The projects in the "Textual Networks and Cultures of Translation" working group examine multilingual textual sources, which are analysed using historical methods in close cooperation with the respective linguistics, philologies and literary studies. The multilingual textual material represents currently one of the most important research topics in interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary medieval research. It allows us to gain valuable insights into complex processes of identity formation and transformation in individuals and social groups, and into the dynamics of theological and political discourses in which social perspectives on the future were negotiated. An integral part of the research work of the working group is the development of primary sources - source editions, codicological and historical studies. The majority of the multilingual texts of the Latin Middle Ages were written in the field of tension between theology and Christian catechesis, and their transmission is often very extensive and complicated. An important part of the research work is therefore comparative studies, in which translations of the most widespread texts are analysed in their individual linguistic variants.

The methodological and theoretical basis for a transdisciplinary approach to the multilingual source material is constantly being developed and the field of research expanded. The most important building blocks of the research approach in the working group are concepts of social identity formation, the theory and practice of translation in the Middle Ages, cultures of reading and the formation of interpretative communities. The language of theological discourse is analysed in its political dimension, as such it represents a bridge between the reflection of the past and the understanding of the present.

The textual material researched in the individual projects is ideally suited for the research, development and testing of various tools and methods of digital humanities, including AI, especially the tools of automatic recognition of handwritten texts and automatic recognition of text reuse, both areas that are of key importance for the further development of medieval studies and will help to shape the field in the near future. The exploration of tools within the digital humanities is continuously integrated into the supervision of project development, which is carried out at many levels within the group, from undergraduate students to senior postdocs.

The core work of the working group concerns the multilingual sources of the Latin Middle Ages; it is always considered in the context of global history. Intra- and inter-institutional co-operation finds productive expression in the Cluster of Excellence Eurasian Transformations, in which the working group is strongly involved.