Project description
Singing devotion: medieval offices of saint abbesses
Many medieval rhymed liturgical chants dedicated to saint abbesses from the Southern Low Countries remain understudied despite their artistic sophistication. Supported by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the FUNDATRICES project aims to uncover how the legacies of these women were reshaped through religious music centuries after their deaths. By publishing modern editions and conducting interdisciplinary analysis of neglected manuscripts, the project will bring these sources to light and reassess the authority, influence and representation of women in medieval religious communities. FUNDATRICES’ goal is to contribute to international scholarship on medieval chant, sainthood and gender while promoting Belgium’s cultural heritage and the broader European context.
Objective
This project investigates medieval rhymed offices (liturgical chants in verse) composed in honor of saint abbesses from the Southern Low Countries during the late Middle Ages. Its central aim is to uncover how these women and their legacies were interpreted, celebrated, and reshaped through religious music centuries after their deaths. An original creation of the medieval period, rhymed offices are often artistically sophisticated, with elaborate poetic and musical structures, and multiple layers of meaning. Despite their significance, many of the surviving sources, both manuscripts and early printed editions, remain largely unstudied in both their textual and musical dimensions. FUNDATRICES will bring these sources to light, contributing to current efforts within medieval studies to reassess the roles, agency, and representation of women, particularly within religious communities. Focusing on this under-explored genre, the project advances interdisciplinary research at the intersection of musicology, literary studies, and the history of written culture. Rhymed offices will be approached as complex cultural creations shaped by devotional practices and institutional contexts. A key aspect of the project is making these sources available to the scholarly community through the publication of modern editions of selected rhymed offices, accompanied by a holistic analysis from literary, historical, and musical perspectives. Through the recovery and analysis of this neglected repertoire, FUNDATRICES will make a significant contribution to international scholarship on medieval chant, sainthood and gender, while also promoting the cultural heritage of Belgium and the broader European context. Hosted at the research center Pratiques médiévales de l’écrit at the University of Namur, the project will equip the researcher with advanced academic and transferable skills, supporting her long-term development and contribution to teaching and the promotion of cultural heritage.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
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CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
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Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
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Call for proposal
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Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2025-PF
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
5000 Namur
Belgium
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.