Preliminary Programme

Wed 12 April
    08.30 - 10.30
    11.00 - 13.00
    14.00 - 16.00
    16.30 - 18.30

Thu 13 April
    08.30 - 10.30
    11.00 - 13.00
    14.00 - 16.00
    16.30 - 18.30

Fri 14 April
    08.30 - 10.30
    11.00 - 13.00
    14.00 - 16.00
    16.30 - 18.30

Sat 15 April
    08.30 - 10.30
    11.00 - 13.00
    14.00 - 16.00

All days
Go back

Saturday 15 April 2023 08.30 - 10.30
N-13 MID07 Agency, Culture, and the Social History of the Environment in the Middle Ages
C33 (Z)
Network: Middle Ages Chair: Jan Dumolyn
Organizers: Jelle Haemers, Jesús Ángel Solorzano-Telechea Discussants: -
Sopio Kadagishvili : Perception of Collective Cultural Identity Terms in Medieval Georgia (From Relative (natesavi) to Nation (eri))
Studying of Georgian ethnic and identity issues became intensive within the past decade. Besides various ethnic identity markers, observing ethnic terms provides no less information about internal group perceptions. Despite several attempts, studying of ethnic terms in the long run perspective did not have regular character.
The aim of the ... (Show more)
Studying of Georgian ethnic and identity issues became intensive within the past decade. Besides various ethnic identity markers, observing ethnic terms provides no less information about internal group perceptions. Despite several attempts, studying of ethnic terms in the long run perspective did not have regular character.
The aim of the presentation is to show development dynamics of ethnic terms Relative (natesavi) and Nation (eri) between VIII to XVIII centuries (until the emergence of modern Georgian nation). Sources of my investigation are Georgian original historical texts as well as hagiographic writings.
Collective cultural identity terms Natesavi and Eri, in parallel, expressed Georgian unity for centuries. While Natesavi is directed to the people with the same origin (with narrow and also broad meaning), Eri expresses cultural phenomena. According to the sources of VIII-X centuries, at the same time Natesavi means family member and also person of the same origin, while Eri encompasses narrow and broader collective cultural identity. For understanding ethnic terms, it is important to consider the content of the text.
Undoubtedly, the term Relative also applied to the entire population of Georgia, although from the XI century onwards, this term was gradually replaced by another collective term, _ Nation that simultaneously "tries" to acquire the meaning of a member of Georgian unity. Following the political and cultural transformations, Georgian unity as a nation was being rethought in the XI century. Despite the different meanings of ethnic terms in the XVII-XVIII centuries’ sources, there is a tendency that the term Relative narrows more, while the meaning of the Nation, on the contrary, expands. The Nation mainly expresses the people, and moreover it refers to the entire population of Georgia.
In the presentation, with appropriate examples, I intend to present development of the ethnic terms that show Georgian intergroup perception from ethnic unity till the national one. The change of their meanings over time also reflected the development of intergroup awareness of Georgian people. (Show less)

Nina Kršljanin : Peasant Women of Medieval Serbia in the Eyes of the Law
Of all the categories of population in medieval societies, peasant women are likely the most underrepresented in sources. Most medieval texts concern themselves with the deeds of rulers and nobles, or matters of the church and spirit: arenas for a mostly male elite. Data on male peasants can also be ... (Show more)
Of all the categories of population in medieval societies, peasant women are likely the most underrepresented in sources. Most medieval texts concern themselves with the deeds of rulers and nobles, or matters of the church and spirit: arenas for a mostly male elite. Data on male peasants can also be found, as they primarily bore the burden of agricultural production – the foundation of most medieval economies – at least as far as the legal obligations towards their lords and the state were concerned. Yet behind that work so clearly visible in legal documents, lies a far more discreet ‘women’s work’ that nevertheless gave an essential contribution to the economy.
This paper will attempt to analyse the position of peasant women in medieval Serbia during the Nemanjic dynasty (12th-14th cent.), primarily through the eyes of legal sources. Sometimes those sources contain provisions on such women, while sometimes it is the silence of the law that provides valuable information. For example, King Milutin’s charter to the monastery of St. Stephen (cca 1313-1318) allowed for a widowed peasant woman to keep a part of her husband’s land necessary for her survival even if there were no sons of the deceased to till the land – but the general rule of (male) peasants’ working obligations implicitly barred daughters from inheriting in the same situation, unless they could provide a man to bear the burden. In the letter of the law, there was no difference in marriage rules for noblemen and for commoners, and the fines for illicit abandonment of one’s spouse prescribed in the second Zica charter (cca. 1221-1224) were even higher for members of higher estates – but only a peasant woman, having received only a modest, if any, dowry, and thus having little or no property of her own, was likely to be unable to pay the fine and thus be subjected to beating and potentially being sold (in a form of debt bondage) for abandoning her husband. The Code of Emperor Stefan Dušan (1349) prescribes the death penalty for a commoner daring to rape a noblewoman, a severe corporal punishment for rape in the same estate, but is silent regarding the case of a nobleman raping a peasant woman. This silence has been interpreted in various ways by historians, some less dramatic than others – but they all agree in the fact that this form of rape was ranked as least severe.
Through the analysis of these and other examples, I shall strive to show the position of peasant women in medieval Serbia through the intersectional lenses of gender and class (estate), as well as attempt to show the way the lawgivers (almost without exception noble and male) saw these members of their society. (Show less)

Carolina Obradors-Suazo : Agency, Language and Belonging in the Late Medieval Hispanic City
This paper aims at discussing methodological issues that arise from studying medieval urban identities from a linguistic perspective. Introducing the contexts of urban life in the Crown of Castile and the Crown of Aragon in the Late Middle Ages, the paper uses a sample of witnessing material (trials, citizenship interrogations, ... (Show more)
This paper aims at discussing methodological issues that arise from studying medieval urban identities from a linguistic perspective. Introducing the contexts of urban life in the Crown of Castile and the Crown of Aragon in the Late Middle Ages, the paper uses a sample of witnessing material (trials, citizenship interrogations, captives’ confessions, inquiries on noble status), which conveyed in writing the oral statements of a diversity of witnesses, to discuss the power of words, oral as well as written, in the crafting of urban identities. Focus here will be placed on the potentialities of this material to analyse the social life of language in the medieval city, as well as its capacity to uncover how semantic and social structures mirrored each other. A methodological discussion of the possibilities of analysing how medieval urban dwellers and their institutions used words to define the borders of their communities, the paper will have to build bridges between medieval history and other disciplines, most notably linguistic anthropology, sociolinguistics and philosophy of language. In so doing, I will consider the agency of medieval urban communities as speech communities – as well as the ways and contexts in which a diversity of inhabitants participated in the making of their communities by deploying their own specific agencies in language. (Show less)

Vitor Pinto : Dona Joana of Castile. From 'a Beltraneja' to 'Excellent Lady'. A Sociological Study of a Cloistered Queen
This research aims to discover the entire life path of Infanta D. Joana, known in Castile as “A Beltraneja” and in Portugal as the “Excellent Lady”. To get a better picture of our protagonist, it is imperative to analyze the political and social situation in the kingdom of Castile and ... (Show more)
This research aims to discover the entire life path of Infanta D. Joana, known in Castile as “A Beltraneja” and in Portugal as the “Excellent Lady”. To get a better picture of our protagonist, it is imperative to analyze the political and social situation in the kingdom of Castile and Portugal prior to the year of birth of D. Joana, that is, 1462. Thus, we will explore the entire reign of Juan II of Castile ( r.1406–1454) until his death, as well as that of his son Henry IV of Castile (r.1454–1474), in which both were marked by numerous and very serious social and political problems. We will give special attention to the alleged homosexuality and erectile dysfunction that Henry IV suffered, and the repercussions that arose from these problems. Starting with his marriage to D. Branca de Navarra, in 1440, and that after just over a decade of marriage, when they were unable to generate any heir, divorce was the solution. In 1455, he was already married to D. Joana de Portugal (sister D. Afonso V of Portugal). However, he did not get rid of a very serious controversy that was built up in the Castilian court and that indicated extramarital relations between the queen and her chosen nobleman, D. Beltran de la Cueva.
We will also make a coherent analysis of the War of Succession in Castile (1475–1479) that arises shortly after the death of Henry IV. And it is during this period that a new piece in Iberian chess is included. Afonso V of Portugal, for being entitled to the Castilian throne for being married to the legitimate heiress, his niece, Dona Joana the “Excellent Lady”, invades Castile. We will analyze the dispute between the Portuguese and Castilian kingdoms, especially the Battle of Toro (1476). With the dispute over, each kingdom claimed victory for itself, it is certain that it resulted in a peace agreement. We will therefore analyze in detail the “Treaty of Alcáçovas” and “Terçarias de Moura”, in which Joana was forced to renounce the Castilian throne and go into exile in Portugal, with very strict restrictions. Finally, we will examine in detail the 51 years that D. Joana remained in the Portuguese kingdom until the day of her death in 1530. (Show less)



Theme by Danetsoft and Danang Probo Sayekti inspired by Maksimer