Description

The 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?

Seeing, Hearing, Reading and Believing. Authorities in the Middle Ages will be arranged in Helsinki 20-23 September 2010. This international conference seeks to offer a multidisciplinary forum for researchers and academics, enhance interdisciplinary discussion, promote scholarly networking, and set up an innovative platform for scholars who engage with questions of power and authority.

The conference is aimed at established researchers, doctoral students and those working on their master's thesis in medieval history or art history, archaeology, theology, philosophy or literature. Conference sessions will be open to the public. The conference will be held in English.

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

The conference is organised by Glossa, the Society for Medieval Studies in Finland, the Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies (HCAS), University of Helsinki and the Written Culture in Medieval Finland Project at the University of Helsinki, and funded by Thure Galléns Stiftelse, Federation of Finnish Learned Societies, HCAS and Niilo Helander Foundation.

Selected conference papers will be published as a refereed theme issue in Mirator, an electronic open access jourrnal on medieval studies.