%0 Journal Article %1 Rexroth2008 %A Rexroth, Frank %D 2008 %J Zeitschrift für Literaturwissenschaft und Linguistik %K Blogeintrag %N 3 %P 12--31 %R 10.1007/BF03379792 %T Das Mittelalter und die Moderne in den Meistererzählungen der historischen Wissenschaften %U https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03379792 %V 38 %X The success of the >Middle Ages< as a concept is a child of the Enlightenment. During the second half of the eighteenth century, a new way of thinking about >history< led to the notion that there had been a time in European history that was much more holistic, was static in terms of social coherence, and was based on strong religious beliefs: the Middle Ages. This concept served the need to demonstrate how reason and progress, which had allegedly been suppressed by religious intolerance and the >feudal< system of the distant past, had become dominant at the beginning of the early modern era (in German, die frühe Neuzeit or simply Neuzeit; whereas the German term die Moderne refers to modernity in a stricter sense of the word, i.e. the era from the late Enlightenment until today). The critique of the Enlightenment in the context of >Romantic< movements brought about a new concept of the >Middle Ages<, now seen in a positive light as a period of wholeness, harmony and a stable social and moral system. The main purpose of the article is to ask what both the >Enlightened< and >Romantic< concepts of the Middle Ages meant for the emergence of medieval studies in many fields of research. The argument is focused on the development of historiographical meta-narratives during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries that put emphasis not on the quintessential otherness of the Middle Ages but on continuities.

@article{Rexroth2008, abstract = {The success of the >Middle Ages< as a concept is a child of the Enlightenment. During the second half of the eighteenth century, a new way of thinking about >history< led to the notion that there had been a time in European history that was much more holistic, was static in terms of social coherence, and was based on strong religious beliefs: the Middle Ages. This concept served the need to demonstrate how reason and progress, which had allegedly been suppressed by religious intolerance and the >feudal< system of the distant past, had become dominant at the beginning of the early modern era (in German, die fr{\"u}he Neuzeit or simply Neuzeit; whereas the German term die Moderne refers to modernity in a stricter sense of the word, i.e. the era from the late Enlightenment until today). The critique of the Enlightenment in the context of >Romantic< movements brought about a new concept of the >Middle Ages<, now seen in a positive light as a period of wholeness, harmony and a stable social and moral system. The main purpose of the article is to ask what both the >Enlightened< and >Romantic< concepts of the Middle Ages meant for the emergence of medieval studies in many fields of research. The argument is focused on the development of historiographical meta-narratives during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries that put emphasis not on the quintessential otherness of the Middle Ages but on continuities.}, added-at = {2019-05-28T11:49:26.000+0200}, author = {Rexroth, Frank}, biburl = {https://puma.ub.uni-stuttgart.de/bibtex/225b5c65d19bc529c84ca135d3ef787fc/kevin.konnerth}, day = 01, description = {Das Mittelalter und die Moderne in den Meistererzählungen der historischen Wissenschaften | SpringerLink}, doi = {10.1007/BF03379792}, interhash = {31c93c8006888a168a4cdf51c92cd43f}, intrahash = {25b5c65d19bc529c84ca135d3ef787fc}, issn = {2365-953X}, journal = {Zeitschrift f{\"u}r Literaturwissenschaft und Linguistik}, keywords = {Blogeintrag}, month = sep, number = 3, pages = {12--31}, timestamp = {2019-05-28T09:49:26.000+0200}, title = {Das Mittelalter und die Moderne in den Meistererz{\"a}hlungen der historischen Wissenschaften}, url = {https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03379792}, volume = 38, year = 2008 }