Agenda

PUBLIC LECTURE

Mateusz Fafinski (University of Erfurt)

Productive Environments
Monastic Attitudes and Urban Space in the Early Middle Ages

26th May 2025 (Monday), 2.00 p.m. CET
Sala Milone (3rd Floor), Palazzo Malcanton Marcorà and online

Mateusz Fafinski (University of Erfurt) is a historian of the first millennium specialising in history of monasticism, urban space, manuscript studies and digital humanities.

Abstract:
After the slow dissolution of the Roman Empire in the West cities went through a series of wide-ranging adaptations. In this process episcopal, ecclesiastical and monastic actors sometimes competed and sometimes cooperated in the urban space for resources and power. Over the course of the sixth to the ninth centuries urban environment had keenly felt the impact of this process. A new model of governance, based on regionalised economy and more sustainable approach to urban environments emerged, deeply rooted in the theological and ascetic attitudes of the actors involved. In this model monasteries and bishops competed for resources but also strived to make the urban environment productive. This talk traces the foundations and ramifications of this model as well as the limits of urban management in the early Middle Ages.

For information: helenfoxhall.forbes@unive.it

This lecture is organized as part of the ERC project SSE1K: Science, Society and Environmental Change in the First Millenium CE (project number 101044437).