Prof. Maria Pia Alberzoni, Università Cattolica, Milano;
Prof. Dr. Jochen Johrendt, Wuppertal
During the Covid-period, many have suffered from being “locked up” within their own four walls. We know, even from the past, how important it is to move in public. Even in the Middle Ages, in this “consensus society”, visibility and performance were exceptionally important. Without a community that could witness the act, it ran the risk of not happening. Secrecy was therefore perceived with unease in the community, and historiography has long focused precisely on the elements pertaining to the “public”. However, the conscious exclusion of the public sphere was by no means unknown in the Middle Ages. Even in this period, situations were created in which exclusivity was sought. The purpose of these encounters is, precisely, to cast a glance beyond these deliberately closed doors, behind which consultations and agreements often took place, which made it possible, later on, to stage the great performance, this time in public.