Richard Schlag

Research Topic

'Local Conflict and the Consolidation of the Imperial Government in the Holy Roman Empire, c. 1460-1490' 

My research analyses the interplay between local conflicts and the central imperial government in the 15th century Holy Roman Empire. It focuses in particularly on the final decades of the reign of Emperor Friedrich III of Habsburg during which major conflicts overlapped with significant changes in the reach an effectiveness of the emperor's regime. I am interested in the ways in which individual and collective interests, identities, and discourses shaped interactions with political networks and governmental structures and processes. I am also broadly interested in strategies of communication and negotiation and their private and public dimensions. 

Supervisor: Professor John Watts