Michael Stolz (born 12 December 1960) is a

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

and German

medievalist The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

and professor at the

University of Bern The University of Bern (, , ) is a public university, public research university in the Switzerland, Swiss capital of Bern. It was founded in 1834. It is regulated and financed by the canton of Bern. It is a comprehensive university offering a br ...

Biography

Stolz read

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

and

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

in Munich,

Poitiers Poitiers is a city on the river Clain in west-central France. It is a commune in France, commune, the capital of the Vienne (department), Vienne department and the historical center of Poitou, Poitou Province. In 2021, it had a population of 9 ...

and

Bern Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has gov ...

. He submitted his doctoral thesis in Bern in 1993, with a thesis on the poetic techniques of the Marian poem ''Der Tum'' by the German 14th-century author Heinrich von Mügeln in 2000, he completed his

habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in Germany, France, Italy, Poland and some other European and non-English-speaking countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excelle ...

on the literary representation of the

seven Liberal arts 7 (seven) is the natural number following 6 and preceding 8. It is the only prime number preceding a cube. As an early prime number in the series of positive integers, the number seven has symbolic associations in religion, mythology, supers ...

in the Middle Ages. After this, positions followed at the

University of Basel The University of Basel (Latin: ''Universitas Basiliensis''; German: ''Universität Basel'') is a public research university in Basel, Switzerland. Founded on 4 April 1460, it is Switzerland's oldest university and among the world's oldest univ ...

(SNSF professorship 2001–2005) and at the

University of Göttingen The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen (, commonly referred to as Georgia Augusta), is a Public university, public research university in the city of Göttingen, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1734 ...

(Professor for Medieval German language and literature with a focus on the later Middle Ages and

Humanism Humanism is a philosophy, philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential, and Agency (philosophy), agency of human beings, whom it considers the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The me ...

, 2005/2006). In 2006 he became professor for Medieval German literature at the University of Bern. He has held visiting professorships at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

(EHRC-Visiting Fellow 1995–1998), Paris-Sorbonne (Professeur invité 2007/08), the

Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies The Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies (FRIAS) is the international research college of the University of Freiburg, Germany. The institute was initially part of the university's proposal for funding in the Excellence Initiative in 2007, an in ...

(Fellowship 2014), and at

Stanford Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth governor of and th ...

(Visiting Scholar 2015). Stolz is principal investigator of two major digital humanities projects funded by the

Swiss National Science Foundation The Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF, German: , SNF; French: , FNS; Italian: ) is a science research support organisation mandated by the Swiss Federal Government. The Swiss National Science Foundation was established under private law b ...

: the digital edition of

Wolfram von Eschenbach Wolfram von Eschenbach (; – ) was a German knight, poet and composer, regarded as one of the greatest epic poets of medieval German literature. As a Minnesinger, he also wrote lyric poetry. Life Little is known of Wolfram's life. Ther ...

Arthurian romance The Matter of Britain (; ; ; ) is the body of medieval literature and legendary material associated with Great Britain and Brittany and the legendary kings and heroes associated with it, particularly King Arthur. The 12th-century writer Geoffr ...

Parzival ''Parzival'' () is a medieval chivalric romance by the poet and knight Wolfram von Eschenbach in Middle High German. The poem, commonly dated to the first quarter of the 13th century, centers on the Arthurian hero Parzival (Percival in English) ...

'' and the digital reconstruction if the library of the 15th-century humanist Sigismund Gossembrot. His current research is focussed on the relationship of original and copy, medieval literature in intercultural contexts (looking into Wolfram von Eschenbach, the ''

Carmina Burana ''Carmina Burana'' (, Latin for "Songs from Benediktbeuern" 'Buria'' in Latin is a manuscript of 254 poems and dramatic texts mostly from the 11th or 12th century, although some are from the 13th century. The pieces are mostly bawdy, irreveren ...

'', and

Giovanni Boccaccio Giovanni Boccaccio ( , ; ; 16 June 1313 – 21 December 1375) was an Italian people, Italian writer, poet, correspondent of Petrarch, and an important Renaissance humanism, Renaissance humanist. Born in the town of Certaldo, he became so ...

), and the reception of

Alan of Lille Alain de Lille (Alan of Lille; Latin: ''Alanus ab Insulis''; 11281202/1203) was a French theologian and poet. He was born in Lille some time before 1128. His exact date of death remains unclear as well, with most research pointing toward it bein ...

in Prague during the 14th and 15th century court of Charles IV,

university A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

Hussite movement upright=1.2, Battle between Hussites (left) and Crusades#Campaigns against heretics and schismatics, Catholic crusaders in the 15th century upright=1.2, The Lands of the Bohemian Crown during the Hussite Wars. The movement began during the Prag ...

. He is editor of the journal ''

Beiträge zur Geschichte der deutschen Sprache und Literatur The ''Beiträge zur Geschichte der deutschen Sprache und Literatur'' (English: ''Contributions to the History of the German Language and Literature'') is a German academic journal publishing articles on German language and literature. The particula ...

''. Stolz was president of the Swiss Academic Society of German Studies (2008–2012), executive director of the Bern Centre for Medieval Studies (2009–2012), and vice dean and later dean of the faculty of humanities of the University of Bern (2010–2012, 2012–2014). As dean he oversaw the implementation of the MA programme in Editorial Studies and the foundation of the Walter Benjamin Kolleg for interdisciplinary doctoral and postdoctoral research. Between 2009 and 2018 we was also editor of the journal "Germanistik in der Schweiz".Germanistik in der Schweiz
retrieved on 22 January 2021). Stolz is married to the

slavicist Slavic (American English) or Slavonic (British English) studies, also known as Slavistics, is the academic field of area studies concerned with Slavic peoples, languages, literature, history, and culture. Originally, a Slavist or Slavicist was ...

Zuzana Stolz-Hladká. They have two children.

Books published

*''Tum‹-Studien. Zur dichterischen Gestaltung im Marienpreis Heinrichs von Mügeln'', hD-thesis, Bern 1993Tübingen/Basel 1996 (Bibliotheca Germanica 36). * ''Artes-liberales-Zyklen. Formationen des Wissens im Mittelalter'', 2 vols, abilitation, Bern 1999Tübingen/Basel 2004 (Bibliotheca Germanica 47). * ''Parzival im Manuskript. Profile der Parzival-Überlieferung am Beispiel von fünf Handschriften des 13. bis 15. Jahrhunderts'', Basel 2020.

Online projects

Parzival-Projekt

Gossembrot-Projekt

* ttp://www.parzival.unibe.ch/cgm19/Daten/index.html digital edition of the Munich Wolfram manuscript Cgm 19
digital edition of the Bern Wolfram manuscript Cod. AA 91

External links

at the University of Bern.
Michael Stolz
in Kürschners Deutscher Gelehrtenkalender online (subscription required for access).

in the Germanistenverzeichnis.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stolz, Michael Swiss Germanists Academic staff of the University of Bern 1960 births Scientists from Munich German medievalists Living people German Germanists