Reuter Lecture 2013 Event
For more information regarding this event, please email Tracy Storey at tps@southampton.ac.uk .
Event details
This year's lecture will be given by Professor Barbara Yorke, Professor Emerita of Early Medieval History, University of Winchester; Honorary Professor, Institute of Archaeology, University of London.
"No History, Only Biography": Recreating the Past through Biographies of People, Places, and Things
Biography and autobiography have never been more popular. Indeed, the range of what might be included in the term has been extended with biographical studies of things and places as well as people. With the aid of written and visual examples, this lecture will explore recent advances in biography for the pre-modern period, and consider how far the writing of biography differs for this period from that of more recent times. An interdisciplinary case study of evidence for King Alfred will show how bringing these different biographical approaches together helps to produce a nuanced study of the king himself and his reputation in later centuries.
Tim Reuter, formerly Professor of Medieval History at Southampton, always showed a subtle appreciation of biography written in or about people of the middle ages. His conference at Southampton in 1999 to mark the eleventh-centenary of King Alfred's death was among his last academic activities. In tribute to him, this lecture, and the preceding Masterclass for early career scholars to take place during the day on 5 June, will evaluate biographical studies of all types for the recreation of the past.
