The sacred nature of the medieval ruler has been studied extensively. However, the physical performance of this sacrality has been relatively neglected. Major conference in Göttingen aims to focus on the materiality of the sacrality of medieval rulers.
Palatium Sacrum
Sacredness at the medieval court: places – things – rituals
International Conference, University of Göttingen
18.06.2015 – 20.06.2015
Organized by the Art History Seminar, the Department of Medieval and modern history and the Center for Medieval and Early Modern Studies at the University of Göttingen.
In general the political and intellectual history of the ruler as a sacred person or institution has been better researched than that of the actual sacral performance and cultural practice. This especially applies to the medieval palace where the sacred performances were enacted.
How was these sacred rituals performed? Where were they enacted? Which objects and artifacts were used? Where was the line drawn between sacred and secular spaces? More specifically, what was the interplay between such spaces as royal chapels and throne rooms? What role did relics, processional crosses, thrones, regalia etc. play? Which stories were told? Which role did literature and music play?
Papers will cover the period from ca. 350 – 1500 and Europe, Byzantium and the Islamic states.
The conference is open. Most presentations will be in German.
Programme:
18.06.2015
14.00 Welcome and Introduction (Manfred Luchterhandt)
Cult of relics and cultural procession at the Byzantine imperial court
(Moderator: Manfred Luchterhandt)
14:15 Jeffrey M. Featherstone, Paris / Fribourg: Sacred Space and processions in the Great Palace in the 10th century
15:00 Albrecht Berger, Munich: The emperor and the city: processions and receptions in Constantinople
15:45 Holger A. Klein, New York: Object culture and cult objects in Imperial Byzantine processions
Times of Change
(Moderation: Jörg Bölling)
17:00 Dorothée Sack, Berlin: Caliph residence and place of pilgrimage – the sacredness of Resafa during the Umayyad Caliphate
17:45 Achim Arbeiter, Göttingen: Cangas – Pravia – Oviedo: The residences of the Asturian kings
19:00 Patrick J. Geary, Princeton: Translations and transformations of royal treasures between Byzantium, Islam, Africa and Europe in the Middle Ages
Friday, June 19
Objects and treasures of Western royal courts
(Moderator: Hedwig Röckelein)
9:15 Wolfram Drews, Münster: The learned construction of sacredness in the Carolingian period
10:00 Matthias Hardt, Leipzig: Cunimund’s head and Solomon’s table: things as memorials at early medieval royal courts
11:15 Hedwig Röckelein, Göttingen: Reliqs in the Aachen treasure under Charlemagne and his followers
12:00 Michele Bacci, Fribourg: Collections of relics in Jerusalem, Cyprus and Rhodes (12th-14th century.)
Mediterranean contexts
(Chair: Galit Noga-Banai)
14:30 Manfred Luchterhandt, Göttingen: Holiness and history: clerics, visitors and pilgrims at the papal court
15:15 Bianca Kühnel, Jerusalem: Spiritual and Material Presence of Jerusalem in the Medieval Courts
16:30 Mirko Vagnoni, Florence: Royal sacrality and Royal Iconography at the Norman Court of Sicily.
17:15 Beat Brenk, Rome: The concept of the Royal Palace in Palermo
Saturday, June 20
Holy rooms in the Late Middle Ages
(Moderator: Frank Rexroth)
9:15 Ralf Lützelschwab, Berlin: Sacral competition? About the problematic relationship between Westminster Abbey and the royal Chapel of St. Stephen’s in the late Middle Ages
10:00 Christian Freigang, Berlin: Capellae sacro-sanctae. The French Saintes-Chapelles as sacred spaces and reliquaries
11:00 Matthias Müller, Mainz: Palaces of salvation: the manifestation of the God-willed ruler in the residence architecture of the late Middle Ages and the early modern period
11:45 Birgit Franke and Barbara Welzel, Dortmund: Maps of rule: Philip the Fair of Burgundy and the Chapter of the Toison d’Or 1501 in Brussels
Final discussion
(Moderation: Hedwig Röckelein)
Program and organization:
Prof. Dr. Manfred Luchterhandt, Art History and Art Collection
Prof. Dr. Hedwig Röckelein, Department of Medieval and Modern History
Contact:
Prof. Dr. Manfred Luchterhandt
Art History and Art Collection
University of Göttingen
Nicholas Berger Weg 15
D-37073 Göttingen
mluchte@gwdg.de
Secretariat:
Tel. +49 (0) 551-39-5092
u.evers@gwdg.de
www.uni-goettingen.de/palatiumsacrum
