medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Well, it's not entirely the rest of the world that's out of kilter. The venerable 'Ancient'/'Modern' distinction in which the Middle Ages fall on the 'Modern' side of things is also observed in the language-and-literature disciplines. The Modern Humanities Research Association's _The Year's Work in Modern Language Studies_ routinely surveys work on things medieval. On this side of the pond, The Modern Language Association of America is similarly inclusive.
What troubles me about the announcement from Cambridge, in whose drafting the Convenor of the Advisory Committee, Professor John Hatcher, Chairman of the Faculty of History, University of Cambridge, will presumably have had some role, refers to "the fall of the Roman Empire" _tout court_ and not to "the fall ['disappearance' or 'effective end' would have been better] of the Roman Empire in the West". And even that's awfully indeterminate. The Empire ceased to exercise territorial control in Italy only in the later eleventh century; if one wishes to include imperial protectorates, the end in Italy comes in the later twelfth century (Ancona) and in today's Croatia it comes in the early thirteenth century (Zadar, Ragusa). Or did those responsible for this text have 1453 in mind?
Best,
John Dillon
On Friday, January 18, 2008, at 4:08 pm (my time, not his), Gordon Plumb wrote:
>
> As John said, its the rest of the world that is out of kilter! In the
> age
> when these professorships were created "Proper history" ended with the
> fall of
> the Roman Empire! So, all the rest was inevitably, modern. And so, we
> had one
> of the most eminent Oxford medievalists of recent times (Sir Richard
> Southern),rejoicing in the title of "Regius Professor of Modern History"
>
> Gordon Plumb
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