Aspects Of Power And Authority In The Middle Ages (international Medieval Research)
by Brenda Bolton /
2008 / English / PDF
9.4 MB Download
Concepts of power and authority and the relationship between them
were fundamental to many aspects of medieval society. The essays in
this collection present a series of case studies that range widely,
both chronologically and geographically, from Lombard Italy to
early-modern Iberia and from Anglo-Saxon, Norman, and
later-medieval England to twelfth-century France and the lands
beyond the Elbe in the conversion period. While some papers deal
with traditional royal, princely and ecclesiastical authority, they
do so in new ways. Others examine groups and aspects less obviously
connected to power and authority, such as the networks of influence
centring on royal women or powerful ecclesiastics, the power
relationships revealed in Anglo-Saxon and Old-Norse literature or
the influence that might be exercised by needy crusaders, by Jews
with the ability to advance loans or by parish priests on the basis
of their local connections. An important section discusses the
power of the written word, whether papal bulls, collections of
miracle stories, or the documents produced in lawsuits. The papers
in this volume demonstrate the variety and multiplicity of both
power and authority and the many ways by which individuals
exercised influence and exerted a claim to be heard and respected.
Concepts of power and authority and the relationship between them
were fundamental to many aspects of medieval society. The essays in
this collection present a series of case studies that range widely,
both chronologically and geographically, from Lombard Italy to
early-modern Iberia and from Anglo-Saxon, Norman, and
later-medieval England to twelfth-century France and the lands
beyond the Elbe in the conversion period. While some papers deal
with traditional royal, princely and ecclesiastical authority, they
do so in new ways. Others examine groups and aspects less obviously
connected to power and authority, such as the networks of influence
centring on royal women or powerful ecclesiastics, the power
relationships revealed in Anglo-Saxon and Old-Norse literature or
the influence that might be exercised by needy crusaders, by Jews
with the ability to advance loans or by parish priests on the basis
of their local connections. An important section discusses the
power of the written word, whether papal bulls, collections of
miracle stories, or the documents produced in lawsuits. The papers
in this volume demonstrate the variety and multiplicity of both
power and authority and the many ways by which individuals
exercised influence and exerted a claim to be heard and respected.
