Power of the Bishop III: Bishops as Diplomats 1000-1400
Update: Cardiff University are having to move the third Power of the Bishop conference to 8-9 June 2017. Click here to view the event poster.
Cardiff University, 8-9 June 2017 - Funded by Medium Aevum This two-day conference will explore the importance of diplomacy in a bishop’s career. How bishops responded to situations was often crucial to building or destroying their reputations, and, sometimes, their very lives depended on their ability to exercise their diplomatic skills. Their relationships with their chapter, religious foundations and local lords were sometimes a minefield of diplomacy too, especially with unpopular elections. This conference aims to explore the common themes regarding the use and development of diplomacy in a bishop’s career; how and when was it deployed, and in what circumstances? What impact did reforms and developing crises have on this aspect of a bishop’s skill-set? What kinds of diplomacy did they practice at grassroots level, in their locality and among their own chapter? Most importantly, how do we see diplomacy expressed? As well as through legal agreements and treaties, we would like to explore the role of diplomacy in other areas, including but not limited to: the architecture of the Cathedrals and Bishop’s Palaces, the various uses of the landscape, the visual elements within manuscripts that bishops patronised, the types of gifts given and exchanged; the choice of special dates and feast days to mark particular events. Abstracts of 200 words in length, in English, should be emailed to powerofthebishop@gmail.com with the subject line “POB III ABSTRACT”. Register via http://powerofthebishop.blogspot.co.uk/p/registration.html
