Teaching

Lecture

• „A Short Introduction to Economic History: From 10,000 BCE to the Present” (Jun.-Prof. Dr. Alex Spike Gibbs)
• Description: Today we face many economic problems. How do we help less developed parts of the world to improve global living standards? What can we do to reduce rapidly growing levels of inequality? And how can we make our economies compatible with the need to prevent environmental degradation? To answer such questions, we must look to history to understand how the world economy has got to be where it is today. This course will provide an introduction to economic development from the initial emergence of settled agriculture to current debates about the impact of automation and sustainable development. We will examine themes including demography, agriculture, technology, colonialism and development policies and engage with major topics including the Great and Little Divergences, the Industrial Revolutions, the Great Depression and the World Wars. While the course will primarily focus on Western Europe, we will also examine Eastern Europe, the Americas, East Asia and Africa.

Research Workshop

• „Doing and Not Doing. Renunciation between Sustainability Policy and Spiritual Quest for Meaning (MA)” (Prof. Dr. Annette Kehnel)
• Description: See corresponding seminar (Seminar and exercise must be taken together.)

Advanced Seminars

• „Doing and Not Doing. Renunciation between Sustainability Policy and Spiritual Quest for Meaning (MA)” (Prof. Dr. Annette Kehnel in collaboration with Prof. Dr. Timo Heimerdinger, University of Freiburg)
• Description: Renunciation is difficult. It sounds like joyless abstinence and bad moods. It’s not a vote-winner, nor does it easily mobilize political majorities. At the same time—and quite paradoxically—the demand for renunciation is rising rapidly. Renunciation is “hip”: Japanese decluttering methods like Dan-Sha-Ri or KonMari, the art of letting go, the “less is more” principle, and similar trends are booming. People are eager to declutter their lives, liberate their souls, practice mindfulness, and celebrate lifestyles of consumer restraint. It feels good to relieve both oneself and the planet. From a historical perspective, asceticism, voluntary poverty, chastity, and obedience play a significant role—concepts that have fallen completely out of fashion in modernity. They were relegated to the private sphere as specific features of religious life, while the economization of secular public life gradually elevated consumption to the highest civic duty. In collaboration with Prof. Dr. Timo Heimerdinger (Commission on “Religiosity and Spirituality” of the German Society for Empirical Cultural Studies, University of Freiburg), this seminar will explore historical case studies, theories, methods, and research approaches, and develop perspectives for the future.
• „The Great Divergence. Economic Development and Stagnation in Preindustrial Western Europe and East Asia (BA)” (Jun.-Prof. Dr. Alex Spike Gibbs)
• Description: Why was western Europe, rather than any other part of the world, the first region to industrialise and experience modern economic growth? This is the question that lies at the heart of debate over The Great Divergence, Pomeranz’s seminal work of 2000 which argued that geographical chance, rather than institutional or cultural differences, explains the dramatic gap in wealth which emerged between Europe and the rest of the world in the nineteenth century. In the last two decades, multiple explanations have been put forward centred on agricultural systems, incentives for technological innovations, state formation, warfare, colonialism, and culture. In this course, we will explore a wide range of these interpretations within a comparative framework comparing the two ends of the Eurasian landmass and taking a long-time span between c.1000 and c.1800. We will discuss important topics in economic history including demography, capital- and labour-intensive paths of development, agricultural involution, market integration, proto-industrialisation, consumer cultures, Atlantic slavery, fiscal-military states and technological change. By the end of the course, you will have an overview of many key debates in pre-industrial economic history and have thought deeply about the deep roots of today’s global economy

Research Seminar

• „Research Seminar on Medieval Economic History“ (PD Dr. Tanja Skambraks & Jun-Prof. Dr. Alex Spike Gibbs)
• Description: The research seminar offers an insight into the latest research on medieval economic and social history in an international comparative perspective. Researchers from Great Britain and the German-speaking countries will present their findings and topics for discussion. Please find the programme (PDF, 440 kB) here.

Propaedeutic Course

• „Medieval Propaedeutic“ (Prof. Dr. Annette Kehnel & Lena Mareike Liznerski)
• Description: This propaedeutic course provides fundamental knowledge of European medieval history across epochs and regions. In addition to reinforcing key historical concepts, the course aims to foster an understanding of historical interrelations and to develop the ability to contextualize historical phenomena. By the end of the course, students will be able to structure historical processes and navigate general reference works and introductory scholarly literature with confidence.

Proseminars

• „An Age of Crisis?: Famine, Plague and the Transformation of Late Medieval Europe” (Jun.-Prof. Dr. Alex Spike Gibbs)
• Description: In this course, we will analyse the “Age of Crisis” in the fourteenth century and assess the credibility of the claims made about its effects found in the secondary literature. We will engage with primary sources, using a range of materials including chronicles, legislation, court records, letters, quantitative data, images, and literature. We will also draw on an array of methodological approaches ranging from close readings of texts to the interpretation of graphs and tables. By the end of the course, you will have gained a good understanding of key subjects in medieval history and have thought more broadly about what drives processes of historical continuity and change.
• „The Middle Ages in 14 Objects“ (PD Dr. Tanja Skambraks & Anna Lisa Müller)
• Description: In 2010, BBC Radio 4, in collaboration with the British Museum, launched a series of broadcasts narrating world history through 100 objects. Inspired by this project connecting museum and media, the seminar explores key themes of medieval history — such as agriculture, wealth, poverty, aristocratic life, rulership and urban history —  through objects from the period itself. We will engage with selected items in order to explore medieval material culture. The practical goal is to first develop a podcast and then to compose an object biography that critically analyzes the context of origin, production, usage and, of applicable, the musealization of the object.

Advanced Seminars

• „Women in Economic History (BA)” (Jun.-Prof. Dr. Alex Spike Gibbs & Verena Weller)
• Description: Gender equality in employment is a vital issue today. Despite advances made in recent decades, 2.4 billion women globally of working age are not afforded the same economic rights as men, and in Germany, women on average earn 18% less than men do. This course seeks to understand the factors that both promote and inhibit female economic activity, by examining historical societies throughout Europe and North America. In what spheres were women able to operate? What impact did patriarchal legal, cultural and political structures have on female activity? How far did industrialisation and new technologies change women’s work? And how can we observe and quantify women’s economic contributions with the fragmentary and biased historical sources available?
• „Urban histories: Town Books and Municipal Administrative Writing in the Middle Ages (in cooperation with the University of Innsbruck and including an excursion) (MA)“ (PD Dr. Tanja Skambraks & Dr. Stephan Nicolussi-Köhler)
• Description: Town books were a „central medium that established and preserved social relationships, secured procedures, created credibility, organized knowledge, structured administration and governance and contributed to the (re-)construction of traditions.“ (C. Speer) Based on digital catalogue stadtbuecher.de and edited texts, we will work in a workshop format with various source examples to explore a range of topics. These include: the social topography of medieval cities, the nature of relationships between cities and their citizens, the origin and resolution of conflicts, the organization of urban administration and finances and much more.

Research seminar

• „Forschungsseminar (Oberseminar): Research Seminar on Medieval Economic History“ (PD Dr. Tanja Skambraks & Jun-Prof. Dr. Alex Spike Gibbs)
• Description: The research seminar offers an insight into the latest research on medieval economic and social history in an international comparative perspective. Researchers from Great Britain, France and the German-speaking countries will present their findings and topics for discussion. The seminar (PDF, 509 kB) will be held in English.

Lecture

• „Medieval Economic and Social History“ (PD Dr. Tanja Skambraks)
• Description: Economic activity is a fundamental aspect of human behavior. This lecture offers an overview of the key themes in the economic history of medieval Europe. In addition to major areas such as agriculture, labor, trade, and finance, it also addresses broader questions concerning living standards, wages and prices, and the ethics of economic practice. Beyond empirical data, the lecture explores conceptual frameworks and narratives surrounding medieval economies—such as the profit-driven homo oeconomicus, the origins of capitalism, and alternative economic models that may offer inspiration for contemporary economic thought.

Proseminar

• „Making a Living in Late Medieval England” (Jun.-Prof. Dr. Alex Spike Gibbs & Nina Schall)
• Description: The need to make a living is a universal feature of life today and the same is true of the past. However, the nature of gaining an income is highly dependent on the specific features of an economy and society, including educational opportunities, social norms, distributions of political power, levels of urbanisation and market structures. In this course, we will consider these issues for late medieval England. This course will examine a range of different social groups in a variety of economic sectors. We will consider incomes gained in agriculture, manufacturing, and services, and examine the experiences of lords, peasants, townsmen, merchants, lawyers, sex workers, soldiers, and paupers. We will draw on an array of primary sources including laws, accounts, court records, quantitative data and poems. By the end of the course, you will have gained an overview of a range of topics in late medieval history and have thought more deeply about the nature of earning and work.

Advanced Seminars

• „Discovering the Other: Travel Accounts and Travel Literature from the Middle Ages” (PD Dr. Tanja Skambraks)
• Description: How did people in the Middle Ages perceive other cultures? Where did they travel, and for what reasons? What linguistic, religious, and cultural challenges did travelers face? In this seminar, we will examine a range of sources from the High and Late Middle Ages left behind by travelers. In addition, we will explore fictional literary genres and medieval maps as sources to uncover the worldview of medieval individuals and its transformation through new knowledge. On a theoretical level, we will engage with concepts such as cultural encounter, acculturation, and othering.
• „The Great Divergence. Economic Development and Stagnation in Preindustrial Western Europe and East Asia (BA)” (Jun.-Prof. Dr. Alex Spike Gibbs)
• Description: Why was western Europe, rather than any other part of the world, the first region to industrialise and experience modern economic growth? This is the question that lies at the heart of debate over “The Great Divergence”, Pomeranz’s seminal work of 2000 which argued that geographical chance, rather than institutional or cultural differences, explains the dramatic gap in wealth which emerged between Europe and the rest of the world in the nineteenth century. In the last two decades, multiple explanations have been put forward centred on agricultural systems, incentives for technological innovations, state formation, warfare, colonialism, and culture. In this course, we will explore a wide range of these interpretations within a comparative framework comparing the two ends of the Eurasian landmass and taking a long-time span between c.1000 and c.1800.