Welcome

on the homepage of the Department of Medieval Studies at the Institute of German Studies at the University of Kassel.

We invite you to join us in familiarising yourself with older German literature in all its enticing strangeness.
The field of German medieval studies is - as you might expect - the literature of the Middle Ages. But since the 16th and 17th centuries are strongly characterised by the mentalities, thought models and value systems of earlier centuries, medieval studies in Kassel cover a broad spectrum and also deal with texts from the early modern period and the Baroque.
Although these older texts are not always easy to understand, they are fascinating because they make our own culture seem foreign to us and reveal forms of thought, mentalities, world views and much more that are worth researching, analysing and reflecting on.
In particular, the diversity of the different types of texts, ranging from poetic fictional works of world literature to functional utility texts, allows for a broad spectrum of exciting questions that can be answered on different levels, including interdisciplinary ones.