© FOVOG-Dresden

 

Looking Back: 20 Years of FOVOG

On November 27 and 28, 2025, the Research Center for Comparative History of Religious Orders (FOVOG) celebrated its 20th anniversary with a festive event at the Saxon State and University Library Dresden. The anniversary provided an opportunity to look back on two decades of intensive research and at the same time to look ahead to future developments in the study of the history of religious orders.
You can read a report on the celebrations on our website, accompanied by some photographs.
 

 

Project Upates

Lecture series "Nodes of Time: Historical Networks and Artificial Intelligence."

In collaboration with the Saxon Academy of Sciences in Leipzig (SAW), the Helfta project is organizing the lecture series "Nodes of Time: Historical Networks and Artificial Intelligence." The goal is to connect historical network research with AI-based methods.
The lectures are aimed at historians – especially medievalists – as well as scholars from related disciplines, Digital Humanities, Computational Linguistics, and professionals from archives and libraries. Thematically, AI-supported analyses, digital representation forms (such as network visualizations and interactive web interfaces) as well as the long-term preservation of results (data management, repositories, metadata standards) will be addressed. The series aims to provide insights into ongoing projects and best practice examples.
The lectures will take place from 14 October 2026 to 10 February 2027 biweekly in digital format. The first and final sessions will be held as hybrid events at the Saxon Academy in Leipzig. The opening event on 14 October will be held by Prof. Alexander Lasch.

 

Courses Summer Term 2026

Research Colloquium

In this term, our research colloquium will be held in thematic clusters.
The research colloquium will be held in a hybrid format. Further details will be announced shortly on the FOVOG website and our social media channels.
 
May 20:
 
Bruce Brasington  (Canyon, TX): Monasticism in the Literature on Procedural Law: The Summa Aurea by William of Drogheda († 1245)
 
May 27:
 
Sarah Schnödewind (Münster): Mönchsbischöfe und Reformer in der anglolateinischen Hagiographie des 12. Jahrhunderts [Monk-Bishops and Reformers in 12th-Century Anglo-Latin Hagiography]
  
Marie Kemper (Bochum): Heilige oder Häretiker? Franziskaner zwischen Verehrung und Verfolgung, oder: was wusste man im 13. Jahrhundert über Apostel? [Saints or Heretics? Franciscans Between Veneration and Persecution, or: What Did People Know About the Apostles in the 13th Century?]
 
Tim Ehrmann (Heidelberg): Zwischen eurasischer Steppe und Khanbaliq. Mendikanten in mongolischen Welten (1294–1330) [Between the Eurasian Steppe and Khanbaliq: Mendicants in the Mongol World (1294–1330)]
 
June 17:
 
Robert Harlass (Bremen): Die Reformation und die Auflösung der Zisterzienserklöster in Pommern [The Protestant Reformation and the Dissolution of the Cistercian Monasteries in Pomerania]
 
John Hinderer (München): Klosterleben zwischen Institutionalisierung, Regulierung und Erneuerung. Benediktinische Reformkongregationen des 15. Jahrhunderts im Vergleich [Monastic Life Between Institutionalization, Regulation, and Renewal: A Comparison of 15th-Century Benedictine Reform Congregations]
 
July 15:
 
Robert Shaw (Prague): The Reach of Rigour: The Minims, Their Rule, and Religious Society in Late Medieval France and Beyond

Mirko Breitenstein, Katrin Rösler
Advanced Seminar: Pilgern im Mittelalter: Praktiken, Motive und Kulturen der Wallfahrt [Pilgrimage in the Middle Ages: Practices, Motives and Cultures of Pilgrimage]

Pilgrimages provide a fascinating insight into the spiritual, social and cultural worlds of the Middle Ages. From major destinations such as Jerusalem, Rome and Santiago de Compostela to regional sites in Saxony and Central Europe, pilgrimages had a lasting impact on the lives of believers. The seminar will analyze sources such as pilgrimage reports, maps, pictures and devotional objects in order to shed light on motives such as penance, healing or adventure as well as the risks and everyday realities of the routes.

Mirko Breitenstein
Reading course:  Irdische Mühe und himmlischer Lohn. Wundersame Geschichten im Zisterzienserorden [Earthly toil and heavenly reward. Miraculous stories in the Cistercian order]

In the monasteries of the Cistercian order, numerous collections of miraculous stories - short, vivid examples (exemplars) that tell of divine retribution, heavenly rewards and the hardships of monastic life - have circulated since the 12th century. These stories were not merely for entertainment, but were a central means of spiritual instruction and self-assurance within the order.

The course is dedicated to the origin, transmission and function of Cistercian collections of examples. Selected texts will be used to analyze themes such as work and prayer, humility and reward, sin and conversion as well as the depiction of the miraculous. The aim is to make the narrative dimension of Cistercian piety visible and to understand its significance for the monastic culture of the High Middle Ages.

 

Reports

 

Publications

Articles (in selection)

Breitenstein, Mirko, Spuren der Armut. Franziskus von Assisi und seine Bewegung, in: Freiwillig gewählt, gottgewollt oder schicksalhaft erlitten. Armut und Verzicht in der Vormoderne, ed. by Christine Kleinjung, Frankfurt am Main: Campus 2025, pp. 93–116.

Schmidt, Nathalie J. A., From Brotherhood to Independent Canonical Order. The Development of the Order of Saint Anthony in the 13th Century, in: Revue Mabillon 36 (2025), pp. 57–81.

Melville, Gert, Die „religiösen Virtuosen“ und die Kirchenreform. Schlaglichter auf das traditionelle Mönchtum, die Eremiten und reformierten Kleriker, in: Cistercienser Chronik 132 (2025), pp. 777–788.

–, Francesco e i frati minori: un’istituzionalità ribaltata? Riflessioni su tre episodi, in: Giullare di Dio. Lo sguardo rovesciato di Francesco d’Assisi sul mondo, ed. by Carla Maria Bino / Nicolangelo D’Acunto, Roma 2025, pp. 19–29.

Groß, Sandra / Rösler, Katrin, Sankt Marien zu Helfta. Ein Kloster in den Netzwerken seiner Zeit (13. bis 16. Jahrhundert), in: Mittelalter. Interdisziplinäre Forschung und Rezeptionsgeschichte 9 (2026), pp. 128-133, DOI: https://doi.org/10.58079/15ytu.

Further articles can be found on the websites of the respective employees.

 

Miscellaneous

Student Internships at FOVOG

Since 2024, students of history or comparable degree programs have the opportunity to complete an internship during their studies at the Research Center for Comparative History of Religious Orders (FOVOG).

The internship offers an insight into academic work at a research center. Students have the opportunity to set their own focus in the field of comparative religious history as part of an internship project.

Possible internship contents are

• literature management and research data management
• working with medieval manuscripts
• examining the portrayal of monasteries and religious orders in popular culture, e.g. in films, series or games
• science communication via social media

An internship during the semester is possible by arrangement.

Interviews with former interns

To give you an impression, we interviewed our past student interns:

 

Upcoming Events

Online-Lecture: Drei Forschungseinblicke in die Kulturgeschichte der Vormoderne [Three research insights into the cultural history of the pre-modern era]

The Young Forum of the Saxon Academy of Sciences in Leipzig is hosting an online lecture on 30 April 2026 at 6 pm, featuring three research insights into the cultural history of the pre-modern era. Anyone interested is welcome to join via Zoom.
Patrick Geary will speak on the re-evaluation of the Migration Period through archaeogenetics, Volker Leppin on Martin Luther and the Jews, and Jean-Claude Schmitt on the long history of shadows.