The examination of forms of expression of popularity has increasingly become the focus of cultural studies research in recent years. Based on the presence and ubiquity of popular culture - generally understood and thought of as a characteristic of modernity - this anthology is the first to fundamentally examine the applicability of the category "popular" to the Middle Ages and early modern period. Contemporary theorising on popular culture forms the starting point for the articles in this collection, which examine processes of popularisation from an interdisciplinary perspective, both on an overarching theoretical and methodological level and in the form of case studies. The focus is on visual artefacts and phenomena in particular, which are addressed in terms of their distribution, reproduction, variation and serialisation. Aspects of the politicisation of the popular, its standardising power and its anarchic potential will be addressed. Originating from a conference at the University of Koblenz-Landau, the volume contains articles by, among others: Andreas Beck, Julian Jachmann, Doris Lehmann, Michaela Ott, Anna Pawlak, Stephan Packard, Johannes Tripps, Susanne Wittekind and Lars Zieke.