Nina Frohme (MA Aberystwyth University

PhD thesis Title: ‘Telling tales in the Middle Ages: the social and economic context of tales from Cologne and Hamelin.’

The Middle Ages were a time not only of orthodox faith but also of superstition. Narrative sources, such as chronicles, along with the recording of day-to-day business and of more rare events, such as war or the crowning of a new ruler or the announcement of a new Pope, also included sometimes more obscure entrances which over time became the stuff of tales and legends. My thesis will look at two of these from two different places and through them explore their associated cultural, social and economic aspects. One of the two case studies will be located in Cologne, through the tale of Richmodis. Cologne during the Middle Ages was for several reasons an important city, it was strong economically, a destination for pilgrims and one of the largest cities of its time within the Holy Roman Empire. The second case study will focus on Hamelin; though smaller it had a strong economic base, especially in the grain trade, and is associated, unlike the Cologne tale mentioned above, with probably one of the most well-known tales, that of the Pied Piper.

The research will show how tales can tell us more about the places in which they originated and how they manifest themselves in different ways even over times by shape-shifting and bending to the needs of the societies in which they were formed and changed. Comparison of two tales – one far less familiar from the other and with very different transmission over time – and of two cities, also varying to different degrees in size and significance in this period – will offer further nuance in exploring the associated aspects as mentioned above.