Institute for Medieval Studies

Session	1214
Title	Material Culture and Early Medieval History: Sessions in Honour of Ian N. Wood, III
Date/Time	Wednesday 8 July 2015: 14.15-15.45
Organiser	Tim Barnwell, Kısmet Press, Leeds / School of History, University of Leeds
	Ricky Broome, Leeds Institute for Clinical Trials Research (LICTR), University of Leeds
	N. Kıvılcım Yavuz, Institute for Medieval Studies / School of History, University of Leeds
Moderator/Chair	Catherine E. Karkov, School of Fine Art, History of Art & Cultural Studies, University of Leeds
Respondent	Alan Thacker, Institute of Historical Research, University of London
Paper 1214-a	The Earliest Images of the Virgin Mary, East and West (Language: English) Leslie Brubaker, Centre for Byzantine, Ottoman & Modern Greek Studies, University of Birmingham Index Terms: Architecture - Religious; Art History - General; Byzantine Studies; Historiography - Medieval
Paper 1214-b	Between Past and Future: Roman History in the Merovingian Kingdoms (Language: English) Helmut Reimitz, Department of History, Princeton University Index Terms: Historiography - Medieval; Manuscripts and Palaeography
Paper 1214-c	Landscape, Archaeology, and the Coming of Christianity to Northern England (Language: English) Richard Morris, Institute for Medieval Studies, University of Leeds / School of Music, Humanities & Media, University of Huddersfield Index Terms: Archaeology - General; Historiography - Medieval
Abstract	The third of these sessions in honour of Ian N. Wood will highlight the importance of interdisciplinarity and bringing evidence from other fields into history, an approach Wood has always championed. In this respect, the three papers in this session will consider architectural, manuscript, and archaeological evidence. Leslie Brubaker will examine the three earliest monuments dedicated to the Virgin Mary in the 5th century, namely the Sta Maria Maggiore in Rome, the Kathisma Church in Palestine, and the Chapel of the Holy Soros in Constantinople. Considering each of these early monuments promoted a different agenda, she will evaluate how and why the importance of the Virgin grew, why the early differences occurred, and how they eventually coalesced. Helmut Reimitz will look at the material evidence of manuscripts and discuss the transmission, reception, and meaning of Roman history in the Merovingian kingdoms in order to explore how the Roman past could be understood in the succeeding period. Finally, Richard Morris will consider recent archaeological evidence for the working countryside in the early medieval north, and link this with four themes that have been prominent in Ian Wood's scholarship: late Roman culture, kingdoms of the Dark Ages, sculpture, and Northumbrian monasticism.