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IMC 2020: Sessions

Session 1156: Changing States in Life

Wednesday 8 July 2020, 11.15-12.45

Moderator/Chair:Laura Cayrol Bernardo, Universidad de Oviedo
Paper 1156-aLife Boundaries: Changing Health Issues from Worker to Retired in Medieval England
(Language: English)
Wendy J. Turner, Department of History, Anthropology & Philosophy, Augusta University, Georgia
Index terms: Daily Life, Medicine, Military History, Social History
Paper 1156-bBeyond the Borders of Class
(Language: English)
Luis Galan Campos, Departament d'Història Medieval i Ciències i Tècniques Historiogràfiques Universitat de València
Index terms: Demography, Mentalities, Social History
Paper 1156-cOrdained Bastards and Their Ecclesiastical Careers in Late 13th-Century England
(Language: English)
Dominika Brzezinska, St Andrews Institute of Mediaeval Studies, University of St Andrews
Index terms: Anthropology, Canon Law, Ecclesiastical History
Abstract

Paper -a:
This paper will address the how and when people working for the English crown retired, including those in the king's household, the government, and the military. The often quoted age of 60 seems to be the suggested age at which many could retire from the military, but did they? Under what circumstances might a household staff member, the cook, or the royal verderer retire? It seems that many retired at whatever age their health became compromised such that they could no longer function well, if at all, in their duties. This 'boundary' between working and retiring seems to be one many people resisted. They wanted to continue working. This talk will example the possible reasons for why people resisted crossing this boundary and why some found it to be a barrier.

Paper -b:
Bien que la société médiévale ait été définie comme une société extrêmement rigide, ayant des frontières économiques, juridiques ou même culturelles infranchissables qui mettaient les plébéiens à l’écart des élites dirigeantes, le grand dynamisme économique de l’Occident à la fin du moyen Âge permit à des familles issues des rangs des marchands, des professionnels du droit ou même des artisans aisés s’ennoblir au cours d'une ou deux générations. C’est le cas des Jofré, Fabra, Mercader ou Pujades, parmi d’autres lignages du Royaume de Valence au début du XVème siècle grâce à un esprit entrepreneur, la participation en politique la création d’un vaste réseau de contacts et l’adoption des habits de consommation de la noblesse.

Paper -c:
On the wave of reforms that washed over the Church in the 11th and 12th centuries, illegitimacy became a factor that made a man unfit for ordination except by papal dispensation. A careful examination of ecclesiastical sources reveals that granting a dispensation was not always just a formality and once obtained it did not wash a stain of an illegitimate birth. This paper aims first to analyse conditions and restrictions of obtaining such a dispensation and second, to trace how far bastards could make it in the ecclesiastical hierarchy, and what obstacles they might meet on the way. How the illegitimates tried to circumvent the rules in order to advance their career in the Church will also be briefly presented.