Mandeville against magnates
Date
16 Oct 2024, 17:30 to 16 Oct 2024, 19:00
16 Oct 2024, 17:30 to 16 Oct 2024, 19:00
Institute
Institute of English Studies
Institute of English Studies
Type
Seminar
Seminar
Venue
Hybrid via Teams, Room 102, First Floor, Senate House, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HU
Hybrid via Teams, Room 102, First Floor, Senate House, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HU
Description
Unless stated otherwise, all our events are free of charge and anyone interested in the topic is welcome to attend. Registration is required for all events.
Abstract
Mandeville's discrediting of the European aristocracy's failed
crusading mission is much discussed but there is a deeper, constitutional
critique of aristocratic power in the Book of Marvels and Travels.
Its corollary is a valorization of centralized power. Together these political
strands in the Book resonate with late medieval discussions of
lordship and the state and, in this context, go to bat for the state.
Mandeville's account of the Mongol great khan, for example, not only glamorizes
a monarch but idealizes impersonal, state-like power to the exclusion of the
personal politics of lordship prized by medieval kings' most powerful subjects.
This event is hybrid. Registration for in-person or online attendance available.
Unless stated otherwise, all our events are free of charge and anyone interested in the topic is welcome to attend. Registration is required for all events.