Queen’s university Belfast presents : Borderlines XXII : sickness, strife and suffering – 13-15th April 2018

We are pleased to invite abstract of ca. 250 words related to pain in the middle ages. Topics may include but are not limited to :

• collective pain
• depictions of pain,
• explanations of pain,
• judicial literature,
• medical literature,
• memory and pain,
• narratives of suffering,
• pain and creativity,
• pain and pleasure,
• psychological pain,
• social pain,
• religious literature,
• suffering in the afterlife

Please send abstracts of ca. 250 words, along with a short academic biography, to borderlinesxxii@gmail.com

The deadline for abstracts is 5th February 2018.

For more information: https://borderlines2018.wordpress.com/ 

Superstition and Magic in the Medieval and Early Modern Periods

April 20, 2018
Princeton University
Keynote Speaker: Prof. Michael Bailey

In an age when authorities attempt to assault our modern modes of critical thinking, the term “superstition” and its premodern associations take on rearranged values. Current political discourse denounces fake news and climate change as humbug with a zeal not unlike that of medieval and early modern establishments censuring false prophets and fallacious astrologers. Given these similarities, the classic narrative of a medieval society emerging into a modern one, “the disenchantment of the world” (Max Weber), urgently needs reappraisal. This conference proposes the examination of a wide range of evidence in various genres over time in order to foster this dialogue. In returning to the original meaning of “superstition” as an excessive fearfulness or belief, or a misapprehended and abused knowledge of a supernatural subject, how can we refine our understanding of superstition and magic in the premodern world? How can we make the overlaps between science, superstition, and magic productive?

We invite interdisciplinary submissions on diverse topics related to medieval and early modern superstition and magic. Some themes of the conference include, but are not limited to:

– Control and influence exerted by the Church and universities
– The historical development of demonology
– The Witch Crisis: gender and authority
– Elite vs. folk magic; paganism and popular religion
– Heresy and superstition
– Depiction of magical elements in literature and visual culture
– The impact of various religious reform movements, including the Reformation and Counterreformation, on belief, magic, and ritual
– Music and metaphysics
– Oaths, incantations, and spells: the power of words
– Natural philosophy: astrology, alchemy, medical practices, etc.
– Material history and archaeology
– Co-mingling of Eastern and Western traditions; book magic; Kabbalah
– Esoteric belief systems and the rise of secret societies
– The law: ordeals, witch-hunts, and policing of superstitious practices

In order to support participation by speakers from outside the northeastern United States, we are offering limited subsidies to help offset the cost of travel to Princeton. Financial assistance may not be available for every participant, with funding priority going to those who have the farthest to travel. Speakers will have the option of staying with a resident graduate student to defray their expenses.

Interested graduate students should submit abstracts of no more than 500 words to Sonja Andersen and Jonathan Martin at superstition2018@gmail.com by February 15, 2018.
All applicants will be notified about their submissions by February 24, 2018. Presentations should be no longer than 20 minutes.

Abstracts due Jan. 31 for Medieval Mystical Theology in Dialogue with Contemporary Thought: An International Conference on the Occasion of the 750th Anniversary of the Death of Beatrice of Nazareth.

Held May 30-June 2 at KU Leuven, in Leuven, Belgium. Abstracts invited on MANY aspects of medieval religious devotion, vernacular spirituality, mysticism, women’s religious experience and more. 

**Keynotes include Profs. Bernard McGinn, Amy Hollywood and Carolyn Muessig** https://theo.kuleuven.be/…/institute_sp…/beatrice_conference

The Mystical Theology Network invites abstracts for our annual conference–held this year at KU Leuven in Leuven Belgium. 2018 marks the 750th anniversary of the death of Beatrice of Nazareth, one of the earliest authors of mystical treatises in the vernacular in the Low Countries. Beatrice’s text and context illustrate some of the most exciting and interesting themes in medieval studies and medieval theology today.

The Institute for the Study of Spirituality and the Theology in a Postmodern Context Research Group invite abstracts for a conference that seeks to bring historical and contemporary theology into dialogue. In addition to commemorating Beatrice of Nazareth, the conference seeks to explore themes related to Beatrice’s text and context, but also to address theological issues that continue to resonate in contemporary debates. Both the historical- and contemporary-theological questions will be clustered around three main themes, but we strongly encourage interdisciplinary approaches that engage both historical and contemporary conversations.

Additionally, the conference will feature an exhibit displaying the Dendermonde Codex, a twelfth century MS of Hildegard of Bingen’s Symphonia. Thus we also welcome papers on Hildegard and her context.

Call for Papers: ATTENTION AND DISTRACTION: A Graduate Student Conference

University of Cambridge | April 20, 2018

The annual Cambridge Graduate Conference for Pre-1750 Literature welcomes proposals for papers on the theme of “Attention and Distraction” from MA and PhD students, and recent graduates in any discipline.

For pre-modern readers, what did it mean to “attend” (or fail to
attend) to a text? What roles do boredom and distraction have to play in the reading process? How do we attend to premodern literature in our moment of supposedly short attention spans?

Topics might include:
* The attention economy
* Readerly distraction and boredom
* Prayer and concentration
* Popular entertainment and divertissement
* “Information overload”

Proposals are due Wednesday, January 31, 2018. They should include a title, brief abstract (200 words), and a short biography including your university and department affiliation. Speakers will present for 15 minutes, with time for questions at the end.

Travel grants for speakers are available, and lunch and refreshments will be provided.

Please direct proposals and questions to
ATTENTIONANDDISTRACTION@GMAIL.COM 
For more information, please visit our website at https://pre1750.wordpress.com

2018 Northern Plains Conference on Early British Literature
 

Deadline for submissions: March 1, 2018
 
Full name / name of organization: 
Brandon University
 
Contact email: 
npcebl@brandonu.ca
 

Brandon University, Manitoba, Canada

April 26-28, 2018

Call for papers

We invite abstracts for 20-minute conference presentations on any aspect of British literature from the 18th-century and earlier, for the 2018 NPCEBL annual conference.  Scholars from any academic rank (including undergraduate students) are invited to apply.

Our keynote speaker will be Dr. Randall Martin, Professor at the University of New Brunswick, and author of Shakespeare and Ecology (Oxford University Press, 2015), speaking on the subject of

“Shakespeare and the Natural World”

To complement Dr. Martin’s keynote address, we particularly solicit abstracts that relate to “Early British Literature and the Natural World,” because “this our life, … / Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, / Sermons in stones, and good in everything” (As You Like It, 2.1.15-17). Of course, any and all papers on any aspect of early British literature are welcome and encouraged.

Please submit abstracts, via email, no later than March 1, 2018 to npcebl@brandonu.ca

For more information, please contact Dr. Deanna Smid, Dr. Lesley Glendinning, Reyna Nadeau, or Emily Kroeker at npcebl@brandonu.ca
 
 

Rereading Hebrew Scripture: Old Testament Cycles in Medieval Wall Painting

Date of Conference: 16-18 October 2018.

Deadline for submissions: February 15, 2018
 
Full name / name of organization: 
University of Milan, Department of Cultural Heritage and Environment, Chair of History of Medieval Art
 
Contact email: 
oldtestament2018@gmail.com
 
The Chair of History of Medieval Art, Department of Cultural Heritage and Environment, University of Milan, organises an International Conference concerning the Old Testament narrative in medieval wall painting. Four thematic sessions are scheduled, calling for 20 minutes papers to be presented in Italian/English/French.

1st Session: Early Christian Pictorial Tradition and Early Middle Ages

The aim is to bring into focus the relationship between the monumental pictorial tradition set up in the early Christian Rome and its reworking in the early Middle Ages. To what extent did the paradigm of Santa Maria Maggiore, Old St. Peter’s and San Paolo fuori le Mura expressed its leading role in Old Testament sequences like those in Santa Maria Antiqua and Santa Maria in via Lata in Rome, in the Crypt of the Original Sin in Matera, or in St. John in Müstair? On the other hand, what was the impact of different models (also Byzantine), of patronage and liturgical space in setting the iconographic programme?

2nd Session: The Thematic and Narrative Development in the Romanesque Period

The widespread revival of early Christian iconography in the Romanesque period is reflected by the Old Testament narrative, which regains room in church decorations, especially dealing with the first part of the Genesis: mainly in the Roman area (Santa Maria in Ceri, San Tommaso in Anagni, San Paolo inter vineas in Spoleto, Castro dei Volsci, Ferentillo, San Giovanni a Porta Latina), but also in the South (Sant’Angelo in Formis, Santa Maria d’Anglona), in the northern Italy (Galliano, Agliate, Carugo, Muralto, Acquanegra), north of the Alps (Saint-Savin and Château-Gontier in France; Idensen, Brauweiler and Berghausen in Germany; Gurk and Matrei in Austria), and in the Iberian Peninsula (Bagüés, Sigena). The session will offer the opportunity to compare subjects, themes and solutions on a European scale, highlighting continuity, recurrences, peculiarities, deviations and anomalies.

3rd Session: Old Testament Cycles and Multi-layered Meaning

Universal chronicles remind us that an Old Testament cycle was primarily a historical and chronological depiction of the humankind on the path to salvation: the ‘visual device’ in the nave of Acquanegra is a clear example. Still, the events before the Incarnation shall be understood in a figurative sense, what is depicted in Agliate lining up the Creation of Adam and Eve precisely above the Annunciation and the Nativity. This does not preclude a manipulation driven by political claims, as seems to be expressed in the cycle of Joseph in San Marco in Venice. Therefore, a full account of the visual relationships within the liturgical space is required.

4th Session: The Role of Patriarchs, Judges, Prophets and Kings

Since at least the mid 5th century, with the mosaic panels in the nave of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome, the Hebrew Scripture has also been illustrated through the stories of its protagonists: Patriarchs (Moses
and Joshua in San Calocero in Civate), Judges (Samson in Galliano and Civate, Gideon in Civate and Sant’Angelo in Formis), Prophets (Ezekiel and Daniel in Santa Maria in Cosmedin in Rome), Kings (David in Müstair and Malles), involving a wide range of meanings, relationships and implications, which are still waiting to be figured out.

Submissions

Proposals should cover a wide range of aspects concerning each session, giving priority to the iconographic approach, to the relationships with the liturgical space and to the historical-institutional frame. Topics dealing with the monumental contexts mentioned above are especially welcome.
Proposals will be evaluated by the conference scientifc committee.
Submissions for a 20 minutes paper (in Italian/English/French) should include: paper title, abstract of around 300 words, a short CV including current affliation and full contact details. All documents should be merged into a single PDF file.
Proposals and enquiries should be sent to: oldtestament2018@gmail.com

Schedule

Deadline for submissions: 15 February 2018.
Notification to the applicants: by 31 March 2018.
Final programme: by September 2018.
It is expected to publish in a double-blind Peer review Series.
Speakers will be asked to provide a final paper by 30 June 2019.

Practical Information

There is no registration fee for participation or attendance.
Coffee breaks, lunches, and dinners will be provided to all speakers. Travel and accommodation expenses cannot be covered, but every effort will be made to secure special hotel rates.

Conference Director
Fabio Scirea
PhD, Lecturer in History of Medieval Art

Conference Scientifc Committee
Mauro della Valle, Stella Ferrari, Paolo Piva, Fabio Scirea, Andrea Torno Ginnasi
History of Medieval Art, University of Milan
 
 

“In The Margins”

 
Deadline for submissions: February 6, 2018
 
Full name / name of organization: 
Medieval and Renaissance Student Association California State University, Long Beach
 
Contact email: 
medren.csulb@gmail.com
 
The Medieval and Renaissance Student Association (MaRSA) of California State University, Long Beach is seeking individual papers as well as panel submissions for their graduate student conference. The conference will be held at the Karl Anatol Center on the campus of CSULB on April 19-20th, 2018.

This year’s theme, “In the Margins,” engages the spaces, both literal and theoretical, that have been allocated to the periphery of the medieval and Renaissance period. Thus, papers and topics that MaRSA would like to engage with embrace the many facets of medieval and Renaissance marginality. As an interdisciplinary conference, we welcome submissions from a wide array of disciplines focusing on the art, literature, and history of the period. Paper and panel topics might address issues (but are not limited to) the following:

• The relationship between marginalia and text
• Liminal spaces and/or identities in medieval and/or Renaissance narratives
• Peripheral and/or non-literary medieval and Renaissance texts
• The appropriation of medieval and Renaissance culture in contemporary political movements and/or popular culture
• Educational and pedagogical approaches to the marginalization of medieval and Renaissance texts
• The boundaries between body and soul as depicted in hagiographical literature and art
• Depictions of alterity in Shakespeare and/or other Early Modern Drama
• Sexuality and nontypical gender expression in medieval and Renaissance texts and/or culture

Presentations should run for approximately 15 minutes. Please submit abstracts of no more than 300 words along with a current CV by email to medren.csulb@gmail.com by February 6, 2018.
 
 

CFP: Administrative accountability in the later Middle Ages: Records, procedures, and their societal impact, Bucharest, 16-17 November 2018

The emergence of new types of financial records, the creation of institutional procedures, and the birth of a bureaucratic corps in a society in which accountability had been largely social and moral represent key developments in the history of the later Middle Ages. The colloquium will explore the multifaceted reality of administrative accountability in Western Europe, c. 1200-1450. Because the renewed interest in the subject makes methodological exchanges all the more timely, the colloquium will provide a venue for testing new approaches to the sources. Special attention will be given to underexplored archival documents, such as the castellany accounts (computi) of late-medieval Savoy, and to topics that have hitherto received less attention, such as the social impact of institutional consolidation. Comparisons with better-known texts, such as the English pipe rolls, are also encouraged.  

The colloquium is organised in the frame of the European Research Council Starting Grant no. 638436, ‘Record-keeping, fiscal reform, and the rise of institutional accountability in late-medieval Savoy: a source-oriented approach’ (University of Bucharest)

Proposals for 30-minute papers are invited on topics including:

• the institutional dialogue between the central and local administration
• the impact of administrative and fiscal reform on local communities
• accounting practices and the auditing of financial records
• the cultural underpinnings of medieval accountability
• prosopography: background and career of administrators, from auditing clerks to castellans
• methodological advances, from manuscript studies to sociological frameworks
• the transfer of administrative models across medieval Europe

The colloquium papers, which will collected in an edited volume published with an international academic press, should reflect original, unpublished research. The authors will be given the opportunity to revise their contributions for publication.

Papers can be presented in English or French; if delivered in French, it is the author’s responsibility to have the paper translated into English for publication.

For inquiries, contact Ionuț Epurescu-Pascovici (ionut.epurescu-pascovici@icub.unibuc.ro) or Roberto Biolzi (roberto.biolzi@unil.ch).

Proposals of circa 300 words, outlining the source material, methodology, and anticipated findings, should be emailed to ionut.epurescu-pascovici@icub.unibuc.ro by 30 March 2018.

The organisers will provide three nights hotel accommodation and help defray travel expenses.

https://irhunibuc.wordpress.com/medieval-accountability/

Queen’s university Belfast presents : Borderlines XXII : sickness, strife and suffering – 13-15th April 2018

We are pleased to invite abstract of ca. 250 words related to pain in the middle ages. Topics may include but are not limited to :

• collective pain
• depictions of pain,
• explanations of pain,
• judicial literature,
• medical literature,
• memory and pain,
• narratives of suffering,
• pain and creativity,
• pain and pleasure,
• psychological pain,
• social pain,
• religious literature,
• suffering in the afterlife
   

Please send abstracts of ca. 250 words, along with a short academic biography, to borderlinesxxii@gmail.com

The deadline for abstracts is 5th February 2018.

Vulnerability: 10th Annual Medievalists @ Penn Graduate Conference

 
Deadline for submissions: 
January 15, 2018
 
Full name / name of organization: 
Medievalists @ Penn
 
Contact email: 
pennmedieval@gmail.com
 
Keynote Speaker: Masha Raskolnikov, Cornell University

Conference date: Saturday, March 17th 2018, University of Pennsylvania

This conference aims to think of vulnerability as a state of being that precedes but does not necessarily entail violence, a condition that is temporalized, oriented toward a future that is potentially hazardous. To be vulnerable is to be under threat. What are the methods by which the Middle Ages constructed and maintained states of vulnerability? As a corollary, if we think of vulnerability as entailing threat, what are the methods by which people or things are constructed as threats? What did it mean for medieval people to be living under threat?

We invite 15-20 minute papers from a wide range of scholarly disciplines, including History, Art History, Musicology, Literary Studies, Religious Studies, Critical Race Studies, and Gender and Sexuality Studies. Topics may include, but are not limited to:

• The construction of race and alterity
• Gendered vulnerability and issues of care or protection
• Ecological threat and disaster
• Class, resource scarcity, and economic precarity
• (Dis)Ability and illness
• Trials, court cases, and legal actions
• War and political conflict
• Heresy and threats posed by religious orthodoxy
• Vulnerable and damaged material texts or objects
• The positions of medievalists in modern society

Please submit abstracts of no more than 300 words as attachments to pennmedieval@gmail.com by January 15, 2018. Submissions should include your name, paper title, email, and institutional and departmental affiliation. Papers will be due March 10, 2018 for distribution to faculty respondents.