Preliminary Programme

Wed 30 March
    8.30 - 10.30
    11.00 - 13.00
    14.00 - 16.00
    16.30 - 18.30

Thu 31 March
    8.30 - 10.30
    11.00 - 13.00
    14.00 - 16.00
    16.30 - 18.30

Fri 1 April
    8.30 - 10.30
    11.00 - 13.00
    14.00 - 16.00
    16.30 - 18.30

Sat 2 April
    8.30 - 10.30
    11.00 - 13.00
    14.00 - 16.00
    16.30 - 18.30

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Wednesday 30 March 2016 8.30 - 10.30
K-1 MID07 Territory and Society: Secular and Ecclesiastical Models of Governance in Medieval and Early Modern Europe
Aula 8, Nivel 0
Network: Middle Ages Chair: Jesús Ángel Solorzano-Telechea
Organizers: Jesús Ángel Solorzano-Telechea, Peter Stabel Discussant: Peter Stabel
Louise Berglund : Illustrious Ladies: Birgittine Models of Authority and Female Rulership in the Late Medieval Nordic Region
What access did women have to political power during the Middle Ages? This paper discusses the changing political ideals and practice of female rulership and authority in the Nordic realms during the period c. 1330-1430. Power and authority will be analysed using the cases of four women, whose lives intersected ... (Show more)
What access did women have to political power during the Middle Ages? This paper discusses the changing political ideals and practice of female rulership and authority in the Nordic realms during the period c. 1330-1430. Power and authority will be analysed using the cases of four women, whose lives intersected in many ways. The later Middle Ages saw the formation of new models of female authority, and one of the foremost in this process was St Birgitta. Her own strategies can be understood within the context of changing practices of devotion during the 14th century. Three queens, Blanche of Namur (c. 1320-1363), Queen Margareta (1353-1412) and queen Philippa (c. 1394-1430) are analysed as secular representatives of female authority and queenship. They represent the development of new models of authority and rulership for queens.

In the Nordic region this development can be seen in several types of materials. Devotional books and other kinds of private reading appear to have become more common, particularly among the elite, and gave important precepts for piety as well as authority. Women increasingly relied on a combination of merits and networks when exercising authority; using seals, charters and the practice of piety they could communicate their own ambitions, and within the court systems they were able to make important friends. St Birgitta and her offspring played a practical role for all these three queens: she was lady-in-waiting to queen Blanche, her daughter served queen Margareta, and for a short time her grand-daughter did the same service to queen Philippa. Eventually the Order of St Birgitta gave Nordic queens a platform for international action and intercession.

I will discuss how authority, rulership and piety intersected in the context of the Nordic realms during this time, when they were linked in various forms of unions. International research has shown that as medieval society grew more complex, new models of authority developed, including a proliferation of new sainthood, devotional culture and solutions to political problems. The project is funded by the Swedish Foundation for Humanities and Social Sciences (RJ). (Show less)

Elisabetta Graziani : Lords and Subjects: Dependency Relations within the Monastic Lordship of Monte Cassino between the Twelfth and Thirteenth Century
The goal of my paper will be try to investigate the dependency relationships inside the monastic lordship of Monte Cassino, a lordship at the gateway of South of Italy, between the Twelfth and Thirteenth century. The Southern Italy’s lordships are in fact at the center of new studies that are ... (Show more)
The goal of my paper will be try to investigate the dependency relationships inside the monastic lordship of Monte Cassino, a lordship at the gateway of South of Italy, between the Twelfth and Thirteenth century. The Southern Italy’s lordships are in fact at the center of new studies that are highlighting the particularities of the relations between lords and subjects inside of them .
In the context of a territorial lordship that covered a compact territory, the Terra Sancti Benedicti, the dependency relations appeared complex and articulated. Territorial, land and personal power were in fact overlapping, creating relationships on various levels: between the abbot, a territorial lord, and his vassals with land and special privileges, called franci and often with the status of milites; between the abbot and his subjects of the various centers of the lordship, called homines, angarii, rustici or populares; between the franci or milites, holders of a dominium, vassals or not of the abbot, and the homines that were subjected to their domain and also to the abbot.
An example of the complex picture of which I speak is given by the Charta of Pontecorvo, released to this castle in 1190 by the abbot Roffredo. The charta informs us of the powers of milites of the Pontecorvo on other inhabitants of the castle and it regulates the framework of personal dependencies inside and alongside an organic domination, the abbot’s one.
So the Franchigia circumscribes the rights of the milites, making public new aspects of their domain and it is aimed mainly to the populares of Pontecorvo, a diversified group, with members subjected only to the abbot, and others also under the domain of the milites. Here are established the relationships with the monastic lordship and the relations between a miles and a homo subjected to his power.
The charta announces the violent relations between the milites and their subjects, the legal and economic solidarity between the abbot and his subject, the attempts of government and the limitations imposed by the milites to their homines, but it is silent on a range of information such as the ordinary relationships between a dominus and his homo, the detail of the issues related to the withdrawal and its distribution, the granting of lands, the forms in which it was sanctioned and legitimized the subjection.
Other sources, and in particular the abbots’ registers of the late Thirteenth century, will give us these information.
So how was managed this complex network of relationships within the monastic lordship? How acted the abbot with those who had a dominium in his lordship? What were the nature of the relations of dependency and what opportunities they offered? What about the relationships between the abbot and the subjects without privileges and submitted only to him or also under the power of the milites? What about the practices related to the withdrawal and to justice? Did all these relationships change over time and how?
I will try to answer, even if partially, to these questions. (Show less)

Fabian Kümmeler : Governing the Rural in Late-medieval Dalmatia. Venetian Governance of Rural Areas and Rural Self-Administration on the Island of Korcula in the 15th Century
This paper explores the Venetian governance and local self-administration of the rural areas on the island of Korcula (Curzola). In the 15th century, the republic of St. Mark was represented on Korcula by only one administrative office-holder. As the island‘s rector and its most senior judge, the Venetian rector was ... (Show more)
This paper explores the Venetian governance and local self-administration of the rural areas on the island of Korcula (Curzola). In the 15th century, the republic of St. Mark was represented on Korcula by only one administrative office-holder. As the island‘s rector and its most senior judge, the Venetian rector was charged with governing all of the island‘s affairs, while also attempting to assert Venetian interest. In consequence, most offices were actually held by islanders, who themselves administered large parts of the island, especially its countryside. Yet, assuming a certain rural autonomy might be misleading, as the administrative structure was designed and enacted according to Korculan law as well as Venetian jurisdiction.
Against this background, different types of administrative offices are portrayed in this paper, focussing in particular on the island‘s field guards. To contrast the normative basis given by statutory law against the peculiarities of this office in practice, a closer look is taken at field reports and other juridical sources (mainly court records). Studying selected micro-historical cases enables us to follow the daily work of field guards and to gain insight into the (astonishingly high) degree of literacy among the rural population on Korcula. Thereby, not only the actors and their normative framework, but also the political order and the role of law and legal institutions in governing the rural areas of late-medieval Korcula are discussed. (Show less)

Filip Malesevic : Church Historiography and Aristocracy in Post-tridentine Roman Culture
When the cardinal Cesare Baronio wrote his magnum opus, the "Annales Ecclesiastici", he was influenced majorly by the visual representation of the Roman papacy during the last two decades of the 16th century through their vast urban projects. However, the scholarship attempted to trace a sociological element that the church ... (Show more)
When the cardinal Cesare Baronio wrote his magnum opus, the "Annales Ecclesiastici", he was influenced majorly by the visual representation of the Roman papacy during the last two decades of the 16th century through their vast urban projects. However, the scholarship attempted to trace a sociological element that the church historiography after the Council of Trent incorporated within its shaping, namely the role of aristocratic families. So far, any concluding remarks on whether Baronio was influenced by the noble families in Rome during the second half of the Cinquecento remain negative, especially for his treatment of the Roman church during the 11th century. The proposed paper thus attempts to present a systematic analysis of Baronio's "Annales" relating to the problem of the Roman aristocracy during the second half of the 16th century by tracing his own experiences with the nobility in Rome and its tensions with he papacy during these years. It further pursues to incorporate a qualitative analysis of the post-tridentine Italian nobility through an examination of central iconographic programs that were central for this social rift between the aristocracy and the Roman curia. (Show less)



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