We are delighted to announce that the first Young Researcher and Innovator Grant under the COST Action CA23143 Participation through Prayer in the Late Medieval and Early Modern World (PRAYTICIPATE) has been awarded to Dr Carolin Gluchowski, a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Hamburg.
Dr Gluchowski will use the grant to participate in the 19th Biennial Conference of the Early Book Society, taking place at New York University, New York, from 23 to 27 June 2025. At this international gathering of manuscript and book historians, she will present a paper entitled: “Languages of Devotion: A 15th-Century Latin-Low German Psalter from the Cistercian Convent of Medingen.”
This presentation examines Psalter Fol 35, a fifteenth-century manuscript housed in the Herzogin Anna Amalia Library in Weimar, recently identified as part of the Medingen manuscript corpus during its 2021 digitization. The Psalter consists of 194 parchment leaves and features a distinctive interlinear Latin/Low German format.
While vernacular Psalter translations have long been a subject of scholarly interest, this particular manuscript—also known as the Weimar Psalter—has received relatively little attention. Earlier studies by Hans Vollmer and Kurt Erich Schöndorf dismissed its bilingual format as inelegant and lacking in literary merit. Dr Gluchowski’s paper revisits these assessments, arguing that the Psalter’s interlinear structure offers crucial insights into the devotional and pedagogical functions of multilingual prayer texts in the late medieval period.
By exploring the Psalter’s linguistic interplay and its role in religious practice, her research contributes to a deeper understanding of how vernacular and Latin texts coexisted and shaped spiritual experience in monastic settings—particularly within the unique devotional culture of the Cistercian nuns of Medingen.
We are proud to support Dr Gluchowski’s participation in this prestigious conference and to recognize the significance of her innovative research, which closely aligns with PRAYTICIPATE’s mission to uncover the diverse expressions of prayer and devotion in the premodern world.
Interested in applying for a COST Action Grant?
The COST Action Participation through Prayer in the Late Medieval and Early Modern World (CA23143) offers a range of funding opportunities for scholars working on topics related to prayer, devotion, and religious experience.
📌 Learn more: [COST Action CA23143]
For any funding-related inquiries, please contact our Grant Awarding Manager:
Dr Carolin Gluchowski (University of Hamburg)
✉️ carolin.gluchowski@uni-hamburg.de