Conferences – Session on Medieval Disability – International Medieval Congress – online – 5-9 aJuly 2021.

Session

202

Title

Arthurian Literature in Middle English

Date/Time

Monday 5 July 2021: 14.15-15.45

Organiser

IMC Programming Committee

Moderator/Chair

Kirsty Bolton, Centre for Medieval & Renaissance Culture / Department of English, University of Southampton

Paper 202-a

Blurring the Boundaries of Nature and Culture in Ywain and Gawain
(Language: English)
Selen Aktaran, Department of Foreign Languages, Gebze Technical University
Azime Pekşen Yakar, Department of English Translation & Interpretation, Ankara Science University
Index Terms: Language and Literature – Comparative; Language and Literature – Middle English

Paper 202-b

The Invisible Knight: Perceptions of Disability in Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte D’Arthur
(Language: English)
Linda Steele, Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences, Carleton University, Ottawa
Index Terms: Gender Studies; Language and Literature – Middle English; Medievalism and Antiquarianism

Paper 202-c

Dislodging the Divine: Sword Imagery in Malory’s Morte d’Arthur
(Language: English)
Holly Robbins, Department of English, Converse College, South Carolina
Index Terms: Language and Literature – Middle English; Political Thought

Abstract

Paper -a:
Ywain and Gawain narrates Ywain’s knightly adventures due to which he is spiritually transformed into a perfect knight. His adventure begins with his departure from Arthur’s court with the intent of avenging his cousin Colgrevance upon hearing his anecdote of combat with a knight and his subsequent defeat. At the beginning of Ywain’s journey, nature/culture binary opposition becomes visible with the sudden change in topography from the civilised court to the wilderness. According to anthropocentricism, nature and culture are often thought to be separate from each other and dichotomous. At first glance, it seems that Ywain also adopts such an anthropocentric viewpoint, that is, culture predominates nature. However, it can be observed that nature/culture binary opposition and its rigid definitions are challenged and blurred throughout the romance. In this regard, this paper aims to explore Ywain’s treatment of nature/culture binary opposition and analyse how the narrative challenges the strict boundaries of these two concepts through the lens of Donna Haraway’s term ‘natureculture(s)’ which acknowledges the inseparability and equal importance of nature and culture.

Paper -b:
Published in 1485, Thomas Malory’s Le Morte D’Arthur is a chivalric romance text reflecting late medieval attitudes and values, illuminating contemporary ideologies of social situations involving disability in the chivalric community. Laura Finke observes that ‘violence provides the foundation for an elaborate structure of exchange which determines hierarchies among men; it functions as a form of what anthropologist Pierre Bourdieu refers to as symbolic capital’. By examining the text, it is possible to ascertain medieval ideas and responses to disability through the character’s reaction to their own and other’s infirmities caused by violence. These attitudes, in turn, illustrate the development of societal views regarding disability, thereby pushing the boundaries of what societies consider ‘normal’.

Paper -c:
While much scholarly discussion has been devoted to the aspects of kingship in Malory’s Morte Darthur, the physical representations of these political models have received little focus. In this paper, I assert that sword imagery is a crucial key for understanding Malory’s two seemingly complimentary but ultimately contradictory models for kingship. Malory’s seeming demotion of the divine authority embodied in the sword in the stone (anvil) gives way to recognition of the author’s emphasis on reciprocity as represented by Excalibur. As this paper will demonstrate, Malory’s omissions from his Sangreal sources show his interest in dislodging divine kingship and constructing a reciprocal kingship in his Arthurian compendium.

Session

216

Title

Climates of Fear, I: Illness, Impairment, and Healing

Date/Time

Monday 5 July 2021: 14.15-15.45

Organiser

Joanne Edge, Department of History, University of Manchester

Jude Seal, Department of History, Royal Holloway, University of London

Moderator/Chair

Jude Seal, Department of History, Royal Holloway, University of London

Paper 216-a

‘Deliver this horse from evil’: Veterinary Rituals, Epizootic Disease, and Late Medieval Horse Medicine
(Language: English)
Sunny Harrison, Institute for Medieval Studies, University of Leeds
Index Terms: Medicine; Science

Paper 216-b

The Interplay of Beliefs, Emotions, and Impaired Bodies in 14th-Century Canonisation Inquests
(Language: English)
Adelheid Russenberger, School of History, Queen Mary University of London
Index Terms: Hagiography; Medicine

Paper 216-c

‘Fire and fever inside her’: Hebrew Magical-Medicinal Recipes from 13th-Century Northern France
(Language: English)
Amit Shafran, ERC Project ‘Beyond the Elite’ / Department of History, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Index Terms: Hebrew and Jewish Studies; Medicine

Abstract

In the popular imagination the Middle Ages was a time where fear of the supernatural characterised the entire era. There have been many inaccurate descriptions of the Middle Ages as part of the fictional ‘Dark Ages’ where science and learning stagnated, medicine was a combination of herbalism, religion, and superstition, and women were arbitrarily executed by burning. However, medicine and science were not forgotten, nor was there widespread suppression of scientific learning. But advances that were made took place in a climate of fear. Religion, science, medicine, and magic were not distinct entities as they are in the modern day.

Session

414

Title

Climates of Fear: A Round Table Discussion

Date/Time

Monday 5 July 2021: 19.00-20.30

Organiser

Wendy J. Turner, Department of History, Anthropology & Philosophy, Augusta University, Georgia

Moderator/Chair

Iona McCleery, Institute for Medieval Studies / School of History, University of Leeds

Abstract

In the Middle Ages, much like today, those who lived through the seemingly never-ending years of plague and political tension, lived with fears of disease, death, and disorder. If they avoided disease, they might starve or suffer loss of community, family, and connections. In other ways, fear was present in medieval communities. What were the experiences of minority faith communities, of ‘foreign’ individuals, of people with disabilities? Are there human commonalities or parallels in medieval expressions of fear with the many crises of the present day? Drawing together specialists from the early to the late medieval period with expertise ranging from studies in disability, disease, trauma, mental health, religion, and global medievalism, this round table discussion will be an open discussion of medieval ideas of fear and how individuals coped with living in climates of fear.

Participants include Esther Cohen (Hebrew University of Jerusalem), Erin Connelly (University of Warwick), Christina Lee (University of Nottingham), Daniel McCann (Ruhr-Universität Bochum), Irina Metzler (Independent Scholar), and Wendy J. Turner (Augusta University, Georgia).

Session

611

Title

Climate of the 15th Century, I: Extreme Weather and Societal Change

Date/Time

Tuesday 6 July 2021: 11.15-12.45

Sponsor

Technische Universität Wien

Organiser

Andrea Kiss, Institut für Wasserbau und Ingenieurhydrologie, Technische Universität Wien / Department of English Studies, University of Szeged

Kathleen Pribyl, Climatic Research Unit, University of East Anglia / Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research, Universität Bern

Moderator/Chair

Dag Retsö, Institutionen för ekonomisk historia och internationella relationer, Stockholms universitet

Paper 611-a

Impacts of Extreme Climatic Events on Societies and Landscapes in Provence and the Southern French Alps in the 15th Century: A Comparative Analysis
(Language: English)
Nicolas Maughan, Institut de Mathématiques de Marseille (UMR 7373), Aix-Marseille Université
Index Terms: Geography and Settlement Studies; Local History; Medicine; Social History

Paper 611-b

A Troublesome Century: Politics, Economy, and Climate in Sweden in the 15th Century
(Language: English)
Dag Retsö, Institutionen för ekonomisk historia och internationella relationer, Stockholms universitet
Index Terms: Daily Life; Economics – General; Economics – Rural; Social History

Paper 611-c

Disease and Climate in 15th-Century Europe
(Language: English)
Kathleen Pribyl, Climatic Research Unit, University of East Anglia / Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research, Universität Bern
Index Terms: Demography; Medicine; Science; Social History

Paper 611-d

Floods and Droughts in 15th-Century Europe
(Language: English)
Andrea Kiss, Institut für Wasserbau und Ingenieurhydrologie, Technische Universität Wien / Department of English Studies, University of Szeged
Index Terms: Economics – General; Geography and Settlement Studies; Science; Social History

Abstract

At the end of the Middle Ages, with a deepening of the Little Ice Age, societies across Europe faced increasingly difficult climatic conditions. This session studies the periodization of the 15th century for hydrometeorological extremes like droughts and floods and investigates the impact of those and other extreme meteorological events on society and economy, on the occurrence of disease and epidemics, on landscape change and even on political trends. The four contributions cover the whole continent, from north to south and from east to west, in the form of regional/country-wide case studies and European overviews. They delve into the complex subject placed at the intersection of natural sciences and humanities using quantitative methods as well as the qualitative approach.

Session

713

Title

Climate, the Environment, and the Natural World in Byzantium, II: Art, Climate, Death, and Disease

Date/Time

Tuesday 6 July 2021: 14.15-15.45

Sponsor

Centre for Byzantine, Ottoman & Modern Greek Studies, University of Birmingham

Organiser

Leslie Brubaker, Centre for Byzantine, Ottoman & Modern Greek Studies, University of Birmingham

Moderator/Chair

Daniel K. Reynolds, Centre for Byzantine, Ottoman & Modern Greek Studies, University of Birmingham

Paper 713-a

Nature into Art the Byzantine Way
(Language: English)
Liz James, Department of Art History, University of Sussex
Index Terms: Art History – General; Byzantine Studies

Paper 713-b

Mosaic-Making and Climate Change in the Holy Land
(Language: English)
Henry Maguire, Department of the History of Art, Johns Hopkins University
Index Terms: Art History – General; Byzantine Studies

Paper 713-c

Health and Disease in Early Byzantine Burials
(Language: English)
Laura M. Clark, Centre for Byzantine, Ottoman & Modern Greek Studies, University of Birmingham
Index Terms: Archaeology – General; Byzantine Studies; Medicine

Abstract

The impact of nature, climate, and the environment on visual images and material culture in Byzantium was very strong. Papers in this session evaluate images of the natural world, how climate change impacted on artisanal techniques, and evidence from burials of the effect of natural phenomena on human life.

Session

1112

Title

The Middle Ages in Modern Games, II: Medicine, Health, and Disease in Game Narratives and Mechanics

Date/Time

Wednesday 7 July 2021: 11.15-12.45

Sponsor

The Public Medievalist / Centre for Medieval & Renaissance Research, University of Winchester

Organiser

Robert Houghton, Centre for Medieval & Renaissance Research, University of Winchester

Moderator/Chair

Katherine J. Lewis, Department of English, Linguistics & History, University of Huddersfield

Paper 1112-a

‘Git gud, scrub!’: Disease as a Narrative / Gameplay Mechanic and Heroic Fortitude in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
(Language: English)
Geoffrey Fernandez, Department of Humanities & Social Sciences, Birla Institute of Technology & Science, Pilani
Index Terms: Computing in Medieval Studies; Medicine; Medievalism and Antiquarianism

Paper 1112-b

The Progression of the Plague as a Narrative: Medieval Medicine’s Conceptions in A Plague Tale: Innocence and Dishonored
(Language: English)
Albert Leparc, Ecole de Bibliothécaires Documentalistes, Paris
Index Terms: Computing in Medieval Studies; Medicine; Medievalism and Antiquarianism

Paper 1112-c

Mental Breaks and Coping Mechanisms: Health and Stress as Mechanics in Crusader Kings III
(Language: English)
Robert Houghton, Centre for Medieval & Renaissance Research, University of Winchester
Index Terms: Computing in Medieval Studies; Medicine; Medievalism and Antiquarianism

Abstract

Within popular media and understanding, the Middle Ages are typically seen as a dirty and backwards period; rife with disease and with a complete absence of scientific and medical understanding. Representations of the Middle Ages in modern games often follow these same stereotypes and tropes within their stories and lore, but they frequently provide more unexpected and interesting considerations of medieval medicine and disease within their mechanics. The papers of this session consider the approach taken to medieval medicine and disease within games of a number of genres.

Session

1416

Title

#DisMed 4: Disability and Accessibility in Higher Education – A Round Table Discussion

Date/Time

Wednesday 7 July 2021: 19.00-20.30

Sponsor

Medievalists with Disabilities

Organiser

Alexandra R. A. Lee, Department of History, University College London

Moderator/Chair

Elizabeth Biggs, Beyond 2022 Project, Trinity College Dublin

Abstract

After three successful round tables bringing up issues around disability in Higher Education, we continue our discussions at IMC 2021. Contributions this year will focus on mental health in academia, invisible disabilities, and the accessibility of academic feedback.

Participants include Elizabeth Champion (University of Leeds), Hope Doherty (Durham University), Alexandra Lee (University College London), and Jude Seal (Royal Holloway, University of London).

Session

1506

Title

Illness as Metaphor in the Middle Ages, I

Date/Time

Thursday 8 July 2021: 09.00-10.30

Sponsor

Institute of Polish Language, Polish Academy of Sciences, Kraków

Organiser

Krzysztof Nowak, Department of Medieval Latin, Institute of Polish Language, Polish Academy of Sciences, Kraków

Moderator/Chair

Krzysztof Nowak, Department of Medieval Latin, Institute of Polish Language, Polish Academy of Sciences, Kraków

Paper 1506-a

Le vocabulaire des maux et de la maladie dans la littérature ascétique latine d’origine orientale
(Language: Français)
Renaud Alexandre, Institut de Recherche et d’Histoire des Textes (IRHT), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Paris
Index Terms: Computing in Medieval Studies; Language and Literature – Latin; Mentalities

Paper 1506-b

From the Disease of Hunger to Heretical Plague: Metaphorical Illness and Its Treatment in the Corpus of Polish Medieval Latin
(Language: English)
Krzysztof Nowak, Department of Medieval Latin, Institute of Polish Language, Polish Academy of Sciences, Kraków
Index Terms: Computing in Medieval Studies; Language and Literature – Latin; Mentalities

Paper 1506-c

‘Amor non est medicabilis herbis’: The ‘Love is a Disease’ Metaphor from Early to Medieval Latin
(Language: English)
Irene de Felice, Dipartimento di lingue e culture moderne, Università di Genova
Chiara Fedriani, Dipartimento di lingue e culture moderne, Università di Genova
Index Terms: Language and Literature – Latin; Mentalities

Abstract

Contrary to what Susan Sonntag hoped, we will not be liberated from metaphors of illness anytime soon. Long before the pandemic, the imagery of disease had been employed to express uninhibited nature of emotions or to explain social processes. All too often, though, it has been used to exclude, to stigmatize the Other and to justify violence. A critical analysis of medieval metaphors may help us in understanding how our language is shaped by its remote past. This interdisciplinary session will provide a broad overview of the functions and dynamics of the metaphorical and symbolic use of illness in medieval Latin writing.

Session

1511

Title

Managing God’s Wrath: Socio-Cultural Responses to the Impacts of Environmental Disasters in Central and South-Eastern Europe

Date/Time

Thursday 8 July 2021: 09.00-10.30

Sponsor

Department of History / Centre for the Study of the Balkans, Goldsmiths, University of London

Organiser

Nada Zečević, Department of History / Centre for the Study of the Balkans, Goldsmiths, University of London

Moderator/Chair

Mihailo Popović, Abteilung Byzanzforschung, Institut für Mittelalterforschung, Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Wien

Paper 1511-a

‘Then, just like now’: Famine, Floods, and Other Disasters in Medieval Zagreb and Its County
(Language: English)
Suzana Miljan, Institute of Historical & Social Sciences, Croatian Academy of Sciences & Arts, Zagreb
Index Terms: Administration; Daily Life; Economics – Urban; Social History

Paper 1511-b

Visualising God’s Wrath: Environmental Problems Displayed in Images
(Language: English)
Gerhard Jaritz, Department of Medieval Studies, Central European University, Budapest/Wien
Index Terms: Art History – General; Daily Life; Mentalities; Social History

Paper 1511-c

The Kiss of Death: Balkan Émigrés and the Transmission of Infectious Diseases in Habsburg Hungary, 17th-18th Centuries
(Language: English)
Nada Zečević, Department of History / Centre for the Study of the Balkans, Goldsmiths, University of London
Index Terms: Daily Life; Medicine; Mentalities; Social History

Abstract

Greatly dependent on their natural environment, people of pre-modern Europe were highly vulnerable to its sudden changes. While these changes were usually perceived as justifiable and deserved godly wrath, people of the time devised various ways to neutralise its effects. This session explores societal responses to the impacts of extreme environmental processes in late-medieval and early-modern Central and South-eastern Europe. During the Middle Ages and the early-modern period, these regions were frequently seen as borderlands between the continent’s East and West and rural, somewhat ‘forgotten’ peripheries. The session’s key focus is on societal institutes and devices which the people of these areas used to respond and adapt themselves to the risks which the nature put before them. By comparatively following diverse experiences of handling famine, flood, infectious diseases, and other environmental disasters, the session draws a map of the region’s social abilities to efficiently manage environmental crisis, by which community cohesion, collective sense of place and notions of common belonging were constructed and transferred to the modern mentalities.

Session

1606

Title

Illness as Metaphor in the Middle Ages, II

Date/Time

Thursday 8 July 2021: 11.15-12.45

Sponsor

Institute of Polish Language, Polish Academy of Sciences

Organiser

Krzysztof Nowak, Department of Medieval Latin, Institute of Polish Language, Polish Academy of Sciences, Kraków

Moderator/Chair

Krzysztof Nowak, Department of Medieval Latin, Institute of Polish Language, Polish Academy of Sciences, Kraków

Paper 1606-a

As a Monster and as a Sick Body: Illnesses of the corpus reipublicae in Medieval Discourses on Government
(Language: English)
Julien Le Mauff, Faculté des Lettres, Sorbonne Université, Paris
Index Terms: Philosophy; Political Thought

Paper 1606-b

Suffering and Deformed Bodies in Old English Medical Recipes (British Library, Royal MS 12 D XVII)
(Language: English)
Irene Tenchini, School of Arts, English & Languages, Queen’s University Belfast
Index Terms: Language and Literature – Old English; Medicine

Paper 1606-c

‘Infirmitates corporis, infirmitates animae’: Sin as Illness in Polish Medieval Sermons
(Language: English)
Łukasz Halida, Department of Medieval Latin, Institute of Polish Language, Polish Academy of Sciences, Kraków
Index Terms: Language and Literature – Latin; Sermons and Preaching

Abstract

Contrary to what Susan Sonntag hoped, we will not be liberated from metaphors of illness anytime soon. Long before the pandemic, the imagery of disease had been employed to express uninhibited nature of emotions or to explain social processes. All too often, though, it has been used to exclude, to stigmatize the Other and to justify violence. A critical analysis of medieval metaphors may help us in understanding how our language is shaped by its remote past. This session brings together scholars investigating the use of the figure of disease in political writing, medical recipes, and sermons.

Session

1704

Title

Crusading on the Baltic and the Balkan Fronts

Date/Time

Thursday 8 July 2021: 14.15-15.45

Organiser

IMC Programming Committee

Moderator/Chair

Alan V. Murray, Institute for Medieval Studies, University of Leeds

Paper 1704-a

The Emotional Formation of a Climate of Warfare in Livonia
(Language: English)
Patrick Eickman, Department of History, University of Wisconsin, Madison
Index Terms: Crusades; Military History; Monasticism

Paper 1704-b

Illness or Coup d’Etat?: The Case of Ludolf König, Great Master of the Teutonic Order in Prussia, 1342-1345
(Language: English)
Maciej Antoni Badowicz, Wydział Historyczny, Uniwersytet Gdański
Index Terms: Archives and Sources; Historiography – Medieval; Local History; Mentalities

Paper 1704-c

The Climate Factor in the Crusade of Varna
(Language: English)
Roman Ivashko, Independent Scholar, Lviv
Index Terms: Byzantine Studies; Crusades; Ecclesiastical History; Military History

Abstract

Paper -a:
Both the Heinrici Cronicon Lyvoniae (Chronicle of Henry of Livonia) and the Livändische Reimchronik (Livonian Rhymed Chronicle) heavily stressed the emotional nature of the Baltic Crusades. Henry of Livonia detailed how Bishop Albert wept when recruiting pilgrims to relieve besieged German colonists in Riga and the anonymous chronicler of the Reimchronik frequently invoked the joy felt by his fellow Teutonic Knights amid the heat of battle. Grounded in recent works of the emotional turn, this paper argues that both the Heinrici Cronicon Lyvoniae and the Livändische Reimchronik sought to create a climate of warfare in Livonia by creating genealogies of trauma for their different audiences of educated clergy and militant knight-brothers respectively.

Paper -b:
The metaphor of illness can provide the discussion about a problem seemingly simple with a hidden meaning from perspective of other parties. Simplified in future written sources may become hard to unread. The fate of Great Master of the Teutonic Order in Prussia Ludolf König had been sealed at the beginning of the year 1345 with undone invasion of the Order, and its guests into Lithuanian lands. The failure, according to relations, had aroused in him a kind of mental disease which needed a special treatment, and control. But the sequence methods of action provided by the closest entourage of the Great Master, and the memory of incidents in the year 1345 raise the following questions: discussion between meaning of linguistic phrases: magnus dolor in cordem, and demens; hypothesis about situation of the Order between March and August 1345, and the role of the Great Master during mentioned period; circumstances of Ludolf König’s resignation; Ludolf König as a resident in Engelsburg, and his death (until the end of the year 1347); the examination of the remains of Ludolf König’s skeleton in the crypts of cathedral in Kwidzyn (ger. Engelsburg). Discussion on the topic will be provided with comparision of narrative sources, documents and acts created by Teutonic Order in Prussia from period 1344-1345, and results of examination of great master’s skeleton.

Paper -c:
The perfect time to organize the crusade to rescue Constantinople was from mid-April to mid-October. The defenders of Rhodes complied with this term in 1444. But the crusaders at the Balkans began the campaigns of 1443, 1444, and 1445 late. Thus, at the end of ‘the long campaign’ they had already fought in snowy weather. Moreover, the crusaders were met by the strong wind before the battle of Varna. Finally, the crusade was stopped in 1445 with the withdrawal of the Burgundian fleet due to the approaching freezing of the Danube River.

Session

2008

Title

Growing Old in the Middle Ages: A Gendered Perspective, I

Date/Time

Friday 9 July 2021: 09.00-10.30

Sponsor

Anthropologie historique du long Moyen Âge (AHLOMA), École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS), Paris / Projecte Senecta, Universitat de Barcelona

Organiser

Laura Cayrol-Bernardo, Centre de Recherches Historiques, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS), Paris

Moderator/Chair

Laura Cayrol-Bernardo, Centre de Recherches Historiques, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS), Paris

Paper 2008-a

Too Old to Work: The End of Working Life in Medieval Catalonia
(Language: English)
Mireia Comas-Via, Departament d’Història i Arqueologia, Universitat de Barcelona
Index Terms: Charters and Diplomatics; Daily Life; Gender Studies; Social History

Paper 2008-b

Gender, Old Age, Disability, and Religiosity: The Intersectionality Invoked by Petitioners to Contravene Christian Prescriptions
(Language: English)
Ninon Dubourg, Laboratoire Identités Cultures et Territoires (ICT), Université Diderot Paris 7
Index Terms: Canon Law; Gender Studies; Religious Life; Social History

Paper 2008-c

The ‘Suitable Age’: Elderly Nuns and Ageing in Iberian Female Monasteries, c. 12th-16th Centuries
(Language: English)
Araceli Rosillo-Luque, Arxiu-Biblioteca dels Franciscans de Catalunya, Barcelona
Index Terms: Gender Studies; Monasticism; Religious Life; Social History

Abstract

Over the last few decades, studies on the biological, economic, social, psychological, and cultural aspects of old age have multiplied, due to current debate on ageing in western populations and its impact in our societies. However, despite the vast possibilities in social sciences to develop this topic of research, the subject still has not received the attention it deserves. This is particularly true when it comes to gender studies. This session aims to analyse different attitudes about ageing and old age in Medieval Western Europe, bearing in mind how these affected both men and women.