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IMC 2023: Sessions

Session 719: Networks in Early Medieval Charters: Power, Politics, and Society

Tuesday 4 July 2023, 14.15-15.45

Organiser:Jonathan Dell Isola, Department of History, Catholic University of America, Washington, DC
Moderator/Chair:Levi Roach, Department of History, University of Exeter
Paper 719-aThe Politics of Place: Location and Networks in the Charters of Lothar I
(Language: English)
Elina Screen, Trinity College, University of Oxford
Index terms: Administration, Charters and Diplomatics, Politics and Diplomacy
Paper 719-bMemory, Empire, and Bottom-Up Networks between Kings in 10th-Century Rheims
(Language: English)
Fraser McNair, School of History, University of Leeds
Index terms: Charters and Diplomatics, Politics and Diplomacy
Paper 719-cElites in the Charters of Arnulf of Carinthia: Networks and Power
(Language: English)
Jonathan Dell Isola, Department of History, Catholic University of America, Washington, DC
Index terms: Charters and Diplomatics, Politics and Diplomacy
Abstract

In recent years royal charters have seen various reappraisals by historians, moving the discussion from charters as largely dominated by the royal court to seeing them as products of both royal and elite agendas. Royal charters can be mined for a variety of information, from the location of lands to familial and political relationships. Charters were not neutral or passive receptors of royal activity, but interwoven into ceremonies and politics. Above all, charters can show the contours of royal power and authority. This panel seeks to offer different ways of looking at charters as a nexus for various networks, both political and social.