Call for papers – Special session, Medieval Congress (Leeds, 3-6 July 2017)

Call for papers

Session on the income and property of the clergy

Medieval Congress – Leeds, 3-6 July 2017

 

At the forthcoming Medieval Congress in Leeds (3-6 July 2017) the team of the ‘Presbyters in the Late Antique West’ Project, based at the University of Warsaw, organises a strand on the income and property of clergy. In most literary and normative sources we usally see clerics entirely dependent on diverse types of subsidies related to their ecclesiastical office. But some casual remarks and documentary evidence show that the reality was more complicated. The actual sources of income of clerics were diverse. This session will seek to answer the following questions:

·      How much did the clerics rely on church property and revenues?

·      What were other sources of their income, either those linked with the religious expertise or unconnected with ecclesiastical activity?

·      How the frontiers were fixed between the private property and revenues of clerics and those of the church, but also between the resources of diverse groups of clerics?

Those interested in presenting papers on such topics, particularly if focused on the period before c. 900, are requested to send the title and a short abstract (c. 100 words) to Robert Wiśniewski (r.wisniewski@uw.edu.pl) by 20 September. Please, note that unfortunately the project is unable to fund speakers’ expenses.