Volume 16, Issue 2 - Marginalität im Mittelalter. Hrsg. von Nicole Nyffenegger, Thomas Schmid und Moritz Wedell

This article explores phenomena of marginality in different areas of medieval culture. The introduction explains medieval concepts of the “margin”. In the first part, the author analyzes the tension between the “centre” and the “margin” as found in medieval conceptions of the world such as labyrinths and the mappae mundi . Secondly, he examines the interdependency of social and textual marginalization as it occurs in the 14th century Hausbuch of Michael de Leone. The third part of the article is dedicated to the Munich manuscript of Wolframs von Eschenbach Titurel , a text situated on the margins of the famous Parzival -novel both in terms of its physical location and also its poetic thought. The survey of these examples shows that margins often refer to the centre of cultural constellations despite their allegedly subsidiary role.

In the course of the late Middle Ages, vagrant people (and in particular those who were poor and needy) increasingly came to be regarded as a burden by the resident communities of the area of modern Switzerland, a phenomenon with parallels elsewhere in Europe. This is especially apparent in the harsher penal actions applied to them; most cases for communal high justice concerned foreign delinquents. Alongside the gradual development of Switzerland from complex confederate network to structured state, the Tagsatzung , the diet and therefore central institution of towns and cantons, played an important role in the development of defence mechanisms against the vagrant poor. Even though the Tagsatzung as an institution was relatively weak, it was the place where political decision makers met and exchanged ideas, not least about poverty and welfare. Joint federal decisions relating to the defence against the vagrant poor can be found from 1470 onwards. This is also where the principle of welfare according to place of provenience was first propagated. However, constant reissues of the defence mechanisms against the foreign poor suggest that the decisions of the diet were not very effective.

Marginalization has emerged as a powerful and central theme in the history of Germany in the later Middle Ages. In many ways, Jews appear to have been the quintessential marginalized people – the victims of restrictive legislation, theological demonization, expulsions, violent attacks, and pogroms. Recent scholarship suggests that the position of the Jews in late medieval and early modern Germany may be more complex, and at times more constructive, than once thought. This article, therefore, suggests that the notion of marginalization can be usefully applied not only to the issue of Jewish and Christian relations but also to the internal dynamics of the late medieval German Jewish community itself. Considering who was marginalized, for what reasons, and in what ways can tell us a great deal about the needs and concerns of late medieval Jews and Jewish communities.

There were always allegations against travelling entertainers. They were held responsible for the downfall of morals as well as for the parishoners’ lack of attention in mass. Travelling jugglers ran the danger of being excommunicated and often they were not protected by the law. But how real were the dangers posed by jugglers in the middle ages? And were they offered any opportunity to integrate into wider society? Using theories current in theatre studies, this contribution seeks to demonstrate the nature of the threat posed by jugglers: namely that, in his use of body, voice and gesture, and in the captivation of his audience, the juggler threatened to rival the clergyman, and thus risked effacing the boundary between the sacred and the secular. This is why marginalisation was a deliberate process. It was not only church doctors and academics such as Hugo of Saint Victor who influenced the public treatment of travelling jugglers, but also popularizers of Christian ideas such as the monk Honorius Augustodunensis whose ‘Elucidarium’ proposed a social classification based on ‘proximity to God’.

This paper deals with visual constructions of Christian, clerical and monastic identities via images of triumph over representatives of pagan or heretical beliefs. The main interest lies in the tension and symbiosis between a central dominating figure and a marginalized figure, powerless but still visible, embodying anxieties about inner Christian conflicts and changes of belief and knowledge.

Old High German spells are among the earliest texts in the German vernacular. At first, they were passed on as marginal entries in theological manuscripts. Based on two representative examples, the Merseburger Cod. 136, and the Trierer Hs 40/1018 8°, the relationships between the spells, other marginalia, and the main text shall be explored with regard to their content and function. The question arises whether and to what extent the formal positioning on the margins of the manuscripts equates to a marginalisation in terms of content. This is of particular interest in view of the fact that the relationship between incantations and the Christian canon had always been a precarious one. In contrast to earlier research, which tended towards strict demarcation of the magical-pagan spells from the Christian main texts, this paper will explore the idea that the marginalia might function as a kind of performative frame. Thus, in the sense of Derrida’s understanding of the parergon, the spells are at the same time set apart from the (canonical) main text, yet also resemble it. This would implicate that, despite the genuine relationship between main text and marginalia, the relationship remained one of tension.