Mittelalterliche Literatur im Medienwandel von der Handschrift zum gedruckten Buch. Das Beispiel des ,Herzog Ernst‘

Abstract

AbstractCurrent competence-oriented curricula for secondary education in Germany demand a level of literary, linguistic, and media competence that enables students to study the common cultural heritage and to grow into their roles as members of society. The study of the German language, literature, and culture of the Middle Ages is particularly appropriate to develop this competence. Raising the question of both the alterity and the similarity of the period in comparison with the present, it demands a high degree of critical reflection. At the same time, current research is open to questions posed by the present of the past, concerncing e. g. the increasingly visible effects of the digital revolution, which echoes developments in the change from the manuscript to the printed book in the decades around 1500. The following contribution illustrates the relevance of the transfer of research from university to school by taking today’s media revolution as an opportunity to examine changes in literature and media in the 15th and 16th centuries. To this end, ‚Herzog Ernst‘ serves as an example of a popular narrative complex, interesting not only because of its comprehensiveness, but also for its distinctive transformations from manuscript to print.