Workshop Schedule

 

1) Dimitrios Krallis (Department of History)

Topic: Barbarian Romans and Democratic Monarchists: Reading Social Flux in the Work of an Eleventh-Century Historian

Abstract: This paper argues that Attaleiates' recourse to the language of the city-state in his account of the popular rebellion of 1042 was not the result of idle Classicism but actually served specific narrative and political needs. By investing the rebellious people of Constantinople with attributes of a Democratic Boule, Attaleiates turns the normally disreputable populace into a respectable political power. It is my conviction that this choice on the part of the author reflects changes in Byzantine society in the course of the tenth and eleventh centuries that turned the citizen bodies of Constantinople and of other Byzantine cities into important players in the empire's political scene. Attaleiates' adoption of the language of Greek democracy and of republican Rome in the end serves his conception of his own role as a senator in that political system.

Location: 2773 Haven Hall/ Time: 5:30p.m./ Date: September 21, 2005.

2) Vika Gardner (Near Eastern Studies)

Topic: Practices of the Proto-Naqshbandiyya: The Written Voice of Makhdum-i A'zam on the [Ir]relevance of Dhikr and the Importance of Suhbat

Abstract: When scholars write about the religious practices of the Islamic mystics (Sufis), and especially those of the Naqshbandiyya, which originated from what is now Uzbekistan in the fourteenth century, one practice dominates, that of dhikr. Dhikr (also pronounced and written zikr) calls for the participant to recite a formula, either aloud or silently, in remembrance of God. Yet not all of those who were involved in the development of what became the Naqshbandiyya advocated dhikr as a practice. This paper will survey ways in which the written works of Makhdum-i-Azam (d. 1542), one of the major writer-participants of the group, described and appraised the practice of dhikr, and how he supplanted it with his own favorite practice, suhbat, intimate conversations (with one's spiritual guide).

Location: 1023 Tisch Hall/ Time: 4:00p.m./ Date: October 11, 2005.

3) Nathanael Andrade (Program in Greek and Roman History)

Topic: The Orthodox Politeia and the Syriac Life of John of Tella

Abstract: Within a turbulent atmosphere of persecution, natural disaster, and Persian invasion, a certain Monophysite Elias wrote the life of the Syrian bishop and ascetic John of Tella (d.538). The biography itself, because of its frequent appropriation of Greek concepts and terminology, has been heralded as the epitome of the cultural intersection in which it was produced. But the historical content of the Life, which was probably written in the 540s, is also significant because it records the diverse ethnic interactions that John's "politeia" of clerics and monks helped facilitate along the Persian frontier. The Life is therefore a vital source in understanding the cosmic role that Monophysites felt John's politeia had played in Syrian affairs, and it may also convey symptoms of eastern Syria's gradual cultural realignment with Mesopotamian Persia, and not the imperial centers of Antioch and Constantinople.

Location: 3200 Angell Hall/ Time: 4:00p.m./ Date: October 25, 2005.

4) Heidi Gearhart (History of Art)

Topic: Constructing a "Persona": Theophilus' On Diverse Arts and the Mythic Monastic Artisan

Abstract: Since the early nineteenth century, there has been a myth that casts the medieval artist as a humble craftsman, working in pious anonymity, believing himself to be but an instrument of God's will. One of the primary sources for this myth is the twelfth-century tract On Diverse Arts, the only complete treatise on the production of religious art that survives from the Middle Ages. Its author writes anonymously, under a Greek pseudonym connoting humility as Theophilus, “the Lover of God,” and he offers an account of painting, stained glass, and metalwork in three books, each introduced by a prologue rich in interest. Theophilus has been assumed to be a practicing artisan, and through an insertion in one of the manuscripts he has been connected to the metalworker Roger, of the Benedictine abbey of Helmarshausen. The assumption that Theophilus was a practicing artisan, however, has encouraged the text to be read as a technical manual. Yet when one begins to study the text as a coherent whole, one sees that Theophilus forged an ideal artistic persona and created a coherent theory of art-making in response to unstated but implicit criticisms. This paper will provide a new reading of the text of Theophilus and suggest how it can be used in a reconsideration of the monastic artisan.

Location: 3200 Angell Hall/ Time: 4:30p.m./ Date: November 8, 2005.

5) Travis Bruce (Department of History)

Topic: The Politics of Violence and Trade: Denia and Pisa in the Eleventh Century

Abstract: In the eleventh century, as ports and cities expanded their involvement in the Mediterranean , they came into contact and conflict with one another; both were integral parts of the Mediterranean renewal after the relative decline of the early Middle Ages. Of these cities, relations between Pisa and Denia were perhaps the most exemplary of the extremes possible within the new Mediterranean . On the surface, theirs would seem to be merely a series of clashes based on religious friction, jihad, or territorial ambitions, as shown by their conflict over Sardinia . However, when viewed together with diplomatic and commercial relations, it becomes apparent that violence was only a part of the Mediterranean dynamic, and that where conflict did exist it was often along new lines. Economic ambitions were becoming the motivating factor, and trade routes and commerce were the new stakes in the medieval Mediterranean.

Location: 3200 Angell Hall/ Time: 4:30p.m./ Date: November 15, 2005.

6) Stefan Stantchev (Department of History)

Topic: Between Business, Mendicants, and Ottomans: Caffa in the Late Middle Ages

Abstract: The goal of this paper is to study the relationships between westerners and non-westerners in Genoese Caffa.  What did they look like; did they change over time; what forces shaped them?  The available evidence shows a striking contrast.  Fourteenth-century sources seem to present a picture of a city that was Genoese-ruled and controlled in terms of administration, yet one that provided a broad range of economic opportunities to non-westerners and in which representatives of different communities engaged in a variety of business activities together.  By contrast, fifteenth-century sources paint a much less ‘optimistic' picture.  The main factor behind the worsening of the relationships between westerners and non-westerners in the city appear to be the Latin bishops of Caffa who almost always were mendicants.  If the evidence is contextualized then it becomes evident that fourteenth-century Caffa benefited from an economic upturn,
the lack of an expansionistic powerful polity in the region, and of a systematic ideological propaganda focused on the city.  Starting in the late fourteenth century, however, many changes did occur.  Caffa ceased to be an important center of the spice trade. The east as a whole was gradually losing its primary role in Genoa's economic system. The Ottomans were on their way of establishing a powerful state, and the Roman church, the hopes of Mongol conversion washed away, was more and more focused on smaller targets such as Caffa.  Ultimately, the relations between the different communities in Caffa depended as much on the Genoese as on factors well beyond Genoese control.

Location: 3200 Angell Hall/ Time: 4:30p.m./ Date: December 13, 2005

7) Alexander Angelov (Department of History)

Topic: Theology and Policy in Justinian's Economy

Abstract: From 535 to 565, emperor Justinian issued the Novels, a number of legal constitutions that fostered imperial control over minute details of Byzantine life. Unlike the other legislative codes in Justinian's Corpus Iuris Civilis, the Novels were more than a mere compilation of old Roman laws. They reflected the changing reality of an empire that understood itself as a historical continuation of the old Caesars who resided now in the city of Constantine that was set up in a cultural context revolving around institutionalized Christianity. Thus, Christian Constantinople on the Bosphorus was tied to its Western counterpart on the Tiber to the extent that it preserved tradition and claimed "romanness." In the sixth century, however, Justinian issued laws that were openly unprecedented. To legitimize his controversial innovative policies, the emperor could not afford simply to promulgate his Novels but had to promote them. Therefore, the lack of precedent forced Justinian to appeal to the Byzantine cultural affinities at large. He added the Prefaces, through which he advertised his Novels. In order to make his laws more convincing, Justinian exploited Eusebius' political ideology and drew upon established Christian values. In the Novels, Justinian was shifting the axis of legal tradition as he was "divinizing his romanness:" the supposed proximity to God was legitimizing Justinian's authority not only over Rome but over the entire "kingdom of God." The Prefaces to the Novels talk about a society, in which morality had direct material repercussions. Private virtue equaled public good. It was a society whose ideology valued self-sufficiency and conspicuous consumption, not profit maximization, division of labor, or excessive production for export. Justinian's economy was thus embedded within the Byzantine cultural framework that understood "nature" as something fickle and evil, juxtaposed to God an emperor, the great agents of stability and prosperity. It was an economy that depended upon Christian cosmology in which the interaction between God, emperor, and the agency of nature resulted in imperial rise or fall.

Location: 3200 Angell Hall/ Time: 4:30p.m./ Date: January 17, 2006

8) Jonathan Arnold (Department of History)

Topic: Remaking Barbarians: Carolingian Historians and the Classical Ethnographic Tradition

Abstract: Ethnicity has been a major focus of some of the more recent debates among scholars of Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages.  While the so-called Age of Invasions (Völkerwanderungszeit) has produced a rather large bibliography on this topic, shockingly little work has been done for the Carolingian epoch.  This is surprising considering the Carolingian Empire's ideological connection to its Roman predecessor and its resurgence of classical learning.  Despite the overtly Christian context of the Carolingian Renaissance, classicism for its own sake was an inevitable and very real consequence.  The classical barbarian, known for his ferocity, fickleness, strange customs and fighting
techniques, showed his greasy, long-haired head in the works of Carolingian historians especially.  Carolingian historians like Einhard, Ermold Nigellus and Nithard not only adopted classical topoi with sometimes ironic effects, but even, at times, employed the classical methodology for treating them, that is, the ethnographic excursus.  By remaking classical barbarians, these authors were able to reaffirm the leadership role of the Franks within their revived Roman Empire, as well as demonstrate their own participation in the literary and cultural renewal of the era.

Location: 3200 Angell Hall/ Time: 5:30p.m./ Date: January 24, 2006.

9) Mark Lotito (Department of History)

Topic: The Holy Roman Empire, We All Love It So; But How It Holds Together, That's What We Don't Know

Abstract: From the late fifteenth century, the humanists of early modern Germany forged a new German identity from the sources and influences of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and early modern historical experience.  For this undertaking, they enlisted history and geography, law and religion, applying their rhetorical skills to the task.  Renaissance Italy had led the way; but unlike their Italian counterparts, the Germans emphasized both the changes and the continuities at the formative contact and transition between the medieval and modern worlds.  The paper will argue that these humanists gave Germany a history from the ancient tribes to the sixteenth century tailored to their vision of what Germany should be; but the task of defining Germany, and especially its relationship to the Holy Roman Empire, was never satisfactorily accomplished.

Location: 3200 Angell Hall/ Time: 5:00p.m./ Date: February 14, 2006.

10) Andreea Boboc (English Language and Literature)

Abstract:

 

Location: 3200 Angell Hall/ Time: 4:30p.m./ Date: March 7, 2006.

11) Professor Rudi Lindner (Department of History)

Topic: Mongols Becoming Ottomans

Location: 1014 Tisch Hall/ Time: 4:30p.m./ Date: March 14, 2006.

12) Daniel Deselm (Department of History)

Topic: Caliphate to Christendom: Trans-Mediterranean Relic Translation in the 8th and early 9th Century

Abstract: Relic translation by its very nature is an exercise in boundary crossing.  In the course of translation, relics proceed from one place to another, from old significance to new.  Writers who describe these translations emphasize social, cultural, political, or geographic differences between the locus from which the relics have come and the one to which they are headed.  By the early middle ages a new - and to some scholars - tremendously significant border divided the west: the Mediterranean boundary between the worlds of Christendom and Islam. Relics moved across this border, too.  The first attempts to translate Christian relics from Muslim lands south of the Mediterranean into the Christian European west shed a great deal of light onto the precise nature and importance of this new boundary to contemporary writers.  This presentation will consider three such post-mortem trans-Mediterranean journeys, those of Augustine, Cyprian, and Mark (all relics of the highest order), and how together they demonstrate the newly-developing dynamic along the edges of western Christendom in the first centuries after the advent of Islam.

Location: 3200 Angell Hall/ Time: 4:30p.m./ Date: April 18, 2006.