IMC 2006: Sessions

Session 725: Rulership in the Latin West, the Byzantine Commonwealth, and the Islamic World: Counsel and Advice, III

Tuesday 11 July 2006, 14.15-15.45

Sponsor:	Majestas: Association for the Study of Rulership / British Academy Network 'Political Culture in Comparison'
Organisers:	Jonathan Shepard, Independent Scholar, Oxford Jo Van Steenbergen, School of History, University of St Andrews Björn Weiler, Department of History & Welsh History, Aberystwyth University
Moderator/Chair:	Jonathan Shepard, Independent Scholar, Oxford
Paper 725-a	Political Process and Society in 14th-Century Byzantium (Language: English) Judith R. Gilliland, St John's College, University of Oxford Index terms: Byzantine Studies, Crusades, Politics and Diplomacy, Rhetoric
Paper 725-b	Praise and Advice in Late Byzantine Rhetoric (Language: English) Ida Toth, Wolfson College, University of Oxford Index terms: Byzantine Studies, Language and Literature - Greek, Political Thought, Rhetoric
Paper 725-c	Scribes, Viziers, and Caliphal Ritual in Early Islam (Language: English) Andrew Marsham, Pembroke College, University of Cambridge Index terms: Islamic and Arabic Studies
Abstract	The geographical sweep of the papers will include the western Christian, Byzantine, and Islamic worlds, and the aim will be to explore how historians with geographically, culturally, and chronologically divergent interests tackle comparable questions and phenomena. We aim both to foster an exchange of ideas and methodological approaches, and also to define more clearly the differences as well as the parallels between the various political communities around the Mediterranean, and in Northern and Eastern Europe. The themes in the papers will include spiritual advice, counsellors and advisors at court, rulers and their subjects, good and bad counsellors, and criticism and loyalty.