Imagined Communities: Constructing Collective Identities in Medieval Europe

Andrzej Pleszczyński, Maria Curie-Skłodowska University, Lublin, Poland, is Professor of Medieval European History. He has published monographs and articles on Polish-Czech-German relations, including The Birth of a Stereotype. Polish Rulers and their Country in German Writings c. 1000 A.D. (Brill, 2011).Joanna Sobiesiak, Maria Curie-Skłodowska University, Lublin, Poland, is Professor of Medieval Studies, focusing on the history of Bohemia from the 10th to 12th centuries.Michał Tomaszek, Maria Curie-Skłodowska University, Lublin, Poland is a historian of the Middle Ages focusing on history-writing in the context of Benedictine abbeys.Przemysław Tyszka, Maria Curie-Skłodowska University, Lublin, Poland, is an early medieval historian. His publications include The Human Body in Barbarian Laws, c, 500 – c. 800. Corpus Hominis as a Cultural Category (Peter Lang, 2014).

"The volume’s greatest strength is that it shows a multitude of detailed views on the idea of community, providing a broad overview of medieval sources, created at different times and in different socio-cultural contexts". Tomasz Pełech, Journal of the Australian Early Medieval Association, Vol. 16.

• List of Figures and MapNotes on Contributors1 IntroductionPart 1: Dynasty and Power2 Genealogical Fictions and Chronicle Writing in Central East Europe in the 11th–13th CenturiesDániel Bagi3 Strategies of Creating Dynastic Identity in Central Europe in the 10th-12th CenturiesZbigniew Dalewski4 ‘Rex imperator in regno suo’ – An Ideology of Frenchness? Late Medieval France, Its Political Elite and Juridical DiscourseGeorg JostkleigrewePart 2: Spirituality5 The King and the Saint against the Scots. The Shaping of English National Identity in the 12th Century Narrative of King Athelstan’s Victory over His Northern NeighboursTomasz Tarczyński6 Objects, Places, and Space in the Process of Constructing Monastic Identities: A Few Examples from the 10th, 11th and 12th CenturiesMichał TomaszekPart 3: Social Condition and Gender7 The Law as an Element Organizing and Identifying a Community in the Narratives of the Origins of the Kingdoms of Britain, (Geoffrey of Monmouth, Historia Regum Brittaniae, John of Fordun, Chronica Gentis Scottorum)Bartosz Klusek8 Creating the Past and Shaping Identity – Angevin Dynastic Legend (‘Gesta consulum Andegavorum’)Karol Szejgiec9 Creating Knightly Identities? Scottish Lords and Their Leaders in the Narratives about Great Moments in Community History (between John Barbour’s The Bruce and Blind Hary’s Wallace)Wojciech Michalski10 People and Boyars in the Old Russian Chronicles of the 11th-13th Centuries: Narrative Modelling of Social IdentitiesTatiana Vilkul11 The Identity of Self-Governing Groups (Guilds and Communes) in the Middle Ages and Their Collective IdentityAndrzej Pleszczyński12 The Conceptualisation of Men and Women by the Authors of PenitentialsPrzemysław TyszkaPart 4: Region13 A Surfeit of Identity? Regional Solidarities, Welsh Identity and the Idea of BritainEuryn Rhys Roberts14 Region as a Fluid Social Construct in Medieval Central Europe (11th-15th C.)Przemysław Wiszewski15 The Shaping of Post-barbarian Identity: The Example of Pomerania in the 11th-12th CenturyStanisław RosikPart 5: We and the Others16 Kievan and Galician-Volodimir Chronicles in the 12th and 13th Centuries: The Ruthenian Ethnos and Foreign PeopleMariusz Bartnicki17 Czechs and Germans; Nationals and Foreigners in the Work of Czech Chroniclers: From Cosmas of Prague (12th Century) to the Chronicle of the So-called Dalimil (14th century)Joanna Sobiesiak18 Corporative Interests Versus Nationalism. Prague University at the Turn of the 15th CenturyMartin Nodl19 The Imagined Communities of Heretics: Constructing the Identity of the Religious Enemy in the Late Middle AgesPaweł KrasIndex