Ph.D. Hannah Potthoff
Biography
Hannah Potthoff is a postdoctoral researcher in the RECOGNISING SAINTS project at the Department of Medieval History at the University of Warsaw.
After completing her B.A. in Cultural Studies and History at Universität Potsdam in 2017, she studied Global History at Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität. There, she obtained her M.A. in 2021 with a thesis on medieval fashion history in Italy, titled „Late Medieval Fashion. Sumptuary Laws and Bologna’s bollatura 1401.“ During her studies, Hannah spent Erasmus semesters in Luxembourg, Genoa, and Milan.
Hannah Potthoff obtained her Ph.D. from Technische Universität Chemnitz in 2025, as part of the project „Belliphonic in the Middle Ages“, focusing on sensory history and war soundscapes in the high Middle Ages. Her thesis is titled „Krieg erzählen, Krieg hören. Narrative Belliphonie im Hochmittelalter“ (Narrating War, Hearing War. Narrated Belliphonic in the High Middle Ages).
She has taught at Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.
Her research focuses on the cultural history of the Middle Ages, particularly fashion, literary, and gender history.
Most important scholarly articles
„Ritter und Rüstung. Berufsbekleidung und Identität im mittelhochdeutschen Artusroman.” In: Kostüm und Kostümierung: Von theatralen, sozialen und technologischen Dimensionen des Rollentauschs, ed. Loredana Columbo and Selina Seibel (in print).
„Ritter werden – Ritter sein. Der mittelalterliche Krieger zwischen Ausbildung und Ideal.“ In: Erziehung, Ausbildung und Bildung im Militär von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart, ed. Isabelle Deflers, Julia Kurig, and Marcus Stiebing (in print).
„Zwischen Kampf und Klage: Frauen(-figuren) in der narrativen Belliphonie der höfischen Literatur (c. 1150-1250).“ In: Der Sound des Krieges, ed. Martin Clauss, Gundula Gahlen, and Oliver Janz. Frankfurt a.M. 2025, pp. 291-313.
https://campus.de/wissenschaft/geschichte/der-sound-des-krieges/CAM46234„Sumptuous Laws – Sumptuous Clothing? Trends in European Luxury and Fashion According to Medieval Sumptuary Legislation.“ In: El lujo. Moda y tejidos a lo largo de la historia, ed. Sílvia Ventosa Muñoz and Sílvia Rosés Castellsaguer. Barcelona 2025, pp. 40-44.
https://historiadeldisseny.org/en/edicions/proceedings-of-the-5th-colloquium-of-researchers-in-textile-and-fashion-el-lujo-en-los-tejidos-y-la-moda/