IMC 2015: Sessions
Session 1706: Water: The Control of Nature and the Nature of Control
Thursday 9 July 2015, 14.15-15.45
| Sponsor: | Historisches Institut, Universität zu Köln |
|---|---|
| Organiser: | Sabine von Heusinger, Fachgruppe Geschichte und Soziologie, Universität Konstanz |
| Moderator/Chair: | Letha Böhringer, Historisches Institut, Universität zu Köln |
| Paper 1706-a | Swimming Rulers: The Swimming of Medieval Rulers as Part of Historiographical and Literal Narratives (Language: English) Index terms: Historiography - Medieval, Language and Literature - Latin, Political Thought, Politics and Diplomacy |
| Paper 1706-b | Fountains as Sources of Conflicts in Medieval Towns (Language: English) Index terms: Local History, Mentalities, Social History, Technology |
| Paper 1706-c | Rivers and Territories in Later Medieval Italy (Language: English) Index terms: Local History, Mentalities, Politics and Diplomacy, Technology |
| Abstract | Intersections between the natural and the manmade world are often places of contested claims, power negotiations, and attempts to manage unruly forces from both the natural and the human realm. Water is a particularly vital, powerful, and unpredictable element, essential to human life but often escaping human control. This panel examines three encounters between water and human affairs: swimming emperors, urban fights over fountains, and the constructive and destructive role of rivers in delineating territory. It seeks to survey the ways in which water offered contemporaries opportunities to articulate or negotiate conflicts and identities and to develop structures to channel them productively. |