When scholars discuss the medieval past, the temptation is to become immersed there, to deepen our appreciation of the nuances of the medieval sources through debate about their meaning. But the past informs the present in a myriad of ways and medievalists can, and should, use their research to address the concerns and interests of contemporary society. This volume presents a number of carefully commissioned essays that demonstrate the fertility and originality of recent work in Medieval Studies. Above all, they have been selected for relevance. Most contributors are in the earlier stages of their careers and their approaches clearly reflect how interdisciplinary methodologies applied to Medieval Studies have potential repercussions and value far beyond the boundaries of the Middles Ages. These chapters are powerful demonstrations of the value of medieval research to our own times, both in terms of providing answers to some of the specific questions facing humanity today and in terms of much broader considerations. Taken together, the research presented here also provides readers with confidence in the fact that Medieval Studies cannot be neglected without a great loss to the understanding of what it means to be human.

This volume explores 'unknown time' as a cultural phenomenon, approaching past futures, unknown presents, and future pasts through a broad range of different disciplines, media, and contexts. As a phenomenon that is both elusive and fundamentally inaccessible, time is a key object of fascination. Throughout the ages, different cultures have been deeply engaged in various attempts to fill or make time by developing strategies to familiarize unknown time and to materialize and control past, present, or future time. Arguing for the perennial interest in time, especially in the unknown and unattainable dimension of the future, the contributions explore premodern ideas about eschatology and secular future, historical configurations of the perception of time and acceleration in fin-de-siecle Germany and contemporary Lagos, the formation of 'deep time' and 'timelessness' in paleontology and ethnographic museums, and the representation of time-past, present, and future alike-in music, film, and science fiction.

Ritualised action a " the use of gestures and ceremonial processes a " were a central means of creating and expressing social order in pre-modern societies in particular. The present volume is divided into the three core areas of liturgy, law and politics and presents an interdisciplinary view of selected aspects of the arrangement and effect of rituals. An introductory section uses exemplars to present fundamental methodological questions from the perspectives of art history, theatre history and historiology.

Ob Juristen, Mediziner oder oekonomen Expertenfiguren pragen bereits seit Jahrhunderten die okzidentalen Gesellschaften. Als Trager und Verwalter exklusiver Wissensbestande haben sie eine soziale Sonderstellung inne. Denn sie bestimmen massgeblich die Zuganglichkeit, Organisation und Ausformung des verfugbaren Wissens und behaupten auf diese Weise eine weitreichende Machtposition, die haufig Kritik provoziert. Gleichwohl sind sie ihrerseits ebenso von den Nicht-Experten abhangig, ist die Expertenrolle doch wesentlich ein Produkt sozialer Aushandlungsprozesse: Experte ist man nicht, man wird es durch die eigene wie auch die fremde Zuschreibung spezifischen Wissens. Der Expertenstatus beruht so zu weiten Teilen auf Momenten der Selbstdarstellung und Inszenierung, auf Symboliken und Habitus. Die Beitrage des vorliegenden Bandes nehmen aus der Perspektive unterschiedlicher Disziplinen europaische und aussereuropaische Kulturen diese Mechanismen in Expertenkulturen vom 12. bis zum 21. Jahrhundert in den Blick. Anhand etwa von Wirtschaftsexperten der Gegenwart und von mittelalterlichen Astrologen, niederlandischen Nautik-Expertisen der fruhen Neuzeit und japanischen Rechtsexperten werden Legitimations- und Kommunikationsstrategien sowie Wissens- und Handlungsformen von Experten sichtbar gemacht.