Designations of regional and geografic communities in medieval music writings (c. 900 to 1400)

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The music-theoretical writings of the Middle Ages contain many designations of communities like Galli, Franci, Alemanni, Teutonici, Lombardi, Itali etc. Such designations are based on very different conceptions. Contemporary terms such as gens, natio, populus or civitas and so on only vaguely describe the mixture of linguistic, ideological, political, regional and other factors that determine those designations. They are so widely distributed in the music-theoretical writings that a systematic interpretation would significantly improve our understanding of medieval musical writings. The research project is confined to music-theoretical sources. It aims at an interpretation of the terms used to designate the communities as well as of the intention with which they have been used. In addition to the intrepretation of the designations and their function in the writings themselves the project addresses the question of how the communities mentioned are related to the musical practices of the Middle Ages by relating the geographical and cultural patterns of the music-theoretical writings to our knowledge about regional differences in musical practice. The project presupposes an interdisciplinary apporach and is connected to related disciplines, especially history, since it is focussing on topics like the construction of a sense of community, identity in the Middle Ages, and may even contribute to the exploration of the growth of nationalism.