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 |
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Moderator/Chair: | Hilde de Weerdt, Institute for Area Studies, Universiteit Leiden |
Paper 1319-a | Mapping Monastic Networks: Communication and Solidarity in 12th-Century Religious Elites in the Latin West (Language: English) Index terms: Genealogy and Prosopography, Monasticism, Social History |
Paper 1319-b | Chinese Bureaucratic Elites, Their Social Networks, and the Geography of Power across the Tang-Song Transition (Language: English) 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. |