Prof. Dr. Gabriele Müller-Oberhäuser’s monograph project examines selected debates in religious conflicts in England from the fourteenth to the sixteenth century with a special focus on their transmission in manuscript and in print, thus covering in particular the period from John Wycliffe and the Lollards to the English Reformation under the Tudors. Against the background of the tension between oral dialogical communication and communication by means of pamphlets and books in religious debates, the impact of the choice of media for transmitting controversial issues on the religio-political field are investigated. With a book historian’s point of view as the primary approach to this area of research, the project at the same time seeks to integrate theoretical aspects and concepts from various academic fields, in particular from literary history, historical pragma-linguistics, the history of censorship, theology, and sociology.

Publications related to this project:

“Verbrennen oder korrigieren. Bücherverbrennungen und Bücherverstümmelungen in England unter Heinrich VIII.” Konfessionspolitik und Medien in Europa 1500-1700. Konflikte, Konkurrenzen, Theorien. Eds Kai Merten and Claus-Michael Ott. Berlin, Boston: de Gruyter, 2021, pp. 39-60.

 “Physical and Verbal Violence: Persecuted Protestant Communities During the Reign of Mary I (1553-1558).” Golden Leaves & Burned Books. Religious Reform and Conflict in the Long European Reformation. Eds Teemu Immonen and Gabriele Müller-Oberhäuser. Turku: Finnish Society for Cultural History, 2020, pp. 295-319.

“‘Great Persecutions and Horrible Troubles’: John Foxe, The Book of Martyrs und die englische Reformation.” Märtyrerbücher und ihre Bedeutung für konfessionelle Identität und Spiritualität in der Frühen Neuzeit. Interkonfessionelle und interdisziplinäre Beiträge zur Erforschung einer Buchgattung. Eds Andrea Strübind und Klaas-Dieter Voß. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2019, pp. 99-125.

“‘Erased and put out of all the books’: Zensur und Expurgation von Büchern in der englischen Reformation am Beispiel von Thomas Becket”, Frühmittelalterliche Studien, 51 (2017), S. 267-323.