| Paper 1621-c | Between 'Global' and 'Local': The Visibility of Power in Medieval World Chronicles
(Language: English)
Nadine Ulrike Holzmeier, Centre for Medieval Studies, University of York / Historisches Institut, FernUniversität Hagen
Index terms: Historiography - Medieval, Manuscripts and Palaeography, Mentalities, Political Thought |
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| Abstract | Paper -a:
The Old English word, dustsceawung (the contemplation of dust), captures an idea that is pervasive in Anglo-Saxon poetry. Like Latin ubi sunt poems, or Percy Shelley's Ozymandias, Old English poems often dwell on the fleeting nature of life and civilisation, drawing a moral lesson from this intransience. 'The Ruin' in particular has captured the interest of scholars for its description of a presumably Roman ruin as enta geweorc (the work of giants). P. John Frankis analysed the use of Latin loan words to argue that there were Roman connotations attached to this language. This paper will reassess references to Roman ruins in Anglo-Saxon poetry, debating the extent to which the contemplation of dust was linked to romanitas.
Paper -b:
In the 14th century the citizens of the Imperial City of Ulm built a parish church, its size and splendor competing with most cathedrals of the time. Taking advantage of the ongoing hostility between the Kaiser and the Pope, the burghers of Ulm managed to secure numerous privileges from the emperor, amongst them the patronage of the city parish church which they initiated, financed and supervised. The tympanum of the west portal, facing the market place, is unique not only in size, but even more so in its subject: it represents a sculpted Creation Cycle with an unusual focus on the cosmological creation, indicating scientific theories, some of which were still considered controversial, and not in the public domain. In this paper I shall interpret the ideas represented in this cycle and discuss the social and political dynamics that led to the erection of this idiosyncratic monument.
Paper -c:
Medieval worldchronicles have played a strong role not only in the imagination of the past; they have also depicted contemporary ideas of power and empire in relationship to tradition and space. By using different examples this paper will thematise the relationship between the 'global' and the 'local' in medieval worldchronicles. Another important point will be the apparent stronger need for worldchronicles in the High Middle Ages and it´s connection to the political contexts also on a local level.
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