IMC 2024: Sessions

Session 1116: The Emotions of Medieval Crises, II: The Emotions of Women in Crises

Wednesday 3 July 2024, 11:15-12:45

Sponsor:	Society for the Study of Medieval Emotions (SSME)
Organisers:	Hailey O'Harrow, St Andrews Institute of Mediaeval Studies, University of St Andrews Stephen Spencer, Faculty of History, Northeastern University London
Moderator/Chair:	Hailey O'Harrow, St Andrews Institute of Mediaeval Studies, University of St Andrews
Paper 1116-a	'Draw near in tears': Crisis, Christianity, and Its Tearful Apogee in 5th-Century Gaul (Language: English) Carole Ann Pinnington, Department of History, University of Liverpool Index terms: Hagiography and Religious Life
Paper 1116-b	The Aging Crisis in Medieval Literature (Language: English) Ninon Dubourg, Départment d'Histoire, Université de Liège Index terms: Language and Literature - French or Occitan and Mentalities
Paper 1116-c	Connections between Emotion, Disabilities, and the Law in Later Medieval England (Language: English) Wendy J. Turner, Department of History, Anthropology & Philosophy, Augusta University, Georgia Index terms: Law and Mentalities
Abstract	The Society for the Study of Medieval Emotions (SSME) has organised a series of in-person sessions for the Leeds International Medieval Congress 2024. The history of emotions has an important part to play in discussions of medieval crisis and vice versa, not least because any consideration of emotional change over time – which has emerged as a rich vein of research in recent years – must navigate, and understand the impact of, the major crises of the medieval world. In this second panel, our speakers discuss the emotions displayed and prompted by women in various instances of crisis, and across a wide range of sources. Carole Pinnington investigates the value of tears in fifth century vita, contrasting earlier mindsets which saw tears as a weakness, with the burgeoning theme of tears as a source of divinity. Our second speaker, Ninon Dubourg, discusses the emotions portrayed by elderly women in medieval literature, and the undeniably important role these characters had within the sources. Wendy Turner concludes our panel with her paper on the emotions presented by women in a court of law and how, when intent meant the difference between guilty or free of charge, mental health was often the deciding factor.