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What is the position of interdisciplinary Medieval Studies within current trends in Animal Studies? What potential do the methods, theorems, and critical reflections of Animal Studies have for the analysis of medieval sources? What contribution can decidedly Medieval Animal Studies make to contemporary discussions and conceptualisations? With these questions in mind, the studies in this issue focus on reflections, imaginations, and forms of practice of human–animal relations in the Middle Ages, which they discuss from different disciplinary perspectives and thus contribute to a historicisation of the concepts of contemporary Animal Studies.

The ‘Seven Sages of Rome’ was one of the most widely distributed story matters of premodernity. It was transmitted in at least 30 languages from Arabic to Russian across Asia, Europe and the Middle and Near East from the 11th to the 19th centuries. Nevertheless, this tradition is still little known and rarely researched in Mediaeval Studies.  This special issue proposes that the ‘Seven Sages of Rome’ is ripe for rediscovery, and for bringing together and giving new perspectives on current and interdisciplinary approaches in Mediaeval and Early Modern Studies. This includes transmission studies, intersectional analysis and global approaches to literary history.

This special issue provides an overview of the diversity of the materiality of credit relations in Central, Northeastern, and Southeastern Europe. In nine case studies dealing with different kinds of objects like tally sticks, letters and pawn objects, it is shown that credit was not limited to a specific social or economic stratum. The different approaches stemming from archeology, German philology, Jewish studies, and material studies offer new insights into the functioning of medieval credit practices. Given the growing research interest in economic changes in the Middle Ages, the articles make a valuable addition to sources available for economists and historians alike.

This volume takes on various acoustic dimensions of medieval literature, historiography, music and art from different disciplinary perspectives. This way, an aspect of the epoch that has received little attention so far comes into focus. The topics covered range from the sounds of Olifant to the silence of mysticism to late medieval pulpits.

Childlessness is mentioned in numerous medieval sources; coping strategies included medical, religious, and social measures. Although the social consequences of infertility could be severe, especially for women, quite a number of people decided to remain without offspring. Voluntary or involutary childlessness was of major importance during the Middle Ages, in contrast to previous suggestions in the literature. By looking at a complex web of sociability, religion, and desire through the lens of childlessness, the eight interdisciplinary studies collected in this issue illustrate the complexity, diversity and multiplicity of historical concepts of gender, body, and family.

The Mediävistenverband has recently changed its publication policies, adopting open access as the way to be followed in the future. On this occasion, this first volume published under the new circumstances takes a look at the situation of medieval studies in 2021, developing new strategies which may guide our future work. Members of the presidency and of the advisory board combine their expertise to explore some of the main academic, political and social issues. At the outset, six strategic papers discuss the relevance of medieval studies, problems related to the use of the term “middle ages”, challenges faced by young scholars while developing their career options, new possibilities opened up for research communication, digital humanities in medieval studies as well as advantages and disadvantages of large research centres. These interdisciplinary essays are complemented by shorter texts, each discussing one medieval discipline individually, covering the whole range from archaeology to Scandinavian studies and theology, including the important interrelationship of medieval studies and secondary education. In the third part, the reviews focus on digital publications in medieval disciplines.