IMC 2012: Sessions

When empires decline or fall, the frame of reference of a 'larger social whole' collapses. Particular communities and identities emerge, which attract loyalties previously focused on an empire. How are larger and more inclusive visions of community maintained or reconstructed? This session seeks to address such shifts in the frame of reference of people living in the context of a Roman empire that had all but disappeared from Western Europe. First, Stefan Esders will analyse the political and religious dynamics between Byzantium and Merovingian France as seen through the relic transfers described in Gregory of Tours' De Gloria Martyrum. Then, Gerda Heydemann will sketch the development of the notion of ecclesia gentium in biblical commentaries between the 6th and 9th centuries, in a paper which seeks to explore how the particular micro-christendoms that developed in the post-Roman kingdoms, came to structure and define Christianity, instead of the former imperial political framework. Finally, Rutger Kramer will attempt to shed light on the role of Rome as an ideal and a driving force behind the Carolingian church reforms - which were, after all, partially intended to restructure the imperial framework fragmented in the preceding centuries.