| Abstract | Paper -a:
With empire comes colony, and it is in such a light that recent postcolonial approaches to the early medieval period have understood the relationship between Anglo-Saxon England and the Welsh kingdoms to its west. This paper will take literary representations of the border between Wales and Mercia in Bede's Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle as a case study to challenge claims for the longevity of English colonialism, arguing that Anglo-Saxon literary texts themselves represent the frontier between Wales and Mercia as a space with shared cultural values best understood on its own terms, rather than as the locus of aggression between two constantly warring peoples.
Paper -b:
From 772 until 804 the Franks prosecuted a brutal series of wars which culminated in the eventual conquest and integration of the Saxon people into the Frankish realm. As a side effect of this ongoing engagement beyond the Rhine there arose new opportunities for contact, interaction, and conflict with the various political and ethnic peoples of the north. This paper aims to examine ways in which trade, diplomacy, and warfare served to shape relationships between the newly forming Frankish empire and their northern neighbors, the Danes, in the decades which precede what we typically call the 'Viking Age'.
Paper -c:
Empires tend to have similar trajectories to those of living organisms. They are born, they grow, they prosper and flourish, and then they eventually decline and fall. The same observation applies to the Byzantine Empire with its history composed of succession of periods of growth and decline. Yet, the Byzantine Empire, or Eastern Roman Empire, outlasted its Western counterpart by roughly one millennium. There were several deeply critical moments during this time span that threatened its very existence, but somehow the Byzantine Empire recovered and existed until 1453 when it was finally brought to end by Ottoman Turks. In my paper I focus on two such cases. The first crisis occurred during the reign of Emperor Heraclius (610-641) and the second during the reign of Alexios Komnenos (1081-1118). Both emperors managed to halt and reverse the effects of decline that plagued the Byzantine Empire during their reigns, and even succeeded in restoring its fortune for a while. I will therefore attempt to identify the crucial measures both emperors took and if possible, compare and analyze them.
Paper -d:
In the Roman d'Alexandre, hair-covered wild men are among the marvelous beings over whom the eponymous hero extends his imperial domination. The romance pits the civilized Greek empire against the uncivilized savages destined to submit to its rule. By contrast, the Roman de Perceforest – which inscribes itself in the Alexander tradition by making Alexander himself a central figure – introduces a remarkably civilized 'wild man', Ourseau. Although he is covered in fur and resembles a bear, Ourseau has the task of recivilizing the Britons after their conquest by Julius Caesar. In so doing, he problematizes the concepts of both wildness and empire: a Briton raised in Rome, Ourseau brings the benefits of Roman civilization back to his native island, but ultimately turns against Rome after learning how Caesar slaughtered his British family.
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