Bodies Politic and Their Representations in Pre-modern and Contemporary Culture 4018-KON234-CLASS
The thematic scope of the course revolves around bodies politic (and their relation to the bodies natural), a concept which, as Ernst H. Kantorowicz showed in his celebrated work “The King’s Two Bodies”, is of key importance for the discussion about culture and political thought of the pre-modern and contemporary era. The analysis of their visual and literary representations from classical antiquity up to pop culture sheds a light on the practices and images that determined the ways “power”, “government”, “state” and “society” were understood and imagined.
The starting point for the series of meetings is the question of the unabated relevance of such phrases as “the head of state”,”the right hand of the president” or “a member of parliament”. What makes this organic or rather anatomical imagery so powerful? What were its roots? How have its meanings and functions changed throughout the centuries?
The course offers an opportunity for an encounter with the primary sources, for carrying out their analysis and for debate under the tutelage of lecturers representing such fields of study as history, archeology, philology and art history.
Type of course
Prerequisites (description)
Learning outcomes
Knowledge:
- familiarity with methods of interpreting literary and visual artifacts;
- understanding of the contexts in which the metaphor of bodies politic played and still plays an important role;
- basic knowledge on the discussion about bodies politic in today’s humanities and public discourse.
Skills:
- presenting the results of the student’s analysis of selected phenomena pertinent to the theme of the course;
- using the main theoretical and methodological approaches of a historian, art historian and philologist to solve problems and work on research topics.
Social competences:
- being aware of the role of ‘body politic’ in the discussion on pre-modern and contemporary culture;
- drawing and following a plan of self-study to contribute to a particular class.
Assessment criteria
Final assessment is based on student’s systematic preparation for the classes, active participation in discussions (40% of the final assessment) and a written work (final essay, ca 3000 words, 60% of the final assessment).
Bibliography
Lektury obowiązkowe:
Isabel Alfonso, "Judicial Rethoric and Political Legitimation in Medieval León-Castile," in Building Legitimacy. Political Discourses and Forms of Legitimation in Medieval Societies, eds. Isabel Alfonso, Hugh Kennedy and Julio Escalona, Leiden 2004, 51-87.
Thomas Aquinas, De regimine principum.
János M. Bak, “Queens as Scapegoats in Medieval Hungary,” in Queens and Queenship in Medieval Europe, ed. Anne Duggan, Woodbridge 1997, 223-234.
Hans Belting, „Obraz ciała jako obraz człowieka”, [w:] Antropologia obrazu. Szkice do nauki o obrazie, tłum. Mariusz Bryl, Kraków 2007, s. 110-140.
Sergio Bertelli, The King's Body: Sacred Rituals of Power in Medieval and Early Modern Europe, transl. R. Burr Litchfield, University Park, Pa. 2001.
Urszula Borkowska, „Ceremoniał pogrzebowy królów polskich w XIV – XVIII wieku”, [w:] Państwo, Kościół, niepodległość, red. Jan Skarbek, Jan Ziółek, Lublin 1986, 133-160.
The Customary Law of the Renowned Kingdom of Hungary: a Work in Three Parts, the “Tripartitum” = Tripartitum Opus Iuris Consuetudinarii Inclyti Regni Hungariæ, Idyllwild, CA 2006, 2-19.
Jan Dąbrowski, Korona Królestwa Polskiego, Kraków: Kraków 2010, roz. 2, 19-39.
Jan Długosz, Roczniki, ks. 10, 15-25.
Thomas Ertman, Birth of the Leviathan: Building States and Regimes in Medieval and Early Modern Europe, Cambridge 1997, “Early Modern States: Four Types”, 6-10.
Julio Escalona, "Family Memories: Inventing Alfonso I of Asturias," in Building Legitimacy. …, 223-262.
Gdzie Wschód spotyka Zachód. Portret osobistości dawnej Rzeczypospolitej 1576-1763, katalog wystawy. Warszawa 1993.
A.D. Harvey, “The Body Politic: Anatomy of a Metaphor,” Contemporary Review 275, no 1603 (1999): 85-93.
Jakub VI Stuart, Basilikon Doron albo wskazówki Jego Królewskiej Mości dla swego ukochanego syna, księcia Henryka, oprac. Mariusz Misztal, Kraków 2006.
Jonathan Jones, “Dead wrong: the battle over Richard III's bones makes peasants of us all,” Tuesday 26 November 2013, theguardian.com. http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/jonathanjonesblog/2013/nov/26/richard-iii-bones-relics-battle-history
Ernst H. Kantorowicz, Dwa Ciała Króla: Studium ze średniowiecznej teologii politycznej, tłum. Maciej Michalski i Adam Krawiec, red. Jerzy Strzelczyk, Warszawa 2007 [1 wyd. Princeton 1957].
Kronika Jana z Czarnkowa, dowolne wydanie, roz. 11 „O żałobnym nabożeństwie po królu Kazimierzu”.
Peter Linehan, History and the Historians of Medieval Spain, Oxford 1993 rozdział 4 i 5.
Paul Magdalino, Robert Nelson, “'The Emperor in Byzantine Art of the Twelfth Century,” Byzantinsche Forschungen 8 (1982): 123-183.
Paul Magdalino, The Empire of Manuel I Komnenos, 1143-1180, Cambridge 1993, 180-228, 413-489.
Henry Mayr-Harting, Ottonian Book Illuminations, vol. 1, London 1991, 65-67.
The Memoirs of Helene Kottanner (1439-1440), transl. and ed. Maya C. Bijvoet Williamson, Cambridge 1998, 21-52
Roman Michałowski, „Otto III w obliczu ideowego wyzwania: monarcha jako wizerunek Chrystusa”, [w:] Człowiek w społeczeństwie średniowiecznym, red. tenże, Warszawa 1997, 57-72.
Áron Petneki “Gens Sarmatica, gens Scythica. Szlachta i jej świadomość w Polsce i na Węgrzech,” Seminaria Niedzickie 2 (1985): 23-30.
Albert Rigaudiere, “Art of Government,” in: The New Cambridge Medieval History 1300-1415. Vol. 6, ed. Michael Jones, New York, Cambridge 2006, 29-41.
Michał Rożek, Polskie koronacje i korony, Kraków 1987, 7-70.
Regina Schulte, “Conceptual Approaches to the Queen's Body,” in The Body of the Queen: Gender and Rule in the Courtly World, 1500-2000, ed. eadem, New York, Oxford 2006, 1-15.
Piotr Skubiszewski, „W służbie cesarza, w służbie króla. Temat władzy w sztuce ottońskiej”, [w:] Funkcja dzieła sztuki, red. E. Studniarkowa, Warszawa 1972, 17-72.
David Summmers, "Representation", in Critical Terms for Art History, eds. Robert S. Nelson, Richard Shiff, Chicago 2003, 1-19.
J. R. R. Tolkien, Władca Pierścieni, t. 3 Powrót Króla, księga szósta (dowolne wydanie), rozdział: Namiestnik i Król.
Grzegorz Trębicki, Fantasy. Ewolucja Gatunku, Kraków 2007, wstęp.
Katherine Verdery, “Dead bodies animate the study of politics”, in eadem, The Political Lives of Dead Bodies, Columbia 2000, 23-54.
Paul Zanker, August i potęga obrazów, tłum. Lechosław Olszewski, Poznań 1999, 171-238.
Lektury dodatkowe:
Marion Altman,. “Ruler Cult in Seneca.” Classical Philology 33, no. 2 (April 1, 1938): 198–204.
Marc Bloch, Królowie cudotwórcy. Studium na temat nadprzyrodzonego charakteru przypisywanego władzy królewskiej zwłaszcza we Francji i w Anglii, tłum. Jan Maria Kłoczowski, Gdańsk 1998 [1 wyd. 1924].
The Cambridge Companion to Fantasy Literature, eds. Edward James and Farah Mendelsohn, Cambridge 2012, 62-78,102-112.
Juliusz A. Chrościcki, Pompa funebris: z dziejów kultury staropolskiej, Warszawa 1974.
Tadeusz Chrzanowski, Portret staropolski, Warszawa 1995.
Zoe Crossland, “Buried lives. Forensic Archaeology and the disappeared in Argentina,” Archaeological Dialogues 72 (2000): 146-159.
A Cultural History of Gesture: From Antiquity to the Present Day, eds. Jan Bremmer and Herman Roodenburg ; with an introduction by Sir Keith Thomas, Cambridge 1991.
Eikon Basilike. The Portraiture of His Sacred Majesty in His Sufferings and Solitudes, ed. by J. Deams, H. F. Nelson, Ontario 2006.
Főúri ősgalériák, családi arcképek a Magyar Történelmi Képcsarnokból : A Magyar Nemzeti Múzeum, az Iparművészeti Múzeum és a Magyar Nemzeti Galéria kiállítása : Magyar Nemzeti Galéria, 1988. március – augusztus ,szerk. Buzási Enikő, Budapest 1988 [materiał ikonograficzny].
David Freedberg, Potęga wizerunków : studia z historii i teorii oddziaływania , tłum. Ewa Klekot, Kraków 2005, 1-26.
Johannes Fried, Otton III i Bolesław Chrobry : miniatura dedykacyjna z Ewangeliarza z Akwizgranu, zjazd gnieźnieński a królestwa polskie i węgierskie: analiza ikonograficzna i wnioski historyczne, tłum. Elżbieta Kaźmierczak, Witold Leder, Warszawa 2000.
Erik Fügedi, “Coronation in Medieval Hungary,” Studies in Medieval and Renaissance History, New Series 3 (1980): 159-189.
Vaughan Hart, Art and Magic in the Court of the Stuarts, London 1994, rozdział: Stuart Court and the Magic of Kingship, 12-29.
Lynn Jones, “A Description of the Jousts of Manuel I Komnenos,” Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies 26 (2002) : 104-148.
Michael McCormick, Eternal Victory. Triumphal Rulership in Late Antiquity, Byzantium and the Early Medieval West, Cambridge, Paris 1986 (repr. 1990).
The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, Oxford 1991.
Percy Ernst Schramm, Herrschaftszeichen und Staatssymbolik: Beiträge zu Ihrer Geschichte vom dritten bis zum sechzehnten Jahrhundert, mit Beiträgen verschiedener Verfasser. Stuttgart 1954.
Malcolm Smuts, Court Culture and the Origins of a Royalist Tradition in Early Stuart England, Philadelphia 1987, rozdział: Halcyon Reign, 245-276..
Grzegorz Trębicki, Fantasy. Ewolucja Gatunku, Kraków 2007, [całość].
Yi-Fu Tuan, „Ciało, relacje międzyludzkie i wartości przestrzenne”, [w:]
tenże: Przestrzeń i miejsce, tłum. Agnieszka Morawińska, Warszawa 1987, 51-70.
Additional information
Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system: