IMC 2012: Sessions
Session 1709: Apocalypticism and Prognostication in the Early and High Medieval West, III: Themes and Approaches
Thursday 12 July 2012, 14.15-15.45
| Sponsor: | International Consortium for Research in the Humanities, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität, Erlangen-Nürnberg |
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| Organiser: | Levi Roach, St John's College, University of Cambridge |
| Moderator/Chair: | Erik Niblaeus, International Consortium for Research in the Humanities, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität, Erlangen-Nürnberg |
| Paper 1709-a | Cognitive Dissonance and Unfalsifiable Prophecies in the Early Middle Ages (Language: English) Index terms: Ecclesiastical History, Historiography - Modern Scholarship, Mentalities |
| Paper 1709-b | The Prevalence and Function of Prognosis in Historical Works from Germany in the 12th and 13th Centuries (Language: English) Index terms: Historiography - Medieval, Language and Literature - Latin, Political Thought |
| Paper 1709-c | Prophecy as a Medieval Category of Knowledge (Language: English) Index terms: Mentalities, Religious Life |
| Abstract | Apocalypticism and prognostication, though essential aspects of medieval religious belief, have not generally received the attention they deserve from modern historians. The reasons for this seem to be twofold: firstly, already in the Middle Ages contemporaries were wary about such beliefs, which were often dangerously heterodox and tended to be treated with suspicion by the ecclesiastical hierarchy; and secondly, scholars have often been reluctant to admit that the objects of their study may have been influenced by what seem to us to be such 'irrational' beliefs. These sessions seek to challenge such presumptions by re-examining the central role of apocalyptic thought and prognostication in Western Europe in the early and high Middle Ages. |