In the research debate on Marian devotion, the discrepancy between the worldwide significance of the cult and the narrow source base on which it can rely is emphasised almost habitually. Although the biblically attested knowledge about the Mother of God establishes important cornerstones of devotion (e.g. the virgin birth), it nevertheless only forms the core of a rapidly establishing tradition of knowledge that is constantly influenced by new regional interpretations. However, it is not only a question of which image of the Virgin Mary develops in a particular place at a given time and which interests play a role in this. It is also always the procedures with the help of which this specific knowledge is established and argumentatively secured.

The project examines the genesis and transmission of knowledge about Mary using the example of the Marian songs of the so-called Monk of Salzburg, which have not yet been comprehensively recognised in Old German studies research. The poet-composer was active at the court of Salzburg Archbishop Pilgrim II in the late 14th century. The songs attributed to him were therefore composed at a time when Marian devotion was at its height, but when this exalted veneration of the Virgin was also subject to initial criticism in an effort to bring the Christian faith back to its actual central figure, the Saviour Jesus Christ. It is therefore not only necessary to clarify how the songs position themselves within this discussion. Against this background, the examination of the literary procedures used by the songs to articulate their position also takes on a new significance, as they are possibly intended to ward off contemporary criticism of the position expressed.

The interest in the literary constitution of the songs is further intensified by the fact that the Mönch corpus as a whole is formally striking: the Mönch von Salzburg is considered to be the first German-language poet known by name who drew extensively on the Latin sacred song poetry of the Middle Ages. His 49 sacred songs are predominantly translations or contrafacts (i.e. new versions of existing melodies) of Latin hymns and sequences that can be sung to the original melodies. Some of the models are probably also borrowed from the tradition of Bohemian cantiones (strophic songs). Especially in its breadth, this recourse to Latin lyric poetry represents an innovative element in vernacular sacred song poetry around 1400, which the monk seems to have consciously exhibited: Many of the regular translations are very close to Latin, thus allowing the original linguistic quality of the source text to shine through (e.g. through loan translations). The intended singability also implies the adaptation of the stanzaic structure, which the reproductions generally repeat down to the formal details (prelude rules, number of syllables, rhyme scheme). In addition, the monk also adopted typical decorative elements of Latin song art (such as the abecedarium or acrostic) for those songs that he composed and wrote freely: The rhetorical showpiece of the corpus, the Guldein Abc (G 1), is thus 'Latinised', as it were, although it was evidently composed without recourse to a Latin model.

Overall, the project aims to describe the character of the use of the Marian hymns - i.e. the question of form, content and function - from a decidedly interdisciplinary perspective that combines Germanic, piety-historical and cultural-historical interests. The study is based on the question of how the songs attributed to the monk and the knowledge about the Mother of God presented in them can be interpreted against the background of the turn to Latin song art. In this respect, the monk's mode of transmission, which often aims at formal imitation, becomes a starting point for me to ask about the overall meaning of the songs.