- Universität Duisburg-Essen
Fakultät für Geisteswissenschaften
Historisches Institut
Geschichte des Mittelalters
45117 Essen - [+49] (0)201/183-3763
Miriam Czock
University of Duisburg-Essen, History, Faculty Member
- History, Medieval History, Early Medieval History, Space and Time (Philosophy), Medieval Canon & Roman Law, Hagiography, and 10 moreMedieval Studies, Medieval Church History, Middle Ages, Medieval Europe, Gregory of tours, Carolingian Studies, Church History, Liturgy, Manuscripts (Medieval Studies), and Eschatology and Apocalypticismedit
- Miriam Czock studied History and Philosophy at the Ruhr-University Bochum. After obtaining her Master's degree in 200... moreMiriam Czock studied History and Philosophy at the Ruhr-University Bochum. After obtaining her Master's degree in 2003, she worked at the FernUniversität Hagen, the Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund and Heinrich-Heine University Düsseldorf as lecturer. She gained her doctoral degree in 2009 with a study on "Gottes Haus. Untersuchungen zur Kirche als heiligem Raum von der Spätantike bis ins Frühmittelalter" at the Ruhr-University in Bochum. In 2009-2010 she was a research assistant to Prof. Stefan Esders at the Friedrich Meineke Institut at Freie Universität Berlin. From 2010-2011 she was a fellow in the DFG/ANR funded project "Raum und Politik: Wahrnehmung und Praxis im Frankenreich und in seinen Nachfolgereichen vom 9. bis zum 11. Jahrhundert/ Espace et politique: perception et pratiques dans les royaumes francs et post-carolingiens du 9e au 11e siècle" headed by Prof. Geneviève Bührer-Thierry (UPEM) and Prof. Steffen Patzold (University of Tübingen). In 2011 she assumed a post as lecturer at the University of Duisburg-Essen with Prof. Amalie Fößel, where she now is a senior lecturer. From 2012 to 2017 she ran the DFG funded project "ZeitenWelten. Zur Verschränkung von Weltdeutung und Zeitwahrnehmung im frühen und hohen Mittelalter" with Anja Rathmann-Lutz. Her main research interest lies on the emergence of a Christian concept of society rooted in intellectual models of space and time in early and high medieval Europe. Other fields of interest are focused on legal-practices as well as the workings of early medieval local society.edit
Using the idea that church buildings are sacred spaces, this study seeks to examine a central figure of thought in medieval society, the “ecclesia”. Using normative, liturgical, and exegetic-theological sources, the book traces the... more
Using the idea that church buildings are sacred spaces, this study seeks to examine a central figure of thought in medieval society, the “ecclesia”. Using normative, liturgical, and exegetic-theological sources, the book traces the profound transformational process that took place in the political and religious view of society from Late Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages. The study sheds light on how the ecclesia functions as an interpretative model in which society is linked to the materiality of cult and describes the dynamics that led to the development of a ecclesiology with a powerful impact on an entire epoch.
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The Carolingian Reform is one of the most popular subjects among scholars working on the early middle ages. Although its political dimension has been the main topic of historical study, attention has now and again been given to its... more
The Carolingian Reform is one of the most popular subjects among scholars working on the early middle ages. Although its political dimension has been the main topic of historical study, attention has now and again been given to its spiritual underpinnings. Given this interest in the realm of ideas behind the reform it is valid to ask how the rhetoric emanating from revelation influenced the moral attitudes reflected in it. By focusing mainly on the normative sources as well as the mirror for princes I will explore how eschatological thought impacted on the unparalleled wide-ranging program of ecclesiastical and social reform of the Carolingian era. By looking at the spiritual and religious values set forth in the texts and how they were influenced by believes in redemption, salvation and the last Judgment, the study will explore the ways in which revelation and the believe in the apocalypse set a framework for the formation of individual and collective betterment.
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The late 9th to the beginning of the 11th century is commonly regarded as a period of profound change. While German research up to the 1980s was dominated by constitutional history, which conceptualised the exercise of power as relying on... more
The late 9th to the beginning of the 11th century is commonly regarded as a period of profound change. While German research up to the 1980s was dominated by constitutional history, which conceptualised the exercise of power as relying on legal and formal practices, now research percieves power relations in this period as organised by informal practices shaped by a repertoire of signs, symbols and rituals. Studies thus focused on social interactions without regarding the underlying territrorial structures needed to form a powerbase. Focusing on the example of 10th century Swabia this article seeks to expand the current model, by looking at the ways in which control over castles was a means to build political authority. Showing that in the turmoil of the 10th century to control space was one factor in the struggle for power and castles were a means to gain and excercise it.
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Previous studies on plunder stressed its economic, symbolic and political value. Although this approach has been highly helpful in understanding the practices of plunder in the middle ages, it relies mostly on historiographical sources.... more
Previous studies on plunder stressed its economic, symbolic and political value. Although this approach has been highly helpful in understanding the practices of plunder in the middle ages, it relies mostly on historiographical sources. The present study shifts the perspective and analyzes two early medieval legal sources, which have only been evaluated on the topic of military discipline. It uses the Lex Alamannorum and Lex Baiuvariorum because they include a broader spectrum of prohibitions than the older Frankish leges and asks if these legal texts reflect the same intersections of economic calculation, violence and political potential which are so central to historiography. The evidence of the leges rather than stressing the long-term value of booty and political benefits gained from plunder focuses on the critical need for provision on military campaign. The South German leges did not prohibit plunder as such; rather they did try to regulate the practice to prevent internal conflict as well as to restrain the damaging and destabilizing effect it had. So they ruled out plundering in collaboration with an enemy. Another aspect of legal concern were conflict over booty. Although the leges were highly aware of the hostile aspect of plunder and its damaging effects on group cohesion at least the Lex Baiuvariorum did not restrict plundering one’s own province, if the duke did order it. Overall they are shaped by the idea to regulate plunder to discourage disruptions to society as well as the necessity to control private violence by public power even in times of war.
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Die Frage nach der Sakralität von Objekten ist in der Forschung zum Frühmittelalter in den letzten Jahren verstärkt im Rahmen der Analyse des Kirchengebäudes als heiligem Raum untersucht worden. Die liturgischen Geräte spielen hingegen in... more
Die Frage nach der Sakralität von Objekten ist in der Forschung zum Frühmittelalter in den letzten Jahren verstärkt im Rahmen der Analyse des Kirchengebäudes als heiligem Raum untersucht worden. Die liturgischen Geräte spielen hingegen in der Forschung keine prominente Rolle, obwohl ihre Heiligung eng mit der Kirchweihe verbunden war. Damit folgt die Forschung zum einen der Akzentsetzung der karolingischen Normierungsversuche, zum anderen blendet sie damit aber auch eine Facette des frühmittelalterlichen Diskurses über die Sakralität von Objekten aus, denn liturgische Geräte und Gewänder unterlagen ebenso Normierungsversuchen und liturgischen Erklärungen. Gleichzeitig stellen die liturgischen Objekte eine ganz andere Objektgruppe als Kirchengebäude dar. Sie sind beweglich und mit ihrer Beweglichkeit können sich andere Problemfelder und Vorstellungshorizonte verbinden. Ebenso ist damit zu rechnen, dass die Bibel als Grundlage vieler karolingischer Vorstellungen von Heiligkeit andere Vorbilder bietet. Deshalb soll in diesem Vortrag der Versuch unternommen werden, die auf die liturgischen Objekte zielende Normierungen sowie die über sie als Objekte hinausweisende Bedeutungen und Vorstellungen auszuloten. Dabei stehen drei Fragen im Mittelpunkt nämlich: welche Rolle die Beweglichkeit der Objekte bei der Ausbildung von Normen und Vorstellungen spielte, welche biblischen Vorbilder auszumachen sind und inwiefern die verschiedenen liturgischen Objekte im Frühmittelalter überhaupt als heilig vorgestellt wurden.
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This article considers the social reality of early medieval priests on the territory of the monastery of Wissembourg by analysing their function in pastoral care and their handling of property. The first part of the article looks into the... more
This article considers the social reality of early medieval priests on the territory of the monastery of Wissembourg by analysing their function in pastoral care and their handling of property. The first part of the article looks into the role of local priests in the promotion of correct knowledge of the main topics of the Christian faith. The second half focuses on the sources documenting Wissembourg’s property management. It explores the network of property and patronage with which the economic interests of priests as well as those of lay lords, locals and the monastery of Wissembourg were linked. Thus, it shows how priests were involved in society via property, which has important implications for our understanding of the integration of local priests in society.
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Die Geschichte des Raumes ist in der Landesgeschichte bisher überwiegend als eine Geschichte der Entwicklung und Ausformung institutionalisierter Strukturen in einem spezifischen räumlichen Gebilde geschrieben worden. Für die Erforschung... more
Die Geschichte des Raumes ist in der Landesgeschichte bisher überwiegend als eine Geschichte der Entwicklung und Ausformung institutionalisierter Strukturen in einem spezifischen räumlichen Gebilde geschrieben worden. Für die Erforschung des früh- und hochmittelalterlichen Schwaben war daher das Herzogtum Schwaben zentral. In den letzten Jahren ist durch den sogenannten spatial turn eine neue Perspektive eröffnet worden, welche die landesgeschichtlichen Fragestellungen um einige Facetten erweitert. Der spatial turn hat in der Geschichtswissenschaft das Bewusstsein dafür geschärft, dass Raum keine objektive Kategorie ist, sondern aus Wahrnehmungsprozessen der Akteure entsteht. Historische Räume werden deshalb unter Einbeziehung dieser Prämisse nicht mehr als ausschließlich geographische Einheiten betrachtet, vielmehr wird thematisiert, wie die in diesen Räumen agierenden Personen sie formen und beschreiben. Hier setzt der Beitrag an und fragt anhand der Vita Udalrici und mit dem Fokus auf Schwaben danach, wie Zeitgenossen über räumliche Zusammenhänge sprachen, sie gestalteten und organisierten. Letztlich soll so die räumliche Konzeption von Schwaben als Handlungsrahmen erhellt werden.
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Medievalist have often voiced the opinion, that apocalyptic thinking was a driving force of change in the middle ages, citing mainly the evidence for the Carolingian efforts to calculate time and its significance for a belief in an... more
Medievalist have often voiced the opinion, that apocalyptic thinking was a driving force of change in the middle ages, citing mainly the evidence for the Carolingian efforts to calculate time and its significance for a belief in an imminent end of the world. On this James Palmer lately commented that the chronological and computistical thought in the eighth and ninth century do seem fully explicable in their own terms. Nevertheless he concluded that the different networks and reformers of the Carolingian world tried to be prepared regardless of their preference for a sooner or later imminence of Judgment day. His is a significant point I want to follow in my paper. While scholarly discussion mainly revolved around the efforts to date the apocalypse or its theological exegesis, the rhetoric emanating from revelation to influence moral attitudes as well as specific appoarches to time in the Carolingian age have as yet hardly been looked into. This oversight is a serious one, because we bypass something which mobilised a conglomeration of ideas about the Christian way of life as well as an specific approach to time.