Exploring Medieval Power Structures: Subjugation, Encompassing, or Both?
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.6093/1593-2214/11666Keywords:
Middle Ages, text mining, spatial relations, power, systems of representation, models of social hierarchyAbstract
The spatial dimension in the construction of medieval concepts of power is the primary focus of this article. The results of a text-mining analysis of corpora of medieval charters and theological treatises allow me to argue that, depending on the context, power relations were portrayed either as relations “in the power” (a model rooted in an “inside/outside” scheme) or as relations of “power over” (a model based on an “over/under” scheme). The “in the power” scheme is more frequently encountered in the corpora of medieval texts. I suggest that the coexistence and combination of the two schemes in the construction of power concepts align with Philippe Descola’s model of analogist societies and Louis Dumont’s hierarchical models for holistic societies. Finally, the frequency of the second scheme allows us to recall the “polar model” of power as an alternative to the “pyramidal” one.
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Copyright (c) 2025 Evgeniya Shelina
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