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IMC 2017: Sessions

Session 1535: Constructions and Representations of Territory in Late Medieval Europe, I

Thursday 6 July 2017, 09.00-10.30

Sponsor:Universiteit van Amsterdam
Organiser:Kim Overlaet, Capaciteitsgroep Geschiedenis, Universiteit van Amsterdam
Moderator/Chair:Mario Damen, Capaciteitsgroep Geschiedenis, Universiteit van Amsterdam
Paper 1535-a'Displayed to establish their jurisdiction…': Heraldic Communication and the Social Construction of Urban Space in Late Medieval Augsburg
(Language: English)
Marcus Meer, Centre for Visual Arts & Culture, Durham University
Index terms: Heraldry, Historiography - Medieval, Political Thought
Paper 1535-bConstructing Borders in Late Medieval Northern Italy: Social Practices and Empowering Interactions
(Language: English)
Luca Zenobi, Faculty of History, New College, University of Oxford
Index terms: Geography and Settlement Studies, Political Thought, Politics and Diplomacy, Social History
Paper 1535-cArmies and the Construction of Territories: The Meuse Region in Theory and Practice
(Language: English)
Sander Govaerts, Capaciteitsgroep Geschiedenis, Universiteit van Amsterdam
Index terms: Historiography - Medieval, Military History
Abstract

How did late medieval political actors perceive and represent the territory they were living in, and its boundaries? What was their concept of territory before cartography and state formation turned national, regional, and urban borders and territories into more fixed geographical entities? This session wants to investigate the fluidity and multiplicity of the concept of territory in the later Middle Ages before the availability of accurate scale maps. Our point of departure is the idea that territory was viewed and constructed differently by different political actors (e.g. princes, ecclesiastics, nobles, urban elites). To analyse the notion of territory in a historical setting, we want to look at territorial practices and representations of territory in concert, in order to understand the correlation and interaction between the two. This session aims to be interdisciplinary and hopes that contributors will treat a wide range of relevant sources: architectural, heraldic, cartographic, narrative, and
administrative. In this way, the session can offer a new perspective on the fluidity and multiplicity of the concept of territory in the later Middle Ages.