Matthias M. Tischler, born 1968 in Münchberg (Germany), studied Medieval and Modern History, Applied Historical Sciences, Latin and Romance Philology, Philosophy, Theology and Islamic Studies at the Universities of Heidelberg, Munich and Frankfurt. He obtained his PhD in Heidelberg (1998). After holding PostDoc positions at Paris (DHI) and Bamberg, he was an Assistant Professor at Frankfurt (2001–2009). After his habilitation at Dresden (2008/2009), he was Associate Professor (2009/2012), Senior Research Fellow at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) (2013/2014) and Research Group Leader at the Austrian Academy of Sciences (IMAFO) in Vienna (2015/2016). He was a Visiting Professor of the ÉPHÉ in Paris (2015) and a Senior Research Fellow at the Medieval Institute of the University of Notre Dame, USA (2016). In 2016 he accepted a position at ICREA at the Department of Ancient and Medieval Studies of the UAB, which he has held since January 1, 2017.

Research interests

My studies are raising the question about the geographical, linguistic, religious, cultural and mental borders of the multi-layered legacy in the centres and peripheries of the Medieval Worlds. First, I have analyzed the Europe-wide intellectual attraction and radiance of the Parisian abbey of Saint-Victor in the mirror of its exegetical and theological production, focusing on the German, Anglo-Saxon, French, Italian and Hispanic areas. Then, I have broadened my panorama to reconstruct European religious and intellectual identities by conducting extensive research on texts of Christian-Muslim encounters and perceptions in Europe. On this basis, I have been able to pursue studies on early Christian polemics against Islam, on the linguistic and religious borders between Christians, Jews and Muslims, and on processes of religious and cultural passages, entanglement and dis/integration among the members of the three monotheisms, especially in the Carolingian and Iberian Worlds.