IMC 2020: Sessions
Session 217: Violating Sacred Space in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages, II: How to Get Away with Murder in the Church?
Monday 6 July 2020, 14.15-15.45
| Sponsor: | Utrecht Centre for Medieval Studies, Universiteit Utrecht |
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| Organisers: | Kay Boers, Utrecht Centre for Medieval Studies, Universiteit Utrecht Rob Meens, Departement Geschiedenis en Kunstgeschiedenis, Universiteit Utrecht |
| Moderator/Chair: | Philippe Buc, Institut für Geschichte / Institut für Österreichische Geschichtsforschung, Universität Wien |
| Paper 217-a | How to Get Away with Murder in the Cathedral: North African Schism in the 4th Century (Language: English) Index terms: Architecture - Religious, Religious Life, Rhetoric, Sermons and Preaching |
| Paper 217-b | Was It Possible to Get Away with Murder in an Early Medieval Church? (Language: English) Index terms: Architecture - Religious, Mentalities, Religious Life |
| Paper 217-c | They Did Not Get Away with Murder in the Church: The 'Erembalds' and the Assasination of Charles the Good of Flanders, 1127 (Language: English) Index terms: Architecture - Religious, Historiography - Medieval, Liturgy, Social History |
| Abstract | In these sessions we investigate conflicts revolving around, or making use of the concept of sacred space, and in particular debates surrounding the violent intrusion of ecclesiastical space. In the Late Antique and Early Medieval worlds, churches were generally regarded as sacred and were meant to be kept free from any kind of pollution, and in particular, worldly violence. The shedding of blood within its enclosed confines was not only regarded as a serious violation of the sacredness of the church building, but it was also a transgression of the legal provisions of asylum. These norms, however, did not stop people from using violence in churches and sometimes killings took place even inside the church's most sacred areas. This peculiar type of violence not only created great scandal, it also produced highly charged debates extolling the victims and exonerating the perpetrators. |