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<DIV align=justify><FONT face="Palatino Linotype">International Medieval
Congress: MEDIEVAL CITIES (FOR SPECIAL FOCUS ISLAM-LATIN-BYZANTIUM SEE AT THE
BOTTOM OF THIS PAGE)<BR><BR>IMC 2007 call for papers<BR>The fourteenth
International Medieval Congress will take place in Leeds, from 9-12 July
2007.<BR>Please use the IMC Proposal Form to submit complete sessions or
individual proposals. Hard copies of the form can be requested here or via the
address below. Online proposal forms are available via<BR></FONT><A
href="http://imc.leeds.ac.uk/imcapp"><FONT
face="Palatino Linotype">http://imc.leeds.ac.uk/imcapp</FONT></A><FONT
face="Palatino Linotype">.<BR><BR><BR>Call for Papers/Sessions<BR>Medieval
Cities<BR>International Medieval Congress, Leeds<BR>9-12 July
2007<BR><BR>Medieval towns and cities shaped the world in which we live today.
Many had ancient predecessors, but their distinctive evolution in post-Roman
times underlies the cultural and political structures of modern Europe. Few
regions were highly-urbanised, but everywhere was to some degree influenced by
networks of cities and lesser centres - as sites of marketing and manufacture,
and as symbols and instruments of power and belief. Cities gave identities to
territories, shaped landscapes and states, facilitated movement, and promoted
new social, cultural, intellectual, and ideological forms. As icons of order
they were influential channels of communication, both with the past and with
ideas of heaven and the future. They also offered fertile ground for the
elaboration of myth. Cities linked Europe to the wider world, through exchanges
with counterparts in Africa and Asia. The Leeds IMC has selected this theme to
celebrate the 800th anniversary of the foundation of the borough of Leeds by its
manorial lord, an event which established the physical framework of the later
town as it is still visible in the commercial city of today. The Congress will
include sessions devoted to Leeds but is also an ideal venue for bringing
together the wide variety of recent scholarship in many disciplines which has
had a bearing on cities in medieval Europe and neighbouring territories. We
specially invite papers that cross traditional boundaries of discipline and
topic.<BR></DIV></FONT>
<DIV align=justify><FONT face="Palatino Linotype">Aspects of this thematic
strand may include:<BR>. Cities and social and political formation<BR>. Cities
and patterns of belief: worship, cults, pilgrimage, and heresy<BR>. Cities as
sites of material and cultural production<BR>. Cities as sites of commercial and
cultural exchange<BR>. Cities and the shaping of custom and law<BR>. Cities and
war<BR>. Cities in history, myth, and imagination<BR>. Life and death in the
medieval city<BR>. Networks of cities and other towns<BR>. The impact of cities
on territories<BR>. The symbolic landscape of cities<BR>. The representation of
cities in graphic art<BR>. Medieval cities in the modern world: conservation,
museums, historiography, tourism<BR></DIV></FONT>
<DIV align=justify><FONT face="Palatino Linotype">The IMC seeks to provide an
interdisciplinary forum for the discussion of all aspects of Medieval Studies.
At the IMC 2007, sessions and papers on the special thematic strand 'Medieval
Cities' are particularly encouraged. However, as in previous years, papers and
sessions on all aspects of the study of the European Middle Ages are most
welcome. We prefer proposals to be completed online </FONT><A
href="http://www.leeds.ac.uk/ims/imc"><FONT
face="Palatino Linotype">www.leeds.ac.uk/ims/imc</FONT></A><FONT
face="Palatino Linotype"> - a quick, easy, and secure method. Paper proposals
must be submitted by 31 August 2006; session proposals must be submitted by 30
September 2006. The IMC welcomes session and paper proposals submitted in all
major European languages.<BR><BR>For a Proposal Form and further details please
contact:<BR><BR>Axel E. W. Müller<BR>International Medieval
Congress<BR>Institute for Medieval Studies<BR>Parkinson 1.03<BR>University of
Leeds<BR>LEEDS, LS2 9JT<BR>UK<BR>Tel: +44 (0)113 343 3614<BR>Fax: +44 (0)113 343
3616<BR>Email: </FONT><A href="mailto:IMC@leeds.ac.uk"><FONT
face="Palatino Linotype">IMC@leeds.ac.uk</FONT></A><BR><BR><BR><FONT
face="Palatino Linotype">More info:<BR><BR></FONT><A
href="http://www.leeds.ac.uk/ims/imc/imc2007_call.html"><FONT
face="Palatino Linotype">http://www.leeds.ac.uk/ims/imc/imc2007_call.html</FONT></A><BR><BR><BR><FONT
face="Palatino Linotype">SPECIAL FOCUS:<BR>Rulership in the Latin West, the
Byzantine Commonwealth and the Islamic World<BR><BR>Building on a series of
sessions on underage rule and on counsel and advice at the Leeds International
Medieval Congress in 2005 and 2006, papers are being invited for a series of
broadly comparative sessions on the theme of 'Rulers and cities' in the Latin
west, the Byzantine commonwealth and the Islamic world.<BR><BR>The main purpose
of these sessions is to explore how historians with geographically, culturally
and chronologically divergent interests tackle comparable questions and
phenomena, and thereby to foster not only an exchange of ideas and
methodological approaches, but also to define more clearly the differences as
well as the parallels between the various political communities around the
Mediterranean, and in northern and eastern Europe.<BR><BR>The theme of rulers
and cities seems quite appropriate to achieve these aims, raising issues common
to the political cultures under consideration, but within highly divergent
political, cultural and economic frameworks. Some possible questions to consider
might include:<BR><BR> a.. Symbolic value of capitals<BR> b.. Ruler
as organiser of affairs in cities<BR> c.. Rulers based in cities<BR>
d.. Rulers based outside cities<BR> e.. Cities as problems for
rulers<BR> f.. Towns/cities as rulers<BR>Short abstracts (of no more than
100 words) for a 20-minute paper should be sent by 10 September 2006
to:<BR><BR>Contact:<BR>Jonathan Shepard (Byzantium) <</FONT><A
href="mailto:nshepard@easynet.co.uk"><FONT
face="Palatino Linotype">nshepard@easynet.co.uk</FONT></A><FONT
face="Palatino Linotype">><BR>Jo Van Steenbergen (Islam) <</FONT><A
href="mailto:jvs3@st-and.ac.uk"><FONT
face="Palatino Linotype">jvs3@st-and.ac.uk</FONT></A><FONT
face="Palatino Linotype">><BR>Bjorn Weiler (Latin Europe) <</FONT><A
href="mailto:bkw@aber.ac.uk"><FONT
face="Palatino Linotype">bkw@aber.ac.uk</FONT></A><FONT
face="Palatino Linotype">><BR></DIV></FONT></BODY></HTML>