IMC 2014: Sessions

Session 1317: Reassessing the Medieval Western Empire, IV: The Empire and Italy

Wednesday 9 July 2014, 16.30-18.00

Sponsor:	German History
Organiser:	Len Scales, Institute of Medieval & Early Modern Studies, Durham University
Moderator/Chair:	Björn Weiler, Department of History & Welsh History, Aberystwyth University
Paper 1317-a	Shock and Awe: The Material Impact of Frederick Barbarossa's Second and Third Campaigns in Northern Italy, 1158-1165 (Language: English) Edward Coleman, Department of History, Index terms: Military History, Religious Life
Paper 1317-b	Justifying Rulership and Undermining Resistance: The Creation of Cives in Salian Italy (Language: English) Robert Houghton, St Andrews Institute of Mediaeval Studies, University of St Andrews Index terms: Political Thought, Politics and Diplomacy, Rhetoric
Paper 1317-c	Ghibellines: Imperial Supporters or Swabian Supporters? (Language: English) Federico Canaccini, Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche, Politiche e Delle Lingue Moderne, Libera Università Maria SS, Roma Index terms: Political Thought, Politics and Diplomacy
Paper 1317-d	Defining the Prerogatives of the Holy Roman Empire in 13th-Century Communal Italy: Odofredus Denari and His 'Unconventional' Interpretation of the Peace of Constance (Language: English) Gianluca Raccagni, School of History, Classics & Archaeology, University of Edinburgh Index terms: Politics and Diplomacy, Rhetoric
Abstract	The involvement of the Empire's rulers in Italy during the central Middle Ages took a number of forms, and had varied consequences for Italian society and political culture. These papers seek to explore the range of imperial interventions and the mark which they left on politics and mentalities. They consider the importance and consequences of the use of military force (Coleman), but also the attempts of emperors to nurture ideological identifications on the part of their Italian subjects (Houghton). And they examine how Italians came to understand the Empire: through the concepts of 'Guelph' and 'Ghibelline' (Canaccini), and in terms of the emperor's enduring legal powers (Raccagni).