Call for Papers

TThe Latin word auctoritas means not only authority and influence, but more generally opinion, encouragement, decree or example. The concept thus resonates deeply in the study of social structures, communication or religious culture, for instance. Who had auctoritas, and how? How was influence built and maintained, how was it lost? How was authority contested? What about model and precedent?

Glossa - the society for medieval studies in Finland is arranging with the Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Sudies the multidisciplinary conference SEEING, HEARING, READING AND BELIEVING. AUTHORITIES IN THE MIDDLE AGES in Helsinki, 20-23 September 2010. The organisers seek proposals for papers on the topic of authorities in the Middle Ages. Themes include (but are not limited to) authority/-ies in politics, military history, trade and communication, intellectual history, art and literature as well as religious conformism, adaptation and dissidence. We invite explorations of exercise of authority in different spheres of life, as well as of medieval meditations on the nature of authority, or of the authority of texts and traditions. The conference welcomes researchers across all scholarly fields and disciplines.

Confirmed keynote speakers include Professor David Abulafia (University of Cambridge), Professor Sverre Bagge (University of Bergen) and Professor Albrecht Classen (University of Arizona).

We welcome working papers from established researchers, doctoral students and those working on their Master's thesis. Please send proposals for individual papers of twenty minutes or for whole sessions of three papers with contact details and a 200 word abstract to Tuija Ainonen, at tuija.ainonen@helsinki.fi by 15 December 2009.