IMC 2021: Sessions

These sessions seek to encourage a dialogue among those working on different aspects of early medieval English society. The research examining the lower levels of society does not always agree with the findings of those studying the highest social status. Robin Fleming has observed that status and the social order were becoming more important in the 10th and 11th centuries, signaled by increasing conspicuous consumption and an ecclesiastical interest in tracts on status. These sessions ask where did status end and office begin in pre-Conquest England? In a world where the secular and spiritual were often so closely intertwined, what can those who gained status and office in the ecclesiastical sphere tell us about those who obtained the same thing in the secular world? Among the laity, what can a discussion of the lowest thegns contribute to our understanding of the men who held the office of reeve or ealdorman? What about the status of women? In both spheres, what insights can be revealed on social and political regional variation in England in the 10th and 11th centuries through research on status, rank and office? By asking and attempting to answer these and other questions, these sessions aim to start a discussion and further a multifaceted understanding of the period and its people through addressing the many questions that arise.