The working hypothesis of this conference posits that the encounter with Islam constituted a substantial, yet hitherto only superficiallyexplored, challenge to the societies of the canonists and legislators of the eastern half of the Christian world. Our understanding of the development of these legal normative regimes thus might comprehend these legal traditions not as separate entities, but rather as an essentially shared legal tradition: a ius commune orientale, an eastern pendant to the shared ius commune of the Medieval West. Despite differences in literary language, levels of statehood and confessional affiliation, each of these legal normative orders was profoundly influenced by the challenge of Islam and thus from a heuristic perspective can be productively examined together. The encounter with Islam as a catalyst for the (re-)formation of Eastern Christian legal traditions will be examined in two specific contexts:
1) in the first centuries after the appearance of Islam among the Christians of the Near East, including the Caucasus and
2) in the Balkans and Eastern Europe during the Ottoman expansion from the 15th century onward.

26.09.24 – 28.09.2024
Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz
Philosophicum, Fakultätssaal
Jakob-Welder-Weg 18