University of Cambridge, Faculty of Modern and Medieval Languages. 
 
TWO AHRC-FUNDED PhD STUDENTSHIPS 2014-2017 IN MEDIEVAL GERMAN LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE
 
Applications are invited for two PhD studentships covering the period 1 October 2014 to 30 September 2017, working under the general supervision of Professor Christopher Young and Dr Mark Chinca in the Faculty of Modern and Medieval Languages. Each student will also be assigned a co-supervisor from the University of Marburg, Germany. These awards have become available as a result of an AHRC Research Grant “Kaiserchronik: Literature and History in the German Middle Ages”.  Successful applicants are expected to begin PhD study on 1 October 2014 and will receive a student stipend sufficient to meet the fees and maintenance requirements in accordance with AHRC regulations The studentship provides a maintenance grant and tuition fees at the home/EU rate and applicants must satisfy the eligibility requirements for the Home/EU fees rate. Non-EU nationals cannot  be considered for AHRC funding.

The Project
The Kaiserchronik (c.1150) is one of the great monuments of medieval literature. Chronicling the reigns of Roman and German kings and emperors, from the earliest times to the twelfth century, it projects a magnificent historical sweep in which the German-speaking peoples and their rulers feature as actors on the stage of ancient history and heirs to the legacy of Rome as capital of the Christian West. It is the first verse chronicle to have been written in any European vernacular. Yet despite its importance for literary and historical studies alike, it has been surprisingly neglected. This project is intended to yield a complete understanding of the extraordinary cultural resonance of the Kaiserchronik, and offer a transformative reassessment of the place of history-writing in the development of German literature in the Middle Ages.

The project has attracted funding of c.£950,000 from the AHRC. The team is based in Cambridge and assembles experts in the fields of medieval literature, language and history, with special collaborations with the University of Marburg and Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore. Over its lifetime, the project will produce the first-ever complete edition of the Kaiserchronik, accompanied by English translation, full introduction and commentary. 
In addition, the project will research the historical and literary background to the chronicle: the twelfth-century context from which it emerged, and the reasons for its enduring appeal over the following four and a half centuries. The results will be presented through major events in Cambridge, international conferences, and special issues of academic journals.

The studentships
Applicants are invited to submit an advanced research proposal on a topic of their own choice, provided it falls within the general area of the project. The following descriptions are intended as a guide to the kinds of topic that might be investigated, but applicants should not take them as restrictive.
PhD1
The thesis will deal with some aspect of linguistic history or the history of metrical form / stylistics, or the overlap between the two, either in the 12th century or longitudinally, from the 12th century until any time up to the late 16th century. An over-reliance on 19th-century edited texts that levelled out linguistic variation led to a quantitative decline in research on Middle High German language compared with that in other periods. The return to the manuscript base over the last 20 years has reinvigorated the area, but there is still much work to do. The significant temporal and geographical spread of the Kaiserchronik's transmission as well as the existence of three different recensions (two of which were updated on linguistic, stylistic and metrical grounds) provide the basis for a variety of questions and approaches. Examples of possible topics include:
• The language of the original (in all its aspects), which has still not been examined in any detail.

• Morphological or syntactical changes introduced by recensions B and C.

• (Scribal) dialects of Middle High German.

• Vocabulary (particularly the tension between courtly and non-courtly terms, and the use of French loans).
• The metre and style of recension A in the context of Early MHG texts.
• Metrical and rhythmic developments in literary language between c.1200 and c.1250.

• A synchronic or diachronic study of any major linguistic feature on the basis of the Kaiserchronik corpus (agreement phenomena, serialization of pronouns, negation, use of genitive as object case).
PhD 2
The thesis will deal with the relationship between the Kaiserchronik and the writing of world (or universal) chronicles that flourished from the 13th century and became a dominant genre in the late Middle Ages. The rise of chronicle writing is well acknowledged, but our understanding of it is far from complete. There is good (if not abundant) work on Rudolf von Ems's Weltchronik and Heinrich von München's world chronicle compilation; less is known about the Christherre-Chronik (although recently edited) and Jans Enikel's Weltchronik. However, these popular texts, which between them amassed some 180 manuscripts, deserve much more attention than they have hitherto received from scholarship. They are, critically, the context for the C recension of the Kaiserchronik. Examples of possible topics include:
• The relationship between the Kaiserchronik C and any or all of Rudolf von Ems's Weltchronik, Christherre-Chronik and Jans Enikel's Weltchronik.

• The relationship of key manuscripts from recensions A, B, and C to specific historiographical contexts.

• An investigation of specific manuscripts and their socio-literary / historical background, e.g. Berlin Staatsbibliothek, mgf 923 Nr 12 (which combines the Kaiserchronik with Rudolf von Ems) or the 1594 Tegernsee manuscript (Munich BSB, cgm 965).
• The relationship between the Kaiserchronik and other forms of historical transmission (in Latin and the vernacular) in the late Middle Ages (annals, letters, chronicles of all sizes, legal documents).

Qualification requirements 
Candidates should hold a Master's degree (or equivalent) in a relevant subject, with a specialization in medieval German literary and / or linguistic studies, and expect to attain or have attained a mark of distinction. 

Application Procedure – 
1. Candidates may be one of two types:
a. You may already be applying/have applied for a PhD in the Department of German and Dutch, and be timing your application to meet funding deadlines such as that set for the AHRC (10 January 2014)  or
b. You may only be interested in applying for this studentship.
2a. If you have already made an application for the PhD through the Board of Graduate Studies: please email Louise Balshaw ([log in to unmask]) and provide your Application Number. Please note that applicants who have already submitted a PhD application will need to write a 500-1000 word research proposal specifically for this application, along the lines outlined above and below. 
2b. Applications from candidates who intend to apply only for this studentship should just be emailed to the Faculty of Modern & Medieval Languages and not be submitted through the Board of Graduate Studies at this stage. Completed applications should be emailed to Ms Louise Balshaw, Faculty of Modern and Medieval Languages, Sidgwick Avenue, Cambridge CB3 9DA, tel: (01223) 760823, email: [log in to unmask], by the closing date of 6 January 2014. Applications should be submitted using copies of the University graduate application form (GRADSAF), available at: http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/students/gradadmissions/prospec/apply/index.html
and include the following supporting documents: two academic references transcripts or degree certificates English Language Score Report (if English is not your first language) 500-1000 word research proposal.. Incomplete applications will not be considered. Successful candidates will then be asked to make a formal application through the Board of Graduate Studies.

In the Research Statement, candidates are required to outline their original research proposal and explain how it will fit the “Kaiserchronik” project. Applicants should specify Professor Christopher Young (history of language; [log in to unmask]) or Dr Mark Chinca (literature; [log in to unmask]) as supervisor on their application forms: both supervisors will be happy to offer further advice if needed 
Details of which documents to submit are listed on the Faculty webpages (see:
http://www.mml.cam.ac.uk/graduates/applying.html

Closing date  
Monday 6th January 2014
Interview date
Thursday 6th February 2014