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IMC 2007: Sessions

Session 1510: Texts and Identities, IX: Historical Consciousness and the Construction of Political Identities in the Early Middle Ages

Thursday 12 July 2007, 09.00-10.30

Sponsor:Institut für Mittelalterforschung, Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Wien / Utrecht Centre for Medieval Studies, Universiteit Utrecht / Faculty of History, University of Cambridge
Organisers:Maximilian Diesenberger, Institut für Mittelalterforschung, Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Wien
Gerda Heydemann, Institut für Mittelalterforschung, Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Wien / Institut für Geschichte, Universität Wien
Thomas Edmund Kitchen, Sidney Sussex College, University of Cambridge
Moderator/Chair:Ian N. Wood, School of History, University of Leeds
Paper 1510-aRulers and Realms: Titles and Status in the 5th and 6th Centuries
(Language: English)
Thomas Edmund Kitchen, Sidney Sussex College, University of Cambridge
Paper 1510-bThe Venerable Bede's Understanding of Old Testament History
(Language: English)
Paul Hilliard, St Edmund's College, University of Cambridge
Paper 1510-cModels of Queenship in the Frankish World
(Language: English)
Linda Dohmen, Institut für Geschichtswissenschaft, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn
Abstract

This session will explore the role of historical consciousness in the construction, perpetuation and adaptation of political identities in the Early Middle Ages. Tom Kitchen will consider how the sources of the 5th and 6th centuries applied such titles as rex and princeps to their rulers. By considering the historical, literary, and even theological connotations with which titles were invested, Tom will elucidate a significant aspect of the transition from the Roman empire to its successor kingdoms. Paul Hilliard will trace the development of Bede's thought on Old Testament history through his exegesis and historical work, in order to establish what Bede thought and did not think about the Old Testament, especially who he thought were members of the ‘New Israel’. By examining both historical and spiritual texts Paul will show what Bede thought was important about Old Testament history both for himself and for his contemporaries. Linda Dohmen's paper will investigate the use of models of queenship in the Frankish world. She will explore the employment by Frankish sources of the attributes of such archetypes, drawn from history and Scripture, as Helena, Judith, Esther, and the Virgin Mary.