Department of Germanic Languages & Literatures University of Toronto
We are pleased to highlight the UTEA Summer Research Experience projects of German Studies students Annika Rempel and Julien Levit, who are conducting research under the supervision of Professor Markus Stock. Both projects contribute to Professor Stock’s SSHRC-funded project, “Medieval Undergrounds.”
Julien Levit: Research on Religious Mining Texts in the Early Modern Period
Over the summer, Julien will be working on a UTEA-supported research project under the supervision of Professor Markus Stock. His research contributes to the SSHRC-funded project “Medieval Undergrounds,” which examines the beliefs that shaped the German relationship with mining and the underground from the Medieval to Early Modern Period. The project focuses on cataloguing the religious mining texts mentioned by Christoph Gottlob Grundig in his Geistlicher Berg-Bau (“Spiritual Mining,” 1750). These textual sources are organized into three categories: Gebet- und Gesangbücher (prayer and songbooks), Predigtbücher (sermons), and Erbauliche Betrachtungsschriften vom Bergbau (edifying writings on mining). In addition to the sources mentioned by Grundig, Julien is also gathering other relevant texts written by the authors referenced in his work.
Following this initial stage of research, Julien will examine portions of these works to better understand their contents and the backgrounds of their authors. The final outcome of his project will be an annotated bibliography of the sources mentioned by Grundig. While familiarity with all of these texts is important for the project, Julien will also have the opportunity to explore aspects of the sources that he finds particularly interesting. Through this research, he hopes to develop skills in navigating a large number of primary sources while exploring the religious narratives and metaphors that shaped German views of mining in the Early Modern Period.
Annika Rempel: Research on the Middle High German Meliora Sunt
Annika Rempel is a graduating student in Medieval Studies and German Studies who will be continuing her studies here at the Centre for Medieval Studies in the fall. Her UTEA project focuses on the 14th-century Middle High German Song of Songs commentary, “Meliora Sunt.”
Annika will be translating sections of the text in several manuscript families, examining the “Meliora Sunt”’s mystical imagery of the cell and asceticism and comparing the different versions of the work to see how the purpose and theology of the text might have changed across multiple centuries.
