Ganz selbstbewusst und dennoch ganz anders. Überlegungen zum Verhältnis von mittelalterlicher und moderner Individualität am Beispiel deutscher und italienischer Familienbücher

Fourteenth to sixteenth century Libri di Famiglia and housebooks (Hausbücher) – that of the jurist Giovanni Gaspare da Sala from Milan and the merchants Ugolino dì Nicolò Martelli and Goro Dati from Florence as well as those of Lucas Rem from Augsburg and Hermann von Weinsberg from Cologne – are analyzed in this paper. These writings are compared with high medieval autobiographical texts (Guibert von Nogent, Abaelard) and with modern autobiographies (namely Roland Barthes). At a first glance, high medieval autobiographical texts seem to be much more explicit in respect of the authors ‘self’ than the Libri di famiglia and housebooks of the late middle ages and early modern times.Drawing on theoretical approaches developed by literary studies (Literaturwissenschaften) and sociology, which suggest a different reading of our late medieval sources, not only those parts of the Libri di famiglia that explicitly deal with the authors self are taken into account. Rather, the whole book (including the notes that inform about business transactions and everyday political events) are seen as part of a self-construction. The analysis then does not only make use of these often neglected contents of the libri di famiglia and housebooks, but also looks at the form of the written text the language used. It turned out that the respective authors of the housebooks and Libri di famiglia creatively combine different styles of writing (in form as well as in content), thus documenting their self-esteem and self-consciousness.However, the overall paradigm that is revealed is that of inscribing one´s own self in society, constructing the ‘I’ as an important and outstanding part of the world (labeled ‘inclusion individuality’). Notwithstanding all differences, the late medieval autobiographical texts share this paradigm with the high medieval sources mentioned. In sharp contrast to that, modern autobiographies place the self in opposition to or even outside society, not necessarily providing it with more self-confidence, but with a completely different attitude towards the ‘I’ and very distinct concepts about the self. The reason for this is not so much seen in developments of higher self-reflection but in structures of society that provide or do not provide a place for the self in society.