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IMC 2021: Sessions

Session 1510: The Perception of Political and Spiritual Power in the Middle Ages and After

Thursday 8 July 2021, 09.00-10.30

Sponsor:Onderzoekschool Mediëvistiek
Organiser:Sven Meeder, Afdeling Geschiedenis, Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen
Moderator/Chair:Sven Meeder, Afdeling Geschiedenis, Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen
Paper 1510-aPower through Donations: Perspectives on Gift-Giving to Ecclesiastics in Seventh-Century Frankish Hagiography
(Language: English)
Eduard Visintini, Utrecht Centre for Medieval Studies, Universiteit Utrecht
Index terms: Historiography - Medieval, Law
Paper 1510-b'Practised but not taught': Categorising Relics in the 12th Century
(Language: English)
Ophelia Norris, Utrecht Centre for Medieval Studies, Universiteit Utrecht
Index terms: Hagiography, Lay Piety, Monasticism, Religious Life
Paper 1510-cRebel or Diplomat?: Means and Strategies of a Late Medieval Princely Widow
(Language: English)
Margreet Brandsma, Faculteit der Geesteswetenschappen, Universiteit Leiden
Index terms: Politics and Diplomacy, Women's Studies
Paper 1510-dThe Middle Ages on Stage: Edmund Kean, Medievalism, and Shakespeare's Richard II
(Language: English)
Fernanda Korovsky Moura, Faculteit der Geesteswetenschappen, Universiteit Leiden
Index terms: Medievalism and Antiquarianism, Performance Arts - Drama
Abstract

Like beauty, power is very much in the eye of the beholder. Throughout history, the perception of power is therefore something that is carefully managed, manipulated and sometimes subverted. This session investigates how political and spiritual power was (re)presented by those in power as well as contemporary and later authors, how perceptions shifted, and what the consequences of such shifts were. From the deadly description of a noble faction as 'unfree' by Galbert of Bruges, to the staging of Shakespeare's reconstruction of Richard II's deposition during the opening years of a new dynasty; perceptions of power are themselves immensely powerful.