High status men (both lay and clerical) were long the focus of 'traditional' histories of the Middle Ages but, nonetheless, many aspects of their lives, experiences and identities have remained unexplored by scholars. This interdisciplinary conference therefore invites abstracts for papers examining these hegemonic figures in the light of more recent methodologies and of changing understandings of the nature of medieval society and medieval sources.
9.15 Registration opens
10.00-11.15 Plenary session
William the Conqueror and the making of Empire
David Bates, School of History, University of East Anglia, UK
11.15-11.30 Coffee
11.30-1.00 Boys and young men
Virtue and vice in medieval boys and young men
Merridee Bailey, School of Social Sciences, Australian National University, Australia
Richard of Devizes and the Count of Mortain: Establishing adult masculine status in the 12th century
Beth Anderson, Division of History, University of Huddersfield, UK
‘Faill nocht to prent in thy Rememberance’: Exploiting personal memories of royal childhood in Sir David Lyndsay’s Dreme
Kate Ash, English and American Studies,University of Manchester, UK
1.00-2.00 Lunch
2.00-3.30 Nobilities
‘Fighting spirits’: The nobility of aristocratic hearts
Danielle Westerhof, School of Historical Studies, University of Leicester
Blood and the Monstrous Other: Guibert de Nogent, Jean de Soissons and hegemonic masculinity
Diane Heath, Centre for Medieval and Early Modern Studies at the University of Kent, Canterbury, UK
The real winners of the Investiture Controversy: Great lords and the origins of German noble lineages
Jonathan Lyon, Department of History, University of Chicago, USA
3.30-3.45 Coffee
3.45-5.15 Clerics and religious
Three Wise Men: The guiding lights of the Order of Preachers
Anne Holloway, School of History and Classics, University of Melbourne, Australia
Family belonging and juridical culture in the experience of the Cardinal Legate Gerardo Bianchi da Parma (1225-1302). The ways of a curial career in the thirteenth century
Pietro Silanos, University of Parma, Italy
Papal Power: Male and female pope figures in medieval literature
Henrike Lähnemann, SML, Newcastle University, UK
5.30 Wine reception and poster session (sponsored by the Division of History, University of Huddersfield)
8.00 Conference dinner (optional – venue & cost TBC)
9.30-11.00 Contacts and Conflicts
The measure of a king: Debating hegemonic Muslim and Christian masculinities on the frontier between Castilian and Almohad Iberia
Linda Jones, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas - Barcelona, Mila i Fontanals Institute, Spain
The “curiously idealized” death of Tolui: The Secret History of the Mongols and the politics of commemoration in the medieval steppe
Geoff Humble, Department of East Asian Studies/Lifelong Learning Centre, University of Leeds, UK
Late Medieval Greek and Latin glory and failure in comparative perspective: The Hunyadi family and the Moldavian House of Bogdan (mid 1400s-early 1500s)
Alexandro Simon, Romanian Academy, Centre for Transylvanian Studies, Babeş-Bolyai University, Romania
11.00-11.15 Coffee
11.15-12.45 Plenary session
The King’s Friend
W. Mark Ormrod, Department of History, University of York, UK
12.45-1.45 Lunch
1.45-3.15 Representation and Self-representation
Friendship (amor) as a theme in the Conde Lucanor
David Burton, Department of Modern Languages, Ohio University, USA
Style, Sin and Civility: Masculine identity in the absence of women at the court of William Rufus
Sarah Williams, School of History and Archaeology, Cardiff University, UK
Medieval Lordship and the problem of Christ: Henry of Grosmont’s 1354 Livre de Seyntz Medicines
Patrick Ball, Department of History, University of Tasmania, Australia
3.15-3.30 Coffee
3.30-5.00 Possessions and material culture
Illuminating Power: The Palatium Mosaic at Sant'Apollinare Nuovo, Ravenna
Becky Sanchez, Department of History of Art, University of York, UK
Real Men and Fluffy dogs: Pets as unsuitable animal companions for secular men
Kathleen Walker-Meikle, Wellcome Trust Centre for the
History of Medicine at UCL, UK
A ‘hard harnest man’: The Armour of George Dunbar, ninth earl of March
Ralph Moffat, Glasgow Museums/Institute for Medieval Studies, University of Leeds/Royal Armouries, Leeds
5.00 Conference closes
This conference has been organised with the generous support of the Royal Historical Society and Newcastle Institute for the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities (NIASSH).
Papers should be of 20 minutes' duration. Please send title and an abstract of up to 250 words to Joanna.Huntington@newcastle.ac.uk by 31 March 2009.
Postgraduates and early career academics are especially encouraged to participate, and it is hoped that we will be able to offer some limited funding.
Should you require any further information, please contact Joanna Huntington or Katherine Lewis.
Preliminary call for papers
