International Medieval Congress

Leeds, 2-5 July 2018

Call for Papers
True Stories and Other Lies:
Orally-derived Historical
Traditions in the Early
Medieval British Isles
Inspired by John Niles’s essay True Stories and Other Lies, this panel
intends to explore the porous and elusive border between what is
presented as truth and what appears to be legendary or mythical in
historical narratives influenced by oral traditions, as well as their
interaction with collective and individual memory. Heroic verse in the
Old English, Old Welsh, and Old Irish traditions uses the chain of oral
memory as a strategy of truthfulness, while more mainstream
historiography written in the Latinate Classical tradition asserts
authority by deferring to previous Christian authors and especially to
Scripture. Both, however, problematize the complex relationship
between memory, truth, and the act of handing down stories about
the past.

Please send abstracts of no more than 200 words together with

details of your academic affiliation, email, and mailing postal address
to Paul Gorton (University of Leeds hy11pmm@leeds.ac.uk ) no later
than 27 September 2017. Please include any requirements for
equipment in your abstract.
I have a degree in History by Regional University of Blumenau, Santa Catarina - Brazil.

Currently taking my master's degree on the UFPR

Currently I am a graduate student on the Federal University of Paraná, Brazil.

A obra escrita por Gildas, por volta de meados do século VI, conhecida como De Excidio Britanniae,
tem diversas características que a conectam com uma cultura latina clássica, como a utilização de um
discurso retórico. Outro elemento importante da narrativa gildasiana é a referência à outras obras e,
principalmente, aos livros da bíblia.

O presente artigo terá como principal objetivo discutir a utilização de autores tardo antigos, assim
como de livros da bíblia, na parte denominada pela historiografia como historia. Tal análise visará
compreender como esta estratégia de garantir autoridade por meio de outros escritos pode, ou não,
ter auxiliado na construção do passado histórico britânico descrito por Gildas.