Medieval Concepts of the Past Ritual, Memory, Historiography

An analysis of medieval ritual, history, and memory in Germany and the United States.

Medieval Concepts of the Past shows how the history of the Middle Ages is reshaped by leading medieval historians in Germany and the United States in the light of cultural and social-scientific investigations into ritual, language and memory. These two national traditions of medieval scholarship, which have been largely separated over the course of the twentieth century, are drawing closer together through a common interest in issues of social science and linguistic theory as applied to the representation of the past. This book marks a step in the reconvergence of these two historiographical traditions.

Introduction Gerd Althoff, Johannes Fried and Patrick J. Geary; 1. Authority and legitimation of royal policy and action: the case of Henry II Stefan Weinfurter; 2. King Henry II of Germany: royal self-representation and historical memory John W. Bernhardt; 3. The variability of rituals in the Middle Ages Gerd Althoff; 4. Rebels and rituals: from demonstrations of enmity to criminal justice Hanna Vollrath; 5. Oblivion between orality and textuality in the tenth century Patrick J. Geary; 6. Text and ritual in ninth-century political culture: Rome, 864 Philippe Buc; 7. The concept of time in the historiography of the eleventh and twelfth centuries Hans-Werner Goetz; 8. Constructing the past by means of the present: historiographical foundations of medieval institutions, dynasties, peoples, and communities Bernd Schneidmüller; 9. Topographies of memory: center and periphery in High Medieval France Amy G. Remensnyder; 10. Challenging the culture of memoria: dead men, oblivion, and the 'faithless widow' in the Middle Ages Bernhard Jussen; 11. Artistic and literary representations of family consciousness John B. Freed; 12. The strange pilgrimage of Odo of Deuil Beate Schuster; 13. The Rhineland massacres of Jews in the First Crusade: memories medieval and modern David Nirenberg; 14. The martyr, the tomb, and the matron: constructing the (Masculine) 'Past' as a female power base Felice Lifshitz.

This volume shows how medieval history is being reshaped by leading historians in Germany and the United States in the light of cultural and social-scientific investigations into ritual, language and memory. This book marks a significant step in the reconvergence of these two historiographical traditions.