In the past, scholars have repeatedly depicted the medieval experience of nature, and wilderness in particular, as an antagonistic force which had to be cultivated. At the same time, people in the Middle Ages are also often seen as somehow living more closely together with nature than in modern Western societies. While technical possibilities and economies have undoubtedly changed in the last 1500 years, this is a problematic view. Narratives of nature often rely on a simplistic notion of the Middle Ages as either a period of increased exploitation or as an age of innocence. The aim of the conference is to draw a more nuanced picture of the complex relationship between nature and economy in the early Middle Ages (ca. 500 to 1000) with a particular focus on medieval labour.

The conference aims to bring together international experts in different subfields of early medieval history, including scholars working on early medieval economy, inequality and human labour as well as experts in environmental history and the human-animal studies. Its goal is to create an interdisciplinary space for detailed investigation of the interface between human and animal labour and between economy and nature. At the same time we want to encourage theoretical reflections and methodological pursuits that can help us unlock the potential of early medieval sources for such analysis. We would like to propose five thematic sessions to tackle these problems.

In the first session we would like to put the relationship between human and animal labour in focus. The papers will ask which activities were seen as labour and who or rather which species was considered working—in other words whose agency was brought to the fore. What and how much had to be “worked” to stop being “wild”? How was such labour conceptualised in early medieval texts?

The second session will look at the arrangement, appropriation and construction of landscapes such as forests, rivers and islands. How did early medieval societies shape the environment around them and how did they mobilise work (both human and animal) to do so? We would like to pay particular attention to the theological and governance aspect of such pursuits.

The third session will concern itself with the notions of “man-made” nature and the difficulty in delineating between what is “wild” and what is “cultivated”. Here gardens, canals, but also houses and various architectural constructions will stand in focus. What role did these ecosystems play in early medieval society? What was considered “wild” and was it “productive”? We are also keen to explore the ideas of man-made ecosystems, the difficulty of their maintenance and the ways of conceptualising it in literature, especially hagiography.

The fourth session will address the issue of inequality in the early medieval society, to what extent labour played a part in social differentiation and the connections between animals and unfree people Early medieval charters and laws offer a mixed picture of the interface between property, animals, and people. We want to look at these attitudes and see what they can tell us about inequality as a part of nature, the distribution of means of production, their ownership and the impact of these on governance.

The fifth and final session will be concerned with climate and weather. The impact of climate fluctuation and extreme weather events in the Middle Ages has gained prominence in recent years. While in this session we welcome contributions that concern themselves with them in general, we would like to shift the attention to the impact of those on non-human actors. What do the early medieval sources tell us about the consequences of those on animals and whole ecosystems?

We invite contributions touching upon any of these topics and questions. Please send a title, a short abstract (200 words) and short CV to Mateusz Fafinski (mateusz.fafinski@uni-erfurt.de) and Simone Wagner (simone.wagner@uni-potsdam.de) by the 7th of October 2024. We are in the process of securing funding for the conference and hope to be able to cover the costs of the conference in full. Whatever financial support we will be able to offer will be prioritized for scholars with early career and unprivileged or precarious backgrounds. A publication of the results of the symposium is planned.