Carolin Gluchowski

Carolin Gluchowski, M.A., M.A., B.A., B.A.

DPhil Student in Medieval and Modern Languages

 

DPhil Project

My DPhil project explores the revisions of Latin/Low-German prayerbooks from the Cistercian convent of Medingen in the context of late medieval church reforms to find out about the role of women as female reformers. 

Manuscript revisions are a key sign of church reforms. The phenomenon is present in more than half of the currently known 63 manuscripts from the Cistercian convent of Medingen near Lüneburg, Germany. Between the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period, the convent saw two church reforms, the North-German Monastic Reform (1479) and the Lutheran Reformation (1524/1554), which transformed the monastic landscape. During this period, several generations of Medingen nuns revised their prayerbooks according to the changes introduced by both church reforms. The result of this process shows that the nuns enacted church reform as a long-term transformation of the convent’s devotional profile materialised in the prayerbook. In doing so, the nuns combined convent tradition and reform innovation.

 

Biography

Having completed two Bachelor’s and two Master’s degrees at the University of Freiburg, Germany, I am an inderdisciplinary scholar with a strong background in Medieval Studies.

10/2020 – present DOCTORAL STUDENT, DPhil in Medieval and Modern Languages, New College, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom. Thesis: Revising Private Prayerbooks. The Latin/Low-German Prayerbooks from the Cistercian Convent of Medingen in the Context of Late-Medieval Church Reforms. Supervisor: Prof. Dr Henrike Lähnemann 

04/2018 – 09/2020  GRADUATE STUDENT, M.A. in Art History, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany. Thesis: Die Entdeckung des Menschen. Die Holzschnitte in Andreas Vesalius‘ Fabrica (1543/1555) und Epitomen (1543). Supervisors: Prof. Dr Anna Scheurs-Morét, Prof. Dr Hans W. Hubert  

04/2017 – 08/2019 GRADUATE STUDENT, M.A. in Medieval and Renaissance Studies, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany. Thesis: Neue Perspektiven auf die  Handschriftenüberlieferung aus dem  Zisterzienserinnenkloster Medingen. Supervisors: Prof. Dr Martina Backes, Prof. Dr Henrike Lähnemann 

10/2014 – 05/2018 UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT, B.A. in Art History (major subject) and Philosophy (minor subject), University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany

10/2013 – 05/2017 UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT, B.A. in German Linguistic and Literary Studies (major subject) and History (minor subject), University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany

10/2011 – 10/2013 UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT, St.Ex. in Medicine at the University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany

08/2002 – 07/2011 ABITUR, Max-Planck-Gymnasium, Dortmund, Germany

 

Skills

I speak German (C2, native speaker), English (C1), French (B2), and Italian (A2). I can read Middle Low German, Middle High German, Ancient Latin, and Medieval Latin.  I am trained in using MS Office, Adobe Acrobat, Adobe InDesign, Citavi/EndNote, Photoshop/Gimp, Transcribus, TRIcaster, and Oxygen, amongst others.

 

Teaching

I have worked as university tutor and lecturer in the fields of German Studies, Art History and Church History. My teaching philosophy starts from a nourishing approach, and aims at creating an inclusive learning environment.

10/2020 – present GERMAN TUTOR, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom. Tutorials: Paper I: Translation into German (two tutorials); Paper IV: Linguistic Studies I (seven tutorials); Gregorius Reading Class (one tutorial), German Grammar in Practice (one tutorial). Lecture Series: Topics in Historical Linguistics (together with Henrike Lähnemann and Luise Morawetz) with a special contribution Vernacular Bible translations. 

04/2020 – 07/2020 ART HISTORY TUTOR, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany. Tutorials: Introduction to Palaeography and Codicology for Art Historians (one tutorial).

04/2019 – 09/2020 CHURCH HISTORY TUTOR, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany. Lecture presentations: Die Entdeckung des Selbst – Andreas Vesalius ‘Fabrica’; Leo Steinberg and Carolin Walker-Bynum – The Sexuality of Christ in the Late-Medieval and Early Modern Times (both together with Prof. Dr Karl-Heinz Braun)

 

Work Experience

Throughout my academic career, I have been involved in various research projects across different academic disciplines, including German Studies, Art History, and History. In addition, I have been acting as research assistant for several departments, amongst them Media and Cultural Studies, Church History, and German Language and Literature. In doing so, I gained insights into four academic systems (CH, GB, GER, USA).  

01/2023 – 02/2023 RESEARCH FELLOW, Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Yale University, New Haven, United States of America. Project Title: German Psalters in the Collections in the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Yale University, New Haven

10/2022 – 12/2022 RESEARCH FELLOW, Cluster of Excellence Written Artifacts, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany. Project Title: Low-German Prayerbooks in the Collections of the State Library, Hamburg

04/2022 – 09/2022 RESEARCH FELLOW, Herzog August Library, Wolfenbüttel, Germany. Project Title: German Prayerbooks in the Herzog August Bilbrary, Wolfenbüttel

10/2019 – 09/2021 RESEARCH ASSISTANT, Department for Language and Literature, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Switzerland

08/2018 – 11/2018 RESEARCH ASSISTANT, Collaborative Research Centre 948 Heroes, Heroizations, Heroisms, Subproject D4 Grazia and Terribilità, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany

12/2017 – 09/2020 RESEARCH ASSISTANT, Department for Medieval and Modern Church History, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany

04/2017 – 02/2019 RESEARCH ASSISTANT, Department for Media and Cultural Studies, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany

04/2014 – 12/2017 UNDERGRADUATE ASSISTANT, Collaborative Research Centre 1015 Otium. Societal resource. Critical potential, Subproject C2 Stillgestellte Zeit und Rückzugsräume des Erzählens. Muße und Autorschaft am Beispiel des autobiographischen Erzählmodells

 

Conference Papers   

07/2023 Paper, Northern-German Textual Networks. A Case Study of the Psalters and Psalter-Translations from the Cistercian Convent of Medingen, Conference International Medieval Congress, Leeds, United Kingdom (03.-06.07.2023) (accepted) 

12/2022 Paper, Den Heiligenhimmel gestalten. Umarbeitungen in den Heiligen-Orationalien aus dem Zisterzienserinnenkloster Medingen bei Lüneburg, Graduate College Interconfessionality in the Early Modern Period, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, germany (19.12.2022) (accepted) 

07/2022 PAPER, Custodians of Tradition. Reframing and Recycling in the Easter prayerbook Ms. Lat. liturg. f. 4 from the Cistercian Convent of Medingen, Conference International Medieval Congress, Leeds, United Kingdom (04.-07.07.2022) 

11/2021 PAPER, Kirchenreform gestalten. Die norddeutsche Klosterreform und die lutherische Reformation im Spiegel der Handschriftenüberlieferung aus Kloster Medingen, Conference Gotteshäuser? Monastische Reform(ation)en und ihr Nachleben, Hamburg, Germany (12.-13.11.2021)  

10/2021 PAPER, Custodians of Tradition​. Manuscript Recycling in the Prayerbooks from the Cistercian Convent of Medingen, Conference First Annual International Women in Arts Conference (AIWAC), Rome, Italy (20.-22.10.2021) 

07/2021 PAPER, Headless Soldiers. Material Traces of Violence in the ‘Berlin Sketchbook’ (sign. 78 b 3 a), Conference International Medieval Congress, Leeds, United Kingdom (05.-09.07.2021)  

07/2021 PAPER, Manuscripts Live: Singing from Medieval Sources in the Bodleian Library, Conference International Medieval Congress, Leeds, United Kingdom (25.06.2021) 

06/2021 PAPER, Singing Together, Apart: Drama and Medieval Chant, St Edmund’s Hall, University of Oxford (14.06.2021) (together with Prof. Dr Henrike Lähnemann, Dr Andrew Dunning, Revd Dr Zachary Guiliano, Nick Swarbrick, and Marlene Schilling), Bodleian Library BODcasts Series 

06/2021 PAPER, Über den Körper im Bilde sein. Antikenrezeption in Andreas Vesalius‘ Fabrica (1543), Conference Objektzeiten. Antike Artefakte und historische Zeitvorstellungen in transepochaler Perspektive, Universität Basel, Switzerland (12.-13.06.2021)  

05/2021 PAPER, What Comes After the Apocalypse? Theories of History in Horizon Zero Dawn, conference The Middle Ages in Modern Games, Online Conference (25.-28.05.2021)  

02/2021 PAPER, Singen zwischen Reform und Reformation. Hymnen in den Andachtsbüchern aus Kloster Medingen in Lüneburg, Conference Vom Hymnus zum Gebet, Online Conference (04.-05.02.2021)  

09/2020 PAPER, Blast from the Past and Back to the Future: Manuscripts and digitization (together with Natasha Domeisen, Mai-Britt Wichmann, and Luise Morawetz), Conference Dark Archive, Oxford, United Kingdom (08.-10.09.2020)  

07/2020 PAPER, Producing Private Prayerbooks. Medingen Manuscript Production across the Borders of the Monastic Reform (1479) and the Lutheran Reformation (1524-1544), Conference International Medieval Congress, Leeds, United Kingdom (06.-09.06.2020)  

01/2020 PAPER, Neue Perspektiven auf die Handschriftenüberlieferung aus Kloster Medingen bei Lüneburg, Doctoral Colloquium European Cistercian Research, Heiligenkreuz, Austria (16.-18.01.2020) 

05/2019 PAPER, Producing Private Prayerbooks. Female Agency and Reform Theology in Manuscripts of a North-German Convent, Workshop Late medieval-prayerbook literature, University of Ghent, Belgium (27.05.2020) 

07/2018 PAPER, Alfonso Hüppi and Karin Sander, Symposium Hans Thoma, State Art Gallery Baden-Baden, and University of Freiburg, Germany (25.07.2018)

 

Publications 

a) Editions

Online Edition of the Latin/Low German Book of Hours from the Convent of Medingen and Translation into Modern German, Wolfenbüttel, Herzog August Library, Cod. 307.1 Extrav. (forthcoming, expected publication date 2023). 

b) Book Chapters

Custodians of Tradition. Reframing and Recycling in a North-German Prayerbook, in: Proceedings from the First Edition of the Annual International Women in the Arts Conference (Rome and Lugano, 20.-23.10.2021) (forthcoming, expected publication date 2023). 

Salve festa dies-Bearbeitungen in den Medinger Andachtsbüchern (tog. with Henrike Lähnemann), in: Vom Hymnus zum Gebet. Gattungs- und Gebrauchswechsel liturgischer Lieder in Mittelalter und Früher Neuzeit, ed. by Pavlina Kulagina and Franziska Lallinger, Berlin/Boston 2022. 

c) Shorter Articles

Headless Soldiers. Material Traces of Violence in the ‘Berlin Sketchbook’ (Berlin, Kupferstichkabinett, Sign. 78 b 3 a), in: Revista Specula (forthcoming, expected publication date 2023). 

500 Jahre Gebetbuch der Äbtissin Ottilie (together with Mai-Britt Wiechmann), in: Das Feuer hüten (forthcoming, expected publication date 2022). 

What Comes After the Apocalypse? Theories of History in Horizon Zero Dawn, in: The Middle Ages in Modern Games. Conference Proceedings, ed. by Robert Houghton, Winchester 2021, online: https://issuu.com/theuniversityofwinchester/docs/mamg_2021_proceedings?fr =sNzQ3ZTQyNDQ0Mzk.  

„Derartige Dinge geschahen einfach nicht.“ Marlen Haushofers ‚Die Wand‘ zwischen Dystopie und Idylle, in: Universitas. Das Wissenschaftsmagazin der Universität Freiburg, July 2020, online: https://www3.unifr.ch/universitas/de/ausgaben/2019-2020/die-berge/hinter-der-wand.html.  

Transformationen eines Mythos, in: Universitas. Das Wissenschaftsmagazin der Universität Freiburg, April 2020, online: https://www3.unifr.ch/universitas/de/ausgaben/2019-2020/narcissisme/transformation-eines-mythos.html.  

d) Catalogue Entries

Various catalogue entries in: Buochmeisterinne. Handschriften und Frühdrucke aus dem Dominikanerinnenkloster Adelhausen, ed. by Martina Backes and Balaz Nemes, Freiburg 2021.   

Various catalogue entries in: Beten – Gespräch mit Gott, ed. by Abbey Library St. Gallen, St. Gallen 2020. 

Various catalogue entries in: Hans Thoma Preisträger. Katalog, ed. by State Art Gallery Baden-Baden. 

e) Book Reviews

‘Beth Plummer: Stripping the Veil. Convent Reform, Protestant Nuns, and Female Devotional Life in Sixteenth Century Germany, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2022’, in: Medium Aevum (forthcoming, expected publication date 2023). 

f) Conference Reports

Conference Report for the Anglo-German Colloquium, Münster, Germany (07.-10.09.2022), organised by Prof. Dr Silvia Reuvekamp (forthcoming, expected publication date 2023).  

Conference Report for the Doctoral Colloquium, Heiligenkreuz, Austria (16.-18.01.2020), organised by Prof. Dr Jörg Oberste, and P. Alkuin, in: Analecta Cisterciensia.  

g) log Posts 

Medingen Manuscript Production in the Age of Monastery Reform (1479) and Lutheran Reformation (1524-1544): How the Polonsky Foundation Digitization Project Contributes to Understand the Genesis of the Oxford Prayerbook MS. Lat liturg. f. 4 (2019), in: Manuscripts from German-Speaking Lands – A Polonsky Foundation Digitization Project. A collaboration between the Bodleian Libraries and the Herzog August Library, ed. by the Bodleian Libraries and the Herzog August Library, online: https://hab.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/de/.  

h) Interviews

Teure Schätze locken Forscher aus der ganzen Welt in die Herzog August Bibliothek in Wolfenbüttel, RTL Nord (22.04.2022).

 

Convenorship

I have gained notable experience in organizing and conducting conferences and workshops in Germany and the United Kingdom. Responsibilities: organization (e.g. deciding on a research theme; designing the call for papers; reviewing the applications; tailoring an event programme), administration (e.g. budgeting; organizing event venue, accommodation, additional activities), marketing (securing sponsors; applying for grants; creating promotional material). 

a) Conferences 

07/2023 CONFERENCE SESSIONS, Networks and Entanglements in Late Medieval and Early Modern Prayer Cultures (two sessions, Session I: Case Studies; Session II: Psalters), Conference International Medieval Congress, Leeds, United Kingdom (03.-06.07.2022) (forthcoming) 

06/2023 CONFERENCE, Comics and/as Resistanc, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom (together with Dr Alexandra Lloyd, Cailee Davis, and Luise Morawetz) (22.-23.06.2022) (forthcoming) 

09/2022 CONFERENCE, Ist das Kitsch oder kann das Weg? (Kitsch – keep or toss?), Nürnberg, Germany (01.-04.09.2022) (together with Ornella Antonino, Julia Bobinger, Agnes Hilger, David Schulte, and Manuel Vollberg) 

07/2022 CONFERENCE SESSIONS, Crossing Borders through Prayer (four sessions, Session I: Instruction and Practice; Session II: Imagination and Intermediality; Session III: Textual Varieties; Session IV: Interdisciplinary Approaches), Conference International Medieval Congress, Leeds, United Kingdom (04.-07.07.2022) 

03/2021 – 04/2021 CONFERENCE, Grenzgänge in Literatur und Sprache (Crossing Borders in Literature and Language), Online Colloquium (19.03.2021; 16.04.2021; 30.04.2021) (together with Ornella Antonino, Julia Bobinger, Agnes Hilger, David Schulte, and Manuel Vollberg) 

b) Workshops 

04/2023 WORKSHOP, Cultures of Use and Reuse. Towards a Methodological Framework of Reframing and Recycling, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom (03.-06.04.2023) (together with JProf. Dr Julia von Ditfurth, and Dr Hannah Ryley) (forthcoming) 

04/2022 WORKSHOP, Late-Medieval Prayerbook Literature, Online Workshop (28.04.2022) (together with Prof. Dr Youri Desplenter, and Dr Anna Dlabacova)  

04/2021 WORKSHOP, Late-Medieval Prayerbook Literature, Online Workshop (22.-23.04.2021) (together with Prof. Dr Youri Desplenter, Dr Anna Dlabacova, and Dr Stefan Matter) 

02/2020 WORKSHOP, Late-Medieval Prayerbook Literature, University of Freiburg, Freiburg,Switzerland (13.-14.02.2020) (together with Prof. Dr Youri Desplenter, Dr Anna Dlabacova, and Dr Stefan Matter)

 

Professional Networks and Working Groups

Late Medieval and Early Modern Prayer Culture (lead convenor tog. with Prof. Dr Youri Desplenter and Dr Anna Dlabacova)

Oxford Comics Network (graduate convenor)

 

Awards 

2023 Fellowship Award, Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Yale University

2022 Fellowship Award, Cluster of Excellence Written Artifacts, University of Hamburg

2022 Fellowship Award, Herzog August Library, Wolfenbüttel

2021 Doctoral Scholarship, Cusanuswerk 

2021 Doctoral Scholarship, New College, University of Oxford

2020 Doctoral Scholarship, Zeno Karl Schindler Foundation

2020 Thesis Award in Recognition of Outstanding Academic Performance