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IMC 2021: Sessions

Session 401: Annual Early Medieval Europe Lecture: Studying Medieval Mobilities - Problems and Perspectives (Language: English)

Monday 5 July 2021, 19.00-20.30

Sponsor:Early Medieval Europe
Introductions:Roy Flechner, School of History, University College Dublin
Francesca Tinti, Departamento de Historia Medieval, Moderna y de América, Universidad del País Vasco - Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea, Vitoria-Gasteiz
Abstract

Mobility and migration have become the centre of attention in recent scholarship from a wide range of perspectives. Studies on trade and commerce, relics and pilgrimage, seafaring and road connections, embassies and diplomacy, translation activities and multilingualism have all contributed to an understanding that mobility was an integral and common part of the fabric and functioning of medieval societies. What is still lacking, however, is a comprehensive examination of how mobility and migration are treated by late antique and medieval authors.

Who gets to tell the story? And what kind of story is being told, and how? The 2021 Early Medieval Europe Lecture explores these questions for the early Middle Ages in the west of Europe (Mischa Meier) and Byzantium (Claudia Rapp), based on the experience of research teams at Tübingen and Vienna in putting together parallel sourcebooks on the topic.

The journal Early Medieval Europe provides an indispensable source of information and debate on the history of Europe from the later Roman Empire to the 11th century. The journal is a thoroughly interdisciplinary forum, encouraging the discussion of all aspects of the early Middle Ages with a strong focus on Europe. It covers the entire continent, including insular Europe, Scandinavia, Iceland, and the Mediterranean World, as well as interactions between Europe and places beyond it. Early Medieval Europe is unique in its chronological, methodological, and geographical scope, and is essential reading for students and scholars of the early medieval world. Further information is available at https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/14680254.