IMC 2017: Sessions

Session 311: Public Opinion, Debate, and the Medieval Public Sphere, III, 800-1500

Monday 3 July 2017, 16.30-18.00

Organiser:	Leidulf Melve, Department for Archeology, History, Cultural Studies & Religion, Universitetet i Bergen
Moderator/Chair:	Sverre Bagge, Senter for middelalderstudier, Universitetet i Bergen
Paper 311-a	Petitions and Political Language: The Use of 'Common Profit' by Merchant Guilds of Late 14th-Century London (Language: English) Daniella Gonzalez, Centre for Medieval & Early Modern Studies (MEMS), University of Kent Index terms: Law, Mentalities, Political Thought
Paper 311-b	'Market Gossip and Grumbles and the Work of Humble Courts Are Not Capable of Creating "Public" Culture': Processes of Producing a Public Culture in Late Medieval Europe (Language: English) Erik Opsahl, Department of Historical Studies, Norwegian University of Science & Technology Index terms: Education, Literacy and Orality, Rhetoric
Paper 311-c	Conflicts in Court: Complaints, Confrontation, and Communication, 1550-1650 (Language: English) Magne Njåstad, Department of Historical Studies, Norwegian University of Science & Technology, Trondheim Index terms: Education, Literacy and Orality, Rhetoric
Abstract	The sessions will investigate the relationship between the formation of public opinion and the emergence of public debate at different social and institutional junctures. Questions relating to forms of communication and networks will be of importance, but also the relationship between types of public opinion and the specific forms of arguments brought forward by the participants. The range of case studies, covering the period 800-1500, will enable us to put forward tentative conclusions relating to the characteristic features of the medieval public sphere.