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IMC 2022: Sessions

Session 1115: Crossing Medieval Borders: Multicultural and Contested Spaces, II - Navigating the Multiculturalism of Borders

Wednesday 6 July 2022, 11.15-12.45

Sponsor:Queen's University Belfast
Organiser:Karen Pinto, Department of History, Gettysburg College, Pennsylvania
Moderator/Chair:Elisa Ramazzina, School of Arts, English & Languages, Queen's University Belfast
Paper 1115-a'Versus partes Transalpinenses': The Transylvanian Saxon Towns and Transcarpathian Political Communication, c. 1467-1526
(Language: English)
Matthew Coulter, St John's College, University of Cambridge
Index terms: Geography and Settlement Studies, Politics and Diplomacy
Paper 1115-bGinseng for the Qa'an: Human and Material Mobilities in Competing Conceptualizations of the Yuan-Koryo Border
(Language: English)
Aaron Molnar, Department of History, University of British Columbia
Index terms: Economics - Trade, Medicine, Politics and Diplomacy
Paper 1115-cLevels of Otherness: War and Peace with Muslims in the Poema de mio Cid
(Language: English)
Joanna Mendyk, Instytut Historii, Uniwersytet Jagielloński, Kraków / Departamento de Historia, Universidad de Zaragoza
Index terms: Crusades, Language and Literature - Spanish or Portuguese, Mentalities, Social History
Abstract

This panel explores the multiculturalism of borders in the medieval world and the way that territory was organised, divided, or contested across time and space. Paper -a explores the role of Saxon towns and their diverse inhabitants in diplomatic relations along permeable frontier boundary zones with the use of documentary sources. Paper -b follows the ginseng trade through the Mongolian and Korean borders, examining the relationships between human and material mobility, and the permeability of political, administrative, economic, and social boundaries. Paper -c considers the Poema de mio Cid as a 'frontier' text at the crossroads between the Christian and the Muslim worlds and investigates how 'Otherness' is depicted in the poem. Together, the contributions to this panel work to contrast medieval conceptualisations of borders with their treatment in our modern-day world, illuminating the role that they have played in shaping conflicts and in the development of states.