Stefan Weinfurter

Stefan Weinfurter (June 24, 1945 – August 27, 2018) was a German historian who researched the history of the Early and High Middle Ages.

Weinfurter held chairs in medieval history at the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt (1982–1987), the University of Mainz (1987–1994), LMU Munich (1994–1999) and Heidelberg University (1999–2013). His books, for example on the two holy emperors of the Middle Ages, Charlemagne and Henry II, on the empire in the Middle Ages or on Emperor Henry IV's road to Canossa, have been widely read. He introduced the concept of "configurations of order", which describes the coexistence and opposition of medieval orders, into the medievalist discussion. From the 1990s on, he and Bernd Schneidmüller played a leading role in almost all major medieval exhibitions in Germany. As editor of the scholarly volumes accompanying the Rhineland-Palatinate state exhibition "Das Reich der Salier 1024-1125" in Speyer in 1992 and through numerous other publications, Weinfurter proved himself to be one of the best experts on the era of the Salian emperors.

Life

Early years Stefan Weinfurter was born in 1945 in Prachatitz, South Bohemia, to Julius Weinfurter, a teacher, and his wife Renata, née Lumbe Edle von Mallonitz (1922–2008), who came from a family of lawyers. His maternal ancestor Josef Thaddeus Lumbe von Mallonitz was ennobled in 1867.Internationale Vereinigung der Edelleute: Lumbe Edle von Mallonitz. Weinfurter's father was drafted into military service during World War II and became an American prisoner. He died on May 8, 1945, the day of the German Instrument of Surrender, in the Prisoner of War camp Büderich. After being expelled from Czechoslovakia in February 1946, Weinfurter grew up with his mother in Hechendorf am Pilsensee, then in Munich and Geretsried from 1958.Renate Edle Lumbe von Mallonitz: Der letzte Herbst. Ein historischer Roman aus Böhmen. Heidelberg 2009, pp. 143–145. His Bohemian origins and family reintegration left a lasting impression on Weinfurter.Bernd Schneidmüller: Stefan Weinfurter, Reichenau, 9. Oktober 2018; Bernd Schneidmüller: Stefan Weinfurter (24.6.1945 – 27.8.2018). In: Jahrbuch der Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften für 2018. Heidelberg 2019, pp. 199–202, hier: p. 199 (online).

He graduated from the high school Karlsgymnasium in Munich in July 1966. Stefan Weinfurter then studied physics at the Technical University of Munich for one semester in 1966/67. He then began studying history, German language and literature, and education at LMU Munich in the summer semester of 1967, graduating in the summer semester of 1971. He took the proseminar in medieval history with Johannes Spörl, with whom he became a student assistant following the proseminar paper on Charles IV. In 1970 Weinfurter passed the state examination in Munich. From the winter semester of 1971/72 to the winter semester of 1972/73, he studied history and German at the University of Cologne. In 1971/72 he became an assistant to Odilo Engels. Weinfurter received his doctorate from the latter in the summer semester of 1973 with a thesis on the Salzburg bishopric reform and episcopal politics in the 12th century. From 1973 to 1974 he worked as a research assistant at the University of Cologne, and from 1974 to 1981 as an academic councilor or senior councilor. Weinfurter abandoned the originally planned habilitation project on the history of the Duchy of Bavaria in the early and high Middle Ages.Jürgen Dendorfer: Stefan Weinfürter (1945–2018). In: Zeitschrift_für_die_Geschichte_des_Oberrheins 167, 2019, pp. 425–432, hier: p. 428. In 1980 he habilitated instead in Cologne with an annotated edition of the order of life of a Limburg monastery of the regulated Canons Regular of St. Augustine from the 12th century.Consuetudines canonicorum regularivm Springirsbacenses-Rodenses. Herausgegeben von Stefan Weinfurter. Turnhout 1978. In 1981/82 he represented the chair of medieval history at the University of Heidelberg, which had become vacant due to the death of Peter Classen.

Chairs in Eichstätt, Mainz, Munich and Heidelberg In 1982, at the age of 36, he was appointed to the newly founded Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt. There he taught as a professor of regional history with special emphasis on Bavaria until 1987. In Gaimersheim, the family found their new home. His inaugural lecture in Eichstätt in November 1983 was on the history of Eichstätt in Ottonian-Salian times.Stefan Weinfurter: Sancta Aureatensis Ecclesia. Zur Geschichte Eichstätts in ottonisch-salischer Zeit. In: Zeitschrift_für_bayerische_Landesgeschichte 49, 1986, pp. 3–40 (online). During this time he deepened approaches to regional history and expanded his medieval teaching profile into Bavarian contemporary and economic history. Almost every year during this period he published an essay on the episcopal history of Eichstätt from its beginnings, the work of St. Willibald of Eichstätt in the 8th century, to the 14th century. In several years, an edition of bishops' chronicles (Gesta episcoporum) was produced in collaboration with students.Stefan Weinfurter: Die Geschichte der Eichstätter Bischöfe des Anonymus Haserensis. Edition–Übersetzung–Kommentar. Regensburg 1987. In the 1980s, intensive construction activity began in Eichstätt. The deep interventions in the historic city center exposed unique archaeological material. The find sites and the evaluation possibilities of the excavating neighboring discipline aroused his interest. Weinfurter's close collaboration with representatives of architectural history and urban archaeology developed. From 1985 to 1987 he was Dean of the Faculty of History and Social Sciences in Eichstätt. As dean, he organized the relocation of the campuses scattered throughout the city to the buildings in Universitätsallee, which were gradually ready for occupancy from 1986.Joost van Loon, Thomas Wetzstein: Nachruf Stefan Weinfurter (1945–2018), Website der Katholischen Universität Eichstätt (Memento vom 24. Dezember 2018 im Internet Archive) He was a member of the Eichstätt University Council between 2007 and 2011.

In 1987, Weinfurter accepted an appointment at the University of Mainz. As successor to Alfons Becker, he taught medieval history and auxiliary sciences of history there until 1994. During this time, his work focused on the Salian ruling dynasty of the 11th century and thus on the kingship of the German High Middle Ages. Since he was significantly involved in the organization of the large Salian exhibition in Speyer, the mediation of history also became one of his most important fields of activity. In 1993, he turned down a call to Cologne to succeed his academic teacher Engels as professor of medieval history. From 1994 to 1999, he succeeded Eduard Hlawitschka as professor of medieval history at LMU Munich. In 1996, he organized the German Historians' Conference "History as Argument" in Munich. During his time in Munich, people became the focus of his research. Weinfurter drew increasingly on pictorial sources in his research. In 1999, he published a biography of Henry II, followed by books and numerous essays on the Salian period, the Hohenstaufen dynasty, the road to Canossa and medieval imperial history.

In the fall of 1999, he was appointed to succeed Hermann Jakobs as Professor of Medieval History and Ancillary Historical Sciences at Heidelberg University. An important reason for accepting the call was the proximity to his family in Mainz.Jörg Peltzer: Stefan Weinfurter (1945–2018). In: Historische Zeitschrift 308, 2019, pp. 711–720, hier: p. 718. He gave his inaugural lecture in Heidelberg in June 2000 on configurations of order using the example of Henry III.Stefan Weinfurter: Ordnungskonfigurationen im Konflikt. Das Beispiel Heinrichs III. In: Jürgen Petersohn (Hrsg.): Mediaevalia Augiensia. Forschungen zur Geschichte des Mittelalters. Stuttgart 2001, pp. 79–100 (online). At Heidelberg University, Weinfurter's main areas of work were added to by rituals as well as cultural encounters during the Crusades. Weinfurter's move to Heidelberg University came at a time when collaborative research was becoming increasingly important as a funding instrument of the German Research Foundation. Together with Schneidmüller, Weinfurter was able to successfully exploit the new funding opportunities for Heidelberg University. This created a variety of opportunities for young scholars. As a result, Heidelberg University developed into an important center of medieval research during these years.Jürgen Dendorfer: Stefan Weinfurter (1945–2018). In: Zeitschrift für die Geschichte des Oberrheins 167, 2019, pp. 425–432, hier: p. 430. At Heidelberg University, Weinfurter was a member and subproject leader in the Collaborative Research Centres 619 "Ritual Dynamics" (until 2013) and "Material Text Cultures" (2009–2013). He also led a sub-project in the DFG Priority Program 1173 "Integration and Disintegration of Cultures in the European Middle Ages" (2005–2011). Together with Gert Melville and Bernd Schneidmüller, he directed the Heidelberg Academy project "Monasteries in the High Middle Ages. Innovation Laboratories of European Life Designs and Models of Order". From 2004 to 2006, Weinfurter served as Dean of the Faculty of Philosophy at Heidelberg University. From 1999 to 2013, he was director of the Institute for Franconian-Palatinate History and Regional Studies at Heidelberg University. On the occasion of his 65th birthday, a conference was held in Heidelberg from June 23 to 25, 2010, the contributions of which were published in 2013. Most of the individual studies deal with the development of political order and its conceptualization in the 13th century.Hubertus Seibert, Werner Bomm und Verena Türck (Hrsg.): Autorität und Akzeptanz. Das Reich im Europa des 13. Jahrhunderts. Ostfildern 2013. Vgl. dazu die Besprechung von Richard Engl in: Zeitschrift_für_historische_Forschung 43, 2016, pp. 359–361. He became emeritus professor at Heidelberg University in 2013. Under Weinfurter's supervision as an academic teacher, 16 dissertations were completed.Betreuung von Promotions- und Habilitationsarbeiten (Erstgutachten). His most important academic students included Stefan Burkhardt, Jürgen Dendorfer, Jan Keupp and Thomas Wetzstein. From January 2013, Weinfurter was head of the Research Center for History and Cultural Heritage (FGKE) at the Villa Poensgen in Heidelberg, and from September 1, 2013, he was a senior professor at Heidelberg University.

Weinfurter was married from 1970. He remained a resident of Mainz even while teaching at LMU Munich and Heidelberg University. He had been particularly fascinated by the cities and imperial cathedrals in Speyer, Worms and Mainz. He died of heart failure at home in Mainz on August 27, 2018, at the age of 73.Michael Bonewitz: Nachruf auf den Historiker Stefan Weinfurter. In: Echo Online, 6. September 2018; Jörg Peltzer: Stefan Weinfurter (1945–2018). In: Historische Zeitschrift 308, 2019, pp. 711–720, hier: p. 720. He left behind a wife, three daughters, and seven grandchildren.Bernd Schneidmüller: Stefan Weinfurter (24. 6. 1945–27. 8. 2018). In: Jahrbuch der Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften für 2018. Heidelberg 2019, pp. 199–202, hier: p. 202 (online).

Research focus