Location
Old College
Chronicles, saints’ lives, and other reconstructions of the past constitute our most important and challenging set of sources for the intellectual, social, and political history of high Medieval Europe (c. 900 – c. 1300). They offer unique insights into political culture, forms of memory, networks of communication, origin myths, and the role of the past in shaping identities. Scholarly interest has moved away from examining these texts as repositories of facts towards an appreciation instead of their value as products of varied and diverse cultural, intellectual, and textual traditions. This international workshop for postgraduates and early career scholars will focus on the following areas:
- The use of the past as an expression of identity
- The representation and interpretation of political power through reconstructions of the past
- The influence of classical and early medieval intellectual, literary, and rhetorical traditions
- The place of these renditions within wider social contexts (including networks of patronage, reception, communication, and information)
Keynote lectures will be given by: Martin Aurell (Poitiers), Piotr S. Gorecki (Riverside/CA), Robert Ireland (Aberystwyth), Felicitas Schmieder (Hagen)
The workshop website can be found here: https://powerandidentityworkshop.wordpress.com/
The workshop takes place under the auspices of the Centre for the Study of Historiography and Historical Culture (Aberystwyth)
Deadline for attendance registration: 15th April 2017. Standard registration fee: £15.00, postgraduates: £12.00 (includes refreshments).
This event has been made possible thanks to funding from both the Graduate School and the Department of History and Welsh History, Aberystwyth.