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IMC 2008: Sessions

Session 325: Perspectives on Royal Power, III: The Representation and Ideal of Kingship

Monday 7 July 2008, 16.30-18.00

Sponsor:Centre for Medieval & Renaissance Studies, Durham University
Organiser:David Rollason, Department of History, Durham University
Moderator/Chair:David Rollason, Department of History, Durham University
Paper 325-aPolitical Imposture and the Ideal of Good Kingship (13th-15th centuries)
(Language: English)
Gilles Lecuppre, Université Paris Ouest Nanterre La Défense
Index terms: Political Thought, Politics and Diplomacy
Paper 325-bKings of Merchants, Clerks, and Prostitutes: The 'Other' Kings and the Idea of Kingship in the Late Middle Ages
(Language: English)
Torsten Hiltmann, Deutsches Historisches Institut, Paris
Index terms: Mentalities, Political Thought
Paper 325-cThe Illuminated Reich: Imperial Landscapes and the Presence of Monarchy in Late Medieval Germany
(Language: English)
Len Scales, Department of History, Durham University
Index terms: Political Thought, Politics and Diplomacy
Abstract

This session, the third in a series exploring the nature of royal power using cross-disciplinary approaches, is devoted to the thesis that the concept of the king as the apex of the social and political hierarchy was deeply entrenched and widely diffused in the Middle Ages, and that it had sometimes unexpected bearing on both the representation and the ideas and ideals of kingship, notably in terms of political imposture and in terms of 'other' kings in the framework of medieval ideas.