Johann Friedrich Schannat erlernt die Praktiken der (kirchen-)historischen Gelehrsamkeit

All practices of erudition are related to «epistemic virtues», meaning a reference frame for scholars defining how to interact with their objects and their social environment. If this assumption holds true for all members of the Res publica literaria, it does so even more for those who, in dealing with ecclesiastical history, are part of an institutional framework that elevates some of those practices and virtues to a normative level. Often situated between these poles, learned correspondences testify to the learning and application, but also to the refusal and questioning of such virtues and practices. Viewed from this theoretical basis, the presented paper offers a selective analysis of the correspondence of Johann Friedrich Schannat (1683–1739), a scholar from Luxembourg who entered the services of various ecclesiastical dignitaries (Fulda, Worms, Prague), thereby becoming an «itinerant» church historian: Not bound by long-lasting ties to a specific archive or library, or to an individual environment of patronage, Schannat was required to constantly re-adapt his repertoire of practices and virtues. Depending on the position of the correspondence partner, his framework of reference could assume different intellectual and social characteristics, as illustrated by his correspondences with the Baron Crassier, the Maurist Martène and the Austrian Benedictine scholar Bernhard Pez.