IMC 2023: Sessions
Session 142: The Art of Ruling People and Places
Monday 3 July 2023, 11.15-12.45
| Organiser: | Neslihan Şenocak, Department of History, Columbia University |
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| Moderator/Chair: | Melanie Brunner, Institute for Medieval Studies, University of Leeds |
| Paper 142-a | The Emergence of Pastoral Power in Late Antique Italy (Language: English) Index terms: Administration, Ecclesiastical History, Political Thought, Theology |
| Paper 142-b | Making the Anthropocene in Medieval Christendom (Language: English) Index terms: Administration, Geography and Settlement Studies, Political Thought, Social History |
| Paper 142-c | Governance of Saints: Cistercian Communities and Their Approach to Saints in the Later Middle Ages (Language: English) Index terms: Administration, Ecclesiastical History, Monasticism, Religious Life |
| Abstract | During the medieval period, Christian institutions in Europe developed forms of governance that have had lasting consequences, in human and environmental terms. While the notion of the ruler as shepherd and pastor was found in the most ancient states, the medieval conception of governance as a pastoral activity brought together metaphor and practice in striking new ways. The ruling of people and places together, seeking to tame both, and render them profitable, resulted in some distinctive and ongoing ideological formulations. Each paper in the session explores these issues from a different angle. We examine the expansion of networks of Christian rulers, secular as well as ecclesiastical, and the rise of 'pastoral power'; the resonances between the language and practices of this form of governance; and the creation of saints as a 'resource' that required taming and nurturing, but could provide a powerful defence for humanity in a hostile world. |