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S C HW E R P U N K T 18 The project was initiated by Prof. Dr Werner Greiling as Chairperson of the Historical Commission for Thuringia and Professor of Modern History in Jena as well as Prof. Dr Uwe Schir- mer who teaches Thuringian Regional History. Five research projects which junior scientists have been entrusted with form the centrepiece. Their focus is on the school system, poverty and means of combating it, the Elector Jo- hann of Saxony, the Reformation in the country and universities in the age of the Reformation. »We are researching the social history of the late 15th and early 16th century,« says Uwe Schirmer. In concrete terms, this means the far-reaching political, social, cultural and religious upheavals triggered by the Protestant movement shaped by events in Wittenberg. Core State of the Reformation In geographical terms, the research can be confined to the Thuringian, central German area, and predominantly to Thuringia as the »core state of the Re- formation«. The researchers wish to understand the far-reaching transfor- mation processes which affected the Church and State, the judiciary and case law, towns and villages as well as schools and universities in the wake of the Reformation. New insights are to be found in old sources. True to this principle, the five doctoral students set out to search in archives, church registers and admi- nistrative records. Much of what was found portrays a new, more accurate image of everyday life at the time of the Reformation. »Some of the findings have never been presented and descri- bed in this fashion before,« Uwe Schir- mer states. For example, Julia Mandry has discovered that building on the well-organized systems in place for the poor in pre-Reformation times, efforts were made to redesign welfare for the poor, both financially and structural- ly. So-called Common Boxes played a central role in this process. Revenues from the Church’s possessions flowed into these municipal coffers. »The mo- ney from the Common Boxes was ulti- Thuringia in the century of the Reformation The Reformation is inseparably linked to the name of Martin Luther. But the focus on Luther blurs our vision of other reformers, as well as the process of the Reformation which began before Luther’s appearance and exten- ded far beyond him. »Outside Germany, people normally talk of the age of reforms rather than the Reformation«, says Dr Alexander Krünes. The historian is coordinating the research project »Thuringia in the Century of the Reformation« which will run to the end of 2017. BY STEPHAN LAUDIEN