Research project
Rethinking Reform 900-1150: Conceptualising Change in Medieval Religious Institutions
- Start date: 1 October 2016
- End date: 30 September 2019
- Funder: Leverhulme Trust International Network Grant
- Primary investigator: Professor Julia Barrow
Description
Hosted by the University of Leeds, this three-year project establishes a collaborative partnership between seven universities across Northern Europe. The project is structured around four interlinked workshops at the Universities of: York (UK), Leuven (Belgium), Leeds (UK), Mainz (Germany).
A conference at Ghent University (Belgium) will bring the project to a close in Autumn 2019.
Central to the project is the question:
How should we conceptualise the programme of institutional changes that swept the Western church 900-1150?
The now-universal label ‘reform’ is a modern creation dating back to c.1800, and one that conceals more than it reveals. Making use of dialogue across historical periods and new methodologies, this project investigates both how changes were conceptualised by contemporaries and why the concept of reform emerged as the main interpretative tool in the modern historiography of the Middle Ages.