Mediävistik

Mediävistik, or medieval studies, is an interdisciplinary field devoted to the study of the European Middle Ages, broadly spanning roughly the 5th to the 15th century, with regional variations in dating. It encompasses history, literature, language, religion, law, art, archaeology, and material culture, as well as social life and cultural contact. The discipline grew out of philology and theology and has expanded to include digital humanities, anthropology, and cultural studies.

A core task is the analysis of primary sources such as chronicles, legal codes, religious writings, hagiography, poetry, and narrative texts. Scholars edit, translate, and interpret manuscripts, employing methods from paleography and codicology, textual criticism, and historical analysis. Materials are studied in their manuscript contexts and, increasingly, through digital editions and databases.

Languages studied include Latin as the scholarly lingua franca and vernacular literatures such as Old High German, Old French, Middle English, Old Norse, Spanish, and Italian. Methods combine close reading, comparison, philology, and manuscript studies, along with broader approaches from history, art history, and religious studies.

Research is often organized around regional or chronological specializations, such as English, German, French, Iberian, or Italian medieval cultures, while many projects cross borders. Subfields cover documentary history, literary studies, religious and intellectual history, social and gender history, and cultural studies.

Mediävistik is taught at universities and research institutes worldwide and supported by scholarly journals and professional societies. Its aim is to illuminate how medieval cultures shaped language development, institutions, religious life, and the foundations of modern Europe.