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IMC 2010: Sessions

Session 707: The Formation and Renewal of the Nobility of Medieval Scotland, Norway, and Denmark, I: Elites and Identities

Tuesday 13 July 2010, 14.15-15.45

Sponsor:Department of History, University of Aberdeen
Organiser:Michael H. Gelting, Centre for Scandinavian Studies King's College University of Aberdeen 24 High Street OLD ABERDEEN AB24 3EB
Moderator/Chair:Michael H. Gelting, Centre for Scandinavian Studies King's College University of Aberdeen 24 High Street OLD ABERDEEN AB24 3EB
Paper 707-aThe Anglo-Norman Identity of Southern Scotland, 1150-1250
(Language: English)
Jonathan Gledhill, Department of History, Lancaster University
Index terms: Geography and Settlement Studies, Politics and Diplomacy
Paper 707-bThe Norwegian Aristocracy in the 13th Century
(Language: English)
Sverre Bagge, Senter for middelalderstudier, Universitetet i Bergen
Index terms: Politics and Diplomacy, Social History
Paper 707-cThe Courtly Elite in Denmark, c.1150-1250: Values and Identities
(Language: English)
Mia Münster-Swendsen, Saxo Institute, Faculty of Humanities, Københavns Universitet
Index terms: Learning (The Classical Inheritance), Political Thought, Social History
Abstract

From the 11th to the 14th century the kingdoms of the 'northern fringe' of Europe became integrated in European civilization. Usually these processes have been studied separately in the national historical traditions of each of the countries concerned. However, important themes recur in each of these national interpretations: the presumably paramount role of kinship in traditional societies; national antagonism between traditional culture and influences from abroad; and the relative importance of immigration and local recruitment in the crystallization of a new nobility from the more fluid structures of traditional society. The aim of the two sessions is to take a critical and comparative look at these problems from the vantage point of three 'peripheral' kingdoms around the North Sea.