Fachbereich 04: Geschichts- und Kulturwissenschaften - Angebote des FB 04: für "Virtual International Programme" (VIP) - Kunstgeschichte

The Middle Ages were far more interconnected than is often assumed. Warfare, trade, pilgrimage, and diplomacy created dense networks of contact and exchange across Europe, Asia, and Africa. Within these frameworks, the practice of gift-giving – especially among political and religious elites – played a central role in shaping diplomatic, social, and religious relationships in times of peace and war. Far more than acts of generosity, medieval gifts were embedded in systems of reciprocity, obligation, and symbolic communication. Rulers and institutions exchanged valuable and often highly codified gifts to forge alliances, express loyalty, affirm hierarchies, seek favour, or to avoid war. In religious contexts, gift-giving served as an expression of devotion, penance, and memoria. The act of giving was thus never neutral: it was a performative gesture, rich in symbolic meaning and governed by cultural norms and expectations.
This seminar examines the functions, forms, and values of gifts in the medieval world. The concept is broadly defined to include tributes, bride gifts, and other structured exchanges. While our understanding of diplomacy and gift exchange in the Middle Ages relies heavily on written sources, the seminar will focus on the material culture of these transactions – on the surviving “material ambassadors” themselves, their designs, their meanings, and their donors.