Medieval Resources Online - Calendar 2011

January

6-8 January 2011. 'Gender, Time and Memory', the Gender and Medieval Studies conference hosted by the centre for Medieval and early Modern research at Swansea University. This conference will examine how issues of gender impact on the ways in which time and memory were conceptualised in the Middle Ages, and will consider how memories were generated, recorded, and stored for posterity. Call for papers deadline: 1 September 2010. Further information: http://www.medievalgender.co.uk/

6-9 January 2011. 'History, Society, and the Sacred', the annual American Historical Association conference. The 2011 annual meeting convenes in Boston, a location redolent of numerous sacred sites and practices: churches of many denominations, patriotic landmarks, memories of witch trials. Our program's theme, �History, Society, and the Sacred,� calls for papers that consider the many ways in which society and the sacred have converged and diverged and to trace those connections and disconnections over time. It invites presenters to consider the topic with all the interdisciplinary tools available to scholars today, to bring history, geography, archaeology, anthropology, literature, and many other fields into fruitful conversation. The term �sacred� points to domains of life, spaces, thoughts, and practices that�in every time and place�have the charged meaning of the numinous. The word �society� calls attention to the lived context in which the sacred takes on meaning�where it is fostered, contested, elaborated, and rejected, whether by specialists or �laypeople.� �History� reminds us that both the sacred and society change over time. It invites us to consider as well the historiography of the subject�how historians and other scholars have approached the social side of the sacred and the sacred side of the social. Further information: http://www.historians.org/Perspectives/issues/2009/0909/0909ann4.cfm

February

2-5 February 2011. The Australian and New Zealand Association for Medieval and Early Modern Studies, Inc., 8th Biennial International Conference, to be held at the University of Otago, Dunedin New Zealand. Further information: anzamems2011@otago.ac.nz; http://www.otago.ac.nz/mems/anzamems.

4 February 2011. Ecclesiastical History Society Postgraduate Colloquium on the History of Christianity, to be held at the University of Manchester. This has traditionally been an informal opportunity for students to get to know one another and to learn about each other's work, and the papers are at least as interesting as those at the main conference! We would welcome offers of twenty-minute papers (on any topic in the history of Christianity). This will be followed by ten minutes for questions and discussion. Call for papers deadline: 21 January 2011. Further information: Geordan Hammond, ghammond@nazarene.ac.uk.

5 February 2011. 'The Medieval Copy', the 16th Annual Medieval Postgraduate Student Colloquium, to be held at the Courtauld Institute of Art, London. Copies, mass-production, emulation, and originality have been significant and problematic concepts for the reception of medieval art and architecture in both its academic study and popular understanding. They continue to exert their influence on perceptions and scholarship, particularly in functioning as commonplaces for periodization, and in privileging the �original' and �originality'. This colloquium aims to balance such tendencies, bringing together approaches from a broad chronological and geographic range of sources � Late Antique, Medieval, Byzantine, Islamic, and Renaissance � both to the idea of imitation and to the study of individual works that involve emulation, reproduction, and mass-production. Call for papers deadline: 1 December 2010. Further information: Jessica Berenbeim jessica.berenbeim@courtauld.ac.uk; http://www.courtauld.ac.uk/researchforum/events/2010/autumn/feb5_16thMedievalPostgrad.shtml

7-8 February 2011. 'Animals and Otherness in the Middle Ages', a conference to be held at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid. Otherness in medieval society could be defined in many ways, typically by outward signs of difference. In a society where animals were polysemous and good to think with, it is unsurprising to find them regularly deployed in constructions of otherness. This meeting of the Medieval Animal Data Network (MAD) aims to bring together scholars from a range of disciplines to consider the diverse use of animals in constructions of otherness. Further information: Monica A. Walker Vadillo, mawalk01@ghis.ucm.es;
http://www.beasts-in-the-woods.org/madrid.html

10-12 February 2011. 'Performance and Theatricality in the Middle Ages and Renaissance', the 17th Annual ACMRS Conference, at Arizona State University, in Tempe, Arizona. ACMRS welcomes papers that explore any topic related to the study and teaching of the Middle Ages and Renaissance, and especially those that focus on this year's theme of performance and theatricality, both in literal and metaphorical manifestations. Selected papers related to the conference theme will be considered for publication in the conference volume of the Arizona Studies in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance series, published by Brepols Publishers (Belgium). Further information: acmrs@asu.edu; http://link.library.utoronto.ca/acmrs/conference/

17-19 February 2011. 'Union in Separation - Trading Diasporas in the Eastern Mediterranean (1200-1700)', an international conference hosted by the Trading Diasporas research group at Heidelberg University. The conference focuses on transcultural diasporic communities in the medieval and early modern Mediterranean with specific respect to their role in trade between perceived separate cultural areas. The term "transculturality" tends to be used to designate the hybrid character of modern-day societies and to ultimately argue that separate cultural units (defined as the sum of elements that characterise the aggregate identity of a society) do not exist. However, regardless of whether it is possible to speak of separate 'cultures', the construct continues to persist in people's mind. These mindsets, their creation and their impact on societies is what historians are now investigating. The study of Mediterranean diasporas lends itself well to this endeavour, as it allows for an understanding of the construction and deconstruction of cultural differences as well as the potential integration into a host culture. In order to best analyse these processes, we suggest exploring commercial exchange and its legal framework as two interrelated phenomena. Medieval Mediterranean trading diasporas, such as Venetian merchants residing in Mamluk Alexandria, operated both within and outside of formal legal structures. However, their status as religious minorities often posed strong challenges to their business. For instance, far-reaching privileges granted by the Sultan to Christian merchants coexisted with, and were frequently challenged by, orthodox Islamic law and/or local legal practice. The conference will bring together academics from a wide variety of fields, including medieval studies, history (including economic, legal, art history), and cultural studies. Further information: teresa.sartore@uni-heidelberg.de; angermann@uni-heidelberg.de; stefan.burkhardt@urz.uni-heidelberg.de; morche@uni-heidelberg.de; roberto.zaugg@unibas.ch; georg.christ@uni-heidelberg.de; http://www.uni-heidelberg.de/transculturality/union_in_separation.html

18 February 2011. 'Museums and the Future of UK Numismatics', a conference to mark the 150th anniversary of the British Museum's Department of Coins and Medals, to be held at the British Museum, London. This conference will use the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the British Museum's Department of Coins and Medals to highlight aspirations and ideas for the role museums can play in furthering numismatics over the coming years. It will examine ways in which the potential of numismatic collections can be unlocked to the advantage of both specialists and the general public, thereby furthering our knowledge and understanding of the past � and, by extension, the present. Further information: Janet Larkin jlarkin@thebritishmuseum.ac.uk; http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/research_news/coins_and_medals_is_150.aspx

19 February 2011. 'Games and Sports', a London Medieval Society colloquium. Further information: http://www.the-lms.org/.

25-26 February 2011. 'Shaping Narratives', the 17th annual postgraduate medieval studies conference, to be held at the Centre for Medieval Studies, University of Bristol. The University of Bristol hosts the longest-running international medieval postgraduate conference in the UK. Each year we offer medievalists the opportunity to present their research, discuss ideas, and foster links bridging disciplinary and geographical boundaries. In 2011 the conference will be in its 17th year, and we are inviting proposals for papers from postgraduates and early career scholars on the theme of �Shaping Narratives'. Call for papers deadline: 10 December 2010. Further information: Johnny McFadyen (Jonathan.McFadyen@bristol.ac.uk)

26 February 2011. 'Colliding Worlds', the Cambridge Colloquium in Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic. Further information: CCASNC Committee at the Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic, University of Cambridge, Department of English 9 West Road Cambridge CB3 9DP United Kingdom; Doc6.doc; ccasnc@gmail.com .

March

March 2011. 'La presse écrite : support, langue et forme au Moyen-Orient, dans les dernières décennies du XIXe siècle et les premières décennies du XXe siècle', Colloque organisé par l'Institut National des Langues et Civilisations, CERMOM et CERLOM. Durant le XIX e siècle la presse écrite de par le monde connut une
effervescence sans précédent là où elle existait depuis déjà longtemps, mais pas seulement. En effet, la presse écrite du Moyen-Orient prit également son envol à la fin du XIX e siècle. Ceci se traduisit par une diversification rapide tout au long du vingtième siècle. Les premières décennies de cette période furent particulièrement décisives. La presse écrite prit alors de nouvelles formes génériques. Au Moyen-Orient, on note par exemple qu’après une naissance que l’on peut qualifier de tardive en comparaison à la presse en Occident, la presse écrite évolua très rapidement et donna naissance à une terminologie nouvelle et à une littérature périodique spécifique. Les revues et les journaux devinrent des vecteurs de la modernité et contribuèrent activement à la transformation des sociétés. Further information: marie-claire.djaballah@inalco.fr; dorit.shilo@ens-lyon.fr; http://www.inalco.fr/ina_gabarit_article.php3?id_rubrique=2696&id_article=4212&id_secteur=1

1 March 2011. 'Buchkulturen des deutschen Humanismus (1430-1530). Netzwerke und Kristallisationspunkte des Humanismus im deutschen Sprachraum'. Ziel der Tagung ist es, der Frage nachzugehen, inwiefern sich im Blick auf die Genese und Entfaltungsformen �humanistischer Kulturen� von der Ausprägung eines spezifisch �transalpinen Humanismus� im Heiligen Römischen Reich Deutscher Nation sprechen lässt. Was sind die charakteristischen Merkmale und Bedingungen, die es erlauben, die Etablierung eines �deutschen Humanismus� im Verhältnis zu humanistischen Strömungen und Formationen im europäischen Kontext zu beschreiben? Welche geistes- und sozialgeschichtlichen Voraussetzungen bzw. welche politischen Faktoren sind in Anschlag zu bringen, um humanistische Entwicklungen im deutschen Sprachgebiet zu konturieren? Inwiefern ist es gerechtfertigt, einen �deutschen Humanismus� als Gesamtphänomen oder eigenständig beschreibbares kulturelles Milieu auszuweisen? Further information: Katharina Richter, IZ "Mittelalter - Renaissance - Frühe Neuzeit", Habelschwerdter Allee 30, 14195 Berlin; marefn@ fu-berlin.de; http:/ /www.geisteswissenschaften.fu-berlin.de /izma /index.html

7-8 March 2011.'Before Man and God: Confessing sins in the Middle Ages c. 597-c. 1215', the Sixth Annual Postgraduate Conference of MANCASS. In Anglo-Saxon England, the priest was expected to teach both from the Bible and his Scriftboc (handbook of penance). He was to educate his flock in matters of sin, make judgements on the size of tariffs for penance, and show the sinenr how to atone for his misdeeds. Sinners were urged to confess with humility all their sins, whatever their nature. Postgraduate and early-career researchers are invited to submit abstracts of no more than 250 words that engage with the conference's theme. Call for papers deadline: 31 December 2010. Further information: c.j.monk@manchester.ac.uk.

9 March 2011. Society for Medieval Archaeology Careers Day, to be held at the University of Leicester. Following on from the success of the Careers Question Time session at the SMA Post Grad Colloquium in February 2010, the Society decided to organise a day that will specifically discuss careers in the heritage sector during this difficult time. During the session in February, students raised concerns about several key issues that are troubling them, namely a lack of job opportunities and poor wages. Lively discussion about the situation ensued, and advice was offered by the panellists, who represented a wide cross-section of careers from the archaeological and historic profession. Further information: http://www.medievalarchaeology.org/

12 March 2011. 'Medieval Shakespeare: The Cultural Politics of Periodisation', a seminar to be held at the University of Birkbeck. Birkbeck Medieval Seminar will host a one-day conference exploring the relationships and faultlines, contrasts and continuities, between �medieval' and �early modern' English culture. Further information: Dr Anthony Bale, a.bale@bbk.ac.uk; http://www.bbk.ac.uk/english/our-research/research_seminars/birkbeck-medieval-seminar/medieval-shakespeare-the-cultural-politics-of-periodisation

15-16 March 2011. 'Quand l'image relit le texte', a coloquium organized in collaboration between Université Paris 3 Sorbonne Nouvelle (CEMA - EA 173) and Université Paris 4 Sorbonne (Sens, texte et histoire - EA 4089), in Paris. Ce colloque a pour vocation d'approfondir, en s'appuyant sur des exemples précis et argumentés, l'étude des liens qui peuvent se tisser entre le texte et son iconographie dans les manuscrits médiévaux. Les conférenciers sont invités à montrer comment ils ont été amenés, à partir de l'illustration, à s'interroger sur la compréhension d'un texte ou même à la remettre en question, quel que soit le genre auquel ce texte appartient (romanesque, lyrique, dramatique, historique, scientifique, etc.). Further information: s.heriche_pradeau@aliceadsl.fr & msimon@univ-paris3.fr.

17�19 March 2011. 'Iconoclasm: The Breaking and Making of Images', the 22nd annual conference of the Centre for Comparative Literature will be held at the University of Toronto, Canada. The word �iconoclasm� is weighted with a long history of religious significance, from the Byzantine war on religious icons of the 8th- and 9th-centuries and the Protestant reformation in the 16th century, to the Taliban's destruction of the Buddhas of Bamyan in the 21st century. But the idea of destroying or defacing images, especially images that convey aspects of cultural dominance or, conversely, pose a threat to that dominance, is as often political as religious: think of the Chinese Cultural Revolution or graffiti moustaches. We wish to examine a wide range of iconoclastic moments in order to understand the political, ethical, and aesthetic stakes involved in challenging the signifying power of the iconic image. Is there a tradition of iconoclasm or is the modern icon and thus modern iconoclasm something new? Is iconoclasm even possible, or does it always participate in the forces of iconicity, creating, in effect, iconoclastic icons? Further information: iconoclasm.2011@gmail.com; http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/complitstudents/complitconference

17-19 March 2011. 'Colonising, Decolonising and Postcolonising the Viking Age', to be held at the University of Leeds. This conference seeks to revisit the Vikings through the lens of postcolonial theory, in order to open the period to new research questions on such topics as Viking-age aesthetics, the role of art in cultural translation and identity formation, cultural hybridity in the Viking age, gender, history and the landscape of memory, the work and preservation of tangible and intangible heritage, the Vikings and historical/national consciousness. Papers are invited from all fields on any aspect of these or related topics. Submissions from graduate students are particularly welcome, and we do have a limited number of bursaries to support both UK and international students. Two days of the conference will be devoted to scholarly papers, with the third day reserved for general discussion and workshops centred on enhancing both funding and postgraduate resources. Call for papers deadline: 31 January 2011. Further information: Catherine Karkov, School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies, Old Mining Building, University of Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK; c.e.karkov@leeds.ac.uk.

21-22 March 2011. 'Politics, Order, Law', the Fourth Cambridge Graduate Conference in Political Thought and Intellectual History. The theme of the 2011 conference will be �Politics, Order, Law�, and papers dealing with any period and tradition in the history of political thought from antiquity to the present will be considered. Papers which bring an historical perspective to bear on problems of contemporary political theory are welcome. The conference theme should be interpreted broadly, to cover the various senses of 'law' - including civil, natural and scientific - as well as differing conceptions of order in politics. The aim of the conference is to provide an opportunity for outstanding graduate students to present and discuss their work in a collegial and supportive atmosphere. Further information: Paul Sagar prs49@cam.ac.uk; http://www.polthought.cam.ac.uk/seminars/index.html

23-27 March 2011. XXXI. Deutscher Kunsthistorikertag (Würzburg, Universität Würzburg). - Sektion Früh- und hochmittelalterliche Buchmalerei: Würzburg war seit Gründung des Bistums im 8. Jahrhundert ein wichtiges Zentrum der Buchmalerei, wie illuminierte Handschriften des 8. und 9. Jahrhunderts belegen; bekannt sind illuminierte Handschriften aus Würzburg ebenso aus ottonischer Zeit wie aus dem 13. Jahrhundert. Der Tagungsort lädt zur Frage ein, welche Bedeutung Kathedrale und Klöstern bei der Buchproduktion von der ottonischen Zeit bis ins ausgehende 12. Jahrhundert zukam und welche Anregungen dabei berücksichtigt wurden. Neben den Problemen von Stil und Ikonographie rückten in den letzten Jahren in der Forschung zur Buchmalerei vermehrt auch Fragen zur Funktion des Buchschmucks und zur Organisation und Arbeitsweise von Ateliers in den Blick. Neue Fallbeispiele können die vielfach ungeklärten Entstehungsbedingungen von Handschriften im Hoch- und Spätmittelalter weiter erhellen. Welche Rolle spielen laikale, nicht bei geistlichen Gemeinschaften angesiedelte Buchmalerateliers in den Städten? Inwieweit kam es zu Herstellung und Buchschmuck unter Bedingungen von Arbeitsteiligkeit und Spezialisierung? Welche Verbindungen - Beziehungen, Abhängigkeiten, Differenzen - gibt es in dieser Zeit zwischen Buchmalerei und Wandmalerei?. Further information: http://www.kunsthistoriker.org/kunsthistorikertag.html#c1592

25-27 March 2011. 'Reading the Middle Ages', a graduate student conference at the University of California, Berkeley. Keynote address to be given by Professor Rita Copeland (University of Pennsylvania). Our knowledge of late antique and medieval culture derives primarily from the way in which we read today the manuscripts, images, and artifacts that were created and read in the past. This conference will take up the variety of reading practices at play in the Middle Ages as the cornerstone to an exploration of medieval culture. However, proposals are encouraged to push our modern conceptions of reading into new territory, finding medieval reading practiced in ways we would not expect, challenging the way in which we read now, and asking questions of our relationship to medieval texts. Further information: graduatemedievalists@gmail.com; http://www.graduatemedievalists.org

26-27 March 2011. 'The Metaphysics of Aquinas and its Modern Interpreters: Theological and Philosophical Perspectives', 31st Annual Conference of the Center for Medieval Studies, Fordham University, to be held at Fordham's Lincoln Center campus in Manhattan. University's Center for Medieval Studies invites scholars from different disciplines and scholarly methodologies to explore Aquinas's metaphysics and how it relates to various aspects of his philosophy and theology and/or to modern retrievals of his thought. The Conference seeks to capitalize on the pluralism of Thomistic studies by inviting papers from a wide range of areas within the disciplines of philosophy and theology. The Conference will include a special strand of sessions on what many regard as one of the central problems in the contemporary retrieval of Aquinas's thought, namely, how to account for the mind's knowledge of being qua being, or as this issue is often referred to, the discovery of the being of metaphysics. Further information: http://www.fordham.edu/mvst/conference11/aquinas/index.html

April

7-8 April 2011. 'Chaucer and Celebrity', the Third London Chaucer Conference will take place in London. Further information: Isabel Davis, i.davis@bbk.ac.uk.

8-9 April 2011. 'Voice, Gesture, Memory, and Performance in Medieval Texts, Culture, and Art', the 38th Annual Sewanee Medieval Colloquium, at the University of the South, Sewanee, Tennessee. Further information: Dr Susan Ridyard, Dept of History, The University of the South, Sewanee, TN 37383; sridyard@sewanee.edu; http://www.sewanee.edu/Medieval/main.html

12-14 April 2011. Social History Society annual conference, to be held at the University of Manchester. The Society's conference has no single theme. It is organised in six strands: *Deviance, Inclusion and Exclusion*Life-cycles and Life-styles* Markets, Culture and Society *Political Cultures, Policy and Citizenship *Narratives, Emotions and the Self *Spaces and Places. Further information: http://www.socialhistory.org.uk/annualconference.php

13-15 April 2011. The thirteenth international seminar on the Care and Conservation of Manuscripts, will be held at the Faculty of Humanities and the Royal Library at the University of Copenhagen. The practical arrangements are in the hands of M. J. Driscoll and Ragnheiður Mósesdóttir of the Arnamagnæan Institute and Ivan Boserup and Marie Vest of the Royal Library. Further information: http://nfi.ku.dk/cc/

14-16 April 2011. The 86th annual meeting of the Medieval Academy will be held at Arizona State University, in Tempe, Arizona. The Program Committee invites proposals for papers on all topics and in all disciplines and periods of medieval studies. We shall try to develop sessions that (1) address subjects of interest to a wide range of medievalists and (2) invite scholars from different disciplines and periods into dialogue with one another. We seek proposals for innovative papers and sessions and hope to see, wherever possible, cross-disciplinary participation in a broad range of topics and of periods. Call for papers deadline: 15 May 2010. Further information: Committee Chair, Robert E. Bjork, Director, ACMRS, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287-4402; http://www.medievalacademy.org/annualmeetings/2011CFP.html

14-17 April 2011. The Fifth International Piers Plowman Society Conference will be held at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford. Further information: Helen Barr (Helen.Barr@ell.ox.ac.uk) and Simon Horobin (Simon.Horobin@magd.ox.ac.uk).

16 April 2011. 'Book Destruction', a conference to be held at the Institute of Historical Research, London. Much attention has been given in recent years to the book as a material, historical object and its possible technological obsolescence in the era of digitization. Such reflections have tended to concentrate on the production and cultural circulation of books, their significance and their power to shape knowledge and subjectivities. But there is another aspect to our interactions with the book which remains relatively unexplored: the history of book destruction. In certain circumstances books are treated not with reverence but instead with violence or disregard. This conference invites reflections on this alternative history of the book, and we welcome papers from a range of historical periods and disciplinary backgrounds. Call for papers deadline: 10 January 2011. Further information: Dr Adam Smyth adam.smyth@bbk.ac.uk;

16 April 2011. 'Contextualizing Miracles in the Christian West, 1100-1500: New Historical Approaches', a conference to be held at Wolfson College, University of Cambridge. Between 1100 and 1500, medieval scribes produced a plethora of texts that recorded the miracles of saints. The value of this material was established by scholars in the 1970s and 80s; their extensive analyses of a vast number of miracle accounts shed light upon medieval conceptions of sainthood, the process and formalization of canonization, and the broader social and cultural attitudes towards saints' cults and pilgrimage. In the last twenty years, however, those studying miracle accounts have moved away from quantitative methods. Instead, there is more of a focus on individual miracle collections or manuscripts, reflecting an interest in situating such texts within their institutional and local contexts, as well as exploring the literary or constructed nature of hagiographical texts. Recent scholars have also explored the political and economic functions of miracle narratives within the saint's own community, and investigated the influence of models of piety on men and women, and of particular social groups. Others have examined the social and medical experiences of pilgrims, along with the cultural and symbolic meanings attached to individual ailments.Further information: Ms Louise Wilson lew37@cam.ac.uk; http://www.louiseelizabethwilson.com/Contextualizing-Miracles-Conference.php

26-27 April 2011. Workshop on the Old English Gloss to the Lindisfarne Gospels to be held on the 26th and 27th of April 2011 at the University of Westminster, London. The workshop aims to provide a forum for multidisciplinary discussion on the gloss, on such topics as: 1) The relationship between the Old English gloss and the Latin text; 2) The similarities and differences between the Aldredian gloss and Rushworth 2; 3) The linguistic features of the Old English gloss (spelling/phonology, morphology, morphosyntax and lexis); 4) The historical, religious, literary and intellectual context of the gloss ; 5) The Lindisfarne gloss in the context of Old English glossography. Call for papers deadline: 10 January 2011. Further information: Dr Sara M. Pons-Sanz s.ponssanz@westminster.ac.uk.

28 April-1 May 2011. The 84th Annual Meeting of the American Association for the History of Medicine, to be held in Philadelphia. The Association invites submissions in any area of medical history - the history of health and healing; history of medical ideas, practices, and institutions; and histories of illness, disease, and public health. Submissions from all eras and regions of the world are welcome. Further information: Program Committee Chair, Susan E. Lederer, Dept of Medical History and Bioethics, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, 1300 University Ave. Madison, WI 53706 (608-262-4195; selederer@wisc.edu; http://histmed.org

May

2-6 May 2011. 'Medieval Manuscript Studies in the Digital Age', AHRC-funded course in collaboration with the University of Cambridge, the Warburg
Institute, and King’s College London. The course is open to arts and humanities doctoral students registered at UK institutions. It involves five days of intensive training on the analysis, description and editing of medieval manuscripts in the digital age to be held jointly in Cambridge and London. Participants will receive a solid theoretical foundation and hands-on experience in cataloguing and editing manuscripts for both print and digital formats. Further information: Peter Stokes (mmsda@sas.ac.uk); http://ies.sas.ac.uk/study/mmsda/

12-15 May 2011. The 46th International Congress on Medieval Studies will take place at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo. Further information: International Congress on Medieval Studies, Medieval Institute, Western Michigan University, 1903 W. Michigan Ave., Kalamazoo, MI 49008-5432; mdvl_congres@wmich.edu; http://www.wmich.edu/medieval/congress/.

13-14 May 2011. 'Perspectives on Public Space in Rome, from Antiquity to the Present Day', the Biennial of Public Space, to be held at the Italian National Institute for Urban Planners, in Rome. The conference is an integral part of the three-day Biennial of Public Space organized by the Italian National Institute for Urban Planners (INU). It wishes to bring together various perspectives on public space in the city of Rome pertaining to any historical period. The aim of the conference is to open debate on the notion of public space across time, interpreted as a fluid concept having architectural, institutional, political, social, religious, phenomenological, and artistic relevance. These suggestions are by no means exhaustive, and wish simply to establish a point of departure for the ways public space is used as a cultural concept. The uniting feature of the conference is its focus on the city of Rome through the ages. Further information: romepublicspace@cornell.edu; http://www.biennalespaziopubblico.it/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Public-Space-in-Rome.pdf.

17 May 2011. 'Last Orders? The Art and Architecture of Religious Orders in England, c.1350-1540', a symposium to be held at the Courtauld Institute of Art, London. In contrast to the arts of the so-called �golden age' of English religious life during the High Middle Ages, the visual culture of subsequent generations of monks, nuns, and canons has received little attention. Recent scholarship, however, has challenged the long-held consensus that the Late Middle Ages was a period of decline for the monastic and religious orders in England and elsewhere in Europe. Many historians now argue that monasticism adjusted adeptly to changing social, devotional, and economic practices and several important studies have recently devoted to this period of monastic patronage. Nevertheless, many aspects of monastic art and architecture remain largely unexplored. These include the role of continuity within orders, the expression of particular institutional and confessional identities, and the importance of innovation. The Last Orders symposium seeks to generate discussion on these questions and others, and we welcome proposals for papers on all aspects of monastic art and architecture in late medieval England. Call for papers deadline: 1 November 2010. Further information: michael.carter@courtauld.ac.uk; http://www.courtauld.ac.uk/researchforum/events/2011/summer/may17_LastOrders_symposium.shtml

20-21 May 2011. 'Material Culture, Craft & Community: Negotiating Objects Across Time & Place', an interdisciplinary conference to be held at University of Alberta Edmonton. This interdisciplinary conference will explore the varied expressions of craft � material, cultural, social � in past and present societies. Craft practice has a rich history and remains vibrant today, sustaining communities while negotiating cultures. Craft-made goods were, and are, created for domestic or institutional use, for local or international markets. They express gender roles and cultural aspirations, sustain economies, and express aesthetic values and skills of making. Craft practice has long defined communities and groups, and continues to do so in the midst of global trade networks. Moreover, the flow of ideas, goods, and peoples animate the making, circulation, and meaning of craft goods. These and other issues will be addressed over the course of the conference. Further information: material.culture@ualberta.ca; http://www.uofaweb.ualberta.ca/materialculture/

27 May 2011. 'Revealing Records III (2011)', the annual Revealing Records postgraduate conference for medievalists to be held at King's College London. Now in its third year, the Revealing Records conference series brings together postgraduate researchers working with a wide range of sources from across the medieval world to share challenges and approaches through the presentation of their research. Revealing Records III will be divided into two thematically related panels. Each panel will include a keynote talk by a leading medieval historian and five student presentations. Further information: revealingrecords@gmail.com; http://www.kcl.ac.uk/schools/humanities/depts/history/events/revealingrecords.html

June

17-19 June 2011. 'Law, Violence and Social Bonds, c. 900-1250', a conference to be hosted by the St Andrews Institute of Mediaeval Studies. Each of the conference's themes has received ample scholarly treatment individually, but not collectively. Considering attitudes towards lawful and unlawful violence in relation to social bonds - be they familial, seignorial or spiritual - and bringing together a number of distinct conceptual approaches, such as anthropology, sociology and prosopography, this conference will offer new avenues of research and discussion. Scholars from Britain, Europe and North America will come together and explore these issues in a wide range of geographical and cultural contexts. Further information: lvsb@st-andrews.ac.uk;http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/saims/law/index.html.

23-25 June 2011. 'The language of maps - communicating through cartography during the middle ages and renaissance', a conference to be held at the Bodleian Library, Oxford. Historic maps have broad appeal in contemporary cultures around the world. One reason for this � it might be thought � is because the �language of maps' is universal and straightforward, but is it? How do maps communicate to us? How do they work? This Colloquium seeks to explore these important questions by bringing together scholars whose interest lies in the visual and textual �languages' of manuscript and printed maps from the medieval and Renaissance periods of European history. Original paper contributions on the theme of �communicating through cartography' are sought that will help further our understanding and appreciation of the complexity of medieval and Renaissance maps and map-making. Papers may be theoretical, empirical or methodological in orientation, as long as they address �how maps work'. The Colloquium is intentionally multidisciplinary, so contributions will be welcomed from art, linguistic and literary historians, geographers and archaeologists, as well as cartographers and historians of cartography. The emphasis will be on the artistic, linguistic and palaeographical aspects of historic maps and processes of their production and consumption across medieval and Renaissance Europe. We aim to draw connections between cartographic representations of all kinds, whether manuscript or printed maps, including those of regions, countries or local landscapes. The technologies of map-production � including surveying and draughting � will be under scrutiny too, for the scientific and artistic expertise involved in making maps in the past was integral to communicating through cartography, as indeed it still is today. Further information: k.lilley@qub.ac.uk; http://www.goughmap.org/colloquium/

23-26 June 2011. 'Politics in Late Antiquity, ca. 200-700', the Ninth Biennial Conference on Shifting Frontiers in Late Antiquity, organized by the Society for Late Antiquity, at Penn State University. Along with the cultural and religious transformations of the late Roman and post-Roman eras, the political culture of the empire was transformed, from the aristocratic and senatorial monarchy of the early empire to the equestrian and military government of the third and fourth centuries to the emerging Christian monarchy of the Theodosian empire and beyond. Each of these traditions had a long afterlife in the post-Roman West and Byzantine East. The Program Committee seeks contributions that address any aspect of the political life of late antiquity, with particular emphasis on 1) the functioning of Roman and post-Roman government and the tensions between center and periphery 2) the gap between rhetoric and reality in the practice of politics 3) the material expressions of politics and government, as reflected in art, architecture, and archaeological evidence. As in the past, the conference will provide an interdisciplinary forum for ancient historians, philologists, art historians, archaeologists, and specialists in the early Christian, Jewish and Muslim worlds to discuss a wide range of European, Middle-Eastern and African evidence for cultural transformation in late antiquity. Proposals should be clearly related to the conference theme, stating both the problem to be discussed and the nature of the presenter's conclusions. Further information: Professor Michael Kulikowski; c/o Tiffany Mayhew, 108 Weaver Building, Dept of History, Penn State, University Park, PA 16802;shiftingFrontiers2011@gmail.com

30 June-2 July 2011. 'Ordo', the 8th Annual Symposium of the International Medieval Society - Paris, to be held in Paris. Call for papers deadline: 15 January 2011. The International Medieval Society in Paris (IMS-Paris) is soliciting abstracts for individual papers and proposals for complete sessions for its 2011 Symposium organized around the theme of ordo in medieval France. In the Middle Ages the Latin term, ordo, designated all kind of concepts for classifying realities or ideas. Divine order as well as various human ordines created a certain stability which had to be reaffirmed time and again in order to retain its validity. Social, ideal, iconographic and other orders were established, maintained, and sometimes overturned, but even then the order had to be invoked. What are these orders, these ways of thinking and ordering? Particular emphasis will be placed on the question of knowing how this medieval knowledge was ordered and classified. We welcome papers on the following topics, and others: � ordering, arranging, classifying � organisation and reorganisation of knowledge � envisioning an ordo and visual/pictorial strategies � divine ordo and human ordines � liturgical ordo and secular order � musical ordo. Papers should focus on France, Francia, or post-Roman Gaul, but are not limited exclusively to this geographical area. We encourage submissions from a variety of disciplines including, but not limited to, anthropology, history, urban history, history of science and medicine, art history, gender studies, literary studies, musicology, philosophy, religious sciences, and theology. Abstracts in French or English of 300 words or less for a 20-minute paper, with full contact information, a CV and a tentative assessment of any audiovisual equipment required for your presentation should be emailed to the organisers. Further information: contact@ims-paris.org; www.ims-paris.org

July

4-6 July 2011. 'Cultures, Communities and Conflicts in the Medieval Mediterranean', the biannual conference of the Society for the Medieval Mediterraneanto be held at the University of Southampton. This three-day conference will bring together scholars to explore the interaction of the various peoples, societies, faiths and cultures of the medieval Mediterranean, a region which had been commonly represented as divided by significant religious and cultural differences. The objective of the conference is to highlight the extent to which the medieval Mediterranean was not just an area of conflict but also a highly permeable frontier across which people, goods and ideas crossed and influenced neighbouring cultures and societies. We invite papers, together with abstracts, in the fields of archaeology, art and architecture, ethnography, history (including the history of science and medicine), languages, literature, music, philosophy and religion, and specifically on the following topics: Activities of missionary orders; Artistic, literary and musical exchange; Byzantine and Muslim navies; Captives and slaves; Cargoes, galleys and warships; Cartography; Costume and vestments; Diplomacy; Judaism and Jewish; Material Culture; Minority Populations in the Christian and Islamic Worlds; Mirrors for Princes; Music, sacred and secular; Port towns/city states; Relations between Jews, Christians and Muslims; Religious practices: saints, cults and heretics; Scientific exchange, including astronomy, medicine and mathematics; Seafaring, seamanship and shipbuilding; Sufis & Sufi Orders in North Africa and the Levant; Sultans, kings and other rulers; Trade and Pilgrimage; Travel writing; Warfare: mercenaries and crusaders. Please send abstracts of papers of 300 words maximum together with a brief CV to the organisers. Call for papers deadline: 1 October 2010. Further information: Dr Francois Soyer, f.j.soyer@soton.ac.uk; Rebecca Bridgman, rmb77@cam.ac.uk .

4-8 July 2011. 'Dwarfs or Giants?: Appropriation and Creation in the Middle Ages', an international conference organised by the Centre d'Études Supérieures de Civilisation Médiévale, in Poitiers. The conference theme fully reflects the tradition of interdisciplinary study promoted by the CESCM in fields as varied as the history of ideas, architectural forms and techniques, representations, literary or otherwise, and social practices. The general intention is to analyse the processes inherent in the formation of medieval civilisation by assessing the tensions between tradition and innovation, appropriation and creation. The often-stilted image of the Middle Ages as a period in which what exists is merely borrowed and reused is susceptible to re-examination through an analysis of the nature, content, modalities and aims of such appropriations, thus allowing for the emergence of more complex phenomena such as recomposition or innovation fuelled by conscious choice in areas of reference, allusion and influence. Such developments, whether passive or deliberate, individual or collective, fleeting or sustainable, ought to be seen in terms of new points of departure, witnesses to the vitality of the Middle Ages and its ability to refashion and nourish a cultural landscape in constant evolution. Further information: Stephen Morrison, stephen.morrison@univ-poitiers.fr; http://www.mshs.univ-poitiers.fr/cescm/IMG/pdf/NAIN_1re_page_.pdf

6-7 July 2011. 'Shadow cities: realities and representations', a conference to be held at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, London. More than a billion people live in improvised dwellings or shanty towns in the early twenty-first century. Whether in inner cities or on the outskirts of a metropolis, these settlements have been dubbed �Shadow Cities� by Robert Neuwirth. Neuwirth takes a relatively positive view of the economic and cultural creativity of such places. In contrast Mike Davis has a more apocalyptic vision of a fast developing �Planet of Slums�. For Davis such habitations offer little hope and potentially cataclysmic danger in a post-industrial and neo-liberal world. What light can historical investigation shed on what have often been Manichean representations of the shanty town as either a place of hope or a site of irredeemable misery? Most research and writing on this phenomenon has focused on contemporary developments. The aim of this conference is to investigate and explain the historical existence of Shadow Cities, their varying nature in different historical and geographical circumstances -- such as medieval Europe, nineteenth century North America or the twentieth century global South � the living conditions and experiences of their inhabitants, and the perceptions or representations of such settlements. Further information: Olwen Myhill or Professor Vivian Bickford-Smith; Shadow_Cities_CFP.pdf.

8-9 July 2011. 'The Crusades, Islam and Byzantium: An Interdisciplinary Workshop and Conference', organised by The Society for the Study of the Crusades and the Latin East; The German Historical Institute; The Institute of Historical Research, London; The London Centre for Crusader Studies. This is a conference aimed at those in the latter stages of their PhD, those engaged in post-doctoral research, or early career academics. It is intended to bring together people from across these three subject areas to generate scholarly contacts and to give an insight into the workings and approaches of these fields; it will also provide participants with an opportunity to have their work analysed by contemporaries and a panel of distinguished commentators. Call for papers deadline: 30 October 2010. Completed papers will be required by 30 April 2011 for circulation. The conference will also feature full-length lectures by leading scholars. Those who wish to listen and comment on the papers, rather than presenting their own work, are very welcome to attend. Further information: Professor Jonathan Phillips (Royal Holloway, University of London) J.P.Phillips@rhul.ac.uk ; Dr Jochen Schenk (German Historical Institute, London) schenk@ghil.ac.uk ; Dr William Purkis (University of Birmingham), w.j.purkis@bham.ac.uk; http://www.sscle.org

8-11 July 2011. 'Annual Meeting of the Society for Social History of Medicine', to be held in Newcastle and Durham. Programme now available online here - http://www.nchm.ac.uk/ProgrammeSSHM2010.htm.

11-14 July 2011. 'Poor...Rich', the 18th International Medieval Congress (IMC), to be held at the University of Leeds, in Leeds.Contact: Axel E. W. Müller, International Medieval Congress, Parkinson Bldg. 1.03, Univ. of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, U.K. (+44-113-343-3614; fax: +44-113-343-3616; imc@leeds.ac.uk; http://www.leeds.ac.uk/ims/imc/).

14-15 July 2011.'Celebrating France / Célébrer la France', the Society for the Study of French History 25th Annual Conference. Proposals are invited for thirty-minute papers (in either English or French) on any aspect of French history from the late medieval to the modern period. Proposals for panels of two or three papers are also invited. Our theme is not exclusive as to subject. Panel-paper contributions can properly reflect the broad diversity of the discipline of French History. However, we would be particularly interested in receiving proposals in and around the following subjects: Memory, nation and identity in French history; History of cultural festivals, fêtes and celebratory events; Considerations on key personages of French history; The construction of a national history or narrative; Conflicting views about the past; Theoretical and methodological approaches to the topics of celebrations, memory and the creation of national discourses. Further information: Dr Isabel DiVanna (id239@cam.ac.uk); http://www.frenchhistorysociety.ac.uk/

14-16 July 2011. 'Gossip, gospel, and governance: Orality in Europe 1400-1700', a conference organised by the University of Northumbria, to be held in London. Individual themes to be discussed include: Street life (orality in any European urban context 1400-1700); Reading aloud (using the lectern for dissemination of written text in convents and monasteries, public proclamation of misdemeanour and laws, 1400-1700); Teaching and learning in University schools 1400-1700; Declamation and discourse in Parliament Incantation and magic; Performance (theatre, court poetry, poetry competitions); Preaching (history of the preaching orders, biographies of preachers; Parley and discourse of war; Women's speech. Further information: a.cowan@northumbria.ac.uk or lesley.twomey@northumbria.ac.uk; http://www.northumbria.ac.uk/static/5007/sasspdf/cfpgossip2

15-16 July 2011. 'Constructing Memory in Medieval Spain', organised by the Centre for Medieval Studies, University of York. This two-day international conference brings together scholars of medieval Spain to discuss how memories of the sacred and secular past could be articulated, constructed and revised in words, objects and performances. Spain is here understood in its broadest sense to include all confessional communities from the Iberian peninsula and dependent islands, and the theme of memory encompasses both attitudes to the past and also the arts of memory. In drawing on scholars from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds the conference aims to investigate common strategies or alternative practices in the construction of memory in different forms and media, and the extent to which these may depend on contemporary theories of memory. Twenty-five minute papers (in English) may address any topic relevant to the period 1085-1492, though those focusing on the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries are especially encouraged. Call for papers deadline: 1 September 2010. Further information: Tom Nickson tn530@york.ac.uk; Department of History of Art, Vanbrugh College, University of York, Heslington, York YO10 5DD, UK.

18-21 July 2011. 'John Gower in Iberia: Six Hundred Years', the Second International Congress of the John Gower Society, in Valladolid, Spain. Spain has been chosen as a site for Congress II in recognition of Gower's unique transnational presence. The Confessio Amantis was the first English work Ever translated into Continental languages-first Portuguese, and then Castilian, both in the fifteenth century. Biographical aspects; Manuscripts; French works; Latin works; English works; Antiquity and classics; French influence and contemporary French authors; Chaucer; Linguistics, literary language and dialects; Influence in later authors; Influence in Iberian authors; English politics and usurpation; Iberian (historical) context; Literary theory and critical approaches; Narratology; Women and gender; Multilingualism; Cinema and theatre; Animals; London; Aesthetics; Law; Philosophy and theology; Gower and the Mediterranean; Gower and the Other; Gower and the material. Further information: jgs.valladolid2011@gmail.com; rfyeager@hotmail.com; http://222.johngower.org

19-21 July 2011. 'Print Networks Conference 2011 on Religion and the Book Trade', the Twenty-Ninth Print Networks Conference on the history of the British book trade, to be held at the National Library of Wales. 2011 marks the 400th anniversary of the Authorised Version of the Bible, and so "Religion and the Book Trade" has been chosen as the theme for the conference. The theme is broadly defined, and any papers relating to the production, distribution and reception of religious texts and images from the Middle Ages to the modern era will be considered. Call for papers deadline: 31st January 2011. Further information: Timothy Cutts,
Head of Rare Books Unit, National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth SY23 3BU; tjc@llgc.org.uk.

21-23 July 2011. 'The Allegory of Guillaume de Digulleville (Deguileville) in Europe: Circulation, Reception and Influence', a conference to be held at the Université de Lausanne, in Switzerland. The fourteenth-century allegorical trilogy composed by the Cistercian monk, Guillaume de Digulleville (or Deguileville) - the Pèlerinage de la vie humaine [Pilgrimage of Human Life], Pèlerinage de l'âme [Pilgrimage of the Soul], and Pèlerinage de Jhesucrist [Pilgrimage of Jesus Christ] - travelled widely across the medieval and early modern world. Digulleville's pilgrimage allegories, and their wider context, are attracting increasing attention in current scholarship, in the fields of literature, history, art history, religious studies, linguistics, the history of science, and historical geography. We invite proposals for papers on any aspect of the influence, circulation and reception of Digulleville's allegories during the period 1330 to 1700. Papers might discuss subjects such as one of the many translations of Digulleville's allegories, an aspect of the trilogy's manuscript distribution, the adaptation of the trilogy texts into prose or printed versions, the trilogy's influence on the visual arts, drama and literature of subsequent generations or the trilogy's wider impact on the mentalities of the period concerned. Interdisciplinary approaches are particularly encouraged, as are studies of hitherto overlooked materials and new contexts for the reception of the work of Digulleville. Further information: marco.nievergelt@unil.ch; stephanie.kamath@umb.edu; http://www.unil.ch/digulleville.

22-26 July 2011. 'Natio Scotica', the Thirteenth International Conference on Medieval and Renaissance Scottish Language and Literature, to be hosted by the Università degli Studi di Padova, in Padua, Italy. The definition of a literary canon in medieval and early modern Scotland is closely connected with the definition of the Scottish nation. Attempting an assessment of medieval and early modern Scottish literature means above all dealing with a definition of this literature within a strongly defined national context: literature and nation grow together, and each contributes to the other's definition. Papers should be twenty minutes long. Call for papers deadline: 31 August 2010. Further information: Dr Alessandra Petrina, Dipartimento di Lingue e Lett., Anglo-Germaniche e Slave, Via Beato Pellegrino, 26 35100 Padova, Italy.

25-26 July 2011. 'Language, Culture and Society in Russian/English Studies', the Second International Scientific Conference sponsored by the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Russian Academy of Linguistics, the Moscow Institute of Foreign Languages, the University of London School of Advanced Study and Institute of English Studies, at Senate House, University of London. The following research fields will be considered: English and Russian Studies- Lexicography, English Studies, Russian Studies; Theoretical Linguistics; Sociolinguistics; English and Russian Literature; Language Teaching; Medieval Studies; The History of the Book: the Present and the Past; Society Studies.Call for papers deadline: 15 January 2011. Further information: rector@gaudeamus.ru; jane.roberts@sas.ac.uk

25-30 July 2011. The 23rd Triennial Congress of the International Arthurian Society, to be held at the University of Bristol. The conference themes are as follows:

Arthurian ideals and identities.
Late Arthurian romance.
Narrative techniques and styles.
Arthurian manuscripts and early printed editions.
Arthurian images and iconography.
The supernatural and spirituality in the Arthurian world.

Further information: http://www.bristol.ac.uk/medievalcentre/arthur/english/index_html

August

September

13-14 September 2011. 'Political Legitimacy in the Islamic West', a workshop by the Department of Middle East Studies, University of Cambridge, sponsored by the Leverhulme Trust. Call for papers deadline: 4 February 2011. The workshop will investigate the strategies of legitimation used by Muslim rulers in Islamic Spain and the western Maghrib during the medieval and early modern periods to analyse how they justified and
presented their rule to their subjects and to visitors from the Islamic east and Christian Europe. It aims to explore issues of religio-political identity and regional unities and divisions of both historical and contemporary relevance to shed light on an understudied period of this crucial Mediterranean regions' history. The chronological focus of the workshop will be on the 13th to 15th centuries CE, but the organisers also welcome contributions that make comparisons with earlier and later periods. Further information: http://islamicwest.ames.cam.ac.uk

14-17 September 2011. 'Pharmacy and Books', the 40th International Congress for the History of Pharmacy, to be held in Berlin, Germany. With the topic 'Pharmacy and Books', the 40th International Congress for the History of Pharmacy has chosen a central theme, showing that books are one of the most important sources of the historiography of pharmacy. The focus of the lectures to be held can be on books which have a special significance in pharmacy such as pharmacopoeia, medication lists, taxes, books on receipes, education, herbs and flora as well as handbooks and dictionaries. Books on pharmaceutical history will be looked on especially. A special emphasis on books about the history of the pharmaceutical industry respectively of works published by pharmaceutical producers and wholesalers. Last, but not least, apothecaries as authors of technical literature as well as other literary works shall be introduced in lectures, as well as the role of pharmacies and apothecaries in poetry and fiction. Within the lectures, the genesis of these books will be discussed, an analysis of the contents will be given along with the comparison of different works as well as decoration and configuration, illustration and didactic aspects. Further information: Prof. Dr. Christoph Friedrich, Institut für Geschichte der Pharmazie, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Roter Graben 10, D-35032 Marburg, Germany; +49 (6421) 282-2829; ch.friedrich@staff.uni-marburg.de.

October

28-30 October 2011. 'Music in the Carolingian World: Witnesses to a Metadiscipline, a Conference in Honor of Charles M. Atkinson', a conference to be held at Thompson Library, Ohio State University, in Columbus, Ohio. Contact: Graeme M. Boone, Dept. of Music, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210.

November

December

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