IMC 2014: Sessions

The proposed sessions aim to explore the relationship between liturgy and history in the complex commemorative culture of medieval monasticism. Papers will explore some of the ways in which liturgical culture influenced historical studies or knowledge of the past, and how far historical writing in turn may have affected the development of a monastic liturgy. Key topics that will be discussed include the extent to which records of the past (such as annals, biographies and histories) were used to help formulate and even supplement the liturgical cycle; the extent to which liturgical compositions circulated knowledge of the past among readers or audiences at public performances; the ways in which communities used historical or biographical texts within the delivery their monastic liturgy (e.g. for public ceremonial readings), and vice versa (e.g., use of liturgical compositions as sources for historical enquiry or in fostering historical consciousness and curiosity); and the ways in which the theology of liturgy converge with the theological underpinnings of the writing of history.