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IMC 2018: Sessions

Session 1519: Medieval Power and Letters, I: Religion and Letters

Thursday 5 July 2018, 09.00-10.30

Sponsor:Centre for Medieval & Renaissance Research, University of Winchester
Organiser:Gordon McKelvie, Department of History, University of Winchester
Moderator/Chair:Gordon McKelvie, Department of History, University of Winchester
Paper 1519-aA King and His Letters: The Case of King Richard I and the Canterbury Election of 1193
(Language: English)
James Barnaby, School of History, University of East Anglia
Index terms: Archives and Sources, Ecclesiastical History, Manuscripts and Palaeography, Politics and Diplomacy
Paper 1519-bAgents or Emissaries?: The Devolution of Papal Power in the East
(Language: English)
James Hill, Institute for Medieval Studies, University of Leeds
Index terms: Administration, Crusades, Ecclesiastical History, Politics and Diplomacy
Paper 1519-cGender and Power in Bishop Benzo of Alba's Letters to Adelaide of Turin
(Language: English)
Alison Creber, Department of History, King's College London
Index terms: Administration, Ecclesiastical History, Gender Studies, Politics and Diplomacy
Abstract

This strand seeks to understand the ways in which medieval power could be demonstrated through letter writing and in letters. Both royalty and the nobility used letters in a variety of ways to showcase their power, by use of titles or through public intervention in diplomatic and political matters. Letters could be used to exercise agency, as well as provide an insight to the relationships between family members as well as acting as diplomatic documents. This particular strand examines the ecclesiastical context of such letters.