Join us for Day 2 of the 2026 Conway lecture series.
10 a.m.–11:30 a.m. Lecture 2 with Robert Gleave
Lecture 2 with Robert Gleave (professor of Arabic studies in the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies at the University of Exeter), "The Discourse of Law in Medieval Islam: The Schools of Law in Theory and in Practice"
About the Talk
When Muslim jurists discussed "God's law" (or Shari'a) in the medieval period, they did so by reference to the legal "schools" (in Arabic, madhahib) which had emerged in the first two or three centuries of Islam. By the 12th century CE, nearly all jurists identified as a member of one of these schools, and worked—as judges, as academics, or as legal advisors—to promote the doctrine of their specific school. In this lecture, I explore how law was conceived by the various schools, and how influential jurists in each school framed the Shari'a in distinctive ways. school identity filtered through into legal practice. As a judge (qadi) or a jurisconsult (mufti), a scholar would make decisions on actual cases which reflected their school doctrine (inevitably excluding the doctrines of other schools). The result is extensive legal diversity—both in theory and in practice.
About the Speaker
Robert Gleave is a professor of Arabic studies at the University of Exeter, UK. His areas of specialism include premodern Islamic legal theory, Muslim legal hermeneutics and Shi'i thought and religious practice. His most recent publications include Shiite Legal theory: Sources and Commentaries (EUP, 2023, co-edited with Kumail Rajani) and Islamic Law in Context: A Primary Source Reader (CUP, 2024, co-edited with Omar Anchassi). He has led large research grants, most of which concern the history of Islamic law, funded by the European Research Council, the Arts and Humanities Research council (UK) and the Gerda Henkel Foundation. In 2023, he was awarded a British Academy Wolfson Professorship, and was elected to the Fellowship of the British Academy in 2026
11:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m. Lunch
Lunch (RSVP by Wednesday, September 2)
12:30 p.m.–2:00 p.m. Lecture 3 with Melodie H. Eichbauer
12:30 p.m. Lecture 3 with Melodie Eichbauer (professor of medieval history at Florida Gulf Coast University), "When the Sacred becomes Secular: Egidio Albornoz, the Constitutiones Sanctae Maria Ecclesiae, and the Governance of the Papal Patrimony"
About the Talk
The Constitutiones sanctæ matris ecclesiæ is best known as the secular legal code governing the Papal States until 1816 and the reforms of Pope Pius VII and his Secretary of State, Cardinal Ercole Consalvi, following the Congress of Vienna and the Napoleonic Wars. It was compiled by Egidius Albornoz, Pope Innocent VI's legate to and vicar general of the Papal States, and promulgated at the parliament of Fano in 1357. Yet the collection also addressed matters of ecclesiastical regulation. This talk situates the Constitutiones sanctæ matris ecclesiæ as a representation of the papacy's two souls: temporal and spiritual. It then positions Albornoz within time and space by exploring how he saw his charge—and thus his collection and himself. By using the collection as a window into his perception of self and his place in the papal hierarchy, I hope to suggest implications for the pope's role as a temporal ruler.
About the Speaker
Melodie H. Eichbauer is a medievalist specializing in legal and ecclesiastical history from ca.1000 to ca.1500. Her research interests focus on legal pluralism and the evolution of legal principles. She is particularly interested in the dissemination of legal knowledge; the interpretation of law; and the ways in which social, political, and intellectual developments and trends shaped both during the height of the medieval period. By examining the larger processes linking law to the world in which it functions, her hope is to show new ways of thinking about current issues. She has published with Cambridge University Press, Routledge, Brill, and Ashgate and is the current Editor of the Bulletin of Medieval Canon Law.
Originally published at medieval.nd.edu.