The Valencia Group for the Medieval History of the Mediterranean Societies

Grup de medievalistes valencians per a l'estudi de les societats mediterrànies

Between the 2nd and 5th of the present month of July the Grey College of the University of Durham opened its doors for the participants and assistants to the “Xth Anglo-American Medieval Seminar on the Economy and Society”, organized by professor Phillipp Schofield. This edition was lived in a very emotive way because there was celebrated, with cake and a toast of sparkling wine included, the tenth edition of the seminar. Almost 30 years have been by from that first seminar, organized in 1983 by professor Bruce Campbell in Exeter, whom couldn’t be absent from this one. Certain historians, as Maryanne Kowaleski, keep on attending, edition after edition, to conference like this one. For 3 days, researchers from United Kingdom, United States and, at this time, of some European countries, got together to debate, deal with and bring new approaches to the study of the history of medieval economy and society. It is worth mentioning the presence of two members of the University of Valencia, Frederic Aparisi and Noelia Rangel.

On this occasion, and trying to avoid an exhaustive relation of the names of every single one of the participants, it is worth emphasizing the presence on Saturday evening symposium, entitled “Medieval Women and the Economy”, of Judith Bennett, Jeremy Goldberg, John Langdon, Sandy Bardsley, Caroline Barron or Barbara Hanawalt. All of them historians whose pioneering works have shed light for the first time on the gender structures in which life of medieval women was ruled. The most remarkable thing is the active participation and the interest showed by the assistants in a lively debate generated concerning the topic of the access of women to the property of the land and the importance of their work and their contribution to the household, not only as a complement to the men work, but, usually, as a substitution of it.

The pace of the work was intense but pleasant, with a perfect organization and a typical British punctuality. In spite of that, there was also time for leisure and social relationships. On Sunday, soon in the evening, Benjamin Dodds, a real "local" from Durham, just as he said of himself, did a passionate visit to us of Finchale Priory, built in 1196. The tour went on in the most interesting places of the city: the walls, the Cathedral and the river. The group, leaded by Richard Britnell, a professor from the University of Durham, enjoyed with a wonderful evening of tourism, which finished, after Adrian Bell's last conference on medieval finances, with a conversation, beer in hand, in the bar of the university.

For further information about the seminar:
http://www.aber.ac.uk/history/news/xth_anglo_american.html