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IMC 2003: Sessions

Session 1113: The Powers of Prophecy Revisited

Wednesday 16 July 2003, 11.15-12.45

Organiser:Anke Holdenried, University of Leicester
Moderator/Chair:Anke Holdenried, University of Leicester
Paper 1113-aSibilla Erithrea Babillonica: Prophecy and the Crisis of Papal Power in Italy and the Greek East under Gregory IX
(Language: English)
Christian Jostmann, Universität Bielefeld
Index terms: Ecclesiastical History, Language and Literature - Latin, Mentalities, Political Thought
Paper 1113-bCrusading Ideas in the Prophecies of Jean de Roquetaillade (Johannes de Rupescissa)
(Language: English)
Norman J. Housley, Department of History, University of Leicester
Index terms: Crusades, Language and Literature - Latin, Mentalities, Political Thought
Paper 1113-cProphecy and Revivalism in the Middle Ages
(Language: English)
Gary Dickson, School of History, Classics & Archaeology, University of Edinburgh
Index terms: Crusades, Ecclesiastical History, Language and Literature - Latin, Mentalities
Abstract

Prophetic writings were frequently used as polemic and propaganda and are thus an integral part of the language of power. In turn, scholars explain prophecy's role as a powerful tool for the expression of social and political concerns in terms of psychology, i.e. they locate it in human hopes and fear of the future. Recent preoccupation with millennial anxieties has further popularised the psychological approach to prophecy. This session seeks to apply a wider focus through a study of the interaction between prophecy and ideology (papal, imperial, crusading) in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.