IMC 2009: Sessions

Session 1625: Imagining Monastic Communities

Thursday 16 July 2009, 11.15-12.45

Sponsor:	University of Exeter Medievalism Network
Organiser:	Corinna Wagner, Department of English, University of Exeter
Moderator/Chair:	Cory James Rushton, Department of English, St Francis Xavier University, Nova Scotia
Paper 1625-a	'It was never merry world since...': Dissolution, Nostalgia, and the Birth of the Middle Ages (Language: English) Philip Schwyzer, Department of English, University of Exeter Index terms: Daily Life, Language and Literature - Other, Monasticism, Religious Life
Paper 1625-b	'An habitual propensity to indolence and inactivity, contracted during his confinement in the cloister': Medieval Kings, Catholicism, and Masculinity in the 19th-Century Novel (Language: English) Joanne Parker, University of Exeter Medievalism Network, University of Exeter Index terms: Language and Literature - Other, Medievalism and Antiquarianism, Monasticism, Politics and Diplomacy
Paper 1625-c	Medievalism, Community, and the Rise of Modern Political Economy (Language: English) Corinna Wagner, Department of English, University of Exeter Index terms: Medievalism and Antiquarianism, Monasticism, Political Thought, Social History
Abstract	This panel investigates constructions of medieval monasticism in the early modern and modern English imagination. We examine how narratives surrounding monastic society evolved over time: each of the papers will explore the ways in which narratives about monks and pious kings were employed in different political and religious contexts. After their Dissolution, monasteries became - for both Catholics and Protestants - emblems of a lost era of cultural harmony. In the late 18th century, these emblems were used to protest the rise of modern political economy. Then, in the 19th century, monastic heroes were used to promote Catholic Relief and related political initiatives.