IMC at Leeds 2013 was a pleasurable experience. Well organised, it lived up to its reputation.
The International Medieval Congress at Leeds has for twenty years gathered medieval historians and medievalists from all over the world. In spite of the on-going crisis in Europe the event succeeded once more in gathering people from all over the world and even – at least to some extent – induce some of them to put an angle on their research in order to unfold a new topic: medieval pleasures.
In the preamble to the conference it was stated that “Medieval Christianity had a specific cultural attitude towards pleasure, with a strong focus on the division of this world and the afterlife. Pleasure was often either spiritual or corporeal, although sometimes seen as both (as in the mystical/ecstatic experience). Earthly pleasures were first and foremost associated with sin and damnation, and even posed a threat to health, while spiritual pleasures contributed towards salvation and a more harmonious life. The attitude towards pleasure was ambiguous: with the threat of the devil on one side, and the enticement of heaven on the other, pleasure was linked to both joy and pain. Questions around pleasure were posed in philosophical and theological debates throughout the Middle Ages. Pleasure was nonetheless an experience commonly and eagerly sought for – in all its forms and by all social groups, in and outside Christendom. Aristocratic life is particularly represented as a culture of pleasure in both iconography and literature. The balance between celestial and terrestrial values was renegotiated in the late medieval period, so that pleasure became an aspiration for all.”
All- in-all this resulted in app 150 sessions with more than 500 presentations, which in one way or another sought to deal with medieval pleasures of all sorts. Of these some were decidedly just using the word “pleasure” in their title in order to argue their participation and not least funding. This probably goes for a whole series on “Digital Pleasures” focusing for instance on “Diplomatics and Editorial Practices in the 21 century”, which in itself was (probably) very interesting, but seemed to belong to one of the parallel conferences, which a large event like Leeds must also encompass in order to live up to its reputation: If Kalamazoo is an inspiring hodgepodge of youngsters presenting papers on Arthurian Romances as well as geeks and medieval reenactors, Leeds is THE place to meet the serious and truly accomplished medieval historians of our age.
One of these – Rosamond McKitterick – was invited to give the first of hopefully many Wiley lectures on “The Pleasures of the Past: History and Identity in the Early Middle Ages”. In a truly enjoyable exposition, she considered how the perception and transformation of the Roman Past was transformed by late antique and early medieval historians, who sought to accommodate the dramatic changes in their lives and times through engaging with texts such as the Liber Pontificalis and the Chronicle of Eusebius-Jerome. Decidedly geeky, some might say. However, those who listened in were immediately aware of the fact, that this was the outstanding climax of the conference. Beautifully presented in well-articulated English it was a true pleasure for those present.
However in this the lecture represented something odd – a pleasurable occasion of pure joy without any mixed feelings. Just pure fun…
Pleasures – a process
At the round-table closing the conference, in which Esther Cohen , Philippa Maddern, William M. Reddy, and Barbara H. Rosenwein took part the conclusion was that such timeless pleasures do not/did not exist. Instead a pleasure should be considered much more as a “process” than a “thing”. And further that pleasures are mixed sets of emotions. While we all know rather well what fear, hatred and anger may be, pleasures are simply more elusive and more mixed, it was claimed; and that in the future the notion of medieval pleasures should be studied from this point of perspective.
This may be so! However the lecture of Rosamond McKitterick disproved it all together. Such a thing as pure pleasure does exist. This we may experience whenever we enter a state of “flow”, forgetting time and place while working, writing, listening to a perfect academic lecture or otherwise just pursuing our (other) hobbies like baking, sewing, working in our gardens or playing a game. The key here is the feeling of being placed outside time and place, thus not partaking in any kind of process at all.
This idea may have been aired at the conference. With more than 460 sessions and more than a 1000 papers it is not possible to know if somebody somewhere recognized the importance of the work of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, a renowned psychologist noted for his groundbreaking studies of happiness and creativity connected with the concept of “flow”.
But at least anyone present at the lecture of Rosamond mcKitterick may have experienced it…
READ MORE:
Claudia Bolgia, University of Edinburgh, Rosamond McKitterick, University of Cambridge, John Osborne, Carleton University, Ottawa et al.
Cambridge University Press 2011
ISBN: 9780521192170
Medieval Rome was uniquely important, both as a physical city and as an idea with immense cultural capital, encapsulating the legacy of the ancient Empire, the glorious world of the martyrs and the triumph of Christian faith. Rome Across Time and Space explores these twin dimensions of ‘place’ and ‘idea’ and analyses Rome’s role in the transmission of culture throughout the Middle Ages. Ranging widely over liturgy, architecture, sculpture and textual history, the authors focus on the mutual enrichment derived from the exchange of ideas and illuminate how cultural exchanges between Rome and its ‘neighbours’ (Byzantium, Italy, England and France), and within Rome (between Ancient and early Christian Rome and the medieval city) worked as catalysts for change, both to shape the medieval city and to help construct the medieval idea of Rome itself. The result is a rich and original perspective on a beguiling city with enduring appeal.
