Just like in the modern world, medieval societies contained subordinate groups and individuals who were repeatedly relegated to the margins. While many of these groups have been the subject of extensive discussion, historians have paid far less attention to the methods by which marginal identities were created, identified, expressed, or rewritten over time. One of the most important of these methods is the operation of laws. This project brings together four historians with expertise on medieval law and two scholars of contemporary socio-legal theory in order to examine the key elements that have underpinned the processes of marginalisation in the medieval and modern periods. The expertise of the medievalists ranges broadly, from AD 600-1500 and over Western Europe, Byzantium, and the Islamic world. The law scholars specialise in the relationship of the law to gender, sexuality, mental health, and criminal offending from the Victorian period to the present day.
For more information please visit the projects website which can be found here
Law and Religious Minorities
February 15th, Sheffield (5:00 p.m.)
Ricardo Rabinovich-Berkman, Universidad de Buenos Aires
Title: Reflections on the construction of prejudicial archetypes and their relation to Law
University of Sheffield, Bartolome House, Room EG03
February 16th, Sheffield (11 a.m.)
Christian Sahner, University of Oxford
Title: Islamic Law and the Marginalisation of Zoroastrians in Medieval Iran
University of Sheffield, Jessop West, Room G.03
Law and Gender Expression
March 9th, York
10.30am – 12.30pm
Peter Dunne, University of Bristol
Title: Trans Identities and Intersex Variance: A (Satisfactory?) Modern Legal Framework
University of York, Law and Management Building, East Campus, LMB/030/031
2pm – 4pm
Christof Rolker, Otto-Friedrich University Bamberg
Title: Gender studies in the Middle Ages: Theology, Medicine and Law
University of York, Ron Cooke Hub, East Campus, RCH/037
Monsters and the Challenge of Law
April 26th , Sheffield (5:00 p.m.) * please note date changed
Alex Sharpe, University of Keele
Title: Scary Monsters: the hopeful undecidability of David Bowie
University of Sheffield, Bartolome House, Moot Court
Securing the Social Order
April 19th, York (6:00 p.m.)
Lindsay Farmer, University of Glasgow
Title: Criminalisation, Civil Order and Exclusion
University of York, Ron Cooke Hub, East Campus, RCH/037
April 20th, York (10.30 a.m.)
Lucy Sackville, University of York
Title: The Business of Faith: Inquisition and Crime in the Middle Ages
University of York, Berrick Saul Treehouse (West Campus)
Law and Marginalised Professions
May 17th, Leeds (5:00 p.m.)
Peter Sarris, University of Cambridge
Title: Merchants and Bankers in Byzantium
May 18th, Leeds (11:00 a.m.)
Jack Lennon, University of Leicester
Title: Denigration and the Law in Ancient Rome
Women and the Law
June 13th Leeds
10.30am – 12.30pm
Cordelia Beattie, University of Edinburgh
Title: Under the Rod: The Legal Position of Married Women in Medieval England
2pm – 4pm
Arezou Azad, University of Birmingham
Title: The verve of clever women: Female hadith scholars in pre-modern times
Lead Academic
Maroula Perisanidi – University of Leeds
Lead Academics at other two Universities
Danica Summerlin – University of Sheffield
Harry Munt – University of York
Other staff associated with this project
Melanie Brunner – University of Leeds
Damian Gonzalez-Salzberg – University of Sheffield
Ailbhe O’Loughlin – University of York
