IMC 2024: Sessions
Session 1748: Espionage and Intelligence in the Middle Ages, III: The Court
Thursday 4 July 2024, 14:15-15:45
| Organisers: | Jenny Benham, School of History, Archaeology & Religion, Cardiff University Kathleen Neal, Centre for Medieval & Renaissance Studies, Monash University, Victoria |
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| Moderator/Chair: | Ben Morris, School of History, Archaeology & Religion, Cardiff University |
| Respondent: | Sam Ottewill-Soulsby, Institutt for arkeologi, konservering og historie, Universitetet i Oslo |
| Paper 1748-a | Court on the Move: The Expenses of Messengers at the Episcopal Court of Wolfger von Erla, 1203/04 (Language: English) Index terms: Ecclesiastical History, Politics and Diplomacy and Social History |
| Paper 1748-b | A Spymaster at Court?: Intelligence Gathering and Cultural Exchange (Language: English) Index terms: Language and Literature - Latin and Politics and Diplomacy |
| Abstract | Spying is one of the most fundamental activities by which medieval leaders and their political entities obtain and maintain their positions. Gathering, creating, exploiting and protecting intelligence and information, enabled leaders seek to reduce risks, to mitigate threats, to influence others, and to create and use opportunities to win and preserve what they see as their interests. In this final session of three show casing new research in this area, we approach the history of spying through the lens of the court, asking how its dynamics and personnel provided a particularly fertile ground for espionage activity. |