Opening of the lecture series “Our Beloved Animals? Human-Animal Relationships in the Middle Ages” by the Greifswald Center for Medieval Studies, presented by Professor Dr. Julia Weitbrecht
Opening of the lecture series “Those Dear Beasts? Human-Animal Relationships in the Middle Ages” organized by the Greifswald Center for Medieval Studies, presented by Professor Dr. Julia Weitbrecht (University of Cologne, Institute for German Language and Literature I)
Medieval texts and images are teeming with animals. They serve more than just decorative purposes, for humans always see themselves reflected in their relationship with animals. The boundary between humans and animals is therefore repeatedly and productively challenged: Wild animals often appear as antagonists who can be subdued during the hunt, but also tamed and turned into companions. This powerful gesture toward a nature perceived as frightening was highly influential in the Christian Middle Ages and continues to have an impact to this day. However, encounters with the wild also speak to the freedoms that can emerge from them and explore forms of wildness that are not to be found in the forest, but are inherent in humans themselves and can be made aesthetically fruitful. The lecture explores the multifaceted connections between animals and humans, wildness and taming, nature and culture in medieval legends and courtly romances.
Julia Weitbrecht studied Scandinavian Studies, Old German Literature and Language, and Religious Studies at the HU and FU Berlin. From 2005 to 2012, she was a research associate at the Berlin SFB 644 “Transformations of Antiquity,” followed by positions at the University of Göttingen and the Free University of Berlin. From 2014 to 2020, she was an assistant professor at Christian-Albrechts-University in Kiel and served as a visiting professor at Goethe University Frankfurt in 2018–19. Since 2020, she has been a professor of Old German Language and Literature at the University of Cologne. Her research focuses on religious textual cultures and their materiality (legends, visions, collections of legends) as well as human-animal relations from a historical perspective.
Moderator: Dr. Falk Quenstedt
