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IMC 2020: Sessions

Session 1144: Noblewomen Pushing the Boundaries, II: Female Agency and Legal Identities

Wednesday 8 July 2020, 11.15-12.45

Organisers:Harriet Kersey, School of Humanities, Canterbury Christ Church University
Charlotte Pickard, Centre for Continuing & Professional Education, Cardiff University
Moderator/Chair:Emma Cavell, Department of History, Swansea University
Paper 1144-aPushing the Boundaries of Legal Identities: Noblewomen and England's Raptus Laws
(Language: English)
Mariah Cooper, Department of History Memorial University of Newfoundland
Index terms: Law, Sexuality, Women's Studies
Paper 1144-bPopular Politics in 11th-Century Constantinople: A Glimpse into the Porphyrogenita Empresses and Rebel Women in the 1042 Revolt
(Language: English)
Merve Savas, Department of Medieval Studies Central European University Budapest/Wien
Index terms: Byzantine Studies, Politics and Diplomacy, Women's Studies
Paper 1144-cThe Heiress and Her Agency
(Language: English)
Alheydis Plassmann, Institut für Geschichtswissenschaft, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn
Index terms: Gender Studies, Politics and Diplomacy, Women's Studies
Abstract

Women frequently had to negotiate the boundaries between society's expectations and their lived experience - at times working against the roles traditionally ascribed to them. Noblewomen occupied a unique position in society which, arguably, afforded them greater agency and access to power. And yet, they too had to navigate boundaries, often pushing beyond what was perceived to be the norm. Considering the themes of legal identities, agency and rebel women, this session draws material from northern Europe and Constantinople.