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IMC 2014: Sessions

Session 1319: Imperial Elites in Comparative Perspective, 800-1600

Wednesday 9 July 2014, 16.30-18.00

Organiser:Franz-Julius Morche, Leiden Institute for Area Studies (LIAS), Universiteit Leiden
Moderator/Chair:Hilde de Weerdt, Institute for Area Studies, Universiteit Leiden
Paper 1319-aMapping Monastic Networks: Communication and Solidarity in 12th-Century Religious Elites in the Latin West
(Language: English)
Julian P. Haseldine, Department of History, University of Hull
Index terms: Genealogy and Prosopography, Monasticism, Social History
Paper 1319-bChinese Bureaucratic Elites, Their Social Networks, and the Geography of Power across the Tang-Song Transition
(Language: English)
Nicolas Tackett, Department of History, University of California, Berkeley
Index terms: Administration, Computing in Medieval Studies, Genealogy and Prosopography, Social History
Abstract

The notion of 'elite' is both significant and challenging to the historiography of empire, yet it varies significantly between historical and geographical contexts. While the difficulty of generating a comprehensive definition of imperial elites becomes most visible in comparative research, comparative history is at the same time the most likely methodological framework to identify commonalities between imperial structures and their underlying elite networks. This session seeks to discuss the social significance and political roles of elites in imperial entities on the basis of case studies from China, the Mamluk Empire, and Western Europe. The broader aim is to suggest general typologies of imperial entities and their inherent elite societies.