10 June 2026

Photo: CSMC

Congratulations to Karin Becker on defending her doctoral dissertation and completing her PhD in Art History! The viva voce examination took place on 8 June 2026.

Karin Becker’s dissertation, The Psalter in Use. Page Layout and Word Images in Medieval Psalter Manuscripts,  examines Latin Psalter manuscripts from medieval Christian Europe, focusing on the relationship between their visual design and devotional use. Psalters were central to the Liturgy of the Hours and were used not only in clerical and monastic settings, but also in private devotion, especially in the later Middle Ages. This study looks closely at the interaction of layout, word images, and function: some manuscripts are arranged for liturgical reading through divisions, instructions, and other structural cues, while others use pictorial elements such as historiated initials, marginal images, or illustrations placed within the text to depict specific words or verses literally. By comparing how these images appear within different page layouts, the dissertation asks how visual organisation influenced the use of the manuscripts and how word images could support or intensify ritual practice.

Karin first joined the CSMC as a research associate on the SFB project ‘The “Painting” of Writing: The Iconicity of Writing and Word Pictures in Latin Psalter Manuscripts Used in Religious Rituals’. She is now working at the President’s Office at Leuphana University of Lüneburg as a coordinator for Personnel Development for Academic Staff.