Ritual scripting as work in progress. Codifying rituals of inclusion and exclusion in the tenth- to twelfth-century west

Rituele scripting als work in progress. Codificatie van rituelen van conflict en verzoening in het middeleeuwse westen (tiende-twaalfde eeuw)
Start - End 
2015 - 2017 (ongoing)
Type 
Department(s) 
Department of History
Research Focus 
Research Period 
Research Region 
Research Language 
Research Methodology 

Tabgroup

Abstract

This project systematically relates scripting of rituals of inclusion and exclusion to societal developments in the Central Middle Ages (10th-12th centuries). So far, scholarship in this field has relied on the notion that the elaboration of scripted modes of symbolic behavior relating to separation from, or (re-)integration into, a social community preceded their application in practice, and that the elites relied on such scripts in shaping their behavior in conflict situations. By looking at a set of primary sources that so far have eluded scholars’ interest, this project verifies the validity of suggestions in recent literature that closer investigation of this evidence will yield a more dialectical understanding of the development of ritual scripts and their application. The objective is to make the study of ritual scripts less based on the notion that it originated from intellectual agency only, and argue that these scripts were continuously revised on the basis of feedback from ritual and other practice. Furthermore, the ritual scripts’ political dimension and implication will be investigated as well as their impacts on social and cultural developments.

 

People

Supervisor(s)

Phd Student(s)

Publications