Seminar für Mittlere und Neuere Geschichte

Welcome to the website of the Department of Medieval and Modern History!

News from SMNG

Celebration to mark the 150th anniversary

This year, the Department of Medieval and Modern History is celebrating 150 years of historical scholarship in Göttingen! To mark this special occasion, we cordially invite you to the anniversary event on 3 June 2026 in the Aula am Wilhelmsplatz. Under the title ‘Historical Academic Culture(s) in and beyond Göttingen’, lecturers from the SMNG will present interesting contributions, accompanied by musical interludes and a celebratory reception. You can view the full programme flyer here. All students, staff and interested parties are warmly invited to celebrate this very significant anniversary of the department and to come together to discuss research and teaching in history. Please register by 15 May 2026 at Jana.Dreischulte@uni-goettingen.de.

Prof. Dr Gerd Schwerhoff will deliver this year’s Annual Lecture

This year’s Annual Lecture 2026 will take place on 18 June. On this occasion, Senior Professor Gerd Schwerhoff from TU Dresden will give a lecture on the topic: „Verfluchte Götter und geschmähte Gemeinschaften. Von einer Geschichte der Blasphemie zur Analyse gegenwärtiger Polaritäten“. Anyone interested is warmly invited to attend the lecture, followed by a get-together!

Award for Sarah von Hagen’s doctoral thesis

Sarah von Hagen was awarded first place in the Military and Military Technology History Prize, organised by the Federal Office for Equipment, Information Technology and Use of the Bundeswehr (BAAINBw), for her doctoral thesis *Maritime Powers: The Battle in the Atlantic Wars 1665–1783*. The prize is worth €10,000 and was awarded in Potsdam at the end of November. You can find more details about the award here.

Colloquia

From Monday, 16 February 2026, it will be the lecture-free period and no research colloquia will take place.