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| Semester | fall semester 2022 |
| Course frequency | Once only |
| Lecturers | Masha Goldin (masha.goldin@unibas.ch, Assessor) |
| Content | This course focuses on four fourteenth-century illustrated manuscripts of the Sachsenspiegel: the most important record of customary law from the Holy Roman Empire compiled ca. 1225. Though rarely studied by art historians, these legal monuments with their hundreds of miniatures suggest endless avenues for exploring the work of images in the construction and representation of law, justice, and authority; as well as a means for understanding the function of images in the communication and interpretation of social norms and legal theory and praxis. The Sachsenspiegel text and pictures touch upon almost every aspect of medieval life and thus hold key evidence for studying the social structures and legal realities of the medieval Holy Roman Empire, and the visual formation of legal ideology more broadly. Questions this course explores include: What strategies did the illuminators of the Sachsenspiegel employ in the representation of inheritance laws, feudal relationships and violent crimes such as rape, murder or theft? What ways did medieval people visualize abstract concepts such as justice, freedom or rights? And what purposes did the copious pictorial program of the Sachsenspiegel serve and how do they function vis-a-vis the text? Participants will closely study the miniatures and text by using high-quality facsimile editions of the Sachsenspiegel at the university library and digital resources. They will gain deeper knowledge of medieval illuminated manuscripts, the dynamic relationship between images and text, and social and legal history of the thirteenth- and fourteenth centuries in the Holy Roman Empire. The course will be taught in English. |
| Bibliography | - Eike von Repgow. The Saxon Mirror: A Sachsenspiegel of the Fourteenth Century, Translated by Maria Dobozy. Pennsylvania: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999. - Kaufmann, Frank-Michael [ed.]. Glossen zum Sachsenspiegel-Landrecht: Buch’sche Glosse. Hannover: Hahnsche Buchhandlung, 2002. - Kocher, Gernot, and Dietlinde Munzel-Everling [eds.]. Der Heidelberger Sachsenspiegel. Graz: Akademische Druck- und Verlagsanstalt, 2009. - Lück, Heiner [ed.] Dresdner Sachsenspiegel. Graz: Akademische Druck- und Verlagsanstalt, 2002. - Schmidt-Wiegand, Ruth [ed.]. Sachsenspiegel: Die Wolfenbütteler Bilderhandschrift. Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 2015. - Von Amira, Karl. Die Handgebärden in den Bilderhandschriften des Sachsenspiegels. München, 1905. - Von Amira, Karl [ed.]. Die Dresdener Bilderhandschrift des Sachsenspiegels. Leipzig: Karl W. Hiersemann, 1902-1926. - Caviness, Madeline Harrison, and Charles G. Nelson. Women and Jews in the Sachsenspiegel Picture-Books. London: Harvey Miller Publishers, 2018. - Hayduk, H. Sofia. Rechtsidee und Bild: zur Funktion und Ikonografie der Bilder in Rechtsbüchern vom 9. bis zum 16. Jahrhundert. Wiesbaden: Reichert, 2011. - Höfinghoff, Hans, Werner Peters, Wolfgand Schild and Timothy Sodmann [eds.]. Alles was Recht war: Rechtsliteratur und literarisches Recht. Essen: Item-Verlag, 1996. - Kümper, Hiram. ״Miniaturen und Bilder in Sachsenspiegelhandschriften abseits der Codices picturati.״ Concilium medii aevi 9, (2006): 103-140. - Schmidt-Wiegand, Ruth [ed.]. Text-Bild-Interpretation: Untersuchungen zu den Bilderhandschriften des Sachsenspiegels. Munich: Fink, 1986. - Schmidt-Wiegand, Ruth and Wolfgang Milde [eds.]. Gott ist selber Recht: die vier Bilderhandschriften des Sachsenspiegels. Wolfenbüttel: Herzog August Bibliothek, 1993. - Timmermann, Achim. Memory and Redemption: Public Monuments and the Making of Late Medieval Landscape. Turnhout: Brepols, 2017. |
| Course application | Anmeldung über Mona notwendig. |
| Language of instruction | English |
| Use of digital media | No specific media used |
| Interval | Weekday | Time | Room |
|---|---|---|---|
| wöchentlich | Thursday | 16.15-18.00 | Kunstgeschichte, Seminarraum 1. Stock 131 |
| Modules |
Modul: Mittelalter (Bachelor's degree subject: Art History) Modul: Profil: Mittelalter und Mittelalterrezeption (Master's degree program: Art History and Image Theory) Modul: Werk und Kontext (Master's degree program: Art History and Image Theory) Modul: Werk und Kontext (Master's degree subject: Art History) |
| Assessment format | continuous assessment |
| Assessment details | Die Leistungsüberprüfung findet in Form von Referaten oder Essays und regelmässiger aktiver Beteiligung statt. |
| Assessment registration/deregistration | Reg.: course registration; dereg.: not required |
| Repeat examination | no repeat examination |
| Scale | Pass / Fail |
| Repeated registration | no repetition |
| Responsible faculty | Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, studadmin-philhist@unibas.ch |
| Offered by | Fachbereich Kunstgeschichte |