IMC 2020: Sessions
Session 1241: The Borders of Life and Death: The Natural World, I - Bodily Care
Wednesday 8 July 2020, 14.15-15.45
| Sponsor: | Wellcome Collection |
|---|---|
| Organisers: | Joanne Edge, Department of History & Philosophy of Science, University of Cambridge Jude Seal, Independent Scholar, York |
| Moderator/Chair: | Elma Brenner, Wellcome Library, London |
| Paper 1241-a | Signs of Death: Medicine and Popular Knowledge at the Bedside (Language: English) Index terms: Medicine, Mentalities, Social History |
| Paper 1241-b | Prognosis and the Deathbed in Late Medieval Navarrese Documents (Language: English) Index terms: Lay Piety, Medicine, Mentalities |
| Paper 1241-c | Dead or Alive: Cemeteries and the Quest for Identity in Medieval French Romance (Language: English) Index terms: Language and Literature - French or Occitan, Mentalities |
| Paper 1241-d | Liminal Professions, Marginal Professionals: Working with Corpses in the Pre-Modern Low Countries (Language: English) Index terms: Economics - Urban, Law, Social History |
| Abstract | In the records and narratives of the Middle Ages, death was not only of huge significance, but also not necessarily as permanent as one might otherwise believe. These sessions will explore the borders between life and death: how did medieval people (in a broad geographical and chronological range) navigate the uncertainties and liminal spaces between the living and the dead, and between being alive and being dead? In what ways did medieval people conceptualise near death experiences? How did people attempt to predict their own death or that of others? In what ways did the rituals around death represent a syncretism of cultures as religious conversions spread through populations? |