Professor ("Juniorprofessur") for the History of the Early and High Middle Ages

Prof. Dr. Anne Greule



  • 04/2026: Positive interim evaluation of the junior professorship
  • since 10/2023: Junior Professor of the History of the Early and High Middle Ages at the University of Göttingen
  • 04–09/2023: Postdoctoral fellow within the framework of the „Thüringer Programms zur Förderung von Nachwuchswissenschaftlerinnen und Nachwuchskünstlerinnen“ at the Chair of Medieval History, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Erfurt
  • 11/2022: Romanesque Studies Research Prize 2022 of the European Romanesque Centre (Europäisches Romanik Zentrum e.V.); award for the dissertation „Prediger der Transformation. Alain von Lille und die Pariser Schulen in der zweiten Hälfte des 12. Jahrhunderts“



  • History of Knowledge and Ideas
  • Sermons and Preaching
  • Manuscript Studies and the History of Transmission
  • Legal History
  • Disability History


Contemporary Western society, according to sociologists and historians, is characterized in a comprehensive way by the pursuit of fitness, performance, and self-optimization. In this respect, it is said to differ fundamentally from the pre-modern period. Indeed, it seems neither possible nor useful to project the emergence of such a pursuit into earlier centuries as part of a simple narrative of continuity. The current “Fitness-Dispositiv” (Jürgen Martschukat) is tied to the late-modern capitalist social formation.
However, by adopting a productive anachronism, it becomes possible to ask in which areas people in the pre-modern world strove for improvement and according to which parameters this striving was oriented. Using the heuristic concept of self-optimization, the project aims to provide a holistic perspective on the culture of early medieval Latin Europe, which may have been more shaped by notions of perfection and performance than especially popular images of the Middle Ages suggest. This approach allows various early medieval practices to be analyzed in their entirety and both well-known and lesser-known topics and sources to be reconsidered from a new perspective.





A complete list of all publications and presentations can be found here.


  • 12.02.2026: Workshop leadership: "Von Berserkern und Walküren – Warum 'die Wikinger' politisch sind" as part of the first Göttingen Day for History Teachers (report)
  • 17.09.2025: Lecture at the Rotary Club Göttingen Sternwarte: "Der ‚Diplomatische Apparat‘ der Georg-August-Universität Göttingen"
  • 14.05.2025: Göttingen Dialogue Series on the Middle Ages and Early Modern Period: "Gab es Philosophen im Mittelalter? Arabische und lateinische Perspektiven" (Prof. Dr. Matthias Perkams (Philosophy, Jena), Prof. Dr. Andreas Lammer (Arabic Studies, Bochum), moderation: Prof. Dr. Anne Greule (History, Göttingen)).
  • 17.02.2025: Lecture at Friedenskirche Nürtingen-Hardt as part of the 'Literatur Kirche': "Wie im Mittelalter die Universität Paris entstand – und was Wirtshausschlägereien damit zu tun haben"
  • 2022: "Selbstbewusst schreiben – ein Gespräch mit Anne Greule", podcast in the “Writing Conversations” series of the Writing Center at Friedrich Schiller University Jena. Available online


  • Head of the Teaching Working Group (AG Lehre) at the Department of Medieval and Modern History
  • Member of the Selection Committee for Master's Students at the Department of Medieval and Modern History
  • Erasmus Coordinator for France, Finland, and the Netherlands at the Department of Medieval and Modern History (currently being established)
  • Mentor and Advisory Board Member in the Dorothea Schlözer Mentoring Programme of the University of Göttingen
  • Deputy Member of the Equal Opportunities Committee of the Faculty of Humanities
  • Deputy Member of the Library Committee at the Department of Medieval and Modern History


  • Medieval Studies Working Group of the Historical Commission for Lower Saxony (Arbeitskreis Mittelalter der Historischen Kommission für Niedersachsen)
  • Queen Mary Medievalists and their Colleagues (online discussion forum of Queen Mary University of London, Prof. Dr. Miri Rubin)
  • International Medieval Sermon Studies Society (IMSSS)
  • German Medievalists Association (Mediävistenverband e.V.)
  • Society for University and History of Science Studies (Gesellschaft für Universitäts- und Wissenschaftsgeschichte)
  • Centre for Medieval and Early Modern Studies Göttingen (Zentrum für Mittelalter- und Frühneuzeitforschung Göttingen)
  • University Association Göttingen (Universitätsbund Göttingen e.V.)