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IMC 2024: Sessions

Session 509: Noblesse oblige?: Intermediate Élites and the Common Good in Medieval Afro-Eurasia, I

Tuesday 2 July 2024, 09:00-10:30

Sponsor:AHRC Project 'Noblesse oblige?: 'Barons' and the Public Good in Medieval Afro-Eurasia, 10th-14th Centuries'
Organisers:Maximilian Lau, Faculty of History, University of Oxford
Gregory Lippiatt, Department of Archaeology & History, University of Exeter
Moderator/Chair:Maximilian Lau, Faculty of History, University of Oxford
Paper 509-aWolves or Sheepdogs?: Politico-Military Élites in Medieval al Andalus and the Maghrib
(Language: English)
Amira K. Bennison, Faculty of Asian & Middle Eastern Studies, University of Cambridge
Index terms: Geography and Settlement Studies, Islamic and Arabic Studies and Politics and Diplomacy
Paper 509-bWhose Good?: Intermediate Élites and the Evolution of Mongol Suzerainty in Rus'
(Language: English)
Angus Russell, Faculty of Modern & Medieval Languages & Linguistics / King's College, University of Cambridge
Index terms: Economics - Trade, Geography and Settlement Studies and Politics and Diplomacy
Paper 509-cBenevolent Élites?: The Agency of Virtuous Government in Ancient and Medieval Japan
(Language: English)
Mickey Adolphson, Faculty of Asian & Middle Eastern Studies / Trinity College, University of Cambridge
Index terms: Administration, Political Thought and Politics and Diplomacy
Abstract

The medieval 'baron' is an image popularly understood as a negative, self-interested actor, at least in western Europe. This strand examines the history and historiography of this idea in a transnational perspective by examining intermediate élites across Afro-Eurasia in the High Middle Ages as part of our AHRC-funded network. In this session, we will explore case studies that conceptualise what intermediate élites might be in different geographical contexts.  This strand is a preliminary presentation of the work done in our research network over the past year and a half on the nature, status, and role of non-royal political actors in relation to the common good.