We would like to extend a warm invitation to a lecture which forms part of the Graduate Student Talks Series (formerly known as “Stammtisch”).
Joanie Murta from the Classics department will be presenting
“Writing Political Assassination in the Middle Ages: An exploration of the Monographic Historiography of Galbert of Bruges and Guibert of Nogent”
in Pugh 160 on October 2, at 4:00-5:00 PM.
An abstract of the presentation appears below:
Galbert of Bruges and Guibert of Nogent each chronicled an assassination directly affecting their respective political realms. Historians rarely reference these works as historical texts; however, both authors were aware of and working within the traditional framework of historiography, the art of writing history. An analysis of their literary methods also shows that both writers sought inspiration from Classical authors for such challenges as the interpretation of events, creation of exemplars, and portrayal of stylized murder scenes. After discussing these points, this paper then addresses the narratives themselves to explore the ways in which the goals and methods of Classical historiography color Galbert and Guibert’s fascinating accounts of social conflict in the twelfth century.