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IMC 2018: Sessions

Session 145: Marvels, Memory, and Place: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Medieval Landscapes

Monday 2 July 2018, 11.15-12.45

Organiser:Marianne O'Doherty, Institute for Medieval Studies, University of Leeds
Moderator/Chair:Catherine A. M. Clarke, Faculty of Humanities, University of Southampton
Paper 145-aEanswythe's Landscape: Inventing 7th-Century Folkestone
(Language: English)
Michael Bintley, School of Humanities, Canterbury Christ Church University
Index terms: Archaeology - Sites, Geography and Settlement Studies, Hagiography, Local History
Paper 145-bThe Miraculous Landscape in Norman Historical Writing
(Language: English)
Leonie V. Hicks, Department of History and American Studies, Canterbury Christ Church University
Index terms: Geography and Settlement Studies, Historiography - Medieval
Paper 145-cMarvels, Memory, and Place in the 'Marvels of Britain' Tradition
(Language: English)
Marianne O'Doherty, Institute for Medieval Studies, University of Leeds
Index terms: Geography and Settlement Studies, Language and Literature - French or Occitan, Language and Literature - Latin
Abstract

This session considers aspects of physical and textual place-making in the Middle Ages, focusing specifically on the relationship between marvels and miracles, memory and memorialisation, and place. Paper -a will present initial thoughts and findings from the 'Finding Eanswythe' Heritage Lottery project. It will consider the landscape of Folkestone at the time of the minster's supposed foundation, considering the relationship between various elements, including features of the natural landscape, the legacies of the town's prehistoric and Roman inhabitants, and other contemporary ecclesiastical sites. Focusing on chronicles associated with the Normans, Paper -b looks at the interaction of the miraculous and place in landscape descriptions of Normandy, southern Italy, and the Middle East. It also considers the influences that fed into landscape descriptions – such as the physical environment itself and biblical history – to fix them in the memories of readers. Paper -c looks at Latin and Insular French texts from the 'Marvels of Britain' tradition, considering how versions of the text remember and forget previously recorded marvels, and use marvels to forge connections between place and memory.