Call for Papers for Session

The Beast and the Sovereign: Zoopolitics in the Middle Ages

International Medieval Congress, Leeds, 6-9 July 2026

Due by 15 September 2025

Throughout the Middle Ages, relations of power and notions of political authority were often framed as or compared to relations between human and nonhuman animals. Medieval zoopolitics in its various manifestations and aspects emerged from the tension between the cultural and natural orders, between the human and animal community. The session will discuss the nonhuman dimensions, practices, and ideas about authority, rulership, and politics throughout the Middle Ages found both in fact and in fiction. Potential themes may include, but are not limited to:

• animal metaphors and zoomorphism of rulers and rulership

• rulers’ command over nature as their entitlement to authority over humans

• hybrid and liminal nature of rulership

• taming and domestication of wild rulers

• naturalization of power and legitimacy

• treatment and comparison of one’s subjects to animals and beasts

• dehumanization and animalization of one’s enemies

• animal fables and anthropomorphism of animals as reflections on the nature of power

To propose a paper:

Please submit a paper title and abstract (max 200 words) with your name, email address and academic affiliation to Wojtek Jezierski, Department of Historical Studies, University of Gothenburg, Sweden (wojtek.jezierski@gu.se) by 15 September 2025.