The Social Life of Carolingian Exegesis - IN PERS

Join us in person for a lecture in cooperation with the IHR Earlier Middle Ages Seminar given by Gerda Heydemann (FU Berlin).

The study of Carolingian exegesis has become a remarkably dynamic field in recent years. The pre-eminent role of the Bible and its interpretation in Carolingian political discourse has been much emphasized, as has the impact of biblical models on conceptions of history. This lecture will highlight a different aspect of the ‘social life’ of biblical exegesis in this period, namely its impact on the legal culture of the Carolingian period. As Gerda Heydemann will attempt to show through selected examples, analysing the interplay between legal and exegetical thought offers a way to better understand not only the role of the Bible in a legal world characterized by a multiplicity of norms, but also the social functions of Carolingian exegesis.

Gerda Heydemann is Professor of Late Antique and Early Medieval History at Freie Universität Berlin. Her research focuses on the transformative role of the Bible (and its exegesis) in early medieval societies, examining its impact on various social fields such as ethnicity and political identity, legal culture, and the definition of orthodoxy.

Image: The Evangelist Matthew, Ebbo Gospels, ninth century (Épernay, Bibliothèque Municipale, Ms. 1)