01/07/2026 09:00 - 17:10

HALL: Parenzo - A15

Contact: Larson A.

Chair: Rava E.

This panel features papers that are part of a special issue intended for the _Quaderni di storia religiosa medievale_. The issue intends to expand scholars' understanding of the function, purpose, and importance of norms and discipline within the administration of ecclesiastical communities and hierarchies. It also aims to expand scholars' perspective on what is relevant to and included within the concepts of law and normativity in the Christian religion, pushing historians to ponder these concepts as inclusive of but expanded beyond the confines of monastic Rules on the side of religious orders and synodal statutes on the side of dioceses and parishes. The issue encourages studies of these important sources but asks contributors to think about the significance and application of them, particularly in relationship to specific dioceses, parishes, communal religious communities, anchoritic communities, or in specific regions, or within specific orders. The issue also asks scholars to explore mechanisms, rationales, and practices for maintaining order and disciplining erring members or subordinates that might not be expressed in formal written rules but leave evidence in other kinds of historical source material. In short, this panel investigates law and normativity in medieval religion.