Place, identity and performance: spatial practices and social proxies in medieval Swansea
Place, identity and performance: spatial practices and social proxies in medieval Swansea
The testimonies of the nine witnesses to the hanging of William Cragh in Swansea in 1290 offer a rare opportunity to investigate the social and spatial practices of figures from diverse ethnic and social backgrounds, moving within the same urban environment. This paper maps the itineraries of the witnesses within the landscape of medieval Swansea and its environs, exploring how they negotiate various spaces, boundaries and thresholds within and around the town, and how their spatial practices and reported actions shape social identity, status and power. In particular the paper examines the ways in which certain individuals make use of ‘proxies’ to circumvent spatial constraints and regulation and to extend their sphere of action, raising implications for our understanding of medieval selfhood and agency. The paper advances new insights into the ways in which medieval identities and the medieval city were mutually constitutive, contingent and subject to continual re-making.
medieval wales, towns, cities, identity, mapping, space, miracles, witnesses
256-272
Clarke, Catherine
9b091d13-bf1c-4f13-9477-a7c94cfdca06
Clarke, Catherine
9b091d13-bf1c-4f13-9477-a7c94cfdca06
Clarke, Catherine
(2015)
Place, identity and performance: spatial practices and social proxies in medieval Swansea.
Journal of Medieval History, 41 (3), .
(doi:10.1080/03044181.2015.1048089).
Abstract
The testimonies of the nine witnesses to the hanging of William Cragh in Swansea in 1290 offer a rare opportunity to investigate the social and spatial practices of figures from diverse ethnic and social backgrounds, moving within the same urban environment. This paper maps the itineraries of the witnesses within the landscape of medieval Swansea and its environs, exploring how they negotiate various spaces, boundaries and thresholds within and around the town, and how their spatial practices and reported actions shape social identity, status and power. In particular the paper examines the ways in which certain individuals make use of ‘proxies’ to circumvent spatial constraints and regulation and to extend their sphere of action, raising implications for our understanding of medieval selfhood and agency. The paper advances new insights into the ways in which medieval identities and the medieval city were mutually constitutive, contingent and subject to continual re-making.
This record has no associated files available for download.
More information
Accepted/In Press date: 31 March 2015
e-pub ahead of print date: 26 May 2015
Keywords:
medieval wales, towns, cities, identity, mapping, space, miracles, witnesses
Organisations:
English
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 386731
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/386731
ISSN: 0304-4181
PURE UUID: 419c0630-fb97-4ee2-98bf-ebd50f4cfd61
Catalogue record
Date deposited: 03 Feb 2016 15:31
Last modified: 14 Mar 2024 22:37
Export record
Altmetrics
Download statistics
Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.
View more statistics