Institute for Medieval Studies

Session	104
Title	Popular Politics and Resistance in East and West
Date/Time	Monday 12 July 2010: 11.15-12.45
Organiser	Bernard Gowers, University of Oxford / Middlebury College, Vermont
Moderator/Chair	Thomas Brown, School of History, Classics & Archaeology, University of Edinburgh
Paper 104-a	Popular Heresy in Early Medieval Europe: Was There Any? (Language: English) R. I. Moore, School of History, Classics & Archaeology, Newcastle University Index Terms: Religious Life; Social History
Paper 104-b	Resistance and Rebellion in the Umayyad Period (Language: English) Andrew Marsham, Faculty of Asian & Middle Eastern Studies, University of Cambridge Index Terms: Islamic and Arabic Studies; Politics and Diplomacy; Social History
Paper 104-c	(Peasant) Politics as Normal in the Carolingian West (Language: English) Bernard Gowers, University of Oxford / Middlebury College, Vermont Index Terms: Politics and Diplomacy; Social History
Abstract	This session explores questions of popular politics and resistance around the Mediterranean in the early Middle Ages, through case studies ranging from the Umayyads to the Carolingian west. It will consider what 'popular politics' might involve, within and between rural communities, and in relation to overarching authorities. What forms might resistance take? How did 'elite' and 'popular' political cultures interact? What was the role of religion in ordering and articulating these practices? When Latin Europe and the central Islamic lands are placed alongside each other, are the most significant differences between or within the two spheres?