Institute for Medieval Studies
IMC 2012: Last minute call for papers
Below is a list of two-paper sessions which still require a third paper.
If you would like to propose a paper for any of the sessions please send your paper to us via email noting the session you have applied for at the top of your message. If we have included contact details for the organiser, please contact them first to discuss your paper.
Session details
Session | 105 |
| Title | 13th-Century Ways to Health |
| Date/Time | Monday 9 July 2012: 11.15-12.45 |
| Organiser | IMC Programming Committee |
| Moderator/Chair | Catherine Rider, Department of History, University of Exeter |
| Paper 105-a | L'amitié spirituelle comme fondement de la saintété dans les vitae de Marie d'Oignies (1213) et de Julienne du Mont Cornillon (1258) (Language: Français) Ana Paula Lopes Pereira, Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro / Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro |
| Abstract | Paper -a:
Aux XIIe et XIIIe siècles se dessine dans la chrétienté occidentale un changement concernant la perception spirituelle du laïcat. L'une des conséquences de la transformation et de la complexification du système de valeurs socio-religeux est l'essor des mouvements pieux volontaires hétérodoxes ou situés dans les franges de l'orthodoxie. Dans les vitae de Marie d'Oignies (1213) et de Julienne du Mont-Cornillon (1258) la Charité vécue comme amitié spirituelle est l'élément constitutif de leur saintété, mais aussi l'élément structurant de la narrative. Nous voulons montrer que le récit hagiographique apparaît ici comme un essai de systématisation du comportement humain ayant pour but comprendre la Charité absolue chez ces femmes pieuses dans ce qu'elle a d'essentiel comme composante d'une anthropologie augustinienne fondée sur l'identification entre amour et volonté et où affectus est synonyme de voluntas cordis. |
Session | 104 |
| Title | Astrology, Prediction, and Bi-Location in Medieval Philosophy and Theology |
| Date/Time | Monday 9 July 2012: 11.15-12.45 |
| Organiser | IMC Programming Committee |
| Moderator/Chair | Pavel Blažek, Filosofický ústav, Akademie věd České republiky, Praha |
| Paper 104-a | Divine Will versus Natural Law in John of Salisbury's Policraticus (Language: English) Lola Sharon Davidson, Independent Scholar, Sydney |
| Paper 104-b | Saving the Phenomenon: Astrology and Free Will in the Theology of Albert the Great and Thomas Aquinas (Language: English) Scott Hendrix, Department of History, Carroll University, Wisconsin |
| Abstract | Paper -a:
John devotes an entire book of his treatise on government, the Policraticus, to the subject of prediction, particularly dream interpretation. That he should pay this issue such attention points not only to the perrenial popularity of fortune-telling in courts but more importantly to changing ideas of the natural world in the 12th century. John is acutely conscious of the challenge posed to Christian faith by the emerging view of the natural world as a mechanistic entity operating in accordance with its own rules. Fortune-tellers are not merely frivolous distractions but an affront to God's governance of the world. Paper -b: Perhaps the most important 'rule' for medieval theologians was the inviolability of free will; without such freedom, how could anyone be guilty of sin? It was for this reason that the rising interest in predictive astrology in the universities of the 12th and 13th centuries generated so much angst, as predictions of the future seemed to invalidate free will. Yet this discipline was simply too useful to ignore. My study explores the compromise position arrived at by Albertus Magnus and his protégé, Thomas Aquinas, demonstrating the important ways in which these two men both agreed and differed with one another. |
Session | 816 |
| Title | At the Edge of Rules: Jesters, Visionaries, and Sorcerers |
| Date/Time | Tuesday 10 July 2012: 16.30-18.00 |
| Organiser | IMC Programming Committee |
| Moderator/Chair | Jörg Sonntag, Sächsische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Leipzig |
| Paper 816-a | Out of Rules: 'Jester's Miracle' as a Paradigm of Social Revenge (Language: English) Stefano Martinelli, Università di Pisa |
| Paper 816-b | 'Quanto secretior tanto melior': Secret Rules of a Sorcerer (Language: English) Lauri Ockenström, Department of Music, Art & Culture Studies, University of Jyväskylä |
| Abstract | Paper -a:
During the Middle Ages, the Church openly kept a hostile attitude to the social category of jesters. The disapproval was of a moral kind, since the Church recognized that jesters were the essence of perdition, corruption of morals, and earthly frivolity. In the ecclesiastical sources the jester is defined turpis, that is misshapen. His deformity is both physical and moral: it refers not only to the alteration of jester's physique due to the unnatural gesticulating he made during the shows, but also to his moral degradation that lowered him to the level of beasts. The jester was subhuman, so that he could not even be enumerated among sinners, who kept the hope of redemption. On the contrary, he was barred from any possibility of salvation. Between the 12th and 13th centuries, poor jesters became protagonists of miracles involving statues and images of the Virgin, like the famous Notre-Dame de Rocamadour and also the Volto Santo of Lucca, one of the best known christological images of the West. 'Jester's miracles' were very popular, both in literature and figurative arts, through late medieval Europe and became the paradigm of the social revenge of the entire category. The analogies between these tales invite a comparative study, since they reveal the real importance of jesters in medieval society. Paper -b: From the 13th century on a tiny but inspiring group of astrologically orientated spellbooks circulated in Western Europe underneath the surface of Catholic rule. Treatises like the Picatrix and Thebits's De imaginibus, usually translated from Arabic into Latin and transcribed in rather gloomy manuscripts, offered detailed instructions for fabrication of diverse magical figures or images for varying purposes. The amulets were applied widely in fields of everyday life from politics, warfare, economics, agriculture, and hunting to more private sectors of welfare, health, love, and sexuality. In every case the image magic was determined by codes and rules, including exact astrological timings and strict iconographical instructions based on demands of similitude. The most important rule was the requirement of keeping the instructions secret, which seem to reflect the animistic anxiety that magic would lose its efficacy if practiced openly. |
Session | 724 |
| Title | Between Heresy and Condemnation |
| Date/Time | Tuesday 10 July 2012: 14.15-15.45 |
| Organiser | IMC Programming Committee |
| Moderator/Chair | Anna Pegoretti, School of Languages, Cultures & Societies - Italian, University of Leeds |
| Paper 724-a | Cave hic: New Rules for Reading al-Ghazali in the Latin West (Language: English) Anthony Minnema, Howard College, Samford University |
| Abstract | Paper -a:
Latin translations of Muslim philosophy came under scrutiny in the late 13th century. In 1277, Stephen Tempier condemned the teaching of 219 philosophical doctrines, many of which originated from these translations. Giles of Rome also compiled a list of the errors of Arabic philosophers around 1270. Historians debate these condemnations' effects on the writings of later scholars, but there is less discussion on how these new rules affected the reading of Islamic philosophy. I argue that manuscripts containing a translation of al-Ghazali's Aims of the Philosophers shed light on how the condemnations entered into reading practices after the 13th century. |
Session | 505 |
| Title | Childhood and Disability: Caring, Diagnosing, and Legislating |
| Date/Time | Tuesday 10 July 2012: 09.00-10.30 |
| Organiser | IMC Programming Committee |
| Moderator/Chair | Iona McCleery, Institute for Medieval Studies / School of History, University of Leeds |
| Paper 505-a | Caring for Children in Late Medieval Montpellier (Language: English) Lucie Laumonier, Department of History, University of Calgary |
| Paper 505-b | The King and the Court Jester: Henry IV of Trastámara and a Case for Autism Spectrum Disorder (Language: English) Byron Warner, University of Maryland University College |
| Abstract | Paper -a:
The history of orphans and abandoned children is often focused on institutional responses to this societal issue. The case of the French city Montpellier is not much different and historians have written about the way in which the city council took care of its youngest in distress. The expression of 'caritas' was also shared by the Montpelliérains themselves. Archival evidence shows that circulation of children between members of families, motivated by the loss of parents, was frequent in the late Middle Ages. Moreover, strangers also took care of infants and children who became isolated by the 14th and 15th crisis. Paper -b: Castile's last Trastámara monarch, Henry IV (1454-74), has historically been considered one of kingdom's most maligned rulers, and his reign, one of its least fruitful. Since the celebrated endocrinologist Gregorio Marañón's ex post facto diagnosis of acromegalic eunuchoidism to explain Henry's bizarre behaviors as they are described in the chronicles, medical science has become an area of interest for scholars interested in the king's reign. Using a combination of historical sources and contemporary psychological studies, this paper brings new answers (and questions) to the table in an exploration of the possibility that Henry IV may have suffered from an Autism Spectrum Disorder. |
Session | 218 |
| Title | Compatibility of Rules Systems |
| Date/Time | Monday 9 July 2012: 14.15-15.45 |
| Organiser | IMC Programming Committee |
| Moderator/Chair | Paul Knoll, Department of History, University of Southern California |
| Paper 218-a | The Effect of Rules, Customs, and Traditions on Politogenesis in Early Medieval England and Ancient Russia (Language: English) Alexander Yerokhin, Bryansk State University, Russia |
| Paper 218-b | New Authority, New Rules: King of Poland Casimir Jagiellon towards Former Subjects of the Teutonic Order in Prussia (1454-1492) (Language: English) Beata Możejko, Instytut Historii, Uniwersytet Gdański |
| Abstract | Paper -a:
The rules, customs, and traditions played an important role in the formation and establishment of the state in early medieval England and ancient Russia. Legal practice which developed as a source of law and rules of conduct contributed to strengthening of state, and defended the state system, as well as the governor. Set at the state level, rules led to the legitimization and hierarchization of the current government. Social rules defined social structure, decision-making procedures and the most important characteristics of control over political processes. Conclusions of compared rules, customs and traditions of early medieval England and ancient Russia, will be presented at the conference. Paper -b: King of Poland Casimir Jagiellon, as a result of the war (1454-1466) and with the support of the local gentry and burgesses, conquered a new territory which had been a significant part of the Teutonic Order lands in Prussia. The conquered territory known as Royal Prussia included the area of Gdańsk Pomerania, Chełmno Land, and Warmia. The subject of the presentation is going to be the relation between the Polish authority and the new subjects, with special attention to introducing new laws and rules, creating new offices on the pattern of the Polish ones and the conflict regarding the autonomy and staffing of formerly Teutonic and now royal castles (including the most important one – Malbork). The analysis will focus on new rules of economic freedom for towns (for example Gdańsk) and burgesses, as well as retaining the autonomy in Hanza. |
Session | 309 |
| Title | Cultural Codes and Their Impact on Narrative Structures |
| Date/Time | Monday 9 July 2012: 16.30-18.00 |
| Organiser | IMC Programming Committee |
| Moderator/Chair | Siegrid Schmidt, Interdisziplinäres Zentrum für Mittelalter und Frühneuzeit (IZMF), Paris-Lodron-Universität Salzburg |
| Paper 309-a | Der Giftmord Ginovers: Gesetze und Regeln einer untergehenden Welt (Language: Deutsch) Stefan Merl, Universität Wien |
| Paper 309-b | When Women Speak Like Men: About the Speeches of Crossdressed Female Characters in the Literature of the Germanophone Middle Ages (Language: English) Philine Kowalski, Universität Wien |
| Abstract | Paper -a:
Im deutschen Prosalancelot ist das Leben der Protagonisten von einer Vielzahl von weltlichen und geistlichen Regeln gekennzeichnet, an denen sie sich orientieren können und die ihr Zusammenleben ordnen. Nachdem jedoch der Gralsheld Galaad die Gralsaventiure zu einem Ende gebracht hat, scheinen die Figuren plötzlich orientierungslos und sich nicht mehr sicher zu sein, welche Regeln gelten, was Ginover leidvoll erfahren muss, als sie unwissentlich einem Ritter vergiftetes Obst reicht, wodurch dieser zu Tode kommt. Ginover wird darauf des Mordes bezichtigt, doch ist sich am Hof niemand sicher, ob sie Regeln und Gesetze brach oder nicht bzw. Ob sie schuld ist. Paper -b: There is a wide range of behaviour norms for men and women inscribed in the literature of the germanophone Middle Age, one being the only ostensibly distinguishing dress code. The dress code offers the possibility for the literary characters to externally take on another sex. But what happens if women dressed up as men – often as knights – start to speak? In my presentation, I will analyse the speech of crossdressed female characters and show that they speak differently when speaking as women than when speaking as men and will further reflect the consequences concerning the speech act theory of the “masculine” speeches. |
Session | 705 |
| Title | Daily Life and Mentalities in the Catalan Counties (9th-12th Centuries) |
| Date/Time | Tuesday 10 July 2012: 14.15-15.45 |
| Sponsor | Grup de Recerca Consolidat en Estudis Medievals 'Espai, poder i cultura', Universitat de Lleida |
| Organiser | Fernando Arnó, Departament d'Història, Universitat de Lleida |
| Moderator/Chair | Flocel Sabaté Curull, Grup de Recerca Consolidat en Estudis Medievals 'Espai, Poder i Cultura', Universitat de Lleida |
| Paper 705-a | The Paradigm of the Bishop of Urgell, Guillem Guifré: Bandit or Man of His Time? (Language: English) Jaume Camats, Universitat de Lleida / Universidad Nacional Educación a Distancia |
| Paper 705-b | Follow St Benedict or the Family's Interests: Insertion of Young Nobles in the Ecclesiastical Institutions in Catalonia in the 9th-11th Centuries (Language: English) Fernando Arnó, Departament d'Història, Universitat de Lleida |
| Abstract | This session is intended to approaching the social, political and economic in the Catalan counties (9th-12th centuries) from a perspective of social history and history of mentalities. We observe that historiographical level, this period has been widely discussed in political and institutional level and are becoming more publications dedicated to the history of lineages and local history. However, missing are studies that propose the analysis of the individual motivations, concerns and actions of those who were part of society. We linked this objective to the theme of IMC 2012, 'Rules to Follow (or Not)', to analyzing the difficulties and life experiences that would mean for those people to attach into a society increasingly regulated and with an evolution. |
Session | 1711 |
| Title | Daily Life, Material Culture, and (Dis-)Order |
| Date/Time | Thursday 12 July 2012: 14.15-15.45 |
| Sponsor | Department of Medieval Studies, Central European University, Budapest |
| Organiser | Gerhard Jaritz, Department of Medieval Studies, Central European University, Budapest/Wien |
| Moderator/Chair | Gerhard Jaritz, Department of Medieval Studies, Central European University, Budapest/Wien |
| Paper 1711-a | 'Beaten with a Footstool': Maintaining Order with Furniture (Language: English) Isabella Nicka, Institut für Realienkunde des Mittelalters und der frühen Neuzeit, Paris-Lodron-Universität Salzburg |
| Paper 1711-b | Strict Order or Do-It-Yourself: Rules and Misrules in Medieval Bone Working (Language: English) Alice Choyke, Independent Scholar, Budapest |
| Abstract | The session deals with the question of to what extent material spheres of late medieval daily life were determined by aspects and attributions of order and disorder that were represented and determined by social, cultural, and economic allocations as well as the setting up and application of rules. |
Session | 820 |
| Title | Following, Mixing, and Breaking Rules in Narrative |
| Date/Time | Tuesday 10 July 2012: 16.30-18.00 |
| Organiser | IMC Programming Committee |
| Moderator/Chair | Roland Scheel, Skandinavisches Seminar, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen |
| Paper 820-a | A Health Warning for Saga Heroes: Narrative Rules to Follow (or Not) in a Mixed-Genre Text (Language: English) Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough, Department of History, Durham University |
| Paper 820-b | Breaking the Rules of Narration: Babur and Maximilian I as Authors of (Auto)biograpical Texts (Language: English) Kristina Rzehak, Fachbereich Ingenieurwissenschaften und Mathematik, Fachhochschule Bielefeld |
| Abstract | Paper -a:
This paper examines the unorthodox literary effects created by mixed-genre sagas, where a protagonist's story must follow the narrative rules of multiple genres. I take the grisly example of Gestr from Bárðar saga Snæfellsás, who begins as a typical conversion-hero, feted and baptised at the Norwegian court. Yet Bárðar saga's mixed-genre conventions mean that his story cannot follow the narrative paths common to other such heroes, for Gestr's father is the trollish land-spirit Bárðr Snæfellsás. Thus, the conclusion of this narrative set-piece is subverted by the conventions of another —the ‘pagan-contact þáttr' — where the supernatural pagan convert must perish upon his baptism. Paper -b: Narratives follow certain rules – but do these rules apply to rulers, too? The composition of the four autobiographical and biographical texts written and commissioned by the Timurid Padishah Babur (Baburnama) and the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I (Theuerdank, Weißkunig and Freydal) is characterized by a striking regularity. This paper analyses the structural aspects of time, space and point of view and describes their functions inside and outside the aforementioned texts. Furthermore, it will be shown how the rulers direct the readers' expectations by using steady patterns. The conclusion demonstrates why Babur and Maximilian sometimes ‘break the rules of narration'. |
Session | 616 |
| Title | Handbooks, II: Guidelines for Professional Activities in the High and Later Middle Ages |
| Date/Time | Tuesday 10 July 2012: 11.15-12.45 |
| Sponsor | Sonderforschungsbereich 'Changing Representations of Social Orders', Humboldt-Universität, Berlin |
| Organiser | Felicitas Schmieder, Historisches Institut, FernUniversität in Hagen |
| Moderator/Chair | Daniel Syrbe, Historisches Institut, FernUniversität in Hagen |
| Paper 616-a | Prophecy, Encyclopedia, Handbook for Special Purposes?: The Manuscript Evidence of the Livre de Sidrach (Language: English) Petra Waffner, Historisches Institut, FernUniversität in Hagen |
| Paper 616-b | Visual and Textual Representations of Proficiency in Heraldic Handbooks during the Tudor Period (Language: English) Anna-Maria Blank, Sonderforschungsbereich 'Changing Representations of Social Orders', Humboldt-Universität, Berlin |
| Abstract | Rules in the broad sense of guidelines or even directives for the best ways of dealing with special demands can be found in very different textual contexts in the Middle Ages. The session brings together 1. the antique 'collection' of Roman Agrimensor Manuscripts, widely copied during the Early and High Middle Ages for what?, 2. a wide range (encyclopaedic) vernacular collection of questions of not yet completely established purpose probably changing with tradition context, 3. heraldic handbooks of Tudor England. |
Session | 1220 |
| Title | Keeping and Breaking the Unwritten Rules of Kingship in Late Medieval England |
| Date/Time | Wednesday 11 July 2012: 14.15-15.45 |
| Organiser | Andrew M. Spencer, Gonville & Caius College, University of Cambridge |
| Moderator/Chair | Andrew M. Spencer, Gonville & Caius College, University of Cambridge |
| Paper 1220-a | The Good Parliament and Its Aftermath (Language: English) Claire Fetherstonhaugh, Faculty of History, University of Cambridge |
| Paper 1220-b | Breaking the Rules of Kingship?: Richard II and the Mortimer Inheritance, 1382-4 (Language: English) Mark King, Faculty of History, University of Cambridge |
| Abstract | There were few official written rules for kingship in late medieval England, though plenty of writers sought to give advice to kings. Mostly, however, kings and political society worked on a series of unwritten rules about how a king should and should not behave. This session will look at how three kings in the 13th and 14th centuries kept and broke those unwritten rules and the consequences for them. |
Session | 824 |
| Title | Law, Text, and Authority in Icelandic Sagas |
| Date/Time | Tuesday 10 July 2012: 16.30-18.00 |
| Organiser | IMC Programming Committee |
| Moderator/Chair | Slavica Rankovic, Independent Scholar, Leeds |
| Paper 824-a | The Use of Textual Authorities in Eireks saga víðförla (Language: English) Claire Sophie Musikas, Université de Brest |
| Paper 824-b | Judging Vikings: Ethics and Morality in Two Icelandic Family Sagas, Laxdaela saga and Vatnsdaela saga (Language: English) Alice Spruit, Independent Scholar, Utrecht |
| Abstract | Paper -a:
I aim to study the modality of creation of the icelandic medieval Eireks saga víðförla (included in the Flateyjarbók), adaptation of the famous latin dialogue, the Elucidarium. Despite the rules of writing delivered by the Church, Jón Þórðarson, the 'author', wrote an exemplum. Eireks saga víðförla shows a particular interpretation of rules of writing deliver by his Church, and even a particular use of textual authorities in medieval Iceland. These arguments connect with broader issues in Old Norse Studies such as the 'horizon d'attente' of the audience. I believe this study might reveal the perception of the well-known textual authorities, the status of Jón Þórðarson, and what might be the audience of the Flateyjarbók. Paper -b: In this paper, the ethics of the characters in two family sagas are analysed according to where their loyalties lie. These actions are then compared to what the Grágás (Icelandic law) says about these actions. By looking closely at the actions of the characters, it is tried to discern if these Icelandic family sagas have a moral or ethics like for example medieval Arthurian literature has. |
Session | 1328 |
| Title | Literary Legacies of Early Irish Saints |
| Date/Time | Wednesday 11 July 2012: 16.30-18.00 |
| Organiser | IMC Programming Committee |
| Moderator/Chair | Helen Fulton, Centre for Medieval Studies, University of Bristol |
| Paper 1328-a | Two for the Price of One: Dícuill of Bosham and Dícuill of Cnobheresburg (Language: English) Sarah McCann, School of History, University College Dublin |
| Paper 1328-b | Some Founder-Saints in East Coast Scotland (Language: English) Catriona Anna Gray, School of Humanities (History), University of Glasgow |
| Abstract | Paper -a:
Bede's Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum makes reference to two Irishmen named Dícuill, one the head of the small monastery of Bosham, Sussex, the other a priest in charge of Fursa's monastery of Cnobheresburg, East Anglia. Though Bede does not state it, there is reason to wonder whether these two Dícuills may in fact be the same person, a tantalising possibility this paper will investigate. Re-reading Bede in this fashion would substantially affect how we see the monastery of Bosham, the issue of its orthodoxy, and its role in Sussex, as well as account for the fate of Dícuill of Cnobheresburg. Paper -b: This paper will focus on saints' dedications in medieval Angus and the Mearns. In these areas, within the territories of the bishoprics of Brechin and St Andrews, a high number of dedications are to the Virgin Mary and other biblical saints. However, there are also a number of Pictish and Irish saints' dedications preserved in sources such as saints' lives, charters and place-names. This paper will examine how these dedications are explained in 12th-century and later sources, such as saints' lives and the Aberdeen Breviary, and how these saints (and their respective churches) were viewed as relating to one another. |
Session | 1532 |
| Title | Managing Resources: Water, Fish, and Money |
| Date/Time | Thursday 12 July 2012: 09.00-10.30 |
| Organiser | IMC Programming Committee |
| Moderator/Chair | José Antonio Jara Fuente, Departamento de Historia, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, Cuenca |
| Paper 1532-a | Beginnings of Technical Supervision of Water Constructions within Bohemia (Language: English) Martina Maříková, Centre for the History & Culture of East Central Europe, Leipzig / Filozofická fakulta, Univerzita Karlova, Praha |
| Paper 1532-b | The Role of the General Chapters in Improving and Enforcing Accounting and Financial Controls in Benedictine Monasteries in England (1215-1444) (Language: English) Alisdair Dobie, Business School, Edge Hill University, Ormskirk |
| Abstract | Paper -a:
The paper deals with the oldest office that was entitled with professional supervision of water constructions within Bohemia. The first conflicts amongst the users of water flows, i. E. Amongst the owners of mills and fishermen, began in the first half of the 13th century. However, an approripate situation for the foundation of a regulation office did not appear until the 1st half of the 14th century. The growing intensity of water transport within the kingdom as well as a large concentration of water mills in Prague could have perhaps been the decisive factor. Thus were the deputies of the Prague's Old Town along with master millers authorized to control Prague's weirs by John of Luxembourg and Charles IV in 1340. This was probably intended to be an isolated act, but it consequently led to the creation of a commonly respected office, whose authority covered most of the Bohemian territory. Besides controlling the mills and weirs it also had the knock on effect of bringing about an improvement concerning the navigability of Bohemian rivers. Paper -b: Benedictine general chapters issued a large amount of regulation to supplement the somewhat meagre provisions outlined in St Benedict's Rule. This paper analyses the regulation which emerged in regard to the management of temporalities. It finds an increasing level of definition both in terms of the preparation and audit of accounts and in the wider control environment. Mechanisms to ensure the observance of general chapter statutes may be seen as an early attempt at quality control aimed at the maintenance of high standards in religious life. |
Session | 1528 |
| Title | Medieval Gender and Sexuality: After the Middle Ages |
| Date/Time | Thursday 12 July 2012: 09.00-10.30 |
| Organiser | IMC Programming Committee |
| Moderator/Chair | Jamie Page, Philosophische Fakultät, Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen |
| Paper 1528-a | Heteronormative Medievalism: Just How Timeless is the Love Story of Tristan and Isolde? (Language: English) Karina Marie Ash, Department für Germanistik, Komparatistik, Nordistik, Deutsch als Fremdsprache, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München |
| Paper 1528-b | Female Practitioners and Their Reputation in Medieval England: The Case of Ken Follet's World Without End (Language: English) Cristina Mourón-Figueroa, Departamento de Filoloxía Inglesa e Alemá, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela |
| Abstract | Paper -a:
Abstract withheld by request Paper -b: The British writer Ken Follet not only chose a female physician as the unquestionable and formidable protagonist for his best-seller World without End (2007) but he also included other female characters in medieval medical occupations such as nurses, midwives, and healers or herbalists. This paper aims to thoroughly examine the world of female practitioners in medieval England and compare it to how it was portrayed by Follet in his novel. The main objective is to find out to what extent the novel depicts the life and the reputation of those women who dared to break the rules by practising medicine, a field characteristically dominated by men. |
Session | 1630 |
| Title | Medieval Intellectuals Facing the Old Testament |
| Date/Time | Thursday 12 July 2012: 11.15-12.45 |
| Organiser | IMC Programming Committee |
| Moderator/Chair | Annette Weber, Lehrstuhl für Jüdische Kunst, Hochschule für Jüdische Studien Heidelberg |
| Paper 1630-a | 'Why Shouldn't We Observe the Law?': The Challenge of Matthew 5:17 in 12th-Century Intellectual Culture (Language: English) Sean Murphy, Department of Liberal Studies, Western Washington University |
| Paper 1630-b | The Glossa Ordinaria on Ecclesiastes: Codicological and Cosmological Findings (Language: English) Jennifer Kostoff-Käärd, Centre for Medieval Studies, University of Toronto, Downtown |
| Abstract | Paper -a:
The imagined threat of 'Judaizing' among Christians - and the perceived 'Jewishness' on which it was founded - was, as I have demonstrated elsewhere (IMC 2004; Speculum 2007), a major concern of 12th-century intellectuals. Such concern is frequently reflected in discussions of Matthew 5:17 ('Do not think that I have come to destroy the Law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish them, but to fulfill them.'), a passage with the power to generate and perpetuate disputes within Christianity about the meaning, for Christians, of correct observance of the Law. The author of the Summa contra haereticos (c. 1200), for example, imagines his 'judaizing' opponents asking, 'Why shouldn't we observe the Law,' when they defend their observance of certain ritual elements of the Law on the basis of Matthew 5:17. The multiple, sometimes conflicting uses of Matthew 5:17 across the 12th century reveal the inherent difficulties, for 12th-century intellectuals, in defining Christianity in relation to Judaism and the Law of Moses during a period of rapid cultural transformation. Paper -b: There has been a recent surge of interest in the Glossa Ordinaria, with a special focus on the particular issues and problems related to its editing. This paper will present early findings of a long-term project to produce a critical edition of the Glossa Ordinaria on Ecclesiastes, situating issues specific to the edition within the larger context of biblical exegesis edited critically. In addition to a discussion of the decisions that the editor of glossed manuscripts must make, the paper shall examine what the content of the glosses can tell us about the medieval perception of Ecclesiastes. |
Session | 128 |
| Title | Middle English Regions and Their Languages |
| Date/Time | Monday 9 July 2012: 11.15-12.45 |
| Organiser | IMC Programming Committee |
| Moderator/Chair | To Be Announced |
| Paper 128-a | 'Al þe longage of þe norþumbres': Rules for Scribal Copying and Their Effect on Dialect Variance in 14th-Century Northumbria (Language: English) Emma Gilbert, University of Leicester |
| Paper 128-b | East Anglian Representations of the Demonic Other: Linguistics, Scatological Humor, and Drama (Language: English) Lindsey Simon-Jones, Pennsylvania State University, Fayette |
| Abstract | Paper -a:
The period following the Norman conquest is renowned as the most lawless point in the history of the English language, its vernacular status resulting in the emergence of hundreds of dialects. Close study of the dialect forms, though, assures us that there were rules scribes were following, their variance helping to draw dialect-boundary lines. Northern Middle English has been written of as a homogeneous dialect: this paper will show how the rules governing scribes, and the earnestness with which scribes adhered to them, differed across the area, resulting in, in actuality, a number of distinct northern Middle English dialects. Paper -b: The East Anglian English stage abounds with complex, engaging and charismatic demons ranging from low-level fools - whose portrayal is often mired in scatological humor - to eloquent and alluring arch-demons like those of Mankind or the N-town Satan's Prologue. East Anglian demons differ from concurrent representations in their attention to linguistic markers of Otherness. This paper will consider the ways medieval drama theorizes linguistic difference, specifically the use of scatological language, archaism, and highly stylized language, as a mean of both masking and unmasking the moral or spiritual Other. |
Session | 1331 |
| Title | Middle English Romance and Arthuriana, II |
| Date/Time | Wednesday 11 July 2012: 16.30-18.00 |
| Organiser | IMC Programming Committee |
| Moderator/Chair | Catherine J. Batt, School of English, University of Leeds |
| Paper 1331-a | Concealing Identity: The Use of Disguise in Some Middle English Romances and Their Anglo-Norman Analogues (Language: English) María Dumas, University of Buenos Aires / Argentinian Council of Scientific & Technical Research, Buenos Aires |
| Paper 1331-b | Arthurian Imagery in the Early Reign of Henry VIII: An Examination of Patent and Plea Rolls Illuminations (Language: English) Louisa Woodville, Department of History & Art History, George Mason University, Virginia |
| Abstract | Paper -a:
The use of incognito is a ubiquitous motif in medieval literature. However, in the Middle English romances I shall examine, namely, King Horn, Havelok, Bevis of Hampton and their Anglo-Norman analogues, disguise achieves a remarkable specificity due to its peculiar combination with the motif of exile. In the struggle of these displaced heroes to regain their dynastic rights, the change or concealment of social status appears as an invaluable device to test the fidelity of a lover or the loyalty of a servant. Precluding recognition, disguise becomes a highly useful strategy in these works, but at the same time its indisputable efficacy overtly challenges the integrity of the hero's social identity, since it merely depends on exterior and visual signs that can be easily manipulated. Paper -b: Illuminated initials found in plea rolls and patents produced during Henry VIII's early reign reveal Arthurian references that have yet to be explored—imagery alluding to medieval Welsh poetry about this ancient king in addition to Geoffrey of Monmouth's 1136 Historia Regum Britanniae and Thomas Malory's 1485 Morte Darthur. Arthurian pageantry thrived during the brief life of Henry's brother Arthur, but their father Henry VII curtailed it upon his eldest son's death in 1502. When Henry VIII acceded to the throne seven years later, he revived Arthurian imagery, evident in literary, performance, and visual arts that he or his courtiers commissioned. The imagery in patent and plea roll illuminations is one facet of this phenomenon - the focus of this paper. It also addresses the benefits that Henry hoped to gain by associating his reign with that of the legendary king, despite or perhaps because of its association to his dead brother. |
Session | 1705 |
| Title | Monastic Life in Conflict with Its Environment |
| Date/Time | Thursday 12 July 2012: 14.15-15.45 |
| Organiser | IMC Programming Committee |
| Moderator/Chair | Florent Cygler, Département d'histoire, Université de Nantes / Forschungsstelle für Vergleichende Ordensgeschichte (FOVOG), Technische Universität Dresden |
| Paper 1705-a | Crime on the Estates: Monastic Authority in Medieval Japan (Language: English) Philip Garrett, School of History, Classics & Archaeology, Newcastle University |
| Paper 1705-b | How to Argue and Win Every Time: The Settlement of Disputes in the Nunnery of San Sisto (Language: English) Francesca Conselvan, Institut für Mittelalterforschung, Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Wien |
| Abstract | Paper -a:
In contrast to the assertion of secular power over European monastic institutions, Japanese monasteries emerged in the medieval period as autonomous institutions, their combined temporal and spiritual authority supporting a complex and extensive manorial system. In a decentralised and fragmenting state, the interests of great temples such as Kōyasan were often in conflict with local lordship. This paper examines the role and symbolism of crime as a form of social interaction, a ritualization of the conflict for local control. It considers the function and nature of crime and the significance of the authority to judge transgression. Paper -b: The nunnery of San Sisto in Piacenza was founded in 877 by Angilberga, widow of Louis II of Italy, who endowed it with lavish estates in the region, and also ensured that the community would have both papal and imperial support. In spite of this powerful patronage, the monastery was involved in a series of conflicts over its possessions until well into the 11th century. This paper will consider these disputes, and focus especially on the way the community used the status of its royal founder and its close connection to the papacy to end, and usually win, these disputes – either in a public court or mediated by a royal missus – in a way that was notably different from the settlements reached by their peers. |
Session | 1620 |
| Title | Negotiating Rules: Platforms and Exchanges - The Role of the Medieval Chanceries, II |
| Date/Time | Thursday 12 July 2012: 11.15-12.45 |
| Sponsor | International Graduate College 'Political Communication from Antiquity to the 20th Century', Universities of Frankfurt, Innsbruck, Bologna, Pavia, Trento / 'Politik-Religion-Kunst: Plattform für Konflikt- & Kommunikationsforschung', Universität Innsbruck |
| Organiser | Christina Antenhofer, Fachbereich Geschichte, Paris-Lodron-Universität Salzburg |
| Moderator/Chair | Mark Mersiowsky, Institut für Geschichtswissenschaften und Europäische Ethnologie, Universität Innsbruck |
| Paper 1620-a | 'Una intolerabel faticha': Antiquated Meets Modern - Conflicting Rules in Late Medieval Chancellery Practices, The Example of the Gorizian Chancellery (Language: English) Christina Antenhofer, Fachbereich Geschichte, Paris-Lodron-Universität Salzburg |
| Paper 1620-b | Power Beyond the Rules: Formalism and Experimentation in the Italian Chancelleries, c. 1380-1500 (Language: English) Isabella Lazzarini, Dipartimento di Scienze Umane, Storiche e Sociali, Università degli Studi del Molise |
| Abstract | Medieval (political) communication followed rules that were defined, negotiated, and altered in processes of exchange. Instances of conflicts resulting from different communication practices as well as processes of innovations revolve around rules that are not self-evident and need negotiation. Moreover, political actors formed the communication negotiating rules of political participation, which became visible in the written documentation. The most active platforms of political communication were the chanceries and diets where contents, structures, and norms of communication were defined. This session will explore these processes of negotiating rules along case studies which include the German, Byzantine, Tyrolian, Gorizian and Italian chanceries as well as imperial diets from the 12th to the 15th century. |
Session | 823 |
| Title | Nordic Networking: Legal, Cultural, and Economical Exchanges between Danes and Frisians in the Middle Ages, II |
| Date/Time | Tuesday 10 July 2012: 16.30-18.00 |
| Sponsor | Rigsarkivet (Danish National Archives), København / Centre for Scandinavian Studies, University of Aberdeen / Fryske Akademy, Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts & Sciences (KNAW) |
| Organiser | Michael H. Gelting, Rigsarkivet, København |
| Han Nijdam, Fryske Akademy, De Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, Leeuwarden | |
| Moderator/Chair | Alaric Hall, Institute for Medieval Studies / School of English, University of Leeds |
| Paper 823-a | Law and Tradewinds: The Spread of Legal Innovation along the Old Frisian Trade Route between the Low Countries and Denmark (Language: English) Michael H. Gelting, Rigsarkivet, København |
| Paper 823-b | Is the Worth of an Eye Always an Eye?: A Comparative Analysis of Compensation Tariffs and Practices in Danish and Frisian Medieval Law (Language: English) Han Nijdam, Fryske Akademy, De Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, Leeuwarden |
| Abstract | This session aims to address the legal, cultural and economical exchanges Between Danes and Frisians in the Middle Ages (c. 700-1300) |
Session | 1733 |
| Title | Philosophical Ideals and Ethics |
| Date/Time | Thursday 12 July 2012: 14.15-15.45 |
| Organiser | IMC Programming Committee |
| Moderator/Chair | Marie-Thérèse Champagne, Department of History & Philosophy, University of West Florida |
| Paper 1733-a | 'Contemplata aliis tradere': What Does Philosophy Mean in the Middle Ages? (Language: English) Eduardo Mallo Huergo, Departamento de Teología y Filosofía, Universidad Católica San Pablo |
| Paper 1733-b | Cognitive Error and the Infallible Will: Synderesis in the 13th-Century Schools (Language: English) Robert Davis, Department of Theology, Fordham University |
| Abstract | Paper -a:
It is always a difficult to set the beginning of medieval philosophie. And also the end. As in history itself the changes in philasophie weren't fast and for no reason. A question one could do is: What has to do Ireneo de Lyon with St Thomas of Aquino. Between them exist eleven centuries and even though they belong, for a majority of authors, to a common age. It is my belief that the bonds between this distances are the philosophical ones. And ultimately are spirituals, more specifically Christians. The whole intellectual activity refers and depends on the soul, the spiritual part of the man. This conexion was essencial for the medieval thinkers, and that is why so many, for not say almost all of philosophers, was monks, priests, bishops, or was connected to the Church in some way. I want to show the hypothesis is that in this sense we can asseverate that medieval philosophy is Christian philosophy, because the medieval man was christian and medieval philosophy was soak by this faith turning this age into a great one and we still imbibing from it. Paper -b: Though obscure and relatively short-lived, the notion of synderesis - an infallible inclination of the soul to the good - was crucial to the development of the theory of natural law and conscience in 12th- and 13th-century Christian moral theology. This paper examines this development, focusing specifically on Bonaventure's understanding of synderesis as an unerring affective 'weight', and not a source of rational, universal rules of action. Yet accounting for the operation of an infallible guide within a fallible soul proved difficult, and reveals tensions in scholastic accounts of the relation of reason and will, natural law and sin. |
Session | 808 |
| Title | Political Rupture in the Early Middle Ages |
| Date/Time | Tuesday 10 July 2012: 16.30-18.00 |
| Organiser | IMC Programming Committee |
| Moderator/Chair | Helmut Reimitz, Department of History, Princeton University |
| Paper 808-a | 'Domine, quid multiplicati sunt': The Alfredian Old English Psalms and the Carolingian Liturgies of War (Language: English) Lucrezia Pezzarossa, Department of English & Related Literature, University of York |
| Paper 808-b | Principles Know No Law: Justifying Insurgency after the Carolingians - Boso, Robert of Neustria, and the Saxons (Language: English) Geoffrey Koziol, Department of History, University of California, Berkeley |
| Abstract | Paper -a:
This paper will consider the Old English translation of the first fifty psalms, a key constituent of the 'Alfredian canon', in the context of 8th and 9th-century Continental liturgies of war, a complex system of public ceremonies, religious services and prayers of intercession connected to military activity. My aim will be to show how these liturgies can help us to understand the origin and meaning of the Prose Psalms, as well as to shed light on the earliest development of a Christian ideology of war in Alfredian England. Paper -b: This paper will examine the contemporary justifications of three unusual insurgencies: those by Boso (879), Robert of Neustria (922-3), and the Saxons (1073-5). In each case, what is unusual is that sources affiliated with the insurgents indicate that they knew their actions and claims were so extreme as to violate 'the rules of the game'. And where we might expect them to justify their insurgencies as permissible by the rules (e.g., as a 'diffidatio' following a denial of right), these three did the opposite: they underscored their violation of ordinary norms by appealing to fundamental principles beyond the law. They knew what they were doing was extraordinary. |
Session | 1205 |
| Title | Portals of the Forbidden Images |
| Date/Time | Wednesday 11 July 2012: 14.15-15.45 |
| Organiser | IMC Programming Committee |
| Moderator/Chair | Julian Gardner, Department of the History of Art, University of Warwick |
| Paper 1205-a | Portals of the Forbidden Images (Language: English) Nurit Golan, Cohn Institute for the History & Philosophy of Science & Ideas, Tel Aviv University |
| Paper 1205-b | The Image of the Unwritten Law: The Case of Chartres Cathedral (Language: English) Gili Shalom, Department of Art History, Tel Aviv University |
| Abstract | Paper -a:
Many restrictions on the teaching of cosmological doctrines according to Aristotle and his commentator Averroes in connection with theology were issued at the Paris University, starting at the second third of the 13th century. These restrictions culminated in the famous condemnation by Etienne Tempier, the bishop of Paris (1277). Hence, there is no wonder that at the same time representation of the cosmological creation of the world in public and monumental art was rather scarce, with the exception of its reappearance in five churches during the 14th century in the Upper Rheine. This paper discusses the monumental sculptures representing a cosmological creation at the south portal of The Holy Cross church in Schwaebish-Gmuend, created by the Parler's workshop (1351). Focusing on the representation of the universe I contend that the sculptural imagery reveals thorough acquaintance with the same prohibited doctrines and thus raises questions about the propagation of knowledge in contemporaneous society: Who were the intended spectators? What was the knowledge available to them? What was the role of sculptures in the spreading of scientific literacy from elite groups to prospering civic audiences? Was it forbidden or not? This paper shows that in the middle ages as today, what was banned at one place could stand in the center of interest and be presented to the public without restrictions in another. Paper -b: This talk will examine how the representation of Solomon Judgment in Chartres Cathedral, ca. 1220, invites the viewer to participate in biblical narrative as an arbiter from within contemporaneous cultural constructions and juridical conceptions. It will inquire to the interactive environment in which viewers and public sculptured tympana were the chief actors of juridical drama. By studying late 12th and 13th century legal procedures in Chartres vis-à-vis the visualized judgment in stone, I will show that this invitation for participation display not only a far-remote historical moral dilemma but also a relevant contemporaneous legal one. |
Session | 1522 |
| Title | Reading, Writing, and Rules: Letters in 12th-Century Germany |
| Date/Time | Thursday 12 July 2012: 09.00-10.30 |
| Sponsor | Prato Consortium for Medieval & Renaissance Studies, Monash University |
| Organiser | Diana Marie Jeske, Centre for Medieval & Renaissance Studies, Monash University, Victoria |
| Moderator/Chair | Sita Steckel, Historisches Seminar, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster |
| Paper 1522-a | Rules for Educating Women: 12th-Century accessus of Ovid's Heroides (Language: English) Natasha Amendola, Centre for Medieval & Renaissance Studies, Monash University, Victoria |
| Paper 1522-b | Dictating the Rules of Love and Friendship: Women Writers, the Opportunities of Epistolary Exchange, and the Tegernsee Love-Letter Collection (Language: English) Diana Marie Jeske, Centre for Medieval & Renaissance Studies, Monash University, Victoria |
| Abstract | The adaptable nature of the letter to almost any form of discourse has allowed the speakers in this session to draw upon many different sources in their attempts to address the question of what rules surrounded how letters were read and written in 12th-century Germany. Our first paper will focus on the theme of model letters and their use as an educational tool for women. Our second is on the writing of love-letters by female authors eager to share their ideas on the nature of love and friendship. |
Session | 1112 |
| Title | 'Regula et mensura aliarum religionum': Ideas of Reform in Late Medieval Carthusian Theology and Spirituality |
| Date/Time | Wednesday 11 July 2012: 11.15-12.45 |
| Sponsor | Cartusiana vzw |
| Organiser | Tom Gaens, Ruusbroecgenootschap, Universiteit Antwerpen |
| Stephen J. Molvarec, School of Theology & Ministry, Boston College, Massachusetts | |
| Moderator/Chair | Emilia Jamroziak, Institute for Medieval Studies / School of History, University of Leeds |
| Paper 1112-a | Eternal Food for the Soul: Carthusian Contributions to the Passion Devotion (Language: English) Johanna Josina van Aelst, European Research Council Project 'Old Pious Vernacular Successes', Institut de Recherche et d'Histoire des Textes (IRHT), Paris |
| Paper 1112-b | 'Non sunt monachi sed monstra in ecclesia': The Influence of Henry of Coesfeld's Tracts against Proprietarism at the Council of Constance (Language: English) Tom Gaens, Ruusbroecgenootschap, Universiteit Antwerpen |
| Abstract | During the Later Middle Ages, the Carthusian Order had increased interest in ideas of reform and spiritual renewal. Such interest is sometimes belied by over-attention to medieval images of the Order embodied by early modern slogans such as 'never reformed, since never deformed'. This session's papers explore Carthusian involvement in circulation of reformist ideas in a later medieval context, ranging from discussion of proprietarism by Henry of Coesfeld to diffusion of Johannes de Indagine's treatises among reformed-minded monastic circles - Carthusian or not. Also discussed will be Carthusian interest in late medieval devotion to Christ's passion, part of a larger trend for imagining a more perfect Church - the suffering Body of Christ. In short, Carthusians understood themselves as exemplars of a Christian life approaching its ideal, even if sometimes they fell short. Such tensions between the perfect and the actual led later medieval Carthusians to ponder notions of reform, both spiritually and practically. |
Session | 1311 |
| Title | Regulating Monastic Life, VIII: Transmission and Reception of 'Normative' Sources in Male Communities |
| Date/Time | Wednesday 11 July 2012: 16.30-18.00 |
| Sponsor | Franciscan Study Centre, Tilburg University |
| Organiser | Isabelle Cochelin, Department of History, University of Toronto, Downtown |
| Krijn Pansters, School of Catholic Theology / Franciscan Study Centre, Tilburg University | |
| Moderator/Chair | Bert Roest, Afdeling Geschiedenis, Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen |
| Paper 1311-a | Cistercian General Chapters' Statutes: Their Uses and Transmission (Language: English) Alexis Grélois, Département d'histoire, Université de Rouen Normandie |
| Paper 1311-b | 'Usquemodo, aliomodo, quoquomodo'?: The Curious Tale of a Latin Mnemonic in the Customary of the Caulite Monastic Order, 13th Century (Language: English) Phillip C. Adamo, Department of History, Augsburg College, Minnesota |
| Abstract | This session challenges some of the a priori conceptions we might have concerning the later use of the so called 'normative' monastic sources within religious orders: especially statutes, customaries, and constitutions. It explores the reception of these sources by studying copyists' interests as well as manuscript transmissions, and pedagogical and hagiographical traditions. |
Session | 716 |
| Title | Representing War and Social Class |
| Date/Time | Tuesday 10 July 2012: 14.15-15.45 |
| Organiser | IMC Programming Committee |
| Moderator/Chair | Helen Fulton, Centre for Medieval Studies, University of Bristol |
| Paper 716-a | Rebellion and Warfare in Late Medieval England (Language: English) Alex Hodgkins, Institute for Medieval Studies, University of Leeds |
| Paper 716-b | Bows, Swords, and Social Climbing in the Works of the Archer and Poet Guto'r Glyn (Language: English) Jenny Day, Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies, University of Wales, Aberystwyth |
| Abstract | Paper -a:
Armies of the late medieval period were governed by a series of conventions, informing their operational and tactical procedures. Many of these rules were codified and cemented through instructional manuals and memoirs. However, such guidelines were not always followed, with differences between English and European military thought and technology leading to divergent practices. This was particularly the case with rebellions, which altered both the means and conduct of warfare. This paper will consider the extent to which the battles associated with English rebellions followed or broke the rules of contemporary warfare, and the resultant implications for studying the country's military methods. Paper -b: In common with other 15th-century Welsh poetry the works of Guto'r Glyn contain many references to weapons. In Guto's case a high proportion of these relate to archery, possibly reflecting his own experiences as an archer in the Hundred Years War. However, most of his archery references are metaphorical and nowhere do his poems mention his own prowess with a bow. Instead it is his sword which is mentioned, in three different poems, suggesting that he wished to be remembered not as an archer-poet but as a soldier-poet, or simply as a poet and worthy companion of his noble patrons. |
Session | 1721 |
| Title | Rules of Punishment |
| Date/Time | Thursday 12 July 2012: 14.15-15.45 |
| Organiser | IMC Programming Committee |
| Moderator/Chair | Paul R. Hyams, Department of History, Cornell University / Pembroke College, University of Oxford |
| Paper 1721-a | Penance in Ireland: Punishment or Medicine? (Language: English) Elaine Pereira Farrell, Humanities Institute, University College Dublin |
| Paper 1721-b | 'Iussit orbari luminibus': The Regulation and Enactment of Blinding in the Early Carolingian Empire (Language: English) Megan Welton, Utrecht Centre for Medieval Studies, Universiteit Utrecht |
| Abstract | Paper -a:
In between the 6th and the 8th centuries a new Christian normative type of text were produced in Ireland. Some scholars see the penitential literature strictly as instruments of social control while others as guidance for healing broken souls. The proposal of this paper is to observe through the discourse of the penitential texts that the two interpretations are correct and not necessarily antagonist. During this period the Irish culture were suffering a fast change due to the introduction of a new religion. In this process Christianity was accommodated in the Irish culture changing it and being changed by it. Paper -b: This paper uncovers the origins of the practice of blinding in the early Carolingian empire, and explores the rules regulating this political and punitive act. A pope and several nobles underwent the poker in roughly forty years, yet no scholar has performed a systematic study on this topic. This paper begins by investigating how blinding entered the Carolingian political consciousness as an effective punishment. Then, it examines the rules in Carolingian leges and capitularia that governed such a gruesome tactic. Finally, I analyze the fine border between blinding as an acceptable punishment and an unjust act by combing through specific instances of blinding and their consequences for both the blinder and blinded. |
Session | 1116 |
| Title | Social Codes and Social Conduct |
| Date/Time | Wednesday 11 July 2012: 11.15-12.45 |
| Organiser | Judith Kaup, Independent Scholar, Berlin |
| Moderator/Chair | Judith Kaup, Independent Scholar, Berlin |
| Paper 1116-a | Reading the Old English Maxims (Language: English) Judith Kaup, Independent Scholar, Berlin |
| Paper 1116-b | Monastic Rules in Medieval England (Language: English) Christopher Forlini, Institut für Griechische und Lateinische Philologie, Freie Universität Berlin |
| Abstract | The papers in this session will deal with rules of social interaction. The session includes several genres (epic poetry, wisdom literature, monastic rules) and will analyse and discuss different aspects of the topic. Representations of social interaction in literature naturally raise questions regarding their prescriptive or descriptive nature. Other texts, which suggest being taken at face value, such as the Maxims or monastic rules, can offer interesting new aspects if read without such genre expectations. We would like to discuss questions such as: How are rules codified and perpetuated? What are the reasons for the choice of a certain set of rules by a particular group? What is the relationship of adherence to rules and social standing? |
Session | 722 |
| Title | Studies in Memory of James M. Powell, III: The Church in Theory and Practice |
| Date/Time | Tuesday 10 July 2012: 14.15-15.45 |
| Organiser | IMC Programming Committee |
| Moderator/Chair | John Doran, Department of History & Archaeology, University of Chester |
| Paper 722-a | Undefined Rules and Social Consensus: The Activity of the Officium Inquisitionis in 13th-Century Italy (Language: English) Luca Fois, Independent Scholar, Robbiate |
| Paper 722-b | L'architettura ecclesiastica nei trattati medievali di Diritto (Language: Italiano) Andrea de Meo, Università Europea di Roma |
| Abstract | Paper -a:
The activity of the inquisition, during the 13th century, is based on not-perfectly defined rules. Its autority and jurisdiction derives directly and exclusively from the Pope, so its power to judge can be exercited only in cases where the social context accepts as valid this autority and mandate, at certain conditions. The paper would like to inquire what happens when this unwritten 'pact' expires. When the interests of the church (or inquisitors) and the lay society conflict on specific points and the activity of the officium is perceived as an abuse, or forces existing social, political or economical orders. Paper -b: The links between Canon Law and church architecture have been a neglected topic among historians of architecture and among law historians. Nevertheless, a look at the more detailed disquisitions on church architecture written until 15th century, shows that the greatest contributors to this subject have usually been clergymen with long experience in Canon Law, i.e. Durandus bishop of Mende and Siccardus of Cremona. A comparative reading of their writings might detect the first stages of the links between Arts and Canon law, which had rich developments in modern times. |
Session | 822 |
| Title | Studies in Memory of James M. Powell, IV: Privileges, Petitions, and the Penitentiary |
| Date/Time | Tuesday 10 July 2012: 16.30-18.00 |
| Organiser | IMC Programming Committee |
| Moderator/Chair | Brenda M. Bolton, University of London |
| Paper 822-a | 'To fast or not to fast: that is the question': Papal Dispensations of Fasting Regulations (Language: English) Matthias Klipsch, Institut für Mittelalterliche Geschichte, Philipps-Universität, Marburg |
| Paper 822-b | From a Provision to a Multiple Excommunication: The Chapter of Turku and the Case of Petrus Benedicti between the Apostolic Chancery, Apostolic Penitentiary, and Sacra Romana Rota (Language: English) Kirsi Salonen, Institutt for arkeologi, historie, kultur- og religionsvitenskap, Universitetet i Bergen |
| Abstract | Paper -a:
During the 14th and 15th century many petitioners from all over Europe requested special graces from the Holy See. Among these privileges there was also the peculiar enquiry by individuals, households, monastic communities, and even whole cities to reduce certain aspects of the fasting regulations set down in ecclesiastical rule and deeply rooted in medieval daily life. This paper focuses first on the subjects asking for this grace, their provenance, exact wishes, and reasons. Secondly, this is combined with the popes' motivation permitting this legislative deviation illustrating, finally, the advantage of both parts in transgressing the rule and, by doing so, legitimating new rules. Paper -b: This paper discusses how Christians could use the different papal offices in obtaining what they needed and wanted from the apostolic see through one singular example case that of Petrus Benedicti from the diocese of Turku in medieval Sweden. This case is particularly interesting because a problematic papal provision letter in favour of Petrus Benedicti leads in the end to a long litigation in the papal curia. During the different phases of the case not only the two main litigant parties, Petrus Benedicti and the cathedral chapter of Turku, but also other persons acting in their own favour involve all relevant papal offices: the Apostolic Chancery, the Apostolic Penitentiary as well as the highest papal tribunal Sacra Romana Rota. This is a model example of how medieval men could use and abuse the papal system of administration. |
Session | 1610 |
| Title | Texts and Identities, VI: Italy and the Carolingians - Views from Both Sides of the Alps |
| Date/Time | Thursday 12 July 2012: 11.15-12.45 |
| Sponsor | Institut für Mittelalterforschung, Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Wien / Utrecht Centre for Medieval Studies, Universiteit Utrecht / Faculty of History, University of Cambridge |
| Organiser | E. T. Dailey |
| Gerda Heydemann, Geschichte der Spätantike und des frühen Mittelalters, Friedrich-Meinecke-Institut, Freie Universität Berlin | |
| Moderator/Chair | Clemens Gantner, Institut für Österreichische Geschichtsforschung, Universität Wien |
| Paper 1610-a | Transalpine Exchange in Early Medieval Europe: Italy and the North-Alpine Centres of Power (Language: English) Katharina Winckler, Institut für Mittelalterforschung, Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Wien |
| Paper 1610-b | A Testimony of Carolingian Rule? The Codex Epistolaris Carolinus and Its Historical Context (Language: English) Dorine van Espelo, Faculteit der Letteren, Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen |
| Abstract | Carolingian perceptions of Italy as a political and historical space, the negotiation of power and the establishment of Carolingian control over the region south of the Alps were influenced by numerous actors and factors: kings and popes, the transfer of knowledge and manuscripts, and the movement of people and goods. This session approaches such perceptions and connections from either side of the Alps, examining both Carolingian perspectives on Italy and Italian perspectives on Carolingian rule. The first paper (Katharina Winckler) sets the stage by examining the natural space separating the centres of Carolingian power in the North and Italy: the Alps. But rather than viewing them as an obstacle for communication, it examines the natural and material preconditions for the exchange of ideas, manuscripts and people, the routes of communication and the impact of Carolingian rule on local elites and structures of power along these routes. Two papers discuss two specific manuscripts and their role in negotiations about Carolingian power, papal-Frankish relations and the shape of post-Lombard Italy. Giovanna Tondini proposes an interpretation of the aims and functions of a historiographical compilation (the so-called Epitome Philippsiana) for the creation of a new political ideology and the legitimation of Carolingian rule in the regnum Italiae. Dorine van Espelo offers a fresh look at the context and relevance of the 8th-century collection of papal letters, the Codex Carolinus. |
Session | 112 |
| Title | Textual Boundaries of Human-Animal Interactions |
| Date/Time | Monday 9 July 2012: 11.15-12.45 |
| Sponsor | Centre for Medieval & Early Modern Studies, University of Kent |
| Organiser | Patricia Stewart, Oxford English Dictionary |
| Moderator/Chair | Alixe Bovey, Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London |
| Paper 112-a | Source Use and Modification in the Medieval Latin Bestiary (Language: English) Patricia Stewart, Oxford English Dictionary |
| Paper 112-b | Fun, Puns, and Irreverence: Medieval Decorated Initials and Bestiary Animal Motifs - Some Canterbury Examples (Language: English) Diane Heath, Centre for Kent History & Heritage (CKHH), Canterbury Christ Church University |
| Abstract | During the Middle Ages a variety of rules were applied to human-animal interactions in various spheres, including physical, religious, mental, sexual, and dietary. The papers in this session will examine different aspects of these rules with regard to human-animal interactions in texts and manuscripts. The first paper focusses on the marginal portrayal of apes playing 'ring-a-ring-of roses' - a decidedly human activity. The second paper examines the ways in which sources were used to create different versions of the latin bestiary, and the extent to which the medieval authors felt free to modify - or not - these sources. Finally, the third paper demonstrates how religious members in a specific location, in this case Canterbury, incorporated bestiary motifs into decorated and inhabited initials. |
Session | 803 |
| Title | The Carved Cathedral: From Top to Bottom |
| Date/Time | Tuesday 10 July 2012: 16.30-18.00 |
| Organiser | IMC Programming Committee |
| Moderator/Chair | Julian Gardner, Department of the History of Art, University of Warwick |
| Paper 803-a | Joan Claperós: A Young Sculptor in Barcelona (Language: English) Montserrat Jardí Anguera, Universitat de Barcelona |
| Paper 803-b | Sitting on the Rule: The Monk, the Misericord, and the Choir (Language: English) Paulette Barton, Department of Modern Languages & Classics / Department of History, University of Maine |
| Abstract | Paper -a:
The aim of this paper is to show an artistic consolidation process of a very young sculptor, which represents an exceptional case that should be considered. We want to stand up the importance of family workshops in the training of young sculptors. El llibre de l'Obra de la catedral de Barcelona, (The work book of Barcelona cathedral) has been the primary source consulted. This record, written in medieval Catalan, shows us all daily payments from the cathedral's construction to the workers, and even to the sculptors. Among 1442 and 1463, works took place at the cloister, specifically in the fountain, the door at the end of the principal nave of the church, the chapter house and the choir. At the end of the 15th century, the Barcelona gothic cathedral was almost completed. Maybe Antoni Claperós began to work at the cathedral in 1422 helping with the dome construction and almost twenty years later the records tell us about weekly payments for systematic works made in the cloister, carving stones and especially carving historians capitals. Antoni Claperós worked with Pere Oller, a consolidated 'imaginaries' who had carved among 1420 and 1428 the magnificent alabaster altarpiece for Vic church close to Barcelona devoted to St Peter. We wish to emphasize than Antoni Claperós and Pere Oller didn't work together. Usually they worked at the cloister alternated weeks, we have to understand they worked in association. Antoni Claperós received five salaries per day and Pere Oller four and half salaries for the similar period. In 1448 the carved works were concentrated at the fountain at the cloister where we stand out the keystone depicting St. George and the Princess (1449), currently preserved in situ. During weeks spent in this place by the carver masters, Joan Claperós, the Antoni Claperós's soon, began to work. The fountain and specifically the keystone carved works offered the opportunity Antoni Claperós to introduce his soon to the cathedral chapter. Joan Claperós, a teenager, knew how to take advantage of this and showed them how skilled he was. El llibre de l'Obra de la catedral de Barcelona tells us about the place where the works happened and it tells us too about the sculptors names but payments are extremely simple and we can not distinguish what exactly everyone made. First of all Antoni Claperós and Pere Oller worked together and later Joan Claperós helped his father. Maybe the most interesting about Joan Claperós' beginning is his salary. During the first few weeks he worked free. After that he began to earn six diners per day (one salary has twelve diners), later eight diners per day and three months later Joan Claperós earned three salaries per day and few months later he began to earn three salaries and six diners per day. Thanks to a preserved record from Girona Cathedral Archive, we know when Joan Claperós worked on the keystone depicting St.Gorge and the Princes, he was a teenager. When works at the fountain were finished, works moved to the chapter house where Joan Claperós had such an important responsibility and he was recognized as a mestre d'obra (teacher work). Joan Claperós was nineteen years old when Barcelona chapter house was finished in 1455. Later the Claperós family moved to Girona for work at the cathedral apostles portal. Paper -b: The misericord images found under the lips of seats in a choir stall usually have a secular theme - real or imagined. The carvings, like the drawings in an illuminated manuscript, are in modern terms marginalia. Images within a frame - the stall and the page. In this paper I will discuss the role of the misericord images in both breaking and reinforcing the Rule of the community. The choir stalls are placed in the sacred space before the high altar and behind the choir screen. This placement brings the images before the community in God's presence allowing the members of the community access to images not related to the Rule, sanctioning the breaking of the Rule while reinforcing it at the same time. |
Session | 202 |
| Title | The Crusades and Visual Culture, II: Crusading and Later Medieval Manuscript Culture |
| Date/Time | Monday 9 July 2012: 14.15-15.45 |
| Organiser | Elizabeth Lapina, Department of History, University of Wisconsin-Madison |
| Laura Julinda Whatley, College of Arts & Sciences, Auburn University at Montgomery, Alabama | |
| Moderator/Chair | Laura Julinda Whatley, College of Arts & Sciences, Auburn University at Montgomery, Alabama |
| Paper 202-a | The Visual Vernacular: Illustrating Jean de Vignay's Crusade Translations (Language: English) Maureen Quigley, Department of Art & Art History, University of Missouri, St Louis |
| Paper 202-b | Imagining the Crusades in 15th-Century Burgundy: The Order of the Golden Fleece and the Livre d'Eracles (Language: English) Erin Donovan, Dr. Jörn Günther Rare Books, Stalden |
| Abstract | The series of sessions titled 'The Crusades and Visual Culture' broadly examine the integration of crusading history and the study of medieval visual cultures. Beyond mere iconographic studies, the papers selected for these interdisciplinary sessions investigate artistic representations of crusading and the impact of crusading in and on the visual culture of the medieval world. They reflect on the relationship between the study of ideas of crusading and the various media (e.g., manuscripts, mural paintings, architecture, armour, cartography, etc.) in which those ideas were visualized. The papers also cover a broad chronological range, from c. 1099 to c. 1500 and explore the visualization and/or appropriation of crusading themes in both Western and non-Western (Eastern Christian and Muslim) visual culture. |
Session | 1728 |
| Title | The Future of the Middle Ages |
| Date/Time | Thursday 12 July 2012: 14.15-15.45 |
| Organiser | IMC Programming Committee |
| Moderator/Chair | Paul B. Sturtevant, PublicMedievalist.com |
| Paper 1728-a | The Medieval Origins of Our Ecological Crisis (Language: English) David John Hawkin, Department of Religious Studies, Memorial University of Newfoundland |
| Paper 1728-b | 'Wallowing in Transgression'?: Medieval Linguistic Evidence and the Lessons for Modern Scholarship (Language: English) Sarah McLoughlin, Centre for Medieval Studies, University of York |
| Abstract | Paper -a:
The medieval historian Lynn White is well known for his claim that our present ecological crisis has its origins in the medieval period. He argued that the anthropocentric nature of Christianity was especially emphasized in the medieval period and this developed into the exploitative attitude to nature which dominates the modern world view. I shall argue, however, that a more convincing argument comes from Hans Blumenberg, who has shown that the trajectory that creates modernity and its ecological crisis does indeed begin in the medieval period, but it is rooted more in Gnosticism than it is in Christianity. Paper -b: In Against Transgression (2008), Ashley Tauchert claimed that critical thought was in danger of 'wallowing in transgression'. This paper confronts that criticism and traces the development of 'transgression' as a critical concept within the conditions of late 20th century academic culture. Does the modernity of the concept make using it anachronistic for the medievalist? I confront this question through a discussion of how the word 'transgressioun' and its Latin and Anglo-Norman antecedents were used in late medieval England. This paper addresses to what extent the late medieval ideological apparatus about rules and rule-breaking resembled and differed from our own. |
Session | 1024 |
| Title | The 'Rules of the Game' in Socio-Political Interactions |
| Date/Time | Wednesday 11 July 2012: 09.00-10.30 |
| Organiser | IMC Programming Committee |
| Moderator/Chair | Irina Metzler, Independent Scholar, Swansea |
| Paper 1024-a | The Rules of the Game Have Changed: Charlemagne's Admonitio Generalis (789) and the Hierarchical Ordering of Society (Language: English) Mary Alberi, Department of History, Pace University, New York |
| Paper 1024-b | The Rules of the Game: Re-Enactors and Fealty (Language: English) Kristina Hildebrand, School of Education, Humanities & Social Sciences, Högskolan i Halmstad |
| Abstract | Paper -a:
My paper explores the rules contained in Charlemagne's programmatic capitulary, the Admonitio generalis (789). Drawing on Mary Douglas's definitions of enclave and hierarchical cultures, my paper suggests the Admonitio generalis balances two models of Christian society. Rules promoting hierarchy ordered clergy, monks, and populus in disciplined ranks supervised by king, bishops, counts and missi dominici. Strict discipline made the populus a sanctified enclave, set apart from the profane world. This combination of hierarchy and enclave biases suited Charlemagne's political and ideological goals: consolidating his authority, while providing his regime with religious justification. Paper -b: In re-enactment groups, fealty is often sworn and received, in imitation of a feudal world. The procedure is invested with various meanings, often with a clear desire to mark it both as significant and as different from life-long fealty. In the oaths, these boundaries are often explicitly set. I will investigate, through interviews, a number of issues surrounding the modern re-enactor's fealty, such as how the re-enactor understands medieval fealty; how this understanding colours their own experience of fealty, and how significant fealty is to their understanding of the Middle Ages. |
Session | 108 |
| Title | To Have or Have Not, To Give or Give Not: Social Status and Money Matters |
| Date/Time | Monday 9 July 2012: 11.15-12.45 |
| Organiser | IMC Programming Committee |
| Moderator/Chair | Flocel Sabaté Curull, Grup de Recerca Consolidat en Estudis Medievals 'Espai, Poder i Cultura', Universitat de Lleida |
| Paper 108-a | Social and Economical Status Changes Reflected in the Morality and Behaviour of 'Beatrijs' (Language: English) Małgorzata Dowlaszewicz, Department of Dutch Studies, University of Wrocław |
| Paper 108-b | Usura Becomes Volpone: To Follow or Not to Follow the Rules in Fixing Prices (Language: English) Claude Denjean, France méridionale et Espagne: histoire des sociétés du Moyen-Âge à l'époque contemporaine (FRA.M.ESPA - UMR 5136), Université de Toulouse II - Le Mirail |
| Abstract | Paper -a:
In the medieval Dutch text of the nun Beatrijs the main character takes several different ways in her life. She is first a nun, then a wife an mother, then a prostitute, a beggar to finally come back to the starting point and become a nun again. The changes of her social status change her clothes, gestures, and also her moral. I would like to show the link between the different social positions of the character and the norms she has to follow and possibilities she has to choose in the particular turning points of her life. Paper -b: Reading 13th-century court records and notarial registers revives the term 'usury', (more financial speculation than usurious lending). In spite of suspicion towards usury, witnesses and accused narrate the ins and outs describing the means used quite candidly by one and all to make a profit, including fraudulent bankruptcy. Businessmen had perforce to observe a rule whereby a fair price was determined by collective definition and financial market. Usury was like reputation; it could be good or bad, ranging from stringency to lenience, from injustice to fairness. This depended on the goodness of their word. The monarchy sought to ensure good practice through a system of justice. In this way it consolidated its power by presiding over a dialogue. |
Session | 812 |
| Title | Trade and Towns Reshaped?: The Consequences of (Not) Following Rules, II |
| Date/Time | Tuesday 10 July 2012: 16.30-18.00 |
| Sponsor | Institute for History, Universiteit Leiden |
| Organiser | Justyna Wubs-Mrozewicz, Amsterdam School of Historical Studies, Universiteit van Amsterdam |
| Moderator/Chair | Per G. Norseng, Department of Culture & Humanities, Telemark University College |
| Paper 812-a | Bending Rules in a Hanseatic Town: The Case of Danzig (Language: English) Justyna Wubs-Mrozewicz, Amsterdam School of Historical Studies, Universiteit van Amsterdam |
| Paper 812-b | Definition and Enforcement of Strategic Interests by Multipolar Organisations: The Case of the Late Medieval Hanse (Language: English) Gerrit Deutschländer, Mittelalterliche Geschichte, Helmut-Schmidt-Universität, Hamburg |
| Abstract | To follow the rules, or not to follow them? A trader faced this dilemma on a regular basis, particularly in a foreign town. Filling one's money bag by cheating on the quality of goods, or building up a good reputation? Abiding by the law of a town, or the (unwritten) rules of a commercial network like the Hanse? The papers in this session investigate cases of (non) adherence to rules of trade, as well as legislation and legal practice in various European towns which thrived by trade. The focus is on (long-term) consequences of this conduct, both for traders and legislation. |
Session | 612 |
| Title | Trading Rules: Rules to Follow (or Not) in Maritime Trade in the Medieval Eastern Mediterranean - Trade Restrictions and Its Discontents |
| Date/Time | Tuesday 10 July 2012: 11.15-12.45 |
| Organiser | Georg Christ, School of Arts, Languages & Cultures, University of Manchester |
| Moderator/Chair | Alex Bamji, School of History, University of Leeds |
| Paper 612-a | Jewish Merchants in Venetian Maritime Trade: Rules and Application (15th Century) (Language: English) Franz-Julius Morche, Leiden Institute for Area Studies (LIAS), Universiteit Leiden |
| Paper 612-b | Projector of Official Trade Policy or Smuggler's Paradise?: Legal and Illegal Trade Networks in Modon in the Late Middle Ages (Language: English) Georg Christ, School of Arts, Languages & Cultures, University of Manchester |
| Abstract | We propose to analyse the rules and institutions regulating maritime trade in the Eastern Mediterranean of the Late Middle Ages. Venice formulated and imposed rules and regulations in the interest of her own thriving trade, which collided not only with papal regulations in support of crusade or with claims of free navigation but also with competing interests both at home and abroad, e.g. in Modon or Rhodes. Imposing these rules was costly and - especially at sea - very difficult. As a result, competing smuggling networks emerged that not only operated in parallel but were intricately meshed with and even embedded in the official networks. |
Session | 1611 |
| Title | Transformation and Stability: Canon Law through the Centuries |
| Date/Time | Thursday 12 July 2012: 11.15-12.45 |
| Organiser | Miriam Czock, Historisches Institut, Universität Duisburg-Essen |
| Christof Rolker, Zentrum für Mittelalterstudien (ZEMAS) / Institut für Geschichtswissenschaften und Europäische Ethnologie, Otto-Friedrich-Universität Bamberg | |
| Moderator/Chair | Miriam Czock, Historisches Institut, Universität Duisburg-Essen |
| Paper 1611-a | The Right Mix: Distributing Canon Law Collections in Early Medieval Bavaria (Language: English) Sven Meeder, Afdeling Geschiedenis, Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen |
| Paper 1611-b | Canons, Letters, and Local Clerics: Changing and Creating Law in the Later 12th Century (Language: English) Danica Summerlin, Department of History, University of Sheffield |
| Abstract | Our understanding of medieval canon law is still fragmentary although great advances were made during the last few years. One thing that always baffles us about medieval law is its apparent unchangeability (as perceived by modern scholars as well as claimed by medieval authors themselves). The idea of its inalterability is challenged especially by new editions of texts. They make us aware of the subtle changes made with nearly every copy of a corpus of canon law texts. The proposed session will provide examples for the creation, tradition, and reception of canon law during the early to high Middle Ages in different European regions in order to shed some light on changes and continuities. The main questions we want to tackle are: which changes were made? Can we discern reasons why these changes were made? If there are no textual changes, are there other changes made such as systematic changes altering the text altogether? |
Session | 1131 |
| Title | Twilight Zone: Party Strife, Feuding, and Private Warfare in the Late Middle Ages, II |
| Date/Time | Wednesday 11 July 2012: 11.15-12.45 |
| Sponsor | Department of Medieval History, Universiteit Leiden |
| Organiser | Peter Hoppenbrouwers, Department of Medieval History, Universiteit Leiden |
| Moderator/Chair | Johannes A. Mol, Department of History, Fryske Akademy, Leeuwarden / Universiteit Leiden |
| Paper 1131-a | Bastard Feudalism and Private Warfare in the Late Medieval Low Countries (Language: English) Peter Hoppenbrouwers, Department of Medieval History, Universiteit Leiden |
| Paper 1131-b | Party Strife and Private Warfare in the Duchy of Guelders (Language: English) Aart Noordzij, Department of Medieval History, Universiteit Leiden |
| Abstract | During the final centuries of the Middle Ages the Low Countries were ridden by violent clashes between interest groups, called 'parties', that, on the one hand, coincided with antagonistic family networks but, on the other hand, could easily be politicized, i.e. connected with larger political issues. Exactly this ambiguous setting, in a twilight zone between a public/political and a private/familial field of action, makes party strife an attractive subject of historical research. Especially when linked to such typical phenomena of late medieval ‘politics' as feuding, bastard feudalism, and private warfare, it could contribute to a better understanding of the counterweights that were build-up against the slow but relentless rise of the modern state in Western Europe. |
Session | 332 |
| Title | Voice in Medieval Christian and Jewish Liturgies |
| Date/Time | Monday 9 July 2012: 16.30-18.00 |
| Organiser | IMC Programming Committee |
| Moderator/Chair | Eva Frojmovic, School of Fine Art, History of Art & Cultural Studies / Centre for Jewish Studies / Institute for Medieval Studies, University of Leeds |
| Paper 332-a | On the Value of Music in the Synagogue in Medieval Germany (Language: English) Joseph Isaac Lifshitz, Shalem College, Jerusalem |
| Paper 332-b | Jewish Medieval Liturgy as a Vehicle in the Socialization Process in the Late Medieval Synagogue (Language: English) Simha Goldin, Department of Jewish History / Goldstein-Goren Diaspora Research Center, Tel Aviv University |
| Abstract | Paper -a:
German Medieval Jews were very much aware of the differences between their music and the music of the gentiles, and they adhered to their music religious values. This awareness was applied on a prohibition to sing lullaby with tunes that were used in church or even ordinary non-Jewish tunes. Music was one of the self-identifying instruments of medieval Jews. In my paper I would to show that in addition to this self-identifying element, music was also used as a religious signifier. During the 13th century we find for the first time, evidence that different tunes were used for different sections in the Jewish prayers. In the late 14th century we have already evidence for a fixed tradition of specific tune for specific prayers, a tradition that was considered a binding law. Paper -b: In my opinion, the liturgical poem was a decisive instrument in the socialization process of retaining the group memory and in the passing on of messages. In my paper I am going to talk about some examples read during the Shavuot (Pentecost) service. We have some manuscripts which have commentaries on those poems, written with the aim of assisting the readers and hearers in understanding the poem. I will analyze those manuscripts in which illustrations were drawn next to the poem, and will examine the connection between the poem, the commentary and the illustration and the messages emanating from it. The major importance and innovation of the study lies in its combining of different research disciplines. An interdisciplinary research that combines historical, literary and art research so as to examine the special characteristics of Jewish communities in the Middle Ages. |
Session | 329 |
| Title | Writing about Health: Fertility, Physiognomy, and Fitness |
| Date/Time | Monday 9 July 2012: 16.30-18.00 |
| Organiser | IMC Programming Committee |
| Moderator/Chair | José Martínez Gázquez, Facultad de Filosofía y Letras, Universitat Autónoma de Barcelona |
| Paper 329-a | Reglas para el médico, reglas para el paciente en el Breviarium de Johannes de Sancto Paulo (Language: Español) Alejandro García González, Departamento de Filología Clásica, Universidad de Valladolid |
| Paper 329-b | Female Fertility in Hildegard von Bingen's Causae et Curae and Scivias (Language: English) Victoria Alison Woolley, University of Bristol |
| Abstract | Paper -a:
The texts written at the well-known Medical School of Salerno contributed to establish a rule stystem for both theoretical and practical Medicine. They are attested rules regarding doctors and rules regardings patients. We will discuss this system in the medical compendium known as Breviarium of Johannes de Sancto Paulo. This text and the Salernitan work Practica of Plateario became a model followed by later encylopedias of medical practice of 13th and 14th centuries. Paper -b: This paper offers readings of Hildegard von Bingen's treatment of female fertility in Causae et Curae and Scivias. These readings demonstrate that a stable understanding of female fertility exists across both works. However, each text attaches very different meanings and levels of virtue to this central female trait. In Causae, woman's fertility is closely linked to her secondary and inferior position in creation. In Scivias, it allows her to participate in the divine nature. Recognising elements of both coherence and difference across the generic divisions within Hildegard's corpus, the paper challenges the conflicting interpretations that currently frame debate. |
Session | 708 |
| Title | Writings of the Church Fathers |
| Date/Time | Tuesday 10 July 2012: 14.15-15.45 |
| Organiser | IMC Programming Committee |
| Moderator/Chair | Matheus Coutinho Figuinha, Departamento de História, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Brazil |
| Paper 708-a | Paula, Pachomius, the Virgin, and Eufraxia: Implications of Monastic Rules (Language: English) Sue Ellen Holbrook, Department of English, Southern Connecticut State University |
| Paper 708-b | Approaching Gregory the Great's Moralia (Language: English) Charlotte Kingston, Centre for Medieval Studies, University of York |
| Abstract | Paper -a:
I examine 'Rules' for early ascetic Christian women's communities. The texts include Paula's 'order' for her Bethlehem women's monastery (Jerome's Letter 103 28 January 403; the regula for Pachomius's communities, which Jerome translated in late 404 for Eustochium, who succeeded her mother; 'To the Virgin[s]' by Evagrius Ponticus (before 399) possibly for Syncletia; and descriptions in the life of Eufraxia set in a late 4th-century cenobium in the Thebaid. Topics include what questions these 'rules' address' how they related to secular households'; how gender matters; and whether they aid in reconstructing the material configuration of the living arrangements. Paper -b: Gregory the Great's Moralia is a long work of exegesis on the book of Job in which Gregory does not always follow the exegetical rules that he himself set down particularly strictly. Indeed, the work has been noted for its many digressions, asides and repetitions. This paper will propose ways of understanding and approaching this difficult work and of using Gregory's particular use of the genre in order to gain a deeper understanding of his ideas and purposes. In doing so it will explore some of the Moralia's main themes and briefly consider some of his other works. It is hoped that this will open discussion and lead to further fruitful research on this work. |