Leeds Conference: Non-Royal Rulership in the Earlier Medieval West
The conference 'Non-Royal Rulership in the Earlier Medieval West, c. 600-1200', is being held at the University of Leeds in April 2019 - abstracts are due 31 January 2019.
Fraser McNair (Leverhulme Early Career Research Fellow, University of Leeds) has organised a conference titled, 'Non-Royal Rulership in the Earlier Medieval West, c. 600-1200'. Held at the University of Leeds from 8-9 April 2019, this conference addresses the sweeping legal and administrative changes of the later twelfth century, following the breakdown of Roman rule. During this period, Europe saw many types of rulers. The precise nature of their title and authority changed: dukes, counts, rectores, gastalds, ealdormen...These rulers were ubiquitous and diverse, but despite the variation between them, they all shared a need to conceptualise, to justify, and to exercise their rule without access to the ideological and governmental resources of kingship.
Call for Papers
This conference invites proposals for papers which will explore the political practices of non-royal rulers across the earlier medieval period, in order to understand how the ambiguities of a position of rule that was not kingship were resolved in their various inflections. Potential subjects include:
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conceptualisations of non-royal rulership in titulature, literature, documents or coinage;
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legitimisation of non-royal rulership;
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the relationship between non-royal rulership and wider political cultures;
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the various inflections of non-royal rulership within the same geographical space;
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the relationship between non-royal and royal rulership.
Titles and abstracts of up to 300 words must be sent to nonroyalrulership@gmail.com. The abstract deadline has been extended to 31 January 2019. Please include affiliation, current academic status, and contact details.
Thanks to the generous support of the Leverhulme Trust, travel, accommodation and subsistence costs for speakers will be covered.
Contact
Queries about the conference or call-for-papers should be sent to nonroyalrulership@gmail.com.
