Michael Matheus

Michael Matheus (born 27 March 1953 in Graach) is a German historian.

Born in 1953 in Graach (Mosel). After acquiring his university entrance qualification at the Friedrich Wilhelm High School in Trier, he studied History, Political Science, and German at the universities of Trier, Bonn, and Münster. After passing the state examination and completing his doctorate (1981), Matheus worked as a research associate in the Department of Medieval History at Trier University. From 1986 to 1988, he was in receipt of a scholarship from the German Research Foundation (DFG) and the German Historical Institute in Rome.

In 1990, Matheus received his postdoctoral lecturing qualification in Medieval History and Historical Regional Studies from Trier University. In 1990/91, he was a guest lecturer at the German Historical Institute in Rome and also taught at the Sapienza University of Rome. After working as a lecturer at Trier University in 1993, Matheus was appointed Professor of Medieval History at the University GHS Essen.

In 1994, he was appointed to the Chair of Medieval and Early Modern History and Comparative Regional History at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz and became Director of Section III at the Department of History; from 1994 to 2003 and again since 2013, he was also first Chairman and Director of the Institute of Historical Regional Studies at Mainz University. From 2002 to 2012, he was Director of the German Historical Institute in Rome. Since 2011, Professor Dr. Matheus has been one of the directors of the Roman Institute of the Görres Society (RIGG). He has again been working as a professor and Director of the Medieval and Early Modern History and Comparative Regional History section at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz since 2012. In 2013 he was elected president of the German Study Center in Venice (Deutsches Studienzentrum in Venedig).

Specific research interests: Comparatist studies of the history of Germany and Italy in the high and late middle ages in the following research areas: the history of rural and urban settlements, the history of wine, the history of education and universities, the history of technology, the history of hospitals and welfare institutions, the history of pilgrims, the history of national research cultures in a European context. Frequently, these studies consider processes of cultural transfer, of interconnection, of networking and of perception.

In 2013 the German publishing house Schnell & Steiner published a Festschrift for Michael Matheus in German language, describing the stations of his life and honouring his merits for the historical sciences.

Links

• Literature by and about Michael Matheus in the German National Library catalogue
• Profile of Michael Matheus at the University of Mainz
• Literature by Michael Matheus in the Regesta Imperii catalogue