Professor of Medieval History (Later Middle Ages) PhD project Jakob Rensinghoff

My dissertation explores the role of sermons on the lives of saints in the ecclesiastical communication of the 13th century. Positioned at the intersection of the sermon as a mass medium and hagiography, the Sermones de Sanctis played a crucial role in conveying and revitalizing the legends of saints. This was particularly significant in the aftermath of the Fourth Lateran Council when the Church intensified its efforts to ensure regular and comprehensive preaching. The project seeks to illuminate how 13th-century preachers understood the characteristics and function of this specific sermon genre, as well as the concepts of holiness it conveyed. It also examines the selection and adaptation of hagiographic material to support precise messages, along with the creative freedom available to the authors. This study takes as its starting point the Sermones de Sanctis of Jacques de Vitry, one of the most influential preachers of his time. For the first time, this collection will be systematically analyzed and contextualized within the framework of the cardinal’s extraordinarily extensive corpus of sermons.

The project is funded by an individual fellowship from the Graduate Academy (Baden-Württemberg Landesgraduiertenförderung).