Resilience as a perspective on medieval literature: Political songs and the first margrave war (1449/50)

Abstract

Despite its growing popularity, the concept of ‘resilience’ has hitherto not been used as a perspective on medieval literature. The very popularity of the concept might in fact be an argument against employing it, since the existence of multiple and increasingly specific definitions might cause confusion, endanger its informative value, and lead to conceptual arbitrariness. On the other hand, the popularity also points to the significance of the questions which can be addressed using this concept, and the potential gains this change of perspective entails: The social changes associated with disasters, crises, riots, or disruptive events in general may be more appropriately described and better understood through enquiring into the forces which were used to manage them (cf., for example, Clemens and Cluse 2018b).