Prof. Dr. Matthias Becher

Principal Investigator

Institute of History
Department of Medieval History
Konviktstraße 11
D-53113 Bonn
Phone: +49 228 73 5160
matthias.becher@uni-bonn.de

matthias-becher.jpg
© Matthias Becher

Academic Profile

Matthias Becher focuses on the problem of loyalty in the Carolingian Empire (750–900). For the first time in European history, Charlemagne made use of the oath as an instrument of government. The objective of the oath was to create a strong personal bond between the subjects and the ruler. Thus, a relationship of obligation was formed in order to reduce the agency of the common people. Unfree persons were also obliged to give the oath. For them, however, the oath meant an improvement of their social status. This was a crucial element in the emergence of high and late medieval chivalry.

7 books, 20 edited volumes, 110 scientific papers, 90 reviews, 110 international lectures and presentations, 20 completed as well as 25 ongoing Ph.D. theses as first and second supervisor, 90 Magister, exam and Master theses, and 20 Bacherlor theses as supervisor/first reviewer.

1995
Habilitation and Venia Legendi in Medieval History, University of Paderborn, Germany

1990 
Ph.D. in Medieval History, University of Constance, Germany

1980–1986
M.A. in History and Political Sciences, University of Constance, Germany

since 2021
Spokesperson for "Power and Domination. Bonn Center for Premodern Orders and their forms of communication"

since 1998
Professor for Medieval and Modern History, University of Bonn, Germany

2016–2021
Spokesperson for the DFG Collaborative Research Center (SFB 1167) "Power and Domination. Bonn Center for Premodern Orders and their forms of communication"

2008–2019
Spokesperson for the Bonn Center of Medieval Studies

2006 
Offer of professorship at the University of Zurich, Switzerland (declined)

1989–1998 
Research Associate, University of Paderborn, Germany

1995
Ignaz-Theodor-Liborius-Meyer-Prize for habilitation by the Association for History and Classical Studies of Westphalia, Paderborn Division

1991
Dissertation prize from the Constance County Council for the promotion of young academics at the University of Constance 1990

since 2013
Member of the North Rhine-Westphalian Academy of Sciences, Humanities and the Arts, Class for Humanities

since 2013
Member of the Central Directorate of the Monumenta Germaniae Historica

since 2008
Member of the Constance Working Group for Medieval History

since 2005
Member of the Medieval Studies Center Bonn University (Spokesperson since 2008)

since 2003
Corresponding member of the Historical Commission for Westphalia

2005–2007
Member of the German Research Foundation (DFG) Priority Program (SPP 1173) "Disintegration and Integration of Medieval Cultures in Europe”

since 2009
Co-editor of "Historische Studien" (editor-in-chief)

since 2006
Comparative and external commissioner in approximately 15 medievalist appointment procedures at German and international universities

since 2001
Co-editor of "Bonner Historische Forschungen"

  • Member of scientific advisory boards of numerous major exhibitions and project

  • Expert for various research funding institutions, in particular for the DFG, the Austrian Ministry of Science and Research and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation

2008–2012
Member of the DFG Expert Commission 102 "History" of the DFG

  • 5 individual projects (since 2005)
  • DFG Collaborative Research Center (SFB 1167) 2016–2020

Total sum of approximately € 9.3 million.

  • 2023. As editor. With Katharina Gahbler. Herrscher und Eliten zwischen Symbiose und Antagonismus. Kommunizieren in vormodernen Herrschaftsstrukturen. Macht und Herrschaft 16. Göttingen: V&R unipress.
  • 2021. As editor. With Katharina Gahbler. Repertorium Saracenorum. Ein Wiki zu Saraceni, Mauri, Agareni, … in lateinisch-christlichen Quellen des 7. bis 11. Jahrhunderts. https://saraceni.uni-koeln.de/wiki/Repertorium_Saracenorum.
  • 2021. As editor. With Hendrik Hess. Kontingenzerfahrungen und ihre Bewältigung zwischen imperium und regna. Beispiele aus Gallien und angrenzenden Gebieten vom 5. bis zum 8. Jahrhundert. Göttingen: V&R unipress.
  • 2019. As editor.Transkulturelle Annäherungen an Phänomene von Macht und Herrschaft. Spannungsfelder und Geschlechterdimensionen. Macht und Herrschaft 11. Göttingen: V&R unipress.
  • 2019. Macht und Herrschaft. Praktiken – Strukturen – Begründungen. Ausgewählte Aufsätze zum 60. Geburtstag, edited by Linda Dohmen, Florian Hartmann, Hendrik Hess and Daniel König. Göttingen: V&R unipress.
  • 2019. As editor. With Hendrik Hess. Machterhalt und Herrschaftssicherung. Namen als Legitimationsinstrument in transkultureller Perspektive. Macht und Herrschaft 8. Göttingen: V&R unipress.
  • 2018. As editor. With Stephan Conermann and Linda Dohmen. Macht und Herrschaft transkulturell. Vormoderne Konfigurationen und Perspektiven der Forschung. Macht und Herrschaft 1. Göttingen: V&R unipress.
  • 2017. As editor. With Harald Wolter von dem Knesebeck. Die Königserhebung Friedrichs des Schönen im Jahr 1314. Krönung, Krieg und Kompromiss. Köln: Böhlau Verlag. 
  • 2017. As editor. Die mittelalterliche Thronfolge im europäischen Vergleich. Ostfildern: Jan Thorbecke Verlag. 
  • 2015. As editor. With Stephan Conermann, Florian Hartmann, and Hendrik Hess (Be-)Gründung von Herrschaft. Strategien zur Bewältigung von Kontingenzerfahrung. Das Mittelalter 20(1). Berlin: Akademie Verlag.
  • 2012. Otto der Große. Kaiser und Reich. Eine Biographie. Munich: C.H. Beck.
  • 2011. As editor. With Alheydis Plassmann. Streit am Hof im frühen Mittelalter. Super Alta Perennis 11. Göttingen: V&R unipress.
  • 2011. Chlodwig I. Der Aufstieg der Merowinger und das Ende der antiken Welt. Munich: C.H. Beck.
  • 2010. As editor. With Stefanie Dick. Völker, Reiche und Namen im frühen Mittelalter.  Mittelalterstudien 22. Munich: Wilhelm Fink.
  • 2009. Merowinger und Karolinger. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft.
  • 2007. Quellen zur Geschichte der Welfen und die Chronik Burchards von Ursberg. Ausgewählte Quellen zur deutschen Geschichte des Mittelalters. Freiherr vom Stein-Gedächtnisausgabe 18b. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft.
  • 1999. Karl der Große. Munich: C.H. Beck. [Engl. translation: Charlemagne. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2003].
  • 1996. Rex, Dux und Gens. Untersuchungen zur Entstehung des sächsischen Herzogtums im 9. und 10. Jahrhundert. Historische Studien 444. Husum: Matthiesen Verlag.
  • 1993. Eid und Herrschaft. Untersuchungen zum Herrscherethos Karls des Großen. Vorträge und Forschungen. Konstanzer Arbeitskreis für Mittelalterliche Geschichte 39. Sigmaringen: Jan Thorbecke Verlag.