When scholars discuss the medieval past, the temptation is to become immersed there, to deepen our appreciation of the nuances of the medieval sources through debate about their meaning. But the past informs the present in a myriad of ways and medievalists can, and should, use their research to address the concerns and interests of contemporary society.
This volume presents a number of carefully commissioned essays that demonstrate the fertility and originality of recent work in Medieval Studies. Above all, they have been selected for relevance. Most contributors are in the earlier stages of their careers and their approaches clearly reflect how interdisciplinary methodologies applied to Medieval Studies have potential repercussions and value far beyond the boundaries of the Middles Ages. These chapters are powerful demonstrations of the value of medieval research to our own times, both in terms of providing answers to some of the specific questions facing humanity today and in terms of much broader considerations. Taken together, the research presented here also provides readers with confidence in the fact that Medieval Studies cannot be neglected without a great loss to the understanding of what it means to be human.
Author(s): Chris Jones, Conor Kostick, Klaus Oschema (eds.)
Series: Das Mittelalter. Perspektiven mediävistischer Forschung. Beihefte, 6
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
Year: 2020
Language: English
Pages: VI+298
City: Berlin
Chris Jones, Conor Kostick, and Klaus Oschema / Why Should we Care about the Middle Ages? Putting the Case for the Relevance of Studying Medieval Europe 1
Science
Tobias Kluge and Maximilian Schuh / Providing Reliable Data? Combining Scientific and Historical Perspectives on Flooding Events in Medieval and Early Modern Nuremberg (1400–1800) 31
Conor Kostick and Francis Ludlow / Medieval History, Explosive Volcanism, and the Geoengineering Debate 45
Jörg Feuchter / The Middle Ages in the Genetics Lab 99
Freya Harrison and Erin Connelly / Could Medieval Medicine Help the Fight Against Antimicrobial Resistance? 113
Education
Julien Demade / The Contemporary Delegitimization of (Medieval) History – and of the Traditional University Curriculum as a Whole 135
Chris Jones and Madi Williams / Pacific Perspectives: Why study Europe’s Middle Ages in Aotearoa New Zealand? 151
Laura Grazia Di Stefano / How to be a Time Traveller: Exploring Venice with a Fifteenth-Century Pilgrimage Guide 171
Klaus Oschema / Heaven Can Tell... Late Medieval Astrologers as Experts – and what they can Teach us about Contemporary Financial Expertise 191
Elva Johnston / Eoin MacNeill's Early Medieval Ireland: A Scholarship for Politics or a Politics of Scholarship? 211
Hélène Sirantoine / What's in a Word? Naming 'Muslims' in Medieval Christian Iberia 225
Niamh Wycherley / The Enduring Power of the Cult of Relics – an Irish Perspective 239
Ben Jervis / Resilience and Society in Medieval Southampton: An Archaeological Approach to Anticipatory Action, Politics, and Economy 255
Reflections
Pierre Monnet / Studying the Middle Ages: Historical Food for Thought in the Present Day 277
Notes on Contributors 289
Index 293
