IMC 2026: Sessions
Session 1703: [ROOM CHANGE: Esther Simpson Room 2.08] Old English in the Long 19th Century, III: Freedom, Politics, and Religion in Old English Medievalisms
Thursday 9 July 2026, 14:15-15:45
| Sponsor: | ERC Project 'Early Medieval English in Nineteenth-Century Europe' (EMERGENCE - StG 101115867), Universiteit Leiden |
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| Organisers: | Ellen Gallimore, Institute for Medieval Studies, University of Leeds / Department of English & Related Literature, University of York Thijs Porck, Leiden University Centre for the Arts in Society, Universiteit Leiden |
| Moderator/Chair: | Rachel A. Fletcher, Centre for the Arts in Society, Universiteit Leiden |
| Paper 1703-a | From the 'Norman Yoke' to the 'Negro Yoke': The Kemble-Butler-Wister family, Old English, and the Meaning of Freedom in the Long 19th Century (Language: English) Index terms: Language and Literature - Old English, Medievalism and Antiquarianism |
| Paper 1703-b | The Cyninges Þeahteras or Cyninges Witan: Defining the Witenagemot in J. M. Kemble's The Saxons in England, 1849 (Language: English) Index terms: Language and Literature - Old English, Medievalism and Antiquarianism |
| Paper 1703-c | Acting English Dissent at the Turn of the 19th Century (Language: English) Index terms: Language and Literature - Old English, Medievalism and Antiquarianism |
| Abstract | This session zooms in on how Old English in the 19th century could be used to support various ideological, political and religious interpretations of the early medieval English past. Paper a will suggest that by the start of the nineteenth century, Old English, and early medieval England more broadly, had an enduring association with freedom, most commonly expressed in the myth of the “Norman Yoke.” Drawing on scholarly studies, popular literature, archive material and correspondence, the paper explore how the relationship between Old English and the idea of freedom changed during the 1800s. Paper b zooms in on John Mitchell Kemble’s interpretations of the Old English concept of the witenagemot and examines how Kemble used Old English terms to define another Old English term; it argues that Kemble’s philological approach to the witenagemot conveys an understanding of the relationship between the king as head of the nation, the State, the Church, and the people which is specific to England of the late 1840s. Paper c shifts the attention to popular interpretations of the Old English church in 19th-century England, examining how plays written by authors with dissenting religious views impacted the portrayal of religion in Early Medieval England. |