The Dance of Death in Inkoo. A Medieval Church Painting as a Source of Local History

The Dance of Death in Inkoo.
A M edieval Church Painting as a Source of Local History
HELENA EDGREN
Let us assume that almost 500 years ago a Central European traveller – for
example a pilgrim on his way to the church of the Holy Cross in Hattula –
by chance decided to drop in to pray for protection at the church of Inkoo,
when making his way along the coastal road in Southern Finland. Having
accustomed hirnself to the dimly lit church hall, he would perhaps have stood
there surprised for a moment, even wondering, but then would have nodded his
approval. Look, the Dance of Death even here, in the far North. Having had a
closer look at the painting the traveller might have been surprised even more.
What on earth, a Dance of Death without a Pope, that is utterly impossible,
and then smiling to himself, „the Dominican friar has received bis just deserts“,
and sighing with sympathy, „poor mother, what may have happened to you
and your baby“ . He would have remernbered how it was known and told as
far as in Rome a couple of winters ago, about a disastrous pestilence that had
been raging in Finland, he would have prayed for all the wretched souls and
set out hastily to continue bis journey while there still was time for it.
We, who today approach a medieval church, don’t have our traveller’s inside
information. Past centuries have, particulary in Finland which is situated
between the East and West, destroyed with merciless efficiency most of the
written documents that might have told us something about the life and circumstances
of medieval man. All that is left is scattered information – both
archaeological and art historical material, the interpretation of which is much
more difficult.
The painting representing the Dance of Death in the church of Inkoo, lying
on the coast of the Gulf of Finland close by the sea, is one example of these
unwritten documents. The frieze of the Dance of Death covering a major part
of the church hall’s northern wall was apparently painted at the beginning of
the 16th century. The painting forms part of a larger one, which covered almost
all the wall and vault surfaces of the church; only remnants of this can be seen
at present. Works of the same painter group are known from two other SouthFinnish
churches in the very neighbourhood of Inkoo. Except for the Dance of
Death the subjects used by the painters don’t differ from pictorial subjects in
89
use at the same time in other parts of Finland and Scandinavia. The style of
the paintings, instead, is unique, no analogues to it have been found either in
the west, Sweden, or in the south, Estonia.
The paintings in the church of Inkoo were covered up after the church
had been badly damaged in a fire, at the beginning of the 17th century, and
were partly uncovered again in the year 1894. The new window opened in
the northern wall of the church at the end of the 19th century destroyed part
of the painting and even the figures discernible today are unfortunately partly
fragmentary. When the painting was being restored for the first time, figures of
persons were reconstructed with very heavy coating paint as was conventional
at the time. Sadly, it could not be removed later. Thus, even after the latest
restoration work done in 1987-88 the painting is in its appearance still partly
a creation of later times, which is worth remembering when it is used as a
historical source.
The Inkoo Dance of Death consists in its present shape of seven figures
dancing with the death. The first in the procession is a man dressed up in
a long fur-decorated garment, in front of whom there have been traces of the
death who had been leading the man. The man’s yellow, originally crown-like
headpiece, rich outfit and stately beard show without question that he is a
king.
The next couple in the Dance of Death consists of the death carrying a
spade and a person identified as a bishop because of his headdress. The third
couple is formed by the death armed with a scythe and a man whose headdress
is decorated with three gorgeous feathers. Grand, feather-decorated berets and
bonnets belonged solely to the costume of the upper classes during the late
medieval times, thus we can be almost certain that this man is a nobleman.
The next couple has been destroyed by the window opening, and of the
fourth couple discernible today only an a.pparently wealthy lay representative
wearing a long gown has remained.
Finding out the identity of the man in the fifth couple is the most difficult
task. The figure discernible today is mostly a reconstruction. According to the
records from the year 18941 the man was not a representative of clergy and his
headpiece was probably very similar to the one in, e. g., the Alderman’s Dance
of Death „Handschrift Zimmern“ from about the year 1520.2
The identification of the male person in the sixth couple is easy. He is a
Dominican dressed up in a costume typical for his monastic order, in a light
coloured girdled underdress and a dark outer rohe.
1 National Board of Antiquites, Section of History, Topographie&! Archives.
2 Hammerstein 1980, Fig. 316.
90
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92
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Fig. 3: Restored eastern part of the Dance of Death, 1988. Photo: P. 0. Welin, National Board of Antiquities.
„“‚CO
Fig. 4: Restored western part of the Dance of Death, 1988. Photo: P. 0. Welin, National Board of Antiquities.
The last couple following the Dominican in the dance frieze is formed by
Death and a woman, both of them now remaining partly covered by the floor
of the organ 1oft at the western end of the Church. Beside the woman there
possibly was a small child – not even Death having been able to separate the
mother and her child.
Because of the total composition of paintings on the northern wall of the
Church, the procession of the Dance of Death moves from the point of view of
the spectator exceptionally from left to right, the traditional direction of the
blessed. In most other paintings with a similar motif Death dances with his
partners to the direction of damnation, that is, to the left ( compare, e. g., with
the famous Lübeck Dance of Death).
The Inkoo Dance of Death may after a hasty look appear to be only a
variant of a pictorial motif commonly used in the Middle Ages and, even more,
rather poorly preserved as such. A more doser examination of the painting
indicates, however, that it conceals special features which may be a help in the
research on the medieval state of Finland and especially of Inkoo.
The first point to draw the spectator’s attention today, is the choice of the
pictorial motif itself.
Researchers have not come to full agreement on where and when the phenomenon
of the Dance of Death was originated and whether its earliest form
had been visual or written. 3 There exists a greater unanimity in the connection
of the Dance of Death with the best known plague, the so-called Black
Death. The first monumental Dance of Death was painted in Paris on the wall
of St. Innocents cemetery in the year 1425 and this started the wildfire-like
spreading of the motif of the Dance of Death to large parts of Europe.
From the middle of the 15th century onwards mon11mental Dance of Death
representations occur, beside those in France, in England, Northern and Southern
Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Northern Italy and today’s Yugoslavia.
Only the Scandinavian area remained outside this boom. From Denmark,
which lies nearest to continental Europe, two Dance of Death paintings are
known, but none from Norway or Sweden. The more surprising then it seems
to find such a great painting frieze in Finland.
In the Middle A􀈗es Finland was part of Sweden, the so-called Eastern half
of the Empire (Sw. Ostra rikshalvan), and most influences that have moulded
Finland’s economic and cultural life were diffused by the mother country at
that time. Absence of the motif of the Dance of Death from Sweden shows
clearly, however, that the influence for its use in Inkoo cannot have come from
the west. The Inkoo painting is thus a clear example of the fact that the
3 Rosenfeld 1954; Hammerstein 1980.
95
Finns bad independent cultural contacts elsewhere, particularly south from the
Gulf of Finland, to the Estonian direction. Good examples of these contacts
are also artefacts, coins, rings and other things that have been found during
church excavations.4 The nearest Dance of Death to Inkoo can be found some
60 kilometres away. In Tallin, a frieze of the Dance of Death painted by Bernt
Notke may have been in existence already at the end of the Middle Ages.5 If
this is the C3.l)e, the idea of acquiring a similar painting for Inkoo may well have
originated from there. The Dance of Death was a well-known motif also in the
other Hansa towns.
Another interesting feature in the Inkoo painting is the choice of persons
appearing in it.
As we have already seen, the first performer in the Inkoo Dance of Death is
a layman, a king, and not the leading figure in the Catholic Church, the Pope,
quite unlike most other Dances of Death. The situation cannot be interpreted
as being caused merely by the disappearance of the painting’s beginning part
on the wall of the church. East from the frieze there was a window in the
Middle Ages, thus there was no space for any other dancing couples on the
wall.
Absence of the Pope from the group of the dancers is not likely to be mere
chance. For people living at the northern frontier of the Catholic world the
Pope ( especially at the end of the Middle Ages) bad certainly been a distant
and even unreal person. Of much bigger importance for ordinary people was
the bishop of their own diocese, an infiuential person directing Finland’s affairs
from Turku, whose rumbling shook the earth beneath the ordinary citizen’s
feet.
A painting of the Dance of Death without a Pope can be found also in
Denmark, in the Church of Norre Alslev, in which a small space has been made
to include the essential contents of the painting. In Norre Alslev the procession
is also lead by a king followed by a bishop.
In Norre Alslev the painting ends with a peasant dragging a dungfork. In
the Inkoo painting there is no representative of this rank and apparently never
has been. In all the Dance of Death representations I know of, where both
a peasant and a child (or mother and child) appear, the peasant has always
been positioned above the child in the social rank. 8 In the Inkoo painting the
Dominican is positioned before the mother and child and in front of him a
f Hiekkanen 1988.
5 Lumi.ste-Giobatschowa 1969.
8 Hammerstein 1980.
96
person wealthier than a peasant. Thus, there has been no room in the painting
for a representative of the common people.
One of the basic characteristics of the Dance of Death motif has been from
the very beginning a great flexibility: it was possible to make the painting
Ionger or shorter, add or remove persons according to the need of any given
time. In some cases the persons described in the dance can even be mentioned
by name.
The initiator and sponsor of the Inkoo painting is not known. When
examining the frieze one can notice, however, that wealthy men, obviously of
common birth, have a strong representation in it.7 Provided that it is a question
of a conscious choice in the Inkoo gallery of persons, one could well think that
the painting was sponsored by men who were from Inkoo or carried on their
activities there – in the case of a rural parish mainly peasant merchants or lower
functionaries. And the painting’s persons with long rohes should be regarded as
some kind of „portraits“. In Finnish circumstances it is very rare that ordinary
citizens of common birth act as donors of paintings. Except for just a couple of
cases all the donors pictured on church walls are representatives of the nobility
or clergy.
Documentary evidence relating to the area of Inkoo at the turn of the
15th and 16th century is extremely scarce, even the name of the vicar of the
parish at the time is not known. On the locality’s economic life the documents
reveal almost nothing, nor have there remained mentions of peasant. merchants.
From the neigbouring parishes of Inkoo, however, several persons are known,
who emerged from among the common people, carried on large-scale trade
directed towards Tallin and employed several persons in various specialized
tasks. In some cases the business is known to have continued in the hands of
the same family for many generations. Besides peasant merchants there may
also have been lower functionaries such as representatives of law and clergy.
The economic situation of peasant merchants has been quite good, most of
them have been amongst the biggest landowners in their villages according to
the surviving information.8
One proof of the relatively wealth of at least some of the inhabitants of
Inkoo is the fact that its church is fairly large in size, about the eighth largest
of the Finnish medieval parish churches. Especially in the late Middle Ages
notable extension works were carried out in the church which demanded big
financial support from the parishioners, particularly because no rich landowners
of noble birth lived in the region.
7 Hammerstein 1980, Fig. 316.
8 Kerlekonen 1959.
97
Busy trading activities would n��;turally have come about considering the
geographical position of lnkoo. Inkoo lies almost across from Tallin on the
northern coast of the Gulf of Finland. lndeed a medieval sailing route from
Denmark and Sweden which had served already the Vikings at their time,
passes by Inkoo Church and turns here to the south, towards Estonia, the
nearest Hansa trade center. 9
The third question raised hy the lnkoo Dance of Death painting is its
connection with the plague. Elsewhere in Europe one has been able to note how
the Dance of Death representations were born either for a preventive purpose,
to protect a town from appro aching epidemics (e. g. Lübeck), or to a memory
of disease previously raging in a locality (e. g. Basel).10 Has the Dance of
Death motif a similar connection with the history of disease in Finland, or had
it become a mere fashion phenomen when it had finally reached the far north?
In Finland extremely little is known about the effects of medieval pestilence
epidemics , actually not hing. The so-called Black Death is known to have
reached Sweden and Tallin in the years 1349-135011 and indirectly it may be
concluded that Finland was not spared from the disease either, even though
documents keep silent about the matter. Scattered references to people who
had caught the plague begin to occur only at the turn of the 15th and 16th
centuries and the beginning of the 16th century. However, the references don’t
make it possible to form an opinion on the prevelance of the plague epidemics.
Were they confined merely to urban areas and other population centres, for
example monasteries, or did the countryside get its share of the scourge, too?
The documents don’t even mention the coast of Southern Finland with the
exception of the cities of Turku and Vüpuri .
The Dance of Death painting in lnkoo alone cannot give an answer to
the question but combined with some other observations it can illuminate the
mat ter.
In Tallin, the nearest trading centre to Inkoo, the plague is known to
have been raging at least during the years 1504 and 1510.12 At the same time
pictures of Saints of the Plague hegin to appear in churches on the Finnish
side. A statue of Job carved in Lübeck at the beginning of the 16th century
has been preserved in the parish church of Helsinki and pictures of the same
sufferer revered in Scandinavia particularly as a Saint of Plague, have appeared
9 Finlands Medeltidsurkunder (= FMU) I, 100; Edgren 1977. 10 Rosenfeld 1954.
11 Möller-Christensen et al. 1981, 238-248.
12 FMU VI, 5054; FMU VII, 5477.
98
also in two other churches at the southern coast of Finland (not to mention
other Saints of Plague). As well as the Dance of Death another painting with
a prominently exposed plague motif exists in Inkoo Church. On the southern
wall of the chancelary there is a portrait of St. Rochus, from whose name it
has been attempted to derive the Finnish ward for „rokko“ ( = pox).
People in the early 16th century already knew how to avoid centres contamina.ted
by the plague.13 However, art historical evidence indicates that peasa.nts
did not succeed in avoiding this disease, which spread easily with trade contact.
In Finnish folklore, too, several stories have survived of how sides of ships
returning from abroad were full of [imaginary] arrowheads. These arrowheads
flew off again when the ship had reached harbour and infected a lot of people.14
In Inkoo the disaster caused by the plague was worsened by Danish sailors
who destroyed badly both the church and all of the surrounding area araund
the year 1509.15 When the church was repaired after this, local people may
have feit the subject of death to be topical.
Research on medieval church paintings makes it very temptating to overinterpret;
one tries to get more out of the paintings than was ever included
in them. In my opinion, however, the preceding observations have shown that
the medieval church paintings can have their worth in the research on medieval
everyday life. The Inkoo Dance of Death teils us both about the local economic
life, peasant merchants’s activities in Inkoo at the beginning of the 16th century,
and about the effects of the plague on the southern coast of Finland at
the same time. The information is to be regarded of such importance, because
written documents from this period no Ionger exist.
(Translated by Mrs. Heli Lahdentausta, M. A.)
Archives:
National Board of Antiquites, Helsinki. Section of History, Topographical Archives.
Society of Finnish Literature, Helsinki. Folklore Archives.
Printed sources and literature:
Brenner, Alf, 1936, Ingä, Fagervik, Degerby I. Ekenäs.
Edgren, Torsten, 1977, Medeltidsarkeologi i skärgärdhavet. In: Historisk Tidskrift för Finland
1977:4.
13 FMU VI 5054; Klackars 1979, 144.
14 Society of Finnish Literature, Folklore Archives.
15 Brenner 1936, 44.
99
Finlands Medeltidsurkunder I-VIII. Samlade och i tryck utgifna af Finlands statsarlciv genom
Reinhold Hausen 1910-1935. Helsingfors.
Hammerstein, Reinhold, 1980, Tanz und Musik des Todes. Die mittelalterlichen To tentänze
und ihr Nachle ben. Bern.
Hiekkanen, Markus, 1988, Polvesta polveen täiillä. Espoon lcirkon esiinkaivettua menneisyyttii..
Lappeenrant a.
Kerkkonen, Gunvor, 1959, Bondesegel pä Finska Viken. Skrifter utgifna av Svenska Littera-­
tursiillskapet i Finland 369.
Klockars, Birgit, 1979, I N ädens dal. Klosterfolk och andra c. 1140-1590. Skrifter utgifna av
Svenska Litteratursällskapet i Finland 486.
Lumiste, M. – Globatschowa, S., 1969, Der Revaler Totentanz von Bernt Notke. Forschungsergebnisse
im Lichte einer neuen Restaurierung. In: Zeitschrift des deutschen Ve reins für
Kunstwissenschaft, NF 23.
Möller-Christensen, V., Christensen C. A., Björkvist H., Norberg L., Vilkuna K., 1981, Pest.
Kulturhistoriskt Iexikon för Nordisk medeltid. 2. oplag.
Rosenfeld, H., 1954, Der mittelalterliche Totentanz. Entstehung – Entwicklung – Bedeutung.
München-Köln.
100
MEDIUM AEVUM QUOTIDIANUM 19
QUOTIDIANUM FENNICUM
DAILY LIFE IN MEDIEVAL FINLAND
EDITED BY
CHRISTIAN KRÖTZL AND JAAKKO MASONEN
KREMS 1989
Gedruckt mit Unterstützung der Kulturabteilung
des Amtes der Niederösterreichischen Landesregierung
Herausgeber: Medium Aevum Quotidianum. Gesellschaft zur Erforschung der materiellen
Kultur des Mittelalters. Kornermarkt 13, A-3500 Krems, Österreich. – Für den Inhalt
verantwortlich zeichnen die Autoren, ohne deren ausdrücldiche Zustimmung jeglicher Nachdruck,
auch in Auszügen, nicht gestattet ist. -Druck: HTU-Wirtschaftsbetrieb Ges. m. b. H.,
Wiedner Hauptstraße 8-10, A-1050 Wien.
Inhaltsverzeichnis
Jaakko Masonen:
Finnland im Mittelalter. Zur Einführung . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Christian Krötzl:
Migrations- und Kommunikationsstrukturen im finnischen Mittelalter . . . . 13
Luigi de Anna:
ll nutrimento del pregiudizio. Codici alimentari riferiti
agli abitanti della Finlandia e del Settentrione nelle fonti occidentali 29
Jaakko Masonen:
Zum Krankheitsbegriff im finnischen Mittelalter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Marko Nenonen:
Hexenglauben, Mensch und Gemeinschaft in Finnland.
Spätmittelalter und frühe Neuzeit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Jussi-Pekka Taavitsainen:
Finnish Limousines. Fundamental Questions
about the Organizing Process of the Early Church in Finland . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Helena Edgren:
The Dance of Death in Inkoo.
A Medieval Church Painting as a Source of Local History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Verzeichnis der Mitarbeiter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Informationen an die Mitglieder von „Medium Aevum Quotidianum“ . . . 103
Verzeichnis der Mitarbeiter
De Anna, Luigi. Dr.phil. Lektor.
Hat in Florenz studiert (Dott. in lettere), lebt seit 1973 in Finnland. Dissertation am Institut
für Kulturgeschichte der Universität Turku: Conoscenza e immagine della Finlandia e del
Settentrione nella cultura classico-medievale (Annales Universitatis Turkuensis B 180) Turku
1988. Interessen&- und Forschungsgebiete: Bild Finnlands und der arktischen Völker in der
westlichen Kultur, Beziehungen zwischen der Ostsee- und der Mittelmeerkultur im Mittelalter.
L. de Anna ist Herausgeber der Zeitschrift „Settentrione“ (Turku). Publikationen:
L’immagine della Finlandia nella cultura medievale. In: Quaderni medievali 23 (1987), 55-
71. Adresse: Dipartimento di Studi Italiani, Universita di Turku, Henrikinkatu 2, SF-20500
Turku 50.
Edgren, Helena. Lic. phil. Kurator.
Studierte in Helsinki Archäologie, Kunstgeschichte und Ethnologie sowie in Kopenhagen
Kunst und Ikonographie des Mittelalters. Hat in der Staatlichen Museumsverwaltung als
Leiterin des Archäologischen Dienstes sowie als Forscherin bei Kirchenrenovationen gearbeitet,
z. Z. angestellt als Forscherin des ikonographischen Archives mit Schwerpunkt Kunst des
Mittelalters. H. Edgren ist Redaktionsmitglied von ICO (Nordic Review of Iconography).
Publikationen: De skrivande djävlorna i Finlands medeltida kyrkor (Die schreibenden Teufel
in den mittelalterlic hen Kirchen Finnlands). In: Finskt Museum 86 (1979); Hästhandel i
Finlands medeltida lcyrlcor (Pferdehandel in den mittelalterlichen Kirchen Finnlands). In:
Finskt Museum 92 (1985); Dominilcanmunken i St. Marie lcyrlca (Der Dominikanermönch in
der Marien-Kirche). In: Monastisk lconst i Norden. Stoclcholm 1988; Kapeil eller icke lcapell
– det är fragan. In: Finskt Museum 94 (1987). Adresse: Museovirasto, Nervanderinkatu 13,
SF-00100 Helsinki 10.
Krötzl, Christian. Lic. phil.
Forschungsassistent der Akademie von Finnland. Geb. 1956. Hat in Zürich Geschichte und
Romanistik studiert. Arbeitet an einer Dissertation zum mittelalterlichen Pilgerwesen der
Slcandinavier. Publikationen: Om nordbornas vallfärder till Santiago de Compostela. In:
Historisi: Tidskri!t för Finland 72 (1987) 189-200; Parent-Child-Relations in Medieval Scandinavia
according to Mirade Collections. In: Scandinavian Journal of History 14 (1989)
21-37. Adresse: Historisches Institut der Universität Tampere, PL 607, SF-33520 Tampere
52.
Masonen, Jaakko. Dr.phil.
Forscher am Finnischen Straßenmuseum. Geb. 1957. Beschäftigt sich mit der archäologischen
und historischen Untersuchung der alten Verkehrswege Finnlands sowie mit Medizin und
Sozialwesen im finnischen Mittelalter. Hat in Tampere und Helsinki studiert, Dissertation:
Hämeen häri:ätie. Synty ja varhaisvaiheet (Tiemuseon julkaisuja 4) Helsinn 1989 (with
English summary: The Häme Oxen Road from the end of the iron age to early medieval
times). Publikationen: Ancient land communications research in Finland. In: Fennoscandia
Archaeologica V (1988). Adresse: Pellervonkatu 2 C 44, SF-33540 Tampere 54.
101
Nenonen, Marko. Lic. phil.
Geb. 1956. Hat in Tampere studiert und arbeitet an einer Dissertation über Zauberei, Hexerei
und Hexenprozesse in Finnland. Publilcationen: Noidat ja noitavainot Hämeessa ja Yli.­
Satalcunnasa (Hexen und Hexenverfolgungen in Häme und Ober-Satalcunta). In: Tampere:
tutlcimulcsia ja lcuvaulcsia IX. Tampere 1988; Paholaislcultista lconfülctiteoriaan eli Ieuinka
selittää noitavainot (Vom Satanskult zur Konfliktthone oder die Erlclärung der Hexenverfolgungen).
In: Ylcsilö ja yhteislcunnan muutos (Acta Universitatis Tamperensis, Ser. A
vol. 202) Tampere 1986. Adresse: Pispalan valtatie 85 B, SF-33270 Tampere 27.
Taavitsainen, Jussi-Pekka. Lic. phil.
Geb. 1951. Arbeitet als Forscher an der prähistorischen Abteilung der Staatlichen Museumsverwaltung.
Publilcationen: Keslciajan lcangaslcaupasta lcirjallisten ja esineellisten lähteiden
valossa (On the Medieval Cloth Trade to Finland in the Light of Written Sources and Earth
Finds). In: Suomen Museo 89 (1982) 23-43; Wide-Range Hunting and Swidden Cultivation
as Prerequisites of Iron Age Colonization in Finland. In: Suomen Antropologi 12 (1987)
213-233. Adresse: Tehtaankatu 22 G 52, SF-OOHO Helsinlci 14.
102
MITTEILUNGEN AN DIE MITGLIEDER
VON „MEDIUM AEVUM QUOTIDIANUM“
Das vorliegende Heft von Medium Aevum Quotidianum widmet sich der Auseinandersetzung
mit Alltag und materieller Kultur des Mittelalters in der finnischen
Forschung. Es setzt damit die in Heft 15 begonnene „Länderserie“
fort. Unser Dank gilt den beiden Herausgebern des Heftes, Christian Krötzl
und Jaakko Masonen, sowie den Autoren der Beiträge. Die angesprochene
„Länderserie“ soll in zwangloser Folge fortgesetzt werden. Diesbezügliche vorbereitende
Kontakte wurden vor allem mit ungarischen, schwedischen und jugoslawischen
Kollegen geknüpft.
Neben den bereits in Medium Aevum Quotidianum 18 angekündigten, für 1990
geplanten Heften wird im Februar/März 1990 Medium A evum Quotidianum.
ErgänzungJband 1 erscheinen. Dieser Band leitet eine Reihe ein, die in unregelmäßigen
Abständen umfangreichere Abhandlungen zu Alltag und materieller
Kultur des Mittelalters aufnehmen soll. Wir freuen uns, die Leistungen
der Gesellschaft für ihre Mitglieder damit neuerlich erweitern zu können.
Der genannte ErgänzungJband 1 wird sich mit der „Bedeutung von Schlaf
und Traum im Mittelalter“ auseinandersetzen. Dabei handelt es sich um
eine überarbeitete und erweiterte Dissertation von Maria E. Wittmer-Butsch
(Zürich), die bei Ludwig Schmugge am Historischen Seminar der Universität
Zürich verfaßt wurde und in ihrer Methode in starkem Maße von alltagsgeschichtlichen
Ansätzen ausgeht.
Gerhard Jaritz, Herausgeber
103