IMC 2008: Sessions

Session 305: Carolingian Uses of Theories of Natural Order

Monday 7 July 2008, 16.30-18.00

Organiser:	Blair Sullivan, Center for Medieval & Renaissance Studies, University of California, Los Angeles
Moderator/Chair:	Patrick J. Geary, Department of History, University of California, Los Angeles
Paper 305-a	A State of Nature: Louis the Pious and Benedictine Equity (Language: English) Courtney Booker, Department of History, University of British Columbia Index terms: Historiography - Medieval, Monasticism, Political Thought
Paper 305-b	Divitia versus avaritia: The Contradictory Nature of the Carolingian Monastery (Language: English) Ildar Garipzanov, Centre for Medieval Studies, Universitetet i Bergen Index terms: Economics - General, Monasticism
Paper 305-c	The Sound of Nature: Carolingian Theories of Musical Consonance (Language: English) Blair Sullivan, Center for Medieval & Renaissance Studies, University of California, Los Angeles Index terms: Music, Philosophy
Abstract	In possession of an authoritative body of knowledge transmitted through late antiquity, 9th-century Carolingian writers adapted that knowledge to meet contemporary requirements in various aspects of Carolingian cultural life, among these political theory, the regulation of monastic life, and liturgical practice. This session identifies the use of the concept of a 'natural order' in three specific instances: the binary discourse of aequitas/iniquitas during the reign of Louis the Pious; responses by monastic thinkers to economic activities inside the Carolingian monasteries and the related accumulation of material wealth; and music-theoretical discussions of harmony and perfect consonance and the development of liturgical polyphony.