Ritual scripting as work in progress. Codifying rituals of conflict and reconciliation in the medieval West (tenth-twelfth centuries)

Rituele scripting als work in progress. Codificatie van rituelen van conflict en verzoening in het middeleeuwse Westen (tiende-twaalfde eeuw)
Begin - Einde 
2013 - 2015 (afgewerkt)
Vakgroep(en) 
Vakgroep Geschiedenis
Onderzoeksgebied 
Tijdsperiode 
Land/Regio 

Tabgroup

Abstract

This project will systematically relate scripting of rituals of conflict, reconciliation and social integration to societal developments in the Central Medieval West (tenth-twelfth centuries). So far, scholarship has been determined by the notion that the elaboration of scripted modes of symbolic behavior relating to separation from, or (re-)integration into, a social community (e.g. excommunication rituals, interdict rituals, ritual cursings, reintegration rites, ordination rites) preceded their application in practice, and that the elites relied on such scripts in shaping their behavior in conflict situations. By looking primary sources originating from the archdiocese of Reims, this project will verify the validity of recent arguments that closer investigation of this evidence will yield a 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 to argue that these scripts were continuously revised on the basis of feedback from ritual practice.

Onderzoekers

Promotor(en)

Doctoraatsstudent(en)

Publicaties