IMC 2019: Sessions

Session 1324: Oaths, II: Loyalty and Authority

Organisers:	Isabelle Beaudoin, Magdalen College, University of Oxford Tom Lambert, Faculty of History, University of Oxford
Moderator/Chair:	Alice Taylor, Department of History, King's College London
Paper 1324-a	Oaths and How to Avoid Them: Homage and Loopholes in 12th-Century England (Language: English) Hannah Boston, Trinity College, University of Oxford Index terms: Law, Social History
Paper 1324-b	Demystifying the 'Loyalty Oath' in Anglo-Saxon Legislation from Alfred to Edmund (Language: English) Isabelle Beaudoin, Magdalen College, University of Oxford Index terms: Law, Political Thought, Social History
Paper 1324-c	The Social Effects of the Anglo-Saxon Loyalty Oath (Language: English) Richard Purkiss, Lincoln College, University of Oxford Index terms: Law, Social History
Abstract	Oaths could be a fundamental aspect of medieval life, the substance upon which all manner of social goods (e.g. legal processes, mutual trust and cooperation, personal loyalty) were imagined to depend. Their ubiquity across a range of contexts, from high politics to biblical exegesis, makes them a good focus for productive discussion across specialisms. This session, the second of two, examines the ways in which oaths defined the boundaries of loyalty and authority. It explores the meaning of oaths linked to political hierarchies, their wider social implications, and how the problematic repercussions of oath-breaking could be navigated.