IMC 2019: Sessions
Session 1113: Sacralisation and De-Sacralisation of Space, II
Wednesday 3 July 2019, 11.15-12.45
| Sponsor: | Centre for Medieval Studies, Stockholms Universitet |
|---|---|
| Organiser: | Kurt Villads Jensen, Historiska institutionen, Stockholms universitet |
| Moderator/Chair: | Kim Bergqvist, Historiska institutionen, Stockholms Universitet |
| Paper 1113-a | 'Burn the Idols!', but Why Actually?: High Medieval Christian Theology of Desacralisation of Paganism (Language: English) Index terms: Crusades, Theology |
| Paper 1113-b | Desecrations of Space: Disruptive Practices in Sacred Spaces in the High Middle Ages (Language: English) Index terms: Crusades, Ecclesiastical History, Theology |
| Paper 1113-c | Sacralizing the Court: Abbess Ingeborg's Devotional Advice to Christian I, c. 1457 (Language: English) Index terms: Lay Piety, Political Thought |
| Abstract | This panel considers the spatial aspects of medieval religious practice and conquest. It will consider space from a variety of perspectives and disciplines, all centred on the social construction of space and how it can be re-structured, challenged, and transformed through social practice. As new territories were added to Christendom through warfare, landscapes were sacralised and symbolically incorporated into Christendom through the establishments of churches and chapels on pagan sites along with crosses along the roadsides. As manifestations of power and hierarchy, sacred spaces were targeted during times of unrest and strife. Liturgies and processions were interrupted through carefully timed and staged interventions which collapsed the distinctions between sacred and secular spheres. During times of war, sacred statues were dismembered as if attacking them were an extension of the atrocities committed against the civilian population, as a way of depriving the laity of the materiality of the holy, and the assurance of a saint's presence and intercession. |