IMC 2022: Sessions

Session 206: Noblewomen Network, II: Politics, Power Relations, and Strategies

Monday 4 July 2022, 14.15-15.45

Sponsor:	Noblewomen Network
Organisers:	Harriet Kersey, School of Humanities, Canterbury Christ Church University Charlotte Pickard, Centre for Continuing & Professional Education, Cardiff University
Moderator/Chair:	Louise J. Wilkinson, School of Humanities, Canterbury Christ Church University
Paper 206-a	Desperate Times, Desperate Measures: Noblewomen, Their Children, and Strategies of Protection in Times of Crisis in Early Medieval Europe (Language: English) Ellora Bennett, Friedrich-Meinecke-Institut, Freie Universität Berlin Index terms: Gender Studies, Politics and Diplomacy, Women's Studies
Paper 206-b	Power, Succession, and the Politics of Gender in Medieval Sri Lanka, c. 1186-1215 (Language: English) Bruno Shirley, Department of Asian Studies, Cornell University Index terms: Gender Studies, Historiography - Medieval, Politics and Diplomacy
Paper 206-c	Abbesses and Family Independence in Medieval Milan (Language: English) Giuseppe Celico, School of Humanities, University of Glasgow / School of History, Classics & Archaeology, University of Edinburgh Index terms: Ecclesiastical History, Genealogy and Prosopography, Women's Studies
Abstract	Since the latter part of the 20th century there has been a great expansion in scholarship centred on women and their place in medieval society. This strand of sessions aims to bring together scholars working on medieval noblewomen - to build on and develop the discourse that has developed over the past few decades, with the continued aim of building a global network of scholars working in this vibrant area of research. This second session explores the strategies employed by noblewomen in a variety of different contexts, including in times of crisis. The papers in this session also discuss gender politics, how noblewomen often had to operate across multiple boundaries and explores how their actions had wider social, political and economic implications which were often at odds to their personal or familial interests.