IMC 2020: Sessions
Session 734: Mappings, III: Borders between Text and Map
Tuesday 7 July 2020, 14.15-15.45
Organisers: | Felicitas Schmieder, Historisches Institut, FernUniversität Hagen Dan Terkla, Department of English, Illinois Wesleyan University |
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Moderator/Chair: | LauraLee Brott, Department of Art History, University of Wisconsin-Madison |
Paper 734-a | Perceptions and Descriptions of Borders during the Crusades (Language: English) Index terms: Archives and Sources, Geography and Settlement Studies |
Paper 734-b | The 'Wilderness': Geographic Knowledge between Textual Description and Practical Application in Late Medieval Prussia (Language: English) Index terms: Archives and Sources, Geography and Settlement Studies |
Abstract | Somewhat paradoxically, medieval Jews and Christians considered the Holy Land to be their familiar, yet distant homeland, a place that they could describe and depict, by drawing on the ancient traditions underpinning their beliefs. Not surprisingly, then, they described and depicted contested missionary territories, which they perceived as wilderness, before laying claim to them. In order to differentiate homeland from wilderness, late medieval writers and map makers incorporated borders within and around these areas, thereby creating zones of inclusion and exclusion. Speakers in this session will provide multiple perspectives on this phenomenon and thus lay the groundwork for a fruitful discussion of the beginnings of regional mapping. |