IMC 2019: Sessions

Session 1508: Hope and Uncertainty in Medieval Europe and the Near East, I: Hope and Anticipation in the Early Medieval West

Thursday 4 July 2019, 09.00-10.30

Sponsor:	Sonderforschungsbereich 'Visions of Community' (Austrian Science Fund, FWF F42)
Organiser:	Rutger Kramer, Institut für Mittelalterforschung, Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Wien
Moderator/Chair:	Matthew Gabriele, Department of Religion & Culture, Virginia Tech
Paper 1508-a	Projecting Hope onto the Early Middle Ages (Language: English) Veronika Wieser, Institut für Mittelalterforschung, Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Wien Index terms: Hagiography, Historiography - Medieval, Mentalities, Theology
Paper 1508-b	Future Tense: The Social Meanings of Hope in Frankish Narrative Sources (Language: English) Rutger Kramer, Institut für Mittelalterforschung, Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Wien Index terms: Historiography - Medieval, Mentalities, Political Thought, Rhetoric
Paper 1508-c	Hopeful Legislation: Canon Law and a Future We Can Believe In (Language: English) Sven Meeder, Afdeling Geschiedenis, Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen Index terms: Canon Law, Law, Political Thought, Theology
Paper 1508-d	Easing the Way to Heaven: Everyday Hope in Carolingian Pastoral Compendia (Language: English) Carine van Rhijn, Departement Geschiedenis en Kunstgeschiedenis, Universiteit Utrecht Index terms: Daily Life, Local History, Mentalities, Theology
Abstract	These papers address the way hope provides people with tools for formulating ways to overcome perceived challenges between them and their aspirations in the Early Medieval world. Wieser starts by explaining the various meanings of hope in patristic texts and how these impacted the writings of intellectuals in the Frankish world. Kramer then addresses the way 'hope' is used by Frankish historiographers as a narrative agent propelling history towards the present, to provide a justification for past actions. Meeder looks at systematic collections of canon law, arguing that their universalising and legalistic rhetoric obscured comprehensive attempts at social engineering in pursuit of a better future. Van Rhijn analyses the interplay between hope and regulation in pastoral manuscripts, showing how local priests ventured beyond the merely ritual to perform pastoral care, which entailed more than strictly religious concerns.