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IMC 2009: Sessions

Session 106: Texts and Identities, I: Time Archives (IV), 1

Monday 13 July 2009, 11.15-12.45

Organisers:Richard Corradini, Institut für Mittelalterforschung, Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Wien
Maximilian Diesenberger, Institut für Mittelalterforschung, Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Wien
Moderator/Chair:Yitzhak Hen, Department of History, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva
Paper 106-aDreams and Visions in the Opus Caroli regis contra synodum (Libri Carolini)
(Language: English)
Jesse Miika Johannes Keskiaho, Department of History, University of Helsinki
Paper 106-cNothing New under the Sun?: 'Modern Times' in Carolingian Sources
(Language: English)
Sören Kaschke, Department of History, King's College London
Abstract

The Time Archives sessions focus on different aspects the textual reception of time perception. The first paper will discuss the views advanced by the Opus Caroli regis contra synodum on dreams and visions. It will examine how the author marshalled relevant patristic theories (chiefly those of Augustine) and to what purpose. (Jesse Keskiaho).
The monastery of Bobbio is famous for preserving many works from antiquity, including those of Plautus and Cicero. The manuscripts themselves, and the early catalogues of them, however, can tell us much not just about antiquity, but about the development of Bobbio itself. Bobbio's layered manuscripts, namely its palimpsests, tell a story of shifting intellectual priorities from the 7th century onwards. The various stages of composition of Bobbio's library catalogue, in turn, give snapshots of the monastery's interests at various points in time, suggesting Bobbio grew more sophisticated from the 7th century to the Carolingian period. The texts and catalogue offer wonderful insights into Bobbio's cultural activity at different stages of its early medieval development. (Richard Pollard).
A further paper thematizes the term 'modernum tempus'. It is commonly assumed that if medieval writers perceived a difference between their own and previous times at all, it was only as a change for the worse. The paper aims to modify that view for the 9th century by examining the usage of 'moderno tempore' in diplomatic and narrative sources from the Frankish realm. (Sören Kaschke)