Dorothea Weltecke

Dorothea Weltecke is Professor of European History of the Middle Ages at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, where she has held the chair since 2021. Previously, she served as Chair of Medieval History II at Goethe-Universität Frankfurt (2017–2021) and Chair of History of Religions at Universität Konstanz (2007–2017). Her academic foundation includes a PhD summa cum laude from Freie Universität Berlin (2000), supported by the Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes.

Her research explores transcultural religious dynamics in medieval Afro-Eurasia, with emphases on:

• Interactions between Jews, Christians, and Muslims
• Syriac Christian traditions and religious deviance
• Historiography of religious plurality and violence
• Comparative studies of pre-modern religious systems

Her publications consistently address the complexity of medieval religious landscapes, analyzing themes like atheism, interfaith contact, and violence across monographs and edited volumes. Recent works investigate the emergence of distinct religions in the Middle Ages and systemic religious violence.

She has received significant recognition, including:

• Germany's largest DFG individual grant (POLYP project, 2019)
• Senior Fellowships at Historisches Kolleg München (2019–2020) and Kulturwissenschaftliches Kolleg Konstanz (2013–2014)
• Ernst-Reuter-Preis for outstanding doctoral research (2001)

She directs collaborative projects like DAMASt, a digital system for analyzing multi-religious constellations, and leads editorial roles for journals including Entangled Religions and The Medieval Chronicle.