conference venue: Gotha Research Library
Concept and organisation: PD Dr Monika Müller (Gotha Research Library; Head of Collections and Preservation Department), Dr Joachim Ott (ThULB Jena; Head of Historical Collections Department), Prof. Dr Christoph Fasbender (Chemnitz University of Technology; German Literary and Linguistic History of the Middle Ages and Early Modern Period)
The conference is made possible by the generous support of the Fritz Thyssen Foundation.
Contact
PD Dr. Monika Müller monika.mueller@uni-erfurt.de
Dr. Joachim Ott joachim.ott@uni-jena.de
Prof. Dr. Christoph Fasbender christoph.fasbender@phil.tu-chemnitz.de
Joint conference of the Gotha Research Library and the Gotha Research Centre of the University of Erfurt as part of the celebrations to mark the town's anniversary "1250 years of Gotha"
Date: October 17, 2025
Location: Gotha Research Centre
Organisation: Dr Monika E. Müller, Gotha Research Library, and Prof. Dr Martin Mulsow, Gotha Research Centre
Between 1680 and 1720 - more precisely, from the reign of Duke Frederick I and during the reign of Duke Frederick II of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg - a continuous commissioning policy of the dukes of Gotha can be established, who apparently wanted to ensure that the works of the deceased court historiographers were published and continued by their successors and that nothing was financed in vain. The works of Caspar Sagittarius, Friedrich Rudolphi, Wilhelm Ernst Tentzel, Christian Schlegel and Ernst Salomon Cyprian were written in this environment. The Gotha Research Library not only preserves their printed historical works, but also their extensive corpora of letters - a promising collection of sources for reconstructing this heyday of "Gotha historiography".
The conference will therefore trace how historiography depicted certain cultural and political medieval conditions (also in comparison with the early modern authors' own time period) and how pictorial sources and material relics such as seals and coins were used. Furthermore, archaeological efforts and the use of manuscripts will be examined. Blind spots or specific accentuations in the respective works appear to be of particular interest. The initial hypothesis of the conference is that a more precise understanding of the practices involved will make it possible to better categorise the works on Gotha's city history, which fell into oblivion soon after they were written.
The programme is published on the website of the Gotha Research Centre.
Please contact
Gotha Research Centre
forschungszentrum@uni-erfurt.de
PD Dr. Monika Müller
monika.mueller@uni-erfurt.de
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