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IMC 2008: Sessions

Session 1308: My Will Be Done

Wednesday 9 July 2008, 16.30-18.00

Sponsor:Hilton Shepherd Postgraduate Centre for Medieval Studies, University of Birmingham
Organiser:Alison J. Spedding, Hilton Shepherd Postgraduate Centre for Medieval Studies, University of Birmingham
Moderator/Chair:W. Mark Ormrod, Centre for Medieval Studies, University of York
Paper 1308-a'His...saule to alisednisse': Redeeming the Soul in Anglo-Saxon Wills and Manumissions
(Language: English)
Duncan Probert, Hilton Shepherd Postgraduate Centre for Medieval Studies, University of Birmingham
Index terms: Language and Literature - Old English, Law, Social History
Paper 1308-b'I bequethe my soule to allmyghty god': Personal Piety and Inscriptions of Belief in the Testaments of Later-Medieval Women
(Language: English)
Alison J. Spedding, Hilton Shepherd Postgraduate Centre for Medieval Studies, University of Birmingham
Index terms: Language and Literature - Middle English, Law, Social History, Women's Studies
Paper 1308-c'Home is where the heart is': Wills of Italian Merchants from Cyprus
(Language: English)
Aysu Dinçer, Independent Scholar, Birmingham
Index terms: Economics - Urban, Social History
Abstract

Analysis of the last wills of the medieval period not only illuminates contemporary social mores and pious conventions, but also offers a means through which the voices of testators may be heard, giving an insight into their everyday lives and sensibilities. Comparison of the testamentary processes in early and late medieval Britain and in Cyprus, reveals the manner and extent to which the concerns of the individual were expressed within the constraints of different legal codes and permits new conclusions to be drawn about the attitudes and sensibilities of people from contrasting social and geo-political spheres.