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IMC 2008: Sessions

Session 125: Perspectives on Royal Power, I: The Geography of Royal Power

Monday 7 July 2008, 11.15-12.45

Sponsor:Centre for Medieval & Renaissance Studies, Durham University
Organiser:David Rollason, Department of History, Durham University
Moderator/Chair:Len Scales, Department of History, Durham University
Paper 125-aRoyal Halls and Royal Power: Assembly and Settlement
(Language: English)
Sarah Semple, Department of Archaeology, Durham University
Index terms: Archaeology - Sites, Architecture - Secular
Paper 125-bNorwegian Assembly-Places
(Language: English)
Alexandra Sanmark, Institute of Archaeology, University College London
Index terms: Archaeology - Sites, Architecture - Secular
Paper 125-cCarolingian Palaces as Central Places
(Language: English)
David Rollason, Department of History, Durham University
Index terms: Archaeology - Sites, Architecture - Secular, Politics and Diplomacy
Abstract

This session, the first in a series exploring the nature of royal power using cross-disciplinary approaches, is devoted to the ways in which royal power functioned through assemblies or councils, asking whether these are to be regarded as elements in the machinery of an authoritarian kingship, meetings devoted to the sacralisation of kingship, or rather the quasi-democratic workings of the populus in relationship to the king. It has long been recognised that the geography of these sites is a crucial element in answering these questions, and this session specifically explores the nature and distribution of the sites concerned.