For the 2027 meeting of the International Medieval Congress in Leeds, we welcome proposals for papers addressing the overlaps and frictions between the material and the political in the “ecologies” of the medieval city from roughly 1000 to 1500.
As urban growth and urban governance proceeded apace in the High and Late Middle Ages, newly self-conscious urban communities confronted the complex relationships between collective good and collective action. Cities and towns negotiated these relationships in both civic action and civic discourse; recently, scholars have begun to explore what may be called the “ecologies” of life in the medieval city as extending beyond the material and into the political. In the latter centuries of the Middle Ages, efforts to institute idealized civic socio-political projects met the challenges and ambiguities of urban topography, demography, and their attendant necessities. We will consider papers from a wide variety of fields (including environmental history, art history, political history, literary criticism, archaeology, and anthropology) and we are open to proposals on cities and towns in Europe and the greater Mediterranean world. Scholars whose research addresses the tensions and anxieties present in urban life are particularly encouraged to submit proposals.
Please submit a paper abstract (no more than 250 words) along with a proposed title for your paper as well as your full name and academic affiliation to dmorgan9@una.edu. We will begin consideration of proposals September 4th.
