The Department of History is one of the foremost institutes in Finland and Northern Europe for comparative studies of Ancient, Medieval and Renaissance societies. In teaching and research these periods are not approached in isolation, but with an emphasis oncomparison and long-term developments. Finland and the north of Europe during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance are seen as closely linked to the rest of Europe, and also as the inheritors of the Classical tradition in all its forms.
Regular teaching includes lectures, seminars and training courses in ancient, medieval and early modern history as well as in palaeography, historical geography and other auxiliary disciplines.
Regular seminar groups at graduate and post-graduate level were instituted for the History of the Middle Ages in 1986 and for the History of Antiquity in 1996. Studies in Latin philology and the Classical heritage are an integral part of the study program at the Department. Research training includes, at graduate level, regular courses at the Finnish Institute in Rome (Institutum Romanum Finlandiae, Villa Lante) as well as at other institutes. The national, interdisciplinary conference of Finnish medievalists, 'Dies Mediaevales', was initiated in Tampere in 1990 and has been held every two years since then. Post-graduate training includes regular participation in seminars and research groups at the Institutum Romanum Finlandiae. Since 1993 post-graduate students from our Department have annually participated in the study program 'Diplôme Européen d'Études Médiévales', organised by the F.I.D.E.M. (Fédération des Instituts d'Études Médiévales) in Rome. Regular contacts, both in research and in teaching (Erasmus- and other exchanges), have been established with institutes and universities in Scandinavia and the Baltic region, as well as in Italy, France, Germany, Hungary and other countries.
Research topics include comparative social and cultural history, the history of everyday life and mentalities, the history of childhood, family and lifespan, gender history, the history of old age and death, ancient religion and cults, the medieval cult of saints and pilgrimages, sermon studies, urban history, medieval studies and universities, communication and networks in the Baltic region, cultural and language contacts, minority groups, the development of natural and human rights, the history of the papacy, the Church and mission in northern Europe, European expansion during the Middle Ages and Renaissance, and witchcraft and religious change.
Primary sources available and used by Tampere researchers include narrative, epigraphic and other sources from Antiquity, a large collection of Acta canonizationis and other hagiographical sources, sermons, papal registers, sources connected to the late medieval Papal penitentiary, narrative and documentary sources from Scandinavia and the Baltic regions, and sources on Prague and other medieval universities.
Larger research projects, funded mainly by the Academy of Finland and ranging over several years have been carried out or are still ongoing:
The continuities and connections between Ancient and Medieval societies and comparative approaches to them have been the subject of two major international conferences at Tampere University; the first in 2003, 'Passages from Antiquity to the Middle Ages I: Family, Marriage and Death', and the second in August 2005, 'Passages from Antiquity to the Middle Ages II: Aging, Old Age and Death', as well as a thematically connected symposium, "Ancient and Medieval Childhood Reconsidered", held in January 2005 at the Institutum Romanum Finlandiae, Rome. The next international conference "Passages from Antiquity to the Middle Ages III" will again be held in Tampere and will concentrate on the relationships between different people, groups and genders, from amicus to hostis.
List of Publications
Staff Members (with homepages and individual bibliography)
