CALL FOR PAPERS – Power of the Bishop III: Bishops as Diplomats 1000-1400, Cardiff University, 1-2 June 2017.
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. 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 the Gregorian Reforms and Investiture Crisis have on this aspect of a bishop’s skill-set?
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.
Please send abstracts of 200 words to powerofthebishop@gmail.com.
Deadline for Abstracts: 20 February 2017.