IMC 2020: Sessions
Session 519: Holy Politics!: Borders between the Sacred and the Political in Medieval German Literature
Tuesday 7 July 2020, 09.00-10.30
| Organisers: | Lea Braun, Institut für deutsche Literatur, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin Ricarda Wagner, Department of English Universität Bern |
|---|---|
| Moderator/Chair: | Ricarda Wagner, Department of English Universität Bern |
| Paper 519-a | The Relic Politic: St Helena, the Cross, and Sacred Imperialism in the Inventio Legends (Language: English) Index terms: Hagiography, Language and Literature - German |
| Paper 519-b | Female Mystics Reclaiming Liturgical Authority: The Cases of Margareta Ebner and Adelheid Langmann (Language: English) Index terms: Language and Literature - German, Liturgy |
| Paper 519-c | Contested Futures: Prophecy and the Border Dispute between Fate and Politics in the 'Alexander' Romances (Language: English) Index terms: Language and Literature - German, Politics and Diplomacy |
| Abstract | This panel queries the border between the sacred and the political in medieval German literature. Genres from romances to hagiography and mystical texts negotiate what it means to wield authority in secular and religious contexts. Rather than being diametrically opposed, the political and the sacred frequently blend and borrow from each other. Questions that inspire this panel are: where do the borders between the sacred and the political run? When are they ignored or deliberately subverted? And how do the sacred and the political change after meeting at the border? |