Comp. Approaches to Power and Dependency in the High Middle Ages

This workshop is organised in honour of two medieval historians – Alheydis Plassmann and Björn Weiler – who spent their careers championing comparative approaches to the political culture of high medieval Europe (c. 1000-1300). Compared to earlier centuries, historians tend to remain in their own national academic ‘sub-tribes’ for this part of the Middle Ages, a consequence of the sheer variety and amount of evidence that scholars have access to from the turn of the millennium, but also of a legacy of national historical narratives, inherited from the nineteenth century, concerned with the development of the nation state. The workshop will aim to honour the legacy of these two historians by bringing together established and early-career scholars to consider how we can further our understanding of the relationship between power and dependency in medieval politics beyond a national framework.