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IMC 2022: Sessions

Session 705: Loyalty in the Central Middle Ages, I: The Loyalties of Women and Their Menfolk

Tuesday 5 July 2022, 14.15-15.45

Sponsor:Haskins Society / Battle Conference on Anglo-Norman Studies
Organiser:Chris Lewis, Institute of Historical Research, University of London / Department of History, King's College London
Moderator/Chair:Alice Hicklin, Friedrich-Meinecke-Institut, Freie Universität Berlin
Paper 705-aPeople, Kin, or King?: Mercian Loyalties in the Early 10th Century
(Language: English)
Morn D. T. Capper, School of History & Archaeology, University of Chester
Index terms: Gender Studies, Mentalities, Social History
Paper 705-bWomen, Families, and the Making of Loyalty in Time and Space: The Kin of Ealdorman Byrhtnoth
(Language: English)
Berenice Wilson, Institute for Medieval Studies, University of Leeds
Index terms: Gender Studies, Mentalities, Social History
Abstract

Two sessions seek to establish the utility of taking a broad definition of loyalty in the Central Middle Ages. Loyalty covers more than the bonds of men and lords, and subjects and rulers. It can be seen as working up, down, and across social ranks and can encompass group loyalties as well as other forms of dyadic loyalty. Medieval people had loyalties to social groups and kindreds as well as to individuals, and to places and institutions as well as to people, living and dead. The round table will focus on the languages of loyalty, in the words used in Latin and the vernacular to convey feelings and acts of loyalty, and in the discourses of loyalty.