Henrike Lähnemann | |
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.jpg) Lahnemann in Oxford, 2020 | |
| Born | (1968-05-15)15 May 1968 (age 57) Münster, Germany |
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| Discipline | Medieval studies |
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Henrike Lähnemann (born 15 May 1968 inMünster)[1] is a Germanmedievalist and holds theChair of Medieval German, University of Oxford.[2] She is a Fellow ofSt Edmund Hall, Oxford.[3]
Lähnemann is the daughter of the theologianJohannes Lähnemann, and the granddaughter of the German medievalistEleonore Dörner [de] (née Benary) and the archaeologistFriedrich Karl Dörner; she grew up inLüneburg andNuremberg, Germany. She studied German literature, History of Art and Theology at theUniversity of Bamberg, theUniversity of Edinburgh,Free University of Berlin andUniversity of Göttingen. She completed aPhD at the Universität Bamberg on late medieval didactic literature.
Lähnemann worked at theUniversity of Tübingen, where she gained herVenia legendi in German Philology with a study of theBook of Judith in German medieval literature. She spent a year as aFeodor Lynen Research Fellow[4] at the University of Oxford and a semester as visiting professor at theUniversity of Zurich. Between 2006 and 2014 she held the Chair ofGerman Studies atNewcastle University, and was also Head of the German Section in Newcastle'sSchool of Modern Languages. In 2010, theGerman Research Foundation nominated her forAcademiaNet,[5] the database of profiles of leading women scientists;[6][7] she also chairedWomen in German Studies between 2009 and 2015. In 2015, she was appointed to the Chair of Medieval German Language and Literature at theUniversity of Oxford.[2] Between 2015 and 2024 she spent two months each year based atFRIAS as a Senior Research Fellow, made possible by co-funding of the Oxford chair by theVolkswagenStiftung, theDAAD, and theUniversity of Freiburg.
Her research focuses on medieval manuscripts, the relationship of text and images and how vernacular and Latin literature are connected, currently mainly in late medieval Northern German convents. At the moment she is working on aGerda Henkel Stiftung [de] funded project to edit the letters of the nuns fromLüne (together withEva Schlotheuber), and the edition ofprayer books of theMedingen Convent. Their trade book about late medieval nuns, first published byUllstein Verlag 2023 in German as 'Un-erhörte Frauen' is open access available in English as 'The Life of Nuns'.
Lähnemann's major topic is the engagement with theReformation and printing. She brought a new linguistic and interdisciplinary angle to Reformation Studies in Oxford, completing the team of experts –Lyndal Roper andDiarmaid MacCulloch being counted among them. As part of theTranslating, Printing, Singing the Reformation project a website[8] providing access to digitised Reformation pamphlets was launched, as well as a blog[9] and podcast[10] documenting the most recent activities of the Reformation team. Furthermore, book printing workshops[11] and new productions of key scenes from the Reformation[12][non-primary source needed] took place. The political relevance of the project becomes evident in the combination of Reformation and anti-Brexit ideas,[13][14] but especially in the use of Reformation pamphlets for a protest-Hallelujah[15][16] in the context of civil resistance in Hong Kong.
The authorAngelika Overath dedicated her novelSie dreht sich um[17] to Lähnemann.
Full publication list on Henrike Lähnemann's institutional website.
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| Preceded by | Chair of Medieval German, University of Oxford 2015– | Succeeded by incumbent |
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