La Société des historiens médiévistes de l’enseignement supérieur public (SHMESP), créée en 1969, réunit historiens, archéologues et historiens de l’art travaillant en France sur le Moyen Age, dans les universités et organismes de recherche. Elle s’attache à promouvoir et défendre les études médiévales et leur enseignement, comme leur diffusion vers un large public, en renforçant les liens nécessaires entre le monde de la recherche, l’enseignement scolaire et la société. Son congrès annuel réunit des spécialistes des différentes périodes du Moyen Âge, européen mais aussi extra-européen. Elle assure la diffusion et la circulation des informations scientifiques et professionnelles, notamment par sa lettre mensuelle.
Despite continuing progress in writing, the Medieval societies of the Latin, Byzantine or Muslim ... more Despite continuing progress in writing, the Medieval societies of the Latin, Byzantine or Muslim world remained a mainly oral sound world. The human voice plays a primordial role as part of a soundscape whose study has recently been the object of renewed historiographic interest. These studies have been interdisciplinary, calling upon Anthropology, Musicology Archaeology, Architecture, Art and Literature. The 50th Congress of the SHMESP was therefore keen to understand the production, the usages, the definition and the contexts of voice making within the many configurations involving the spoken word, discourse, declamation or singing or by contrast, silence and the inner voice. The papers read looked at the presence and the signs of the spoken word within the written, at music and its “manufacture,” at soundscapes, at cries and emotions, at rhythms, scansions and cantillations… in short at all the contexts and pretexts that foster the production of the human voice, that accompany it and dramatize it and everything that is reproduced, uttered, proclaimed or left unsaid. Twenty years after Göttingen, the Frankfurt Congress reminds us of the importance of inter-university exchange between historians in France and Germany. We were privileged to be in a city that is deeply European and that possesses a rich historical heritage.
Medieval society attached great importance to the culture of obedience, to respect for tradition ... more Medieval society attached great importance to the culture of obedience, to respect for tradition and to the hierarchic principle. But, on the other hand, the society was regularly troubled by all kinds of rebellions, dissidences and revolts, which could even turn into revolutions. Medieval figures of contestation were a major object of research during the period from 1960-1970, in keeping with the spirit of the times. Subsequently interest in this type of research diminished and became more sporadic. At a time when new research on the topic of heresy attempts to rethink the relationship between disobedience and rebellion, when Intellectual History takes a new look at the destinies of certain figures of contestation and when there is renewed interest in the great revolts of the peasants, the city-dwellers and the nobles, we can once again take a serious look at the whole complex picture of medieval contestation. To do this we do not necessarily have to mention the anniversary of the Jacquerie of 1358 nor take into consideration the current newsworthy “Yellow Vests” movement. It is this task that the 49th Congress of the SHMESP, which took place in Rennes in 2018, set itself. Thus, the studies presented in this volume explore in turn the ways in which Latin, Byzantine and Muslim Society of the Middle Ages articulated and defined contestation, the different motives that lay behind contestation and revolt, and the ways and means of questioning the Established Order. Finally, they examen the ends of these contestations and the effects they may have had beyond their often-tragic denouement and jarring memory.
Concern for the dead is common to all of humanity, a sentiment that goes well beyond the wide rep... more Concern for the dead is common to all of humanity, a sentiment that goes well beyond the wide repertoire of funerary practices that express and translate it. But the relations between the living and the dead, the material and immaterial interchanges that take place beyond the grave provide historians and archaeologists with important material that reveals the structures (social, economic and symbolic) of the society they are studying. In choosing to hold its 48th Congress in Jerusalem, a city that is both sanctuary and cemetery and where, in the Middle Ages, so many came to die or aspired to die, the SHMESP wishes to train a searchlight on the relations between the living and the dead in a place that is central to the beliefs and eschatology of the three great monotheistic traditions. Keeping in mind the diversity of the Jewish, Christian and Muslim worlds and their interaction, our authors have sought to highlight what remains of the gestures, the practices and the beliefs of the men and women with respect to their dead: from the archaeological study of burial methods to their representations, from funerary epigraphy to the archival memory of the deceased, from the commentaries on the sacred texts to the lives of the famous and anonymous dead. Thus, we cast light on the funereal customs, on the space which the dead occupy alone or share with the living in the society of their time, on the economy and material and memorial exchanges between the living and the dead, and finally on the beliefs and the multiple temporalities that can be discerned in relationships that extend beyond the grave. The Middle Ages kept alive a constant interchange between the living and the dead – our aim is for this uninterrupted dialogue to be heard once again.
Global History is all the rage. This is uncongenial to some, who wish to defend the national iden... more Global History is all the rage. This is uncongenial to some, who wish to defend the national identity of a France limited within the borders of what today is called France. Essentially, they look to “Christianity” for hypothetical historical roots. Others make of it a new sphere of reflection, where they play with unconvincing comparisons and unsubstantiated connexions.
French historians, and perhaps more especially the medieval specialists have been reluctant to take up themes derived from the Anglo-Saxon world and from newly emerging countries. This could be because they still consider themselves heirs to the work of Fernand Braudel, even if he is out of date and the subject of contestation. Another reason could be the watertight separation between European and Mediterranean History, mainly studied within the university context and the history of more faraway places that has its home in different institutions.
Nevertheless, it is clear that in Medieval Times, the different worlds were deeply connected, even over very long distances. Long before the Age of Discovery and the Modern Period, men and women would travel and exchange, often going to faraway places. It, therefore, behoves the community of Medieval Specialists to examen the ways and means of these connections, not in order to posit the existence of some premature version of the “global village” or to deny the existence of spaces and worlds that have their own internal coherence at a particular point in time, but rather to think about the epistemological conditions of such an approach.
On what scale must we think about historical phenomena? It is this question, central to our research work, that is posed by the 47th Congress of the SHMESP.
The papers found in this volume look towards wide horizons, towards Central Asia and the Far East, towards Sub-Saharan Africa and the Pacific Ocean. They do not, however, leave out the European and Mediterranean spaces with which we can be expected to be more familiar. Here they search for connections and find sources for striking comparisons.
Thus, the reader of this volume will have access to a global, connected History of the Middle Ages, which is open to the world. It bears witness to the vitality and diversity of French research and once again seeks to answer the ever-recurring question of the “roots” of our contemporary worlds.
The theme of Medieval government, understood as the totality of conditions under which power is e... more The theme of Medieval government, understood as the totality of conditions under which power is exercised over a populace and how it dominates, controls and organizes their lives, has taken on a new lease on life among Medieval historians in the last ten years. The Acts of the Congress of the SHMESP, which took place in Montpellier in 2015 served to draw attention to this new development. They stressed the need to go beyond mechanical binary oppositions such as those between norm and practice or between institutions and society as well the desire to inaugurate a change of perspective in the analysis of the origin and development of important political frameworks. Thus, even if we cannot speak of the “state” in its modern or pre-modern sense, we can be sure that there existed government in some form or another, characterized by the application of laws and rules with varying degrees of severity.
In this perspective, the authors have studied the lexical fields associated with the practice of government and the various techniques and administrative procedures of political groups of every sort. They also examined the ideological or conceptual links that existed between those in power and the faithful and obedient groups or individuals over whom they held sway. Under the rubric of government practices the conference stressed certain themes that in the last few years have found favour with the historians. These were, for example, investigations, control of officials, census and means of coercion. Furthermore, no power or authority can last for very long with any degree of success without the consent of the governed. This consent, which at times is a delegation of power, is expressed through various forms of participation and/or active or passive support. Our chosen theme was also a spur to a series of reflections on the links, interactions and interpenetrations between the secular and religious forms of government in Western, Byzantine and Islamic societies.
The University of Lorraine’s choice of theme for the 2014 Congress of the SHMESP was the place of... more The University of Lorraine’s choice of theme for the 2014 Congress of the SHMESP was the place of the model in the medieval transmission of knowledge. The congress took into consideration intellectual knowledge, practical knowledge required for the fabrication of objects, norms of behaviour as well as models taken from religious life. In all these fields, the question of the model serves as a prism through which to undertake historical investigation, in so far as the transmission of knowledge concurrently makes ample use both of exemplarity and of reproduction. The model could be an eminent or exceptional person, who as a totality of observations and experience, provides the wherewithal for an individual or a group to be able to construct their knowledge, their savoir-faire or their savoir-être. Gesture, image, the spoken word, writing, therefore, take on the role of vehicles in the transmission of knowledge.
When it comes to the History of Material Culture, our perspective allows us to examen the ways and means and the vehicles involved in the transmission of practical knowledge. It can also help us to highlight the role played by the model or the pattern in production. Sometimes this can be a gesture or an image which is imitated at other times it can be a specific object used as prototype which sometimes can be repeated in an almost mechanical manner. In the field of the study of behaviour, the notion of the model looks promising as an area of investigation. It opens into the idea of exemplarity, which is particularly effective when we consider the figure of the good bishop or the good prince. Exemplarity can also be seen in the widely circulated hagiographic models, held up as mirrors or as tropological (ethical philosophy, allegory, the literature of exempla, consolations etc.) In like manner, literature, whether spiritual, moral, historical or fictional, and the philosophical disciplines which include all the arts, vehicle a number of models or find the authoritive source for them in books, in religion, mythology or philosophy. In the Middle Ages, every work, every production and every act have its reference and its source. It is up to the historian to find them and interpret them.
At a time when global history seems to make ever-greater inroads into our discipline, in a proces... more At a time when global history seems to make ever-greater inroads into our discipline, in a process that leaves no period untouched, it might appear vain to consider the “nation.” Nevertheless, the nation does seem to be back to some degree, despite the current process of globalization, which leaves in its wake the dissolution of specific and durable historical entities and identities. Medieval scholars need to take cognizance of this development, as it is generally believed that it was during the Middle Ages that the modern nations were formed. Nevertheless, the term “nation” having been interpreted in a novel manner since at least the 18th Century, it is hard to speak of a “nation” in the Middle Ages, without jumping backwards and forwards between the Middle Ages and the Modern Period, without examining in detail how the territorial, political, governmental and aristocratic processes particular to Medieval ethnogenesis were retroactively “nationalized” in the moral, affective, military and ideological sense of the term.
From the weighing of commodities to the staking out of land, from the value of coinage to the dim... more From the weighing of commodities to the staking out of land, from the value of coinage to the dimensions of bodies, measurement occupies a central place in the Medieval universe in which “everything is proportion.” The SHMESP chose this major theme for its 43rd Congress which took place in Tours in June 2012, with the intention of highlighting the latest scholarship in the field. There were twenty-five papers read. They showed the multiple dimensions of the work undertaken, covering the many fields that require quantification: Economy, Demography, and Sociology, Culture and Science, Cartography and Geometry, the Dance or Diet. The means of access to these fields are likewise numerous: Metrology, Numismatics, Lexicology, Archiving, Codicology, Archaeology etc. This comparative approach allowed us to rethink the methodologies in play and to measure the work of the historians in both the present and the future.
The 42nd Congress of the SHMESP, which was held in Oxford in March and April of 2011, turned its ... more The 42nd Congress of the SHMESP, which was held in Oxford in March and April of 2011, turned its attention to a type that is little-known and hard to identify, that we associate so naturally with our Modern Technocratic Age that it is hard to imagine that he could be found in earlier times, especially as far back as the Middle Ages. This type is the expert. We can situate the expert on the dividing line between doctrine and practice and see him as someone who brings together social experiments that are both complex and diverse. Either alone or in small groups, the expert is called upon for an opinion, to validate a hypothesis and to emit his truth, which is presumably objective and based on sound scientific knowledge. He operates in the most diverse places, the court of justice, obviously, but also the building site, the sickbed, before relics or during a scholarly discussion. The expert derives his authority from his recognized knowledge and from his social position – technical competence is not always enough: it is also required that he be recognized – this recognition is often understood rather than explicit – before the parties concerned will agree to consult an outside person. It is in these social and functional interstices, between knowledge and its explication, that the function of the expert is situated. By making this the theme of their congress, the members of the SHMESP wished to draw attention to this particular function, which is not a profession or a permanent status, but which presupposes mastery in a particular field and the ability to have this recognized in situations that are both awkward and fraught with uncertainty.
As we can see from the multiplicity of examples cited, across the whole of the Medieval Millennium, from East to West, this technician – nearly always a male, as in all spaces of domination- was able to earn an important place for himself, in the role of the one who helps someone to arrive at a decision without being the decision maker himself. For expertise was not an end in itself. Its aim was to illuminate an issue so that the institutions could function within a consensus guaranteed by the competence super partes of an outside personality. Our authors examined the selection criteria by which experts were chosen, as well as the ways and means of their actions together with the results. They were able to come up with a wide range of material in order to illustrate how Medieval Society was able make use of these decision mediators, who were far more numerous than was commonly supposed.
The 41st Congress of the SHMESP, was held in June 2010, in the ancient capital of Gaul, which, in... more The 41st Congress of the SHMESP, was held in June 2010, in the ancient capital of Gaul, which, in the Middle Ages, was at the heart of the complex relations between Kingdom and Empire. In our time, Diplomacy serves an international order which it remakes constantly, in accordance with revolutions, wars and democratic ethics. During the Middle Ages, too, diplomacy was one aspect of the relations between states. But, as they were sometimes the expression of a rapport de force, and as they were built on exchange and communication, they also had a role and a place in other places where power was manifest. Diplomatic relations were not only an alternative to confrontation, to the recourse to arms and to political violence. In our studies, we looked at all the various dimensions of diplomacy. An examination of scales, allows us to highlight the techniques and the rites that structure diplomacy within the framework of the Curia as well as its development within different geographic spaces where they were able to overcome disorder in relationships. Our aim is to show what work on the Diplomatic Relations in the Middle Ages can contribute to the History of Diplomacy in the widest sense. To do this we have undone the categorization of this historical object, gone beyond the single point of view of international relations or foreign policy, opened the horizon towards other cultures, the Byzantine, the Muslim, the Asian and towards worlds governed by other references.
In his masterpiece, La Societé Féodale, written shortly before World War II,’ Marc Bloch emphasiz... more In his masterpiece, La Societé Féodale, written shortly before World War II,’ Marc Bloch emphasized not only the recurrence of the movements of peoples in ancient society but also underlined that the “End of the Invasions” of the 10th Century represented a turning point in the History of the West. Thereafter the Christian West became a kind of “enclosed space,” in which human mobility was still possible but in different forms. It is these forms, that the authors of this book, which brings together the work presented at the 40th Congress of SHMESP, held in Nice in 2009, have undertaken to explore. They wished to understand the meaning and the function of this mobility which underwent radical transformation in the West, between the 9th and the 15th Centuries, following the great movements of populations at a time when these collective migrations played themselves out under new power structures and new social strategies. The first part sums up the historiography dealing with migratory movement (The Great Migrations 4th-6th Centuries) and discusses in detail the processes of ethnogenesis and acculturation which contributed to the transformation of the Ancient World. Then there is an examination of the collective movements, both voluntary and involuntary, temporary and permanent, related to the organization of human activity and population control, from the 9th to the 15th Century. Finally, there was a discussion of the different ways in which the holders of power circulated: how kings, popes, bishops, abbots and magistrates would cover distances to impose their authority.
The 39th Congress of the SHMESP that took place in April-May 2008 was held in an Eastern capital,... more The 39th Congress of the SHMESP that took place in April-May 2008 was held in an Eastern capital, Cairo. Its aim was to foster dialogue between West and East and to highlight the fact that both the East and the West owed their cultural richness in the Middle Ages not only to their common heritage but also to dialogue and exchange throughout the period of the Medieval Millennium.
This volume, The Authority of the Written in the Middle Ages deals with the production of the written, with the authority derived from documents and with the setting up of archives in the West as well as in the Muslim and Byzantine sphere.
Firstly, our authors have envisaged the place occupied by the written in societies where the spoken word and the gesture are essential. They examined groups whose profession involved writing (redactors, chancellery clerks, cadis etc.) and studied their practices looking at how they diffused the techniques that they employed. The use of writing leads us to pose the question of the authority of a document which is produced and of its efficacity – the written and the recorded gestures, the signs of validation, the status of the people who present the document and of the witnesses who underwrite it, the multiple choices of language adopted by the redactors and the situations in which the document is used even its falsification. In the Muslim sphere, for example, where there is a tendency to place the evidence of reliable witnesses above documentary evidence, given that the latter can be falsified, we see that evidence based on documents has a lower status than in the West where it is of prime importance. The setting up and the preservation of archives is a key to the maintenance of power: who is in charge of the documents and where are they housed? Here too, there is a difference in practice between West and East. The kings of France believed that the constitution of registers of royal acts was a manifestation of their power, whereas Muslim monarchs, though possessing elaborately organized archives, did not see them as an expression of their sovereignty. Finally, our authors had a look at the themes of random preservations, discards, destructions, of copies, of translations and of forgeries of documents, opening up new avenues of exploration.
In the last twenty years, scholars working in the Human and Social Sciences have been taking a cl... more In the last twenty years, scholars working in the Human and Social Sciences have been taking a close look at their disciplines and their practices. Medieval History has also come under scrutiny, even if, unlike what has happened in Germany, French Historiography’ has been content to produce assessments, rather than making a close examination of the institutions, the scholars and the practices involved in historical research. This epistemological questioning, which is at the heart of the 38th Congress of the SHMESP, is not only of interest to the professional scholar. We need to look at what the Middle Ages represent for our time. More than ever there is a demand from society that scholars need to respond to. It comes from the success of works of the imagination which are openly inspired by the Middle Ages as well from the quest for identity in the distant past on the local level.
In the 21st Century, Medieval scholars face a number of new challenges. There is the emergence of new ways of constructing knowledge, in particular by the comparative method – the relationship between Archaeology and Textual History, between Medieval History and Literature, between Geography and Social Sciences as well as the examination of forms and their dissemination. All these need to be taken into consideration when we consider how to teach Medieval History.
Furthermore, the work of Medieval Historians has been transformed by the digital revolution. Several papers take a new look at the changes that are already taking place in the way of working of the historians. They examen the effects of computerization, digitization and the use of the internet: how do Medieval Scholars relate to the image in the age of the Global Screen? How does digitization effect the publication and study of manuscript texts?
The organizers did not wish to limit our work to confines of one country. Therefore, they invited representatives from other associations of Medieval Scholars coming from Europe and from Latin America with which several institutions of higher education and research have had links for some time. In fact, the Middle Ages are far from being the exclusive property of Old Europe, even if they are very much a source of its identity
In Medieval Studies the concepts of space, spatiality, of territory and of limit were often used ... more In Medieval Studies the concepts of space, spatiality, of territory and of limit were often used imprecisely, influenced, no doubt, by the combination of History and Geography common in France or because of a belief that History is Time in Space. There is a necessity to establish methodological and conceptual approaches especially as the recent instruments of research, for example the dictionaries, do not contain any of these terms. In this volume, we present a well-defined field of research that will enable scholars to produce in-depth analyses of spatial consciousness. This consciousness differs from one source to another, from one region to another, from one temporality to another and also from one historiography to another. This Congress has innovated by stressing the essential international dimension of its activity. It is thus that the organizers of the 37th Congress of the SHMESP in conjunction with the Mediävistenverband wished to challenge the community of Medieval Scholars. We have many contributions both from experienced scholars and debutants. Our volume offers multiple but converging examinations of space as an object of study and of problematics. If historians have always taken into consideration the representations of space that were imagined by scholars and the social elites, more recent observations of social practices, a “use of space connected with a way of life,” allows us to break down the barrier between them. Here we see the Church play a prime role in this rapprochement, as an institution that is the heir to the knowledge of the Ancients, as an innovator when it comes to the practical adaptation of administrative organization and as the creator of symbolic constructions. The spatial readings of texts and the practical studies of space require interdisciplinary work that shows differences of scale and an interplay of data supplied by various analytical tools. Our volume brings together historians, art historians, archaeologists and linguists not to mention the Life Sciences in the background. The reader will learn about the Medieval representation of space seen as the process of the spatialization of social relations that are characteristic of Western History. He will perhaps be surprised to see the relevance to our time of these studies of landscape which parallel current environmental concerns about the transformation of milieux by mankind in society.
Ubi papa, ibi Roma: Rome may not always be in Rome, for Rome is wherever the Pope is in residence... more Ubi papa, ibi Roma: Rome may not always be in Rome, for Rome is wherever the Pope is in residence. This 13th Century adage underlines the identification between city and sovereign; the capital is defined by its function of political command. The capital in question was a strange choice in the Middle Ages for, while seeing itself as the caput mundi, it had difficulty being recognized as a mere regional capital.
What, therefore, was a capital city in the Middle Ages? We must look beyond the false evidence that comes from a centralized Paris that goes back over a thousand years or to a lesser degree London: things are more complex than they appear at first. It is true that we find the Roman model of the imperial capital persisting under various forms with Constantinople, Baghdad and Cairo. Nevertheless, when the Carolingians re-established the Empire in 800, they did not go back to the model of the imperial capital. In fact, what characterized the institutional and territorial experience of the Medieval West was the dispersion rather than the concentration of the various functions of a capital.
The 36th Congress of the SHMESP took place in Istanbul, at the invitation of the French Institute of Anatolian Studies. Here we found a décor suited to our endeavor. It is a historical and monumental setting, at the heart of some of the political experiences compared and contrasted by our contributors over a long-time scale. For writing the history of capital cities leads one, inevitably, to focus on the diversity of the models of the emergence of the state. The relationship between the palace and the city, as well as the movement of the centers of gravity of territorial constructions, the abandon of and return to various capitals – all this shows a number of different configurations of power.
From this point of view the question of symbolic markers is essential. A city is able to convince that it controls various functions of commandment through image and ritual, words and walls, by the mobilization of memory and the building of impressive monuments. It can continue enjoying the prestige of a defunct capital for very long. By concentrating on the simultaneously material and ideal aspects of administrative centralization in urban society our contributors have attempted to restore a richness of meaning to that seemingly anodyne term “capital city” in the Middle Ages.
The Middle Ages can be seen, in many respects, as a Golden Age of Ports. Firstly, because it was ... more The Middle Ages can be seen, in many respects, as a Golden Age of Ports. Firstly, because it was a great period for navigation. Sea and river generated voyages, passages and exchanges that took place in sites that were carefully chosen and constructed by man. These maritime and river sites, which were designated by the old Norse term hofn and the Latin portus are the object of the studies brought together in this volume.
Responding to an invitation from the young University of La Rochelle, the SHMESP held its 35th Congress there in 2004. As was appropriate to an Atlantic port and to a highly symbolic location, the theme selected, Maritime and River Ports in the Middle Ages, was concerned with water transport. Our contributors therefore concentrated on navigation, as well as all the activities connected with it. They also considered the human element; looking at both the navigators and at those dependent upon them.
Our work covered a wide geographical area. From the shores of the Atlantic to the Black Sea and the Baltic, without forgetting the Mediterranean and the great rivers, we ranged far and wide. Our studies made full use of Archaeology and a critical attention to written sources in order to reconstitute the Topography of port sites, the variety of activities and professions related to the functioning of the ports, the configurations of the (constructed or not constructed) networks of exchange as well as the mechanisms of taxation and control of activities in these singular places. Thus, we were able to highlight the port systems that linked the rivers to the maritime basins, as well as the changes that took place over ten centuries during the Middle Ages, especially on both sides of the interruption that occurred in the 13th Century.
In the Middle Ages, mountains were seen as a place of scary “otherness.” They were populated by ... more In the Middle Ages, mountains were seen as a place of scary “otherness.” They were populated by devils and witches. They were nevertheless crossed by merchants and pilgrims, who by travelling regularly gave the lie to these beliefs and proved that mountains were in no way barriers. In fact, the improvement of the conditions of cross-mountain travelling was, especially in the Alps, one of the main achievements of the Middle Ages. But if the mountain was essentially a space of life, this makes the historians wish to understand the specific nature of the type of society found there. Another image springs to mind, that of William Tell, champion of a mountain community and its dogged resistance to all political control.
Looking beyond the variety of the case studies presented, the scholars present at the 34th Congress of the SHMESP which was held in Chambéry in 2003, wished to show a global picture of the interactions between man and the milieu of the mountain in the Middle Ages while highlighting the integration of this milieu into the system of representation of Medieval society. Our discussion revolves around four main themes: The Mountain Crossed, The Mountain Governed, The Mountain Lived and the Mountain Imagined. While geographers question the very concept of mountain, Medieval Scholars have taken advantage of this methodological lack of certainty to examen the specific nature of “mountain society.” We are justified in declaring that the emergence of communities with a greater or lesser degree of autonomy is an important part of the legacy of the Middle Ages. Nevertheless, these mountain communities were far from living in total isolation. They were part of a complex power play that brought them into conflict with local lords, both lay and ecclesiastic. They were at times opposed to the cities or the territorial ruler.
Crusade, Reconquest, Drang nach Osten. These terms, though now contested by historians, neverthel... more Crusade, Reconquest, Drang nach Osten. These terms, though now contested by historians, nevertheless refer to a phenomenon of immense consequence: Western Expansion in the Middle Ages. From the 11th century to the “First Globalization” of the end of the 15th Century, this vast movement drove pilgrims, merchants and knights from the shores of the Black Sea to the Latin conquests of Syria-Palestine.
The 33rd Congress of the SHMESP, which took place at the Casa Velasquez in Madrid in May 2002 sought to look beyond ideological bias and illuminate this highly emotionally-charged period. It was important to establish what differentiated this period of expansion from that of modern colonization of which the people of Iberia were among the pioneers. This can be seen from the point of view of the fronts of conquest, which in the Middle Ages were oriented towards the North and the East as well as the South, and from the point of view of territorial consequences, which produced little in the form of population movement. It would be wrong to reduce Western expansion in the Middle Ages to the inexorable progress of conquering states. The studies brought together here draw a picture of this global historical movement, stressing the diversity of human types, the complexity of their motives and the variety of the period’s rhythms. The result is a more contrasted and more certain understanding of an historical fact which volens nolens is part of the foundation of Western identity.
The 32nd Congress of the SHMESP took place at the Université Littoral Côte d’Oplae in May 2001. O... more The 32nd Congress of the SHMESP took place at the Université Littoral Côte d’Oplae in May 2001. Our intention was to look beyond the cliché of a Medieval World living in isolation to present a picture of a lively society characterized by its openness to exchange between cultures.
Giving and taking: the system of exchange is, obviously, at the heart of all social life in the Middle Ages. Here we are dealing with a particular type of exchange, where the symbolic dimension is uppermost, which is probably why the emphasis is on relics, religious objects, and sacred texts. The essays collected in this volume, nevertheless, attempt to apprehend cultural exchange in all its many components, going from the most material aspect (the places, the people, the mediums) to the most ideal (How do you measure an influence? What is a zone of cultural dissemination?)
What is at stake here, is a Medieval system of communication, in which we find a combination of spoken word, gesture and writing, and in which the intensification of cultural transfers allows us to discern the foreshadowing of a truly European culture.
Medieval Man was not as violent as people think. This is what the participants in the 31st Congre... more Medieval Man was not as violent as people think. This is what the participants in the 31st Congress of the SHMERP, which took place in Angers in May 2000, were at pains to show. In fact, Medieval Man is, in himself, neither barbaric nor cruel.
It is true that conflicts could occur on many occasions, from quarrels between neighbors to wars between nations. But the men and women of these times were deeply concerned by the problems of conflict resolution. They were aware of the need to put a stop to violence, to restore peace, to repair the torn fabric of society. They would have recourse to an arsenal of codes and norms, whose amazing variety had been forged over time. From palaver to written charters, from tacit codes of honor to learned law, from monetary fines to making amends, from the miracle and divine judgment to royal judgment – all these modes of resolution tend towards transaction rather than constraint.
Despite continuing progress in writing, the Medieval societies of the Latin, Byzantine or Muslim ... more Despite continuing progress in writing, the Medieval societies of the Latin, Byzantine or Muslim world remained a mainly oral sound world. The human voice plays a primordial role as part of a soundscape whose study has recently been the object of renewed historiographic interest. These studies have been interdisciplinary, calling upon Anthropology, Musicology Archaeology, Architecture, Art and Literature. The 50th Congress of the SHMESP was therefore keen to understand the production, the usages, the definition and the contexts of voice making within the many configurations involving the spoken word, discourse, declamation or singing or by contrast, silence and the inner voice. The papers read looked at the presence and the signs of the spoken word within the written, at music and its “manufacture,” at soundscapes, at cries and emotions, at rhythms, scansions and cantillations… in short at all the contexts and pretexts that foster the production of the human voice, that accompany it and dramatize it and everything that is reproduced, uttered, proclaimed or left unsaid. Twenty years after Göttingen, the Frankfurt Congress reminds us of the importance of inter-university exchange between historians in France and Germany. We were privileged to be in a city that is deeply European and that possesses a rich historical heritage.
Medieval society attached great importance to the culture of obedience, to respect for tradition ... more Medieval society attached great importance to the culture of obedience, to respect for tradition and to the hierarchic principle. But, on the other hand, the society was regularly troubled by all kinds of rebellions, dissidences and revolts, which could even turn into revolutions. Medieval figures of contestation were a major object of research during the period from 1960-1970, in keeping with the spirit of the times. Subsequently interest in this type of research diminished and became more sporadic. At a time when new research on the topic of heresy attempts to rethink the relationship between disobedience and rebellion, when Intellectual History takes a new look at the destinies of certain figures of contestation and when there is renewed interest in the great revolts of the peasants, the city-dwellers and the nobles, we can once again take a serious look at the whole complex picture of medieval contestation. To do this we do not necessarily have to mention the anniversary of the Jacquerie of 1358 nor take into consideration the current newsworthy “Yellow Vests” movement. It is this task that the 49th Congress of the SHMESP, which took place in Rennes in 2018, set itself. Thus, the studies presented in this volume explore in turn the ways in which Latin, Byzantine and Muslim Society of the Middle Ages articulated and defined contestation, the different motives that lay behind contestation and revolt, and the ways and means of questioning the Established Order. Finally, they examen the ends of these contestations and the effects they may have had beyond their often-tragic denouement and jarring memory.
Concern for the dead is common to all of humanity, a sentiment that goes well beyond the wide rep... more Concern for the dead is common to all of humanity, a sentiment that goes well beyond the wide repertoire of funerary practices that express and translate it. But the relations between the living and the dead, the material and immaterial interchanges that take place beyond the grave provide historians and archaeologists with important material that reveals the structures (social, economic and symbolic) of the society they are studying. In choosing to hold its 48th Congress in Jerusalem, a city that is both sanctuary and cemetery and where, in the Middle Ages, so many came to die or aspired to die, the SHMESP wishes to train a searchlight on the relations between the living and the dead in a place that is central to the beliefs and eschatology of the three great monotheistic traditions. Keeping in mind the diversity of the Jewish, Christian and Muslim worlds and their interaction, our authors have sought to highlight what remains of the gestures, the practices and the beliefs of the men and women with respect to their dead: from the archaeological study of burial methods to their representations, from funerary epigraphy to the archival memory of the deceased, from the commentaries on the sacred texts to the lives of the famous and anonymous dead. Thus, we cast light on the funereal customs, on the space which the dead occupy alone or share with the living in the society of their time, on the economy and material and memorial exchanges between the living and the dead, and finally on the beliefs and the multiple temporalities that can be discerned in relationships that extend beyond the grave. The Middle Ages kept alive a constant interchange between the living and the dead – our aim is for this uninterrupted dialogue to be heard once again.
Global History is all the rage. This is uncongenial to some, who wish to defend the national iden... more Global History is all the rage. This is uncongenial to some, who wish to defend the national identity of a France limited within the borders of what today is called France. Essentially, they look to “Christianity” for hypothetical historical roots. Others make of it a new sphere of reflection, where they play with unconvincing comparisons and unsubstantiated connexions.
French historians, and perhaps more especially the medieval specialists have been reluctant to take up themes derived from the Anglo-Saxon world and from newly emerging countries. This could be because they still consider themselves heirs to the work of Fernand Braudel, even if he is out of date and the subject of contestation. Another reason could be the watertight separation between European and Mediterranean History, mainly studied within the university context and the history of more faraway places that has its home in different institutions.
Nevertheless, it is clear that in Medieval Times, the different worlds were deeply connected, even over very long distances. Long before the Age of Discovery and the Modern Period, men and women would travel and exchange, often going to faraway places. It, therefore, behoves the community of Medieval Specialists to examen the ways and means of these connections, not in order to posit the existence of some premature version of the “global village” or to deny the existence of spaces and worlds that have their own internal coherence at a particular point in time, but rather to think about the epistemological conditions of such an approach.
On what scale must we think about historical phenomena? It is this question, central to our research work, that is posed by the 47th Congress of the SHMESP.
The papers found in this volume look towards wide horizons, towards Central Asia and the Far East, towards Sub-Saharan Africa and the Pacific Ocean. They do not, however, leave out the European and Mediterranean spaces with which we can be expected to be more familiar. Here they search for connections and find sources for striking comparisons.
Thus, the reader of this volume will have access to a global, connected History of the Middle Ages, which is open to the world. It bears witness to the vitality and diversity of French research and once again seeks to answer the ever-recurring question of the “roots” of our contemporary worlds.
The theme of Medieval government, understood as the totality of conditions under which power is e... more The theme of Medieval government, understood as the totality of conditions under which power is exercised over a populace and how it dominates, controls and organizes their lives, has taken on a new lease on life among Medieval historians in the last ten years. The Acts of the Congress of the SHMESP, which took place in Montpellier in 2015 served to draw attention to this new development. They stressed the need to go beyond mechanical binary oppositions such as those between norm and practice or between institutions and society as well the desire to inaugurate a change of perspective in the analysis of the origin and development of important political frameworks. Thus, even if we cannot speak of the “state” in its modern or pre-modern sense, we can be sure that there existed government in some form or another, characterized by the application of laws and rules with varying degrees of severity.
In this perspective, the authors have studied the lexical fields associated with the practice of government and the various techniques and administrative procedures of political groups of every sort. They also examined the ideological or conceptual links that existed between those in power and the faithful and obedient groups or individuals over whom they held sway. Under the rubric of government practices the conference stressed certain themes that in the last few years have found favour with the historians. These were, for example, investigations, control of officials, census and means of coercion. Furthermore, no power or authority can last for very long with any degree of success without the consent of the governed. This consent, which at times is a delegation of power, is expressed through various forms of participation and/or active or passive support. Our chosen theme was also a spur to a series of reflections on the links, interactions and interpenetrations between the secular and religious forms of government in Western, Byzantine and Islamic societies.
The University of Lorraine’s choice of theme for the 2014 Congress of the SHMESP was the place of... more The University of Lorraine’s choice of theme for the 2014 Congress of the SHMESP was the place of the model in the medieval transmission of knowledge. The congress took into consideration intellectual knowledge, practical knowledge required for the fabrication of objects, norms of behaviour as well as models taken from religious life. In all these fields, the question of the model serves as a prism through which to undertake historical investigation, in so far as the transmission of knowledge concurrently makes ample use both of exemplarity and of reproduction. The model could be an eminent or exceptional person, who as a totality of observations and experience, provides the wherewithal for an individual or a group to be able to construct their knowledge, their savoir-faire or their savoir-être. Gesture, image, the spoken word, writing, therefore, take on the role of vehicles in the transmission of knowledge.
When it comes to the History of Material Culture, our perspective allows us to examen the ways and means and the vehicles involved in the transmission of practical knowledge. It can also help us to highlight the role played by the model or the pattern in production. Sometimes this can be a gesture or an image which is imitated at other times it can be a specific object used as prototype which sometimes can be repeated in an almost mechanical manner. In the field of the study of behaviour, the notion of the model looks promising as an area of investigation. It opens into the idea of exemplarity, which is particularly effective when we consider the figure of the good bishop or the good prince. Exemplarity can also be seen in the widely circulated hagiographic models, held up as mirrors or as tropological (ethical philosophy, allegory, the literature of exempla, consolations etc.) In like manner, literature, whether spiritual, moral, historical or fictional, and the philosophical disciplines which include all the arts, vehicle a number of models or find the authoritive source for them in books, in religion, mythology or philosophy. In the Middle Ages, every work, every production and every act have its reference and its source. It is up to the historian to find them and interpret them.
At a time when global history seems to make ever-greater inroads into our discipline, in a proces... more At a time when global history seems to make ever-greater inroads into our discipline, in a process that leaves no period untouched, it might appear vain to consider the “nation.” Nevertheless, the nation does seem to be back to some degree, despite the current process of globalization, which leaves in its wake the dissolution of specific and durable historical entities and identities. Medieval scholars need to take cognizance of this development, as it is generally believed that it was during the Middle Ages that the modern nations were formed. Nevertheless, the term “nation” having been interpreted in a novel manner since at least the 18th Century, it is hard to speak of a “nation” in the Middle Ages, without jumping backwards and forwards between the Middle Ages and the Modern Period, without examining in detail how the territorial, political, governmental and aristocratic processes particular to Medieval ethnogenesis were retroactively “nationalized” in the moral, affective, military and ideological sense of the term.
From the weighing of commodities to the staking out of land, from the value of coinage to the dim... more From the weighing of commodities to the staking out of land, from the value of coinage to the dimensions of bodies, measurement occupies a central place in the Medieval universe in which “everything is proportion.” The SHMESP chose this major theme for its 43rd Congress which took place in Tours in June 2012, with the intention of highlighting the latest scholarship in the field. There were twenty-five papers read. They showed the multiple dimensions of the work undertaken, covering the many fields that require quantification: Economy, Demography, and Sociology, Culture and Science, Cartography and Geometry, the Dance or Diet. The means of access to these fields are likewise numerous: Metrology, Numismatics, Lexicology, Archiving, Codicology, Archaeology etc. This comparative approach allowed us to rethink the methodologies in play and to measure the work of the historians in both the present and the future.
The 42nd Congress of the SHMESP, which was held in Oxford in March and April of 2011, turned its ... more The 42nd Congress of the SHMESP, which was held in Oxford in March and April of 2011, turned its attention to a type that is little-known and hard to identify, that we associate so naturally with our Modern Technocratic Age that it is hard to imagine that he could be found in earlier times, especially as far back as the Middle Ages. This type is the expert. We can situate the expert on the dividing line between doctrine and practice and see him as someone who brings together social experiments that are both complex and diverse. Either alone or in small groups, the expert is called upon for an opinion, to validate a hypothesis and to emit his truth, which is presumably objective and based on sound scientific knowledge. He operates in the most diverse places, the court of justice, obviously, but also the building site, the sickbed, before relics or during a scholarly discussion. The expert derives his authority from his recognized knowledge and from his social position – technical competence is not always enough: it is also required that he be recognized – this recognition is often understood rather than explicit – before the parties concerned will agree to consult an outside person. It is in these social and functional interstices, between knowledge and its explication, that the function of the expert is situated. By making this the theme of their congress, the members of the SHMESP wished to draw attention to this particular function, which is not a profession or a permanent status, but which presupposes mastery in a particular field and the ability to have this recognized in situations that are both awkward and fraught with uncertainty.
As we can see from the multiplicity of examples cited, across the whole of the Medieval Millennium, from East to West, this technician – nearly always a male, as in all spaces of domination- was able to earn an important place for himself, in the role of the one who helps someone to arrive at a decision without being the decision maker himself. For expertise was not an end in itself. Its aim was to illuminate an issue so that the institutions could function within a consensus guaranteed by the competence super partes of an outside personality. Our authors examined the selection criteria by which experts were chosen, as well as the ways and means of their actions together with the results. They were able to come up with a wide range of material in order to illustrate how Medieval Society was able make use of these decision mediators, who were far more numerous than was commonly supposed.
The 41st Congress of the SHMESP, was held in June 2010, in the ancient capital of Gaul, which, in... more The 41st Congress of the SHMESP, was held in June 2010, in the ancient capital of Gaul, which, in the Middle Ages, was at the heart of the complex relations between Kingdom and Empire. In our time, Diplomacy serves an international order which it remakes constantly, in accordance with revolutions, wars and democratic ethics. During the Middle Ages, too, diplomacy was one aspect of the relations between states. But, as they were sometimes the expression of a rapport de force, and as they were built on exchange and communication, they also had a role and a place in other places where power was manifest. Diplomatic relations were not only an alternative to confrontation, to the recourse to arms and to political violence. In our studies, we looked at all the various dimensions of diplomacy. An examination of scales, allows us to highlight the techniques and the rites that structure diplomacy within the framework of the Curia as well as its development within different geographic spaces where they were able to overcome disorder in relationships. Our aim is to show what work on the Diplomatic Relations in the Middle Ages can contribute to the History of Diplomacy in the widest sense. To do this we have undone the categorization of this historical object, gone beyond the single point of view of international relations or foreign policy, opened the horizon towards other cultures, the Byzantine, the Muslim, the Asian and towards worlds governed by other references.
In his masterpiece, La Societé Féodale, written shortly before World War II,’ Marc Bloch emphasiz... more In his masterpiece, La Societé Féodale, written shortly before World War II,’ Marc Bloch emphasized not only the recurrence of the movements of peoples in ancient society but also underlined that the “End of the Invasions” of the 10th Century represented a turning point in the History of the West. Thereafter the Christian West became a kind of “enclosed space,” in which human mobility was still possible but in different forms. It is these forms, that the authors of this book, which brings together the work presented at the 40th Congress of SHMESP, held in Nice in 2009, have undertaken to explore. They wished to understand the meaning and the function of this mobility which underwent radical transformation in the West, between the 9th and the 15th Centuries, following the great movements of populations at a time when these collective migrations played themselves out under new power structures and new social strategies. The first part sums up the historiography dealing with migratory movement (The Great Migrations 4th-6th Centuries) and discusses in detail the processes of ethnogenesis and acculturation which contributed to the transformation of the Ancient World. Then there is an examination of the collective movements, both voluntary and involuntary, temporary and permanent, related to the organization of human activity and population control, from the 9th to the 15th Century. Finally, there was a discussion of the different ways in which the holders of power circulated: how kings, popes, bishops, abbots and magistrates would cover distances to impose their authority.
The 39th Congress of the SHMESP that took place in April-May 2008 was held in an Eastern capital,... more The 39th Congress of the SHMESP that took place in April-May 2008 was held in an Eastern capital, Cairo. Its aim was to foster dialogue between West and East and to highlight the fact that both the East and the West owed their cultural richness in the Middle Ages not only to their common heritage but also to dialogue and exchange throughout the period of the Medieval Millennium.
This volume, The Authority of the Written in the Middle Ages deals with the production of the written, with the authority derived from documents and with the setting up of archives in the West as well as in the Muslim and Byzantine sphere.
Firstly, our authors have envisaged the place occupied by the written in societies where the spoken word and the gesture are essential. They examined groups whose profession involved writing (redactors, chancellery clerks, cadis etc.) and studied their practices looking at how they diffused the techniques that they employed. The use of writing leads us to pose the question of the authority of a document which is produced and of its efficacity – the written and the recorded gestures, the signs of validation, the status of the people who present the document and of the witnesses who underwrite it, the multiple choices of language adopted by the redactors and the situations in which the document is used even its falsification. In the Muslim sphere, for example, where there is a tendency to place the evidence of reliable witnesses above documentary evidence, given that the latter can be falsified, we see that evidence based on documents has a lower status than in the West where it is of prime importance. The setting up and the preservation of archives is a key to the maintenance of power: who is in charge of the documents and where are they housed? Here too, there is a difference in practice between West and East. The kings of France believed that the constitution of registers of royal acts was a manifestation of their power, whereas Muslim monarchs, though possessing elaborately organized archives, did not see them as an expression of their sovereignty. Finally, our authors had a look at the themes of random preservations, discards, destructions, of copies, of translations and of forgeries of documents, opening up new avenues of exploration.
In the last twenty years, scholars working in the Human and Social Sciences have been taking a cl... more In the last twenty years, scholars working in the Human and Social Sciences have been taking a close look at their disciplines and their practices. Medieval History has also come under scrutiny, even if, unlike what has happened in Germany, French Historiography’ has been content to produce assessments, rather than making a close examination of the institutions, the scholars and the practices involved in historical research. This epistemological questioning, which is at the heart of the 38th Congress of the SHMESP, is not only of interest to the professional scholar. We need to look at what the Middle Ages represent for our time. More than ever there is a demand from society that scholars need to respond to. It comes from the success of works of the imagination which are openly inspired by the Middle Ages as well from the quest for identity in the distant past on the local level.
In the 21st Century, Medieval scholars face a number of new challenges. There is the emergence of new ways of constructing knowledge, in particular by the comparative method – the relationship between Archaeology and Textual History, between Medieval History and Literature, between Geography and Social Sciences as well as the examination of forms and their dissemination. All these need to be taken into consideration when we consider how to teach Medieval History.
Furthermore, the work of Medieval Historians has been transformed by the digital revolution. Several papers take a new look at the changes that are already taking place in the way of working of the historians. They examen the effects of computerization, digitization and the use of the internet: how do Medieval Scholars relate to the image in the age of the Global Screen? How does digitization effect the publication and study of manuscript texts?
The organizers did not wish to limit our work to confines of one country. Therefore, they invited representatives from other associations of Medieval Scholars coming from Europe and from Latin America with which several institutions of higher education and research have had links for some time. In fact, the Middle Ages are far from being the exclusive property of Old Europe, even if they are very much a source of its identity
In Medieval Studies the concepts of space, spatiality, of territory and of limit were often used ... more In Medieval Studies the concepts of space, spatiality, of territory and of limit were often used imprecisely, influenced, no doubt, by the combination of History and Geography common in France or because of a belief that History is Time in Space. There is a necessity to establish methodological and conceptual approaches especially as the recent instruments of research, for example the dictionaries, do not contain any of these terms. In this volume, we present a well-defined field of research that will enable scholars to produce in-depth analyses of spatial consciousness. This consciousness differs from one source to another, from one region to another, from one temporality to another and also from one historiography to another. This Congress has innovated by stressing the essential international dimension of its activity. It is thus that the organizers of the 37th Congress of the SHMESP in conjunction with the Mediävistenverband wished to challenge the community of Medieval Scholars. We have many contributions both from experienced scholars and debutants. Our volume offers multiple but converging examinations of space as an object of study and of problematics. If historians have always taken into consideration the representations of space that were imagined by scholars and the social elites, more recent observations of social practices, a “use of space connected with a way of life,” allows us to break down the barrier between them. Here we see the Church play a prime role in this rapprochement, as an institution that is the heir to the knowledge of the Ancients, as an innovator when it comes to the practical adaptation of administrative organization and as the creator of symbolic constructions. The spatial readings of texts and the practical studies of space require interdisciplinary work that shows differences of scale and an interplay of data supplied by various analytical tools. Our volume brings together historians, art historians, archaeologists and linguists not to mention the Life Sciences in the background. The reader will learn about the Medieval representation of space seen as the process of the spatialization of social relations that are characteristic of Western History. He will perhaps be surprised to see the relevance to our time of these studies of landscape which parallel current environmental concerns about the transformation of milieux by mankind in society.
Ubi papa, ibi Roma: Rome may not always be in Rome, for Rome is wherever the Pope is in residence... more Ubi papa, ibi Roma: Rome may not always be in Rome, for Rome is wherever the Pope is in residence. This 13th Century adage underlines the identification between city and sovereign; the capital is defined by its function of political command. The capital in question was a strange choice in the Middle Ages for, while seeing itself as the caput mundi, it had difficulty being recognized as a mere regional capital.
What, therefore, was a capital city in the Middle Ages? We must look beyond the false evidence that comes from a centralized Paris that goes back over a thousand years or to a lesser degree London: things are more complex than they appear at first. It is true that we find the Roman model of the imperial capital persisting under various forms with Constantinople, Baghdad and Cairo. Nevertheless, when the Carolingians re-established the Empire in 800, they did not go back to the model of the imperial capital. In fact, what characterized the institutional and territorial experience of the Medieval West was the dispersion rather than the concentration of the various functions of a capital.
The 36th Congress of the SHMESP took place in Istanbul, at the invitation of the French Institute of Anatolian Studies. Here we found a décor suited to our endeavor. It is a historical and monumental setting, at the heart of some of the political experiences compared and contrasted by our contributors over a long-time scale. For writing the history of capital cities leads one, inevitably, to focus on the diversity of the models of the emergence of the state. The relationship between the palace and the city, as well as the movement of the centers of gravity of territorial constructions, the abandon of and return to various capitals – all this shows a number of different configurations of power.
From this point of view the question of symbolic markers is essential. A city is able to convince that it controls various functions of commandment through image and ritual, words and walls, by the mobilization of memory and the building of impressive monuments. It can continue enjoying the prestige of a defunct capital for very long. By concentrating on the simultaneously material and ideal aspects of administrative centralization in urban society our contributors have attempted to restore a richness of meaning to that seemingly anodyne term “capital city” in the Middle Ages.
The Middle Ages can be seen, in many respects, as a Golden Age of Ports. Firstly, because it was ... more The Middle Ages can be seen, in many respects, as a Golden Age of Ports. Firstly, because it was a great period for navigation. Sea and river generated voyages, passages and exchanges that took place in sites that were carefully chosen and constructed by man. These maritime and river sites, which were designated by the old Norse term hofn and the Latin portus are the object of the studies brought together in this volume.
Responding to an invitation from the young University of La Rochelle, the SHMESP held its 35th Congress there in 2004. As was appropriate to an Atlantic port and to a highly symbolic location, the theme selected, Maritime and River Ports in the Middle Ages, was concerned with water transport. Our contributors therefore concentrated on navigation, as well as all the activities connected with it. They also considered the human element; looking at both the navigators and at those dependent upon them.
Our work covered a wide geographical area. From the shores of the Atlantic to the Black Sea and the Baltic, without forgetting the Mediterranean and the great rivers, we ranged far and wide. Our studies made full use of Archaeology and a critical attention to written sources in order to reconstitute the Topography of port sites, the variety of activities and professions related to the functioning of the ports, the configurations of the (constructed or not constructed) networks of exchange as well as the mechanisms of taxation and control of activities in these singular places. Thus, we were able to highlight the port systems that linked the rivers to the maritime basins, as well as the changes that took place over ten centuries during the Middle Ages, especially on both sides of the interruption that occurred in the 13th Century.
In the Middle Ages, mountains were seen as a place of scary “otherness.” They were populated by ... more In the Middle Ages, mountains were seen as a place of scary “otherness.” They were populated by devils and witches. They were nevertheless crossed by merchants and pilgrims, who by travelling regularly gave the lie to these beliefs and proved that mountains were in no way barriers. In fact, the improvement of the conditions of cross-mountain travelling was, especially in the Alps, one of the main achievements of the Middle Ages. But if the mountain was essentially a space of life, this makes the historians wish to understand the specific nature of the type of society found there. Another image springs to mind, that of William Tell, champion of a mountain community and its dogged resistance to all political control.
Looking beyond the variety of the case studies presented, the scholars present at the 34th Congress of the SHMESP which was held in Chambéry in 2003, wished to show a global picture of the interactions between man and the milieu of the mountain in the Middle Ages while highlighting the integration of this milieu into the system of representation of Medieval society. Our discussion revolves around four main themes: The Mountain Crossed, The Mountain Governed, The Mountain Lived and the Mountain Imagined. While geographers question the very concept of mountain, Medieval Scholars have taken advantage of this methodological lack of certainty to examen the specific nature of “mountain society.” We are justified in declaring that the emergence of communities with a greater or lesser degree of autonomy is an important part of the legacy of the Middle Ages. Nevertheless, these mountain communities were far from living in total isolation. They were part of a complex power play that brought them into conflict with local lords, both lay and ecclesiastic. They were at times opposed to the cities or the territorial ruler.
Crusade, Reconquest, Drang nach Osten. These terms, though now contested by historians, neverthel... more Crusade, Reconquest, Drang nach Osten. These terms, though now contested by historians, nevertheless refer to a phenomenon of immense consequence: Western Expansion in the Middle Ages. From the 11th century to the “First Globalization” of the end of the 15th Century, this vast movement drove pilgrims, merchants and knights from the shores of the Black Sea to the Latin conquests of Syria-Palestine.
The 33rd Congress of the SHMESP, which took place at the Casa Velasquez in Madrid in May 2002 sought to look beyond ideological bias and illuminate this highly emotionally-charged period. It was important to establish what differentiated this period of expansion from that of modern colonization of which the people of Iberia were among the pioneers. This can be seen from the point of view of the fronts of conquest, which in the Middle Ages were oriented towards the North and the East as well as the South, and from the point of view of territorial consequences, which produced little in the form of population movement. It would be wrong to reduce Western expansion in the Middle Ages to the inexorable progress of conquering states. The studies brought together here draw a picture of this global historical movement, stressing the diversity of human types, the complexity of their motives and the variety of the period’s rhythms. The result is a more contrasted and more certain understanding of an historical fact which volens nolens is part of the foundation of Western identity.
The 32nd Congress of the SHMESP took place at the Université Littoral Côte d’Oplae in May 2001. O... more The 32nd Congress of the SHMESP took place at the Université Littoral Côte d’Oplae in May 2001. Our intention was to look beyond the cliché of a Medieval World living in isolation to present a picture of a lively society characterized by its openness to exchange between cultures.
Giving and taking: the system of exchange is, obviously, at the heart of all social life in the Middle Ages. Here we are dealing with a particular type of exchange, where the symbolic dimension is uppermost, which is probably why the emphasis is on relics, religious objects, and sacred texts. The essays collected in this volume, nevertheless, attempt to apprehend cultural exchange in all its many components, going from the most material aspect (the places, the people, the mediums) to the most ideal (How do you measure an influence? What is a zone of cultural dissemination?)
What is at stake here, is a Medieval system of communication, in which we find a combination of spoken word, gesture and writing, and in which the intensification of cultural transfers allows us to discern the foreshadowing of a truly European culture.
Medieval Man was not as violent as people think. This is what the participants in the 31st Congre... more Medieval Man was not as violent as people think. This is what the participants in the 31st Congress of the SHMERP, which took place in Angers in May 2000, were at pains to show. In fact, Medieval Man is, in himself, neither barbaric nor cruel.
It is true that conflicts could occur on many occasions, from quarrels between neighbors to wars between nations. But the men and women of these times were deeply concerned by the problems of conflict resolution. They were aware of the need to put a stop to violence, to restore peace, to repair the torn fabric of society. They would have recourse to an arsenal of codes and norms, whose amazing variety had been forged over time. From palaver to written charters, from tacit codes of honor to learned law, from monetary fines to making amends, from the miracle and divine judgment to royal judgment – all these modes of resolution tend towards transaction rather than constraint.
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French historians, and perhaps more especially the medieval specialists have been reluctant to take up themes derived from the Anglo-Saxon world and from newly emerging countries. This could be because they still consider themselves heirs to the work of Fernand Braudel, even if he is out of date and the subject of contestation. Another reason could be the watertight separation between European and Mediterranean History, mainly studied within the university context and the history of more faraway places that has its home in different institutions.
Nevertheless, it is clear that in Medieval Times, the different worlds were deeply connected, even over very long distances. Long before the Age of Discovery and the Modern Period, men and women would travel and exchange, often going to faraway places. It, therefore, behoves the community of Medieval Specialists to examen the ways and means of these connections, not in order to posit the existence of some premature version of the “global village” or to deny the existence of spaces and worlds that have their own internal coherence at a particular point in time, but rather to think about the epistemological conditions of such an approach.
On what scale must we think about historical phenomena? It is this question, central to our research work, that is posed by the 47th Congress of the SHMESP.
The papers found in this volume look towards wide horizons, towards Central Asia and the Far East, towards Sub-Saharan Africa and the Pacific Ocean. They do not, however, leave out the European and Mediterranean spaces with which we can be expected to be more familiar. Here they search for connections and find sources for striking comparisons.
Thus, the reader of this volume will have access to a global, connected History of the Middle Ages, which is open to the world. It bears witness to the vitality and diversity of French research and once again seeks to answer the ever-recurring question of the “roots” of our contemporary worlds.
In this perspective, the authors have studied the lexical fields associated with the practice of government and the various techniques and administrative procedures of political groups of every sort. They also examined the ideological or conceptual links that existed between those in power and the faithful and obedient groups or individuals over whom they held sway. Under the rubric of government practices the conference stressed certain themes that in the last few years have found favour with the historians. These were, for example, investigations, control of officials, census and means of coercion. Furthermore, no power or authority can last for very long with any degree of success without the consent of the governed. This consent, which at times is a delegation of power, is expressed through various forms of participation and/or active or passive support. Our chosen theme was also a spur to a series of reflections on the links, interactions and interpenetrations between the secular and religious forms of government in Western, Byzantine and Islamic societies.
When it comes to the History of Material Culture, our perspective allows us to examen the ways and means and the vehicles involved in the transmission of practical knowledge. It can also help us to highlight the role played by the model or the pattern in production. Sometimes this can be a gesture or an image which is imitated at other times it can be a specific object used as prototype which sometimes can be repeated in an almost mechanical manner. In the field of the study of behaviour, the notion of the model looks promising as an area of investigation. It opens into the idea of exemplarity, which is particularly effective when we consider the figure of the good bishop or the good prince. Exemplarity can also be seen in the widely circulated hagiographic models, held up as mirrors or as tropological (ethical philosophy, allegory, the literature of exempla, consolations etc.) In like manner, literature, whether spiritual, moral, historical or fictional, and the philosophical disciplines which include all the arts, vehicle a number of models or find the authoritive source for them in books, in religion, mythology or philosophy. In the Middle Ages, every work, every production and every act have its reference and its source. It is up to the historian to find them and interpret them.
As we can see from the multiplicity of examples cited, across the whole of the Medieval Millennium, from East to West, this technician – nearly always a male, as in all spaces of domination- was able to earn an important place for himself, in the role of the one who helps someone to arrive at a decision without being the decision maker himself. For expertise was not an end in itself. Its aim was to illuminate an issue so that the institutions could function within a consensus guaranteed by the competence super partes of an outside personality. Our authors examined the selection criteria by which experts were chosen, as well as the ways and means of their actions together with the results. They were able to come up with a wide range of material in order to illustrate how Medieval Society was able make use of these decision mediators, who were far more numerous than was commonly supposed.
This volume, The Authority of the Written in the Middle Ages deals with the production of the written, with the authority derived from documents and with the setting up of archives in the West as well as in the Muslim and Byzantine sphere.
Firstly, our authors have envisaged the place occupied by the written in societies where the spoken word and the gesture are essential. They examined groups whose profession involved writing (redactors, chancellery clerks, cadis etc.) and studied their practices looking at how they diffused the techniques that they employed. The use of writing leads us to pose the question of the authority of a document which is produced and of its efficacity – the written and the recorded gestures, the signs of validation, the status of the people who present the document and of the witnesses who underwrite it, the multiple choices of language adopted by the redactors and the situations in which the document is used even its falsification. In the Muslim sphere, for example, where there is a tendency to place the evidence of reliable witnesses above documentary evidence, given that the latter can be falsified, we see that evidence based on documents has a lower status than in the West where it is of prime importance. The setting up and the preservation of archives is a key to the maintenance of power: who is in charge of the documents and where are they housed? Here too, there is a difference in practice between West and East. The kings of France believed that the constitution of registers of royal acts was a manifestation of their power, whereas Muslim monarchs, though possessing elaborately organized archives, did not see them as an expression of their sovereignty. Finally, our authors had a look at the themes of random preservations, discards, destructions, of copies, of translations and of forgeries of documents, opening up new avenues of exploration.
In the 21st Century, Medieval scholars face a number of new challenges. There is the emergence of new ways of constructing knowledge, in particular by the comparative method – the relationship between Archaeology and Textual History, between Medieval History and Literature, between Geography and Social Sciences as well as the examination of forms and their dissemination. All these need to be taken into consideration when we consider how to teach Medieval History.
Furthermore, the work of Medieval Historians has been transformed by the digital revolution. Several papers take a new look at the changes that are already taking place in the way of working of the historians. They examen the effects of computerization, digitization and the use of the internet: how do Medieval Scholars relate to the image in the age of the Global Screen? How does digitization effect the publication and study of manuscript texts?
The organizers did not wish to limit our work to confines of one country. Therefore, they invited representatives from other associations of Medieval Scholars coming from Europe and from Latin America with which several institutions of higher education and research have had links for some time. In fact, the Middle Ages are far from being the exclusive property of Old Europe, even if they are very much a source of its identity
What, therefore, was a capital city in the Middle Ages? We must look beyond the false evidence that comes from a centralized Paris that goes back over a thousand years or to a lesser degree London: things are more complex than they appear at first. It is true that we find the Roman model of the imperial capital persisting under various forms with Constantinople, Baghdad and Cairo. Nevertheless, when the Carolingians re-established the Empire in 800, they did not go back to the model of the imperial capital. In fact, what characterized the institutional and territorial experience of the Medieval West was the dispersion rather than the concentration of the various functions of a capital.
The 36th Congress of the SHMESP took place in Istanbul, at the invitation of the French Institute of Anatolian Studies. Here we found a décor suited to our endeavor. It is a historical and monumental setting, at the heart of some of the political experiences compared and contrasted by our contributors over a long-time scale. For writing the history of capital cities leads one, inevitably, to focus on the diversity of the models of the emergence of the state. The relationship between the palace and the city, as well as the movement of the centers of gravity of territorial constructions, the abandon of and return to various capitals – all this shows a number of different configurations of power.
From this point of view the question of symbolic markers is essential. A city is able to convince that it controls various functions of commandment through image and ritual, words and walls, by the mobilization of memory and the building of impressive monuments. It can continue enjoying the prestige of a defunct capital for very long. By concentrating on the simultaneously material and ideal aspects of administrative centralization in urban society our contributors have attempted to restore a richness of meaning to that seemingly anodyne term “capital city” in the Middle Ages.
Responding to an invitation from the young University of La Rochelle, the SHMESP held its 35th Congress there in 2004. As was appropriate to an Atlantic port and to a highly symbolic location, the theme selected, Maritime and River Ports in the Middle Ages, was concerned with water transport. Our contributors therefore concentrated on navigation, as well as all the activities connected with it. They also considered the human element; looking at both the navigators and at those dependent upon them.
Our work covered a wide geographical area. From the shores of the Atlantic to the Black Sea and the Baltic, without forgetting the Mediterranean and the great rivers, we ranged far and wide. Our studies made full use of Archaeology and a critical attention to written sources in order to reconstitute the Topography of port sites, the variety of activities and professions related to the functioning of the ports, the configurations of the (constructed or not constructed) networks of exchange as well as the mechanisms of taxation and control of activities in these singular places. Thus, we were able to highlight the port systems that linked the rivers to the maritime basins, as well as the changes that took place over ten centuries during the Middle Ages, especially on both sides of the interruption that occurred in the 13th Century.
Looking beyond the variety of the case studies presented, the scholars present at the 34th Congress of the SHMESP which was held in Chambéry in 2003, wished to show a global picture of the interactions between man and the milieu of the mountain in the Middle Ages while highlighting the integration of this milieu into the system of representation of Medieval society. Our discussion revolves around four main themes: The Mountain Crossed, The Mountain Governed, The Mountain Lived and the Mountain Imagined. While geographers question the very concept of mountain, Medieval Scholars have taken advantage of this methodological lack of certainty to examen the specific nature of “mountain society.” We are justified in declaring that the emergence of communities with a greater or lesser degree of autonomy is an important part of the legacy of the Middle Ages. Nevertheless, these mountain communities were far from living in total isolation. They were part of a complex power play that brought them into conflict with local lords, both lay and ecclesiastic. They were at times opposed to the cities or the territorial ruler.
The 33rd Congress of the SHMESP, which took place at the Casa Velasquez in Madrid in May 2002 sought to look beyond ideological bias and illuminate this highly emotionally-charged period. It was important to establish what differentiated this period of expansion from that of modern colonization of which the people of Iberia were among the pioneers. This can be seen from the point of view of the fronts of conquest, which in the Middle Ages were oriented towards the North and the East as well as the South, and from the point of view of territorial consequences, which produced little in the form of population movement. It would be wrong to reduce Western expansion in the Middle Ages to the inexorable progress of conquering states. The studies brought together here draw a picture of this global historical movement, stressing the diversity of human types, the complexity of their motives and the variety of the period’s rhythms. The result is a more contrasted and more certain understanding of an historical fact which volens nolens is part of the foundation of Western identity.
Giving and taking: the system of exchange is, obviously, at the heart of all social life in the Middle Ages. Here we are dealing with a particular type of exchange, where the symbolic dimension is uppermost, which is probably why the emphasis is on relics, religious objects, and sacred texts. The essays collected in this volume, nevertheless, attempt to apprehend cultural exchange in all its many components, going from the most material aspect (the places, the people, the mediums) to the most ideal (How do you measure an influence? What is a zone of cultural dissemination?)
What is at stake here, is a Medieval system of communication, in which we find a combination of spoken word, gesture and writing, and in which the intensification of cultural transfers allows us to discern the foreshadowing of a truly European culture.
It is true that conflicts could occur on many occasions, from quarrels between neighbors to wars between nations. But the men and women of these times were deeply concerned by the problems of conflict resolution. They were aware of the need to put a stop to violence, to restore peace, to repair the torn fabric of society. They would have recourse to an arsenal of codes and norms, whose amazing variety had been forged over time. From palaver to written charters, from tacit codes of honor to learned law, from monetary fines to making amends, from the miracle and divine judgment to royal judgment – all these modes of resolution tend towards transaction rather than constraint.
French historians, and perhaps more especially the medieval specialists have been reluctant to take up themes derived from the Anglo-Saxon world and from newly emerging countries. This could be because they still consider themselves heirs to the work of Fernand Braudel, even if he is out of date and the subject of contestation. Another reason could be the watertight separation between European and Mediterranean History, mainly studied within the university context and the history of more faraway places that has its home in different institutions.
Nevertheless, it is clear that in Medieval Times, the different worlds were deeply connected, even over very long distances. Long before the Age of Discovery and the Modern Period, men and women would travel and exchange, often going to faraway places. It, therefore, behoves the community of Medieval Specialists to examen the ways and means of these connections, not in order to posit the existence of some premature version of the “global village” or to deny the existence of spaces and worlds that have their own internal coherence at a particular point in time, but rather to think about the epistemological conditions of such an approach.
On what scale must we think about historical phenomena? It is this question, central to our research work, that is posed by the 47th Congress of the SHMESP.
The papers found in this volume look towards wide horizons, towards Central Asia and the Far East, towards Sub-Saharan Africa and the Pacific Ocean. They do not, however, leave out the European and Mediterranean spaces with which we can be expected to be more familiar. Here they search for connections and find sources for striking comparisons.
Thus, the reader of this volume will have access to a global, connected History of the Middle Ages, which is open to the world. It bears witness to the vitality and diversity of French research and once again seeks to answer the ever-recurring question of the “roots” of our contemporary worlds.
In this perspective, the authors have studied the lexical fields associated with the practice of government and the various techniques and administrative procedures of political groups of every sort. They also examined the ideological or conceptual links that existed between those in power and the faithful and obedient groups or individuals over whom they held sway. Under the rubric of government practices the conference stressed certain themes that in the last few years have found favour with the historians. These were, for example, investigations, control of officials, census and means of coercion. Furthermore, no power or authority can last for very long with any degree of success without the consent of the governed. This consent, which at times is a delegation of power, is expressed through various forms of participation and/or active or passive support. Our chosen theme was also a spur to a series of reflections on the links, interactions and interpenetrations between the secular and religious forms of government in Western, Byzantine and Islamic societies.
When it comes to the History of Material Culture, our perspective allows us to examen the ways and means and the vehicles involved in the transmission of practical knowledge. It can also help us to highlight the role played by the model or the pattern in production. Sometimes this can be a gesture or an image which is imitated at other times it can be a specific object used as prototype which sometimes can be repeated in an almost mechanical manner. In the field of the study of behaviour, the notion of the model looks promising as an area of investigation. It opens into the idea of exemplarity, which is particularly effective when we consider the figure of the good bishop or the good prince. Exemplarity can also be seen in the widely circulated hagiographic models, held up as mirrors or as tropological (ethical philosophy, allegory, the literature of exempla, consolations etc.) In like manner, literature, whether spiritual, moral, historical or fictional, and the philosophical disciplines which include all the arts, vehicle a number of models or find the authoritive source for them in books, in religion, mythology or philosophy. In the Middle Ages, every work, every production and every act have its reference and its source. It is up to the historian to find them and interpret them.
As we can see from the multiplicity of examples cited, across the whole of the Medieval Millennium, from East to West, this technician – nearly always a male, as in all spaces of domination- was able to earn an important place for himself, in the role of the one who helps someone to arrive at a decision without being the decision maker himself. For expertise was not an end in itself. Its aim was to illuminate an issue so that the institutions could function within a consensus guaranteed by the competence super partes of an outside personality. Our authors examined the selection criteria by which experts were chosen, as well as the ways and means of their actions together with the results. They were able to come up with a wide range of material in order to illustrate how Medieval Society was able make use of these decision mediators, who were far more numerous than was commonly supposed.
This volume, The Authority of the Written in the Middle Ages deals with the production of the written, with the authority derived from documents and with the setting up of archives in the West as well as in the Muslim and Byzantine sphere.
Firstly, our authors have envisaged the place occupied by the written in societies where the spoken word and the gesture are essential. They examined groups whose profession involved writing (redactors, chancellery clerks, cadis etc.) and studied their practices looking at how they diffused the techniques that they employed. The use of writing leads us to pose the question of the authority of a document which is produced and of its efficacity – the written and the recorded gestures, the signs of validation, the status of the people who present the document and of the witnesses who underwrite it, the multiple choices of language adopted by the redactors and the situations in which the document is used even its falsification. In the Muslim sphere, for example, where there is a tendency to place the evidence of reliable witnesses above documentary evidence, given that the latter can be falsified, we see that evidence based on documents has a lower status than in the West where it is of prime importance. The setting up and the preservation of archives is a key to the maintenance of power: who is in charge of the documents and where are they housed? Here too, there is a difference in practice between West and East. The kings of France believed that the constitution of registers of royal acts was a manifestation of their power, whereas Muslim monarchs, though possessing elaborately organized archives, did not see them as an expression of their sovereignty. Finally, our authors had a look at the themes of random preservations, discards, destructions, of copies, of translations and of forgeries of documents, opening up new avenues of exploration.
In the 21st Century, Medieval scholars face a number of new challenges. There is the emergence of new ways of constructing knowledge, in particular by the comparative method – the relationship between Archaeology and Textual History, between Medieval History and Literature, between Geography and Social Sciences as well as the examination of forms and their dissemination. All these need to be taken into consideration when we consider how to teach Medieval History.
Furthermore, the work of Medieval Historians has been transformed by the digital revolution. Several papers take a new look at the changes that are already taking place in the way of working of the historians. They examen the effects of computerization, digitization and the use of the internet: how do Medieval Scholars relate to the image in the age of the Global Screen? How does digitization effect the publication and study of manuscript texts?
The organizers did not wish to limit our work to confines of one country. Therefore, they invited representatives from other associations of Medieval Scholars coming from Europe and from Latin America with which several institutions of higher education and research have had links for some time. In fact, the Middle Ages are far from being the exclusive property of Old Europe, even if they are very much a source of its identity
What, therefore, was a capital city in the Middle Ages? We must look beyond the false evidence that comes from a centralized Paris that goes back over a thousand years or to a lesser degree London: things are more complex than they appear at first. It is true that we find the Roman model of the imperial capital persisting under various forms with Constantinople, Baghdad and Cairo. Nevertheless, when the Carolingians re-established the Empire in 800, they did not go back to the model of the imperial capital. In fact, what characterized the institutional and territorial experience of the Medieval West was the dispersion rather than the concentration of the various functions of a capital.
The 36th Congress of the SHMESP took place in Istanbul, at the invitation of the French Institute of Anatolian Studies. Here we found a décor suited to our endeavor. It is a historical and monumental setting, at the heart of some of the political experiences compared and contrasted by our contributors over a long-time scale. For writing the history of capital cities leads one, inevitably, to focus on the diversity of the models of the emergence of the state. The relationship between the palace and the city, as well as the movement of the centers of gravity of territorial constructions, the abandon of and return to various capitals – all this shows a number of different configurations of power.
From this point of view the question of symbolic markers is essential. A city is able to convince that it controls various functions of commandment through image and ritual, words and walls, by the mobilization of memory and the building of impressive monuments. It can continue enjoying the prestige of a defunct capital for very long. By concentrating on the simultaneously material and ideal aspects of administrative centralization in urban society our contributors have attempted to restore a richness of meaning to that seemingly anodyne term “capital city” in the Middle Ages.
Responding to an invitation from the young University of La Rochelle, the SHMESP held its 35th Congress there in 2004. As was appropriate to an Atlantic port and to a highly symbolic location, the theme selected, Maritime and River Ports in the Middle Ages, was concerned with water transport. Our contributors therefore concentrated on navigation, as well as all the activities connected with it. They also considered the human element; looking at both the navigators and at those dependent upon them.
Our work covered a wide geographical area. From the shores of the Atlantic to the Black Sea and the Baltic, without forgetting the Mediterranean and the great rivers, we ranged far and wide. Our studies made full use of Archaeology and a critical attention to written sources in order to reconstitute the Topography of port sites, the variety of activities and professions related to the functioning of the ports, the configurations of the (constructed or not constructed) networks of exchange as well as the mechanisms of taxation and control of activities in these singular places. Thus, we were able to highlight the port systems that linked the rivers to the maritime basins, as well as the changes that took place over ten centuries during the Middle Ages, especially on both sides of the interruption that occurred in the 13th Century.
Looking beyond the variety of the case studies presented, the scholars present at the 34th Congress of the SHMESP which was held in Chambéry in 2003, wished to show a global picture of the interactions between man and the milieu of the mountain in the Middle Ages while highlighting the integration of this milieu into the system of representation of Medieval society. Our discussion revolves around four main themes: The Mountain Crossed, The Mountain Governed, The Mountain Lived and the Mountain Imagined. While geographers question the very concept of mountain, Medieval Scholars have taken advantage of this methodological lack of certainty to examen the specific nature of “mountain society.” We are justified in declaring that the emergence of communities with a greater or lesser degree of autonomy is an important part of the legacy of the Middle Ages. Nevertheless, these mountain communities were far from living in total isolation. They were part of a complex power play that brought them into conflict with local lords, both lay and ecclesiastic. They were at times opposed to the cities or the territorial ruler.
The 33rd Congress of the SHMESP, which took place at the Casa Velasquez in Madrid in May 2002 sought to look beyond ideological bias and illuminate this highly emotionally-charged period. It was important to establish what differentiated this period of expansion from that of modern colonization of which the people of Iberia were among the pioneers. This can be seen from the point of view of the fronts of conquest, which in the Middle Ages were oriented towards the North and the East as well as the South, and from the point of view of territorial consequences, which produced little in the form of population movement. It would be wrong to reduce Western expansion in the Middle Ages to the inexorable progress of conquering states. The studies brought together here draw a picture of this global historical movement, stressing the diversity of human types, the complexity of their motives and the variety of the period’s rhythms. The result is a more contrasted and more certain understanding of an historical fact which volens nolens is part of the foundation of Western identity.
Giving and taking: the system of exchange is, obviously, at the heart of all social life in the Middle Ages. Here we are dealing with a particular type of exchange, where the symbolic dimension is uppermost, which is probably why the emphasis is on relics, religious objects, and sacred texts. The essays collected in this volume, nevertheless, attempt to apprehend cultural exchange in all its many components, going from the most material aspect (the places, the people, the mediums) to the most ideal (How do you measure an influence? What is a zone of cultural dissemination?)
What is at stake here, is a Medieval system of communication, in which we find a combination of spoken word, gesture and writing, and in which the intensification of cultural transfers allows us to discern the foreshadowing of a truly European culture.
It is true that conflicts could occur on many occasions, from quarrels between neighbors to wars between nations. But the men and women of these times were deeply concerned by the problems of conflict resolution. They were aware of the need to put a stop to violence, to restore peace, to repair the torn fabric of society. They would have recourse to an arsenal of codes and norms, whose amazing variety had been forged over time. From palaver to written charters, from tacit codes of honor to learned law, from monetary fines to making amends, from the miracle and divine judgment to royal judgment – all these modes of resolution tend towards transaction rather than constraint.