The Fragrance of Authority: Joëlle Rollo-Koster Lecture

Alchemies of Scent is an international team of philosophers, Egyptologists, historians and scientists exploring the complexity and chemistry of perfumery  in Ancient Egypt and Ancient Greece.

Alchemies of Scent

The Fragrance of Authority: Did Medieval Folks Smell Power? And Did Power Want to be Smelled? Lecture by Joëlle Rollo-Koster

Growing from research undertaken for my latest book,<a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/great-western-schism-13781417/D0CBC19F347C2655FF535D89D71B004C" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer"> The Great Western Schism, 1378-1417: Performing Legitimacy, Performing Unity (CUP, 2022)</a> my new project emphasizes the sense of smell as a vehicle to inculcate political authority. While seeing, hearing, tasting, and touching are overly emphasized by the historiography, smell has not been fully considered. Looking at the ceremonials surrounding the granting of the Golden Rose, a precious object that the pope offered to the most ardent defensor of Christianity of his time, I will discuss how the rose taught its audience (via its aroma) how to recognize legitimate authority, and maybe how authorities “controlled” this smell to assert themselves.Joëlle Rollo-Koster is professor of medieval history at the University of Rhode Island, the smallest state in the USA. She is the author of numerous articles and books focused on the society and culture of Avignon and its papacy, and the Great Western Schism. Her most recent books are Raiding Saint Peter: Empty Sees, Violence, and the Initiation of the Great Western Schism (1378) (2008); Avignon and its Papacy (1309-1417): Popes, Institutions, and Society (2015), and The Great Western Schism, 1378-1417: Performing Legitimacy, Performing Unity (2022). She is with Robert Ventresca general editor and editor of the forthcoming 3 volumes Cambridge History of the Papacy (in production, 2024).

Agenda

Introduction

Lecture by Joëlle Rollo-Koster

Questions and Discussion

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The Fragrance of Authority: Joëlle Rollo-Koster Lecture

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