Biography
My name is Nils Bock. I am a medieval historian specialising in the political and social history of late medieval Europe. My research examines how power, resources, and communication shaped the scope for action in past societies. I combine cultural-historical perspectives with the analysis of material and institutional practices – from courtly culture and diplomacy to financial practices and symbolic orders. Methodologically, my work adopts comparative and relational approaches, with a particular focus on the entanglements between France, the Holy Roman Empire, and Italy. I am committed to fostering European scholarly collaboration – especially Franco-German exchange – as well as the reflective use of digital tools.
Research Interests:
- Courtly culture, diplomacy, and forms of communication
- Financial practices, risk, and trust
- Heraldry and visual orders as social practice
- Digital modelling of historical relationships
- Entanglement and relationship history (FRA–DEU–ITA)
- Burgundy: Power, Diplomacy, and Presence
Negotiation, proximity, and symbolic practices of political communication at princely courts. - Financial Practices and Political Culture around 1300
Credit, risk, and trust as instruments of political governance between the French monarchy, the papacy, and Florentine bankers. - Heraldry as Social Practice
Coats of arms as media of identity, status, memory, and performative presence. - Digital Research Infrastructures
Development and analysis of collaborative data models to make scholarly knowledge spaces visible.
Approach:
My work is source-driven and analytical. I am interested in how social relationships were created and negotiated through rituals, objects, documents, and spatial presence. The combination of detailed case studies with broader historical contexts is central to my research.
Research and Public Engagment:
I understand scholarship as a dialogical practice. In my teaching, I encourage independent thinking, critical source analysis, and collaborative project formats. I use academic communication and digital forms of mediation deliberately to make research visible and accessible.