ERC: Foundations in Medieval Societies: Cross-Cultural Comparisons (FOUNDMED)

In the present foundations are ascribed a central role in overcoming social and political problems, be it in the field of social welfare or the sponsorship of science and the arts. But they were also in the past always an indicator of the condition of a society and lend themselves to deducing its overall structure. In a historical perspective they permit an intercultural comparison because there is evidence of the phenomenon of the foundation, while not on a continual basis, in all advanced civilizations. The project intends to carry out a comparative investigation of foundations in the medieval millennium (from approximately CE 500 to 1500) in European Latin and Greek Orthodox Christianity, in Judaism, Islam and in pluri-religious India and of their mutual relations while making use of the ideas of modern global history. It will therefore also involve questions of cultural transfer or cross-cultural interaction.