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IMC 2008: Sessions

Session 206: Parrhesia and the Rhetoric of Free Speech, II: Parrhesiasts on Trial

Monday 7 July 2008, 14.15-15.45

Sponsor:Parrhesiasts Anonymous
Organisers:Mary Garrison, Department of History, University of York
Irene van Renswoude, Research Institute for History & Culture, Universiteit Utrecht
Moderator/Chair:Hildegund Müller, Kirchenväterkommission, Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Wien
Paper 206-aPreaching the Word of God: The Deployment of Parrhesia in Prudentius' Peristephanon
(Language: English)
Christine Phillips, Centre for Medieval Studies, University of York
Index terms: Hagiography, Language and Literature - Latin, Learning (The Classical Inheritance), Rhetoric
Paper 206-bSpeaking Without Permission: The Autobiography of a Notorious Critic (Rather of Verona)
(Language: English)
Irene van Renswoude, Research Institute for History & Culture, Universiteit Utrecht
Index terms: Language and Literature - Latin, Learning (The Classical Inheritance), Rhetoric
Paper 206-cRestrictions on Free Speech at Abelard's Trials for Heresy in 1121 and 1141
(Language: English)
Michael Clanchy, Institute of Historical Research, University of London
Index terms: Language and Literature - Latin, Rhetoric
Abstract

This second session devoted to parrhesia will examine the practice of free speech -and the restrictions on it- in trials. The martyr's parrhesiastic speech to his or her persecutors is constantly in evidence in early Christian passiones. Christine Philips' paper will consider Prudentius's deployment of parrhesia in the Peristephanon; Irene van Renswoude's paper will illuminate the original (and often misunderstood) parrhesia of Rather of Verona when he put himself on trial in his autobiography; Michael Clanchy's paper will use the concept of parrhesia to shed new light on the events of Abelard's heresy trials.