Max Grund (left) and Gerald Grajcarek (right).

On Sunday, 26 September 2021, Max Grund, ROOTS doctoral candidate of the ROOTS subcluster Urban (link), was honoured with the biennial grant of the Dr.-Gregorius-Mättig-Stiftung for his PhD project “Kleinstädtisches Wirtschaften im Spätmittelalter / The Economics of Late Medieval Towns – Businesses and their Protection by the Use of City Books”. The award ceremony took place at a festive service in the St. Peter Cathedral of Bautzen.
The foundation awards its grant for excellent research in the regional history of Upper Lusatia. Founded in 1650 by the physician and alderman Gregorius Mättig (1585-1650) in Bautzen, the Dr.-Gregorius-Mättig-Stiftung supports pupils, students and the local library. It was one of the most important charitable foundations in premodern Saxony. After the liquidation of the foundation after WWII in 1949, it was re-established by descendants of Gregorius Mättig in 2007.
In his project, Max Grund evaluates the use of textuality in questions of economic practices. He examines different late medieval city books of Upper and Lower Lusatian towns by investigating entries, user groups and the marks of trust and mistrust within the texts of the books.