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IMC 2013: Sessions

Session 310: Visions of Community, III: Time and History in the Construction of Authority

Monday 1 July 2013, 16.30-18.00

Sponsor:Sonderforschungsbereich 42 'Visions of Community: Comparative Approaches to Ethnicity, Region & Empire in Christianity, Islam & Buddhism, 400-1600', Universität Wien / Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Wien
Organiser:Rutger Kramer, Institut für Mittelalterforschung, Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Wien
Moderator/Chair:Helmut Reimitz, Department of History, Princeton University
Paper 310-aThe Best Prophets of the Future: Bishops and Kings in Late Antiquity
(Language: English)
Veronika Wieser, Institut für Mittelalterforschung, Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Wien
Index terms: Biblical Studies, Historiography - Medieval, Learning (The Classical Inheritance), Religious Life
Paper 310-bFrom dux Francorum to custos anserum: Managing Perceptions in Carolingian Historiography - The Case of Carloman's Conversion, 747
(Language: English)
Erik Goosmann, Instituut Geschiedenis, Universiteit Utrecht
Index terms: Historiography - Medieval, Mentalities, Political Thought
Paper 310-c(Re)Sources of Authority in Frechulf of Lisieux's Histories
(Language: English)
Graeme Ward, Sidney Sussex College, University of Cambridge
Index terms: Historiography - Medieval, Learning (The Classical Inheritance), Mentalities, Political Thought
Abstract

This session revolves around the question to what extent time, history and authority interact in the historiographical output of late antiquity and the early middle ages. Were models of authority solely to be found in the (distant) past? Or does the progression of time factor into this equation as well? The status of certain historical actors could change as they became subject to perceptions that were both carefully managed and highly stylised by their authors. Starting in Late Antiquity, Veronika Wieser will show one curious aspect of this management, by showing how images of the future became ever more authoritative as their age increased. This observation is then taken up by Erik Goosmann, who will demonstrate how Carolingian historiographers applied models from an authoritative past to manage the perception of the more controversial members of the dynasty, such as Carloman. To wrap up the proceedings, Graeme Ward will then turn these questions around, by focusing on the relationship between textual authority and ideas of rulership as seen through the eyes of Frechulf of Lisieux, for whom ancient texts both were invested with special qualities and packed full of examples which aimed at shaping the morals of more contemporary actors.