At the Leeds International Medieval Congress 2023, we were delighted to have Maximilian Lau (Co-Investigator) and network participants Adam Simmons, Angus Russell, and Amira Bennison in conversation about the progress and aims of the research network, moderated by Gregory Lippiatt (Principal Investigator).
The event drew a number of associate members as well as other IMC attendees, and discussion touched on questions of definition (both of ‘barons’ and the ‘public good’) and the nature and challenges of our very different source bases, building neatly off our conference in Oxford. The purpose and opportunities of comparative approaches also formed a major theme of the conversation, and we emphasised the importance of 1) discovering common human approaches to and experiences of power in different contexts and 2) discovering alternative political structures that challenge present assumptions.
The discussion was a useful preparation for a further webinar scheduled for September, and it hopefully fuelled some of our attending associate members with ideas for their own forthcoming contributions to the network website! The IMC also proved a very useful recruiting ground, as quite a few scholars registered their interest in joining the network as associate members. We especially encourage any scholars carrying out research in this field outside of Western Europe to apply at any time, and they can do so by emailing max.lau@worc.ox.ac.uk with a CV and short statement about how this project interacts with their research.
We look forward to Leeds IMC next year where we will present a full strand, and thank the organisers for their help facilitating both our roundtable and that strand in advance.