Vortrag Maria Winter: The Carolingian King's One Body and the Persistence of Rulership

Achtung, der Vortrag findet auf Englisch statt!

Unlike in Kantorowicz' famous study, in Carolingian times there was no second, immortal king's body. What are the consequences if the king's one, natural body cannot be abstracted from his political body? How is the perception of the sovereign's body, with its imperfections and its weaknesses? What does this mean in relation to his fitness for government? How is the persistence of rulership achieved, if not through a second, immortal body? What concepts and ideas stand behind it? I will examine historiography as well as theoretical treatises and other sources and illustrate the 'bodily aspects' of Carolingian political thought.