Property Made, Marked and Managed in the Middle Ages

Bringing together historians and historians of art and architecture, this workshop examines how medieval property was physically, socially, and politically constructed. Discussions of medieval property have tended toward the theoretical; historians have often considered property from the perspective of intellectuals and legists and have focused on defining units of property and their function within various legal traditions. However, Property did not exist only on the pages of legal treatises or law codes but was made, marked, and managed by institutions, communities and individuals. This workshop shifts the focus from theory to its application, examining the impact of conceptions of property on states, institutions, and the built environment. Ultimately, the workshop seeks to better define the role of property in the larger project of institution building in the Middle Ages.