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 |
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Organiser: | David Rollason, Department of History, Durham University |
Moderator/Chair: | Len Scales, Department of History, Durham University |
Paper 125-a | Royal Halls and Royal Power: Assembly and Settlement (Language: English) Index terms: Archaeology - Sites, Architecture - Secular |
Paper 125-b | Norwegian Assembly-Places (Language: English) Index terms: Archaeology - Sites, Architecture - Secular |
Paper 125-c | Carolingian Palaces as Central Places (Language: English) 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. |