Sarti is particularly interested in how mobile people were in their daily lives back then: what journeys they undertook and how often, what means of transport they used and who they were regularly in contact with. She tackles these questions at the Department of History as part of her “Mobility” project using a wide range of private letters that survive from the late Middle Ages. One example is the Paston Letters from 15th-century England, which show that frequent travel was by no means merely a courtly pursuit but was a phenomenon that involved the whole of society. In the case of the Paston family from Norfolk, for instance, husbands often worked at the royal court or in London, meaning that their wives had to travel long distances between the family’s various estates to carry out everyday tasks on their behalf.
In addition, the professor’s research includes the origins of the famous Arthurian legend from the early Middle Ages onward and its political significance in the 12th century. She also explores questions relating to the history of the early Middle Ages, such as the connections between Western Europe and the Byzantine Empire.
“The Chair of Medieval History offers excellent conditions for my work, including numerous potential starting points for future research, particularly in the fields of late Antiquity and the early Middle Ages, but also beyond that,” says Sarti of her new post. “I’m expecting to collaborate on a great many levels here, including in the Transdisciplinary Research Areas and the Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies Cluster of Excellence.”
Her path to the University of Bonn
Sarti studied history and classical archaeology at the University of Hamburg, Freie Universität Berlin, the Facultés Universitaires Saint-Louis in Brussels and the University of Luxembourg. She earned her doctorate at the University of Hamburg in 2012. This was followed by positions as a research assistant at Freie Universität Berlin and as an Akademische Rätin auf Zeit (lecturer with temporary civil servant status) at the University of Freiburg, where she completed her Habilitation in 2022. She then covered various professorships at Heidelberg University, the University of Konstanz and the University of Münster before being admitted to the Heisenberg Programme in 2024. She has been Heisenberg Professor of Medieval History at the University of Bonn since December 2025.