IMC 2014: Sessions

Session 1624: Prophecy and Empire, IV

Thursday 10 July 2014, 11.15-12.45

Sponsor:	Centre for Medieval Studies, University of Bristol
Organiser:	Anke Holdenried, Department of History, University of Bristol
Moderator/Chair:	Felicitas Schmieder, Historisches Institut, FernUniversität Hagen
Paper 1624-a	Sibyls, History, and Empire in 13th-Century Italy (Language: English) Anke Holdenried, Department of History, University of Bristol Index terms: Historiography - Medieval, Language and Literature - Latin, Learning (The Classical Inheritance), Political Thought
Paper 1624-b	'The Lion with the Humble Roar': Astrology, Sibylline Prophecy, Empire, and the Fate of Italy in the Works of John of Legnano (Language: English) Laura Ackerman Smoller, Department of History, University of Arkansas at Little Rock Index terms: Language and Literature - Latin, Learning (The Classical Inheritance), Political Thought
Paper 1624-c	Antichrists or Last Emperors?: The Luxembourger Rulers in the Apocalyptic Prophecies (Language: English) Pavlína Libichová Cermanová, Centrum Medievistických Studií, Akademie vĕd České Republiky, Praha Index terms: Historiography - Medieval, Language and Literature - Latin, Language and Literature - Slavic, Political Thought
Abstract	The aim of these sessions is to investigate how imperial and prophetic traditions interlinked in the medieval period (c. 500-1500). Topics include: • Classical and Christian prophecy/empire • Non-European traditions of 'prophecy' and 'empire' • Emperors/rulers as sponsors of prophecy • The medieval legend of the Last Emperor: its development and adaptation to various contexts throughout Christendom, East and West • 'Informal' empires: how Latin and vernacular texts use prophecy to construct rulership and to comment on the aspirations of specific rulers or dynasties • Non-biblical traditions of prognostication, for example astrological predictions concerning the fate of different medieval realms and that of their enemies • The interdependency of 'prophecy' and 'empire' in medieval visual and material culture • Approaches to 'Prophecy and Empire' in modern historiography