Last Call! Room for a paper!

New Approaches to the Age of Arthur: Britain and Gaul in the Fifth Century

Sponsor: The Heroic Age

Contact: Dr. Larry Swain, larry.swain@bemidjistate.edu

The "dark" fifth century has continued to be a source of debate among scholars. During this century, Roman Gaul became Frankia, the Roman provinces of Britain transformed into small kingdoms, some of them Germanic in nature, others Romano-Celt. Wales, the last region colonized by Rome and the most difficult for them to conquer, at least in the south maintained an intellectual and cultural (and religious) tradition rooted in a Roman inheritance. If Gildas and Nennius are to be believed, it is during this period somewhere that the figure or figures that became the Arthur of the Matter of Britain moved.

The Heroic Age celebrates its twentieth year in 2019–2020. Our inaugural issue examined early traditions of Arthur. With this session, we wish to both look back at that first issue but also look forward to uncovering new studies in Late Antiquity. We invite interdisciplinary submissions that examine the tumultuous changes in the fifth century.

---

Becoming Roman/Becoming Barbarian: Cultural Assimilation and Resistance in Late Antiquity

Sponsor: The Heroic Age

Contact: Dr. Larry Swain, larry.swain@bemidjistate.edu

From the reign of Diocletian ending in 306 CE until well into the so-called High Middle Ages, issues of identity in the West revolved around how one identified oneself: as a Roman, or a Gaul, or a Burgundian, and how even were those terms understood. Many of the early kingdoms issues new law codes, such as the Burgundian code, which included separate definitions and treatment if one were "Roman" or other in order to define identities, for example. The purpose of this session is to examine the adoption of an identity or the transitioning to a new identity in formerly Roman provinces during the Late Antique period. Whether Roman senatorial classes in Gaul following a Germanic overlord, a Germanic chieftain dressing and establishing a court in imitation of the Roman emperor, or any of another myriad issues of cultural, political, religious, or linguistic identification in the period, this session seeks to explore how people in former Roman provinces identified themselves, and if recoverable, why, as Romans, Barbarians, or other, or conversely, how they identified others.