IMC 2018: Sessions

Traditionally, Gallaecia, the former Roman province in northwestern Hispania, has been deemed 'exceptional' and thus has largely been overlooked in medieval scholarship. Recently, historians and archaeologists have begun to re-examine the region and its social, cultural, religious and political developments. Scholars such as Pablo C. Díaz, José Carlos Sánchez Pardo and James D'Emilio have shown the value studying Gallaecia has for our understanding of the post-Roman and Medieval world. This session will build on the work of this new scholarship. The papers in this session will prioritize the dialogue between disciplines, in this case History, Archaeology and Anthropology. Through analysis of multiple source types via diverse methodologies, all three papers call our attention to the processes by with the Church was implanted throughout the Gallaecian territory. Consideration of all levels of society in both the urban and rural contexts reveals the ways the church impacted the lives of local communities and how the people living in them contributed to the development of the ecclesiastical structure and its influence in society. While they focus on Gallaecia, these studies and the interdisciplinary approaches employed will illuminate significant factors that contributed to the transformation of the Roman West and the emergence of Medieval society.