The Medieval Academy Blog

Call for Papers – New Visits to Camelot: Reflecting on the Contemporary Matter of Britain on Screen

Posted on May 24, 2017 by Chris

Call for Papers
New Visits to Camelot: Reflecting on the Contemporary Matter of Britain on Screen (Roundtable)
Proposals no later than 29 June 2017

Session sponsored by the Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture
For inclusion under the Medieval & Renaissance Area at the 28th Annual Conference of the Mid-Atlantic Popular & American Culture Association, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 8-11 November 2017

Following the success of previous sessions at past meetings of the Popular Culture Association, past and present International Congresses on Medieval Studies, and last year’s meeting of the Mid-Atlantic Popular & American Culture Association, the Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture seeks proposals for a sponsored roundtable session on the topic of New Visits to Camelot: Reflecting on the Contemporary Matter of Britain on Screen for inclusion under the Medieval & Renaissance Area at the 28th Annual Conference of the Mid-Atlantic Popular & American Culture Association to be held at the Pennsylvania Sonesta Philadelphia Downtown in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from 8-11 November 2017.

SESSION DESCRIPTION
Arthurian enthusiasts are great catalogers of the tradition, and scholars of the legend on screen have been especially devoted to their task, as attested by the filmographic work of Kevin J. Harty, Bert Olton, Michael N. Salda, and Michael A. Torregrossa and the wider-ranging catalogs by the bibliographing teams of Ann F. Howey and Stephen R. Reimer and of Daniel P. Nastali and Philip C. Boardman. However, the energies of these individuals remains largely limited to the last century, and, in the past seventeen years, the Matter of Britain has grown enormously on screen. The corpus has nearly doubled as the mediums of film, television, electronic games, and the Internet have presented fresh adventures of the familiar cast of characters from Camelot as well as granted Arthurian-themed escapades to new figures. Despite their popularity, this new Matter of Britain on Screen remains underexplored. Consequently, the purpose of this session is to investigate these recent representations of the legend and address their attempts at navigating what Norris J. Lacy has termed “the tyranny of tradition,” that “particular kind of filmic ‘anxiety of influence,’ whereby filmmakers must deal with two opposing impulses: on the one hand, the natural desire to innovate; on the other, the need to tell a story that corresponds at least in major respects to the audience’s understanding of orthodox Arthurian fact” (76). Succeed or fail in their efforts, these new Arthurian texts remain important artifacts in assessing the continued vitality of the millennium-and-half-old myth of Arthur and his world.
An ever-expanding list of potential works can be found at our website: https://MatterofBritainonScreen.blogspot.com/.

Please send abstracts of approximately 300 words, any audio-visual requests, and a brief biography narrative related to your scholarly career to the organizer, Michael A. Torregrossa, at MedievalStudiesonScreen@gmail.com, using “New Visits to Camelot” as your subject line.

All presenters must be or become members of Mid-Atlantic Popular & American Culture Association in order to participate. Upon acceptance of proposals, presenters must register with MAPACA and submit their information into their online system no later than 30 June 2017. Complete details will follow from the organizer.

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CARA News: Rice University

Posted on May 19, 2017 by Chris

Through the generous support of the Dean of Humanities at Rice University, and the Neil J. O’Brien Endowment funds, The Medieval and Early Modern Studies Program at Rice has organized another full year of events:

In the “O’Brien Medieval and Early Modern Studies Guest Lecture Series”:

Nov. 11, 2016: Dr. Jehangir Malengam, Assistant Professor of History, Duke University, presented “Violence, Exorcism, and the Politics of Discernment in Medieval Europe”

March 24, 2017: Dr. Susan Einbinder, Professor of Hebrew and Judaic Studies and Comparative Literature at the University of Connecticut, presented a workshop concerning her archeological studies on Jewish cemeteries in Spain, and gave a paper entitled “Stone, Bone and Text:

Anti-Jewish Violence in Tàrrega, 1348”

In the “O’Brien Medieval and Early Modern Studies Faculty Lecture Series”:

Nov. 30, 2016: Dr. Aysha Polnitz, Dept. of History, “Liberal Education and the Franciscans in New Spain: 1536–1600”

Feb. 15, 2017: Dr. Jeffrey Fleisher, Dept. of Anthropology, “An Archaeology of Ancestors on the Eastern African Swahili Coast,

AD1000-1500

And in the “O’Brien Medieval and Early Modern Studies Undergraduate Student Conference,” seven student papers in the fields of History, Religion, Art History, English, and Music History:

Megan Wright, “Josquin des Prez’s Motet Qui velatus facie and the Canonization of St. Bonaventure in 1482”
Elena Busch, “Icelandic Feud: The Centerpiece of Functional Anarchy”
Rachel George, “Book Burning in the Medieval Mind An Examination of the Significance of Manuscript Destruction by Fire through the Lens of Medieval Crime and Punishment”
Erika Schumacher, “Evading and Curtailing Agency: Floris’s Development into the Masculine, Christian Subject”
Chelsea Wu, “Lancelot: Knight of the Cart and Lanval: The Narrative Function of Sexual Violence”
Susannah Wright, “Boethius and the Classical Tradition”
June Chen, “Joan of Arc and Charles VII”

Professor Brian Levack (John E. Green Regents Professor in History; Distinguished Teaching Professor, University of Texas Austin) was the respondent, and also gave a paper titled “Magna Carta and Anglo-American Constitutionalism.

The undergraduate conference has been an annual event at Rice now for several years, and it has been one of our most successful events. It is a day-long conference where undergraduate students who have written a paper in the past year for one of our Medieval and Early Modern Studies classes present their research for their peers and professors.

http://medieval.rice.edu/

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CARA News: Duke University

Posted on May 17, 2017 by Chris

The Duke University Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies concluded a 2016-17 year that was full of diverse programming for undergraduate students, graduate students, faculty, and other affiliates in the Research Triangle area of North Carolina. For details in a colorfully illustrated format, read the online Fall 2016 Newsletter at: http://us7.campaign-archive1.com/?u=66120d1948bae15272176fcab&id=a869d0192d; and the Winter/Spring 2017 Newsletter at: http://us7.campaign-archive2.com/?u=66120d1948bae15272176fcab&id=a90ef5b5af.

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MAA News – New MAA Policies and Programs

Posted on May 16, 2017 by Chris

We are pleased to announce several new initiatives approved by the Council of the Medieval Academy of America at its recent meeting in Toronto:

1) The Karen Gould Prize in Art History: The Gould Prize will be awarded annually for a book or monograph in medieval art history judged by the selection committee to be of outstanding quality. Books published in 2015 will be eligible for submission in the fall of 2017, with the inaugural Prize to be awarded at the 2018 Annual Meeting. The Prize will be adjudicated by the Gould Prize Committee, currently being assembled. The Gould Prize was endowed by Prof. Gould’s husband, Lewis Gould. More information here: https://medievalacademy.site-ym.com/page/GouldPrize

2) MAA/CARA Conference Grant for Regional Associations and Programs: The $1,000 MAA/CARA Conference Grant will be awarded annually to a regional or consortial Medieval Studies Program or Association to support an annual regional or consortial conference. The first round of applications will be accepted in the fall of 2017 for meetings taking place in 2018. More information here: http://www.medievalacademy.org/page/MAA CARA Grant

3) Digital Initiatives: For several years, the MAA Digital Initiatives Advisory Board has advised the Council and the Academy staff on digital initiatives and policies. Because digital humanities now permeates all aspects of our programming, the Council moved at its recent meeting to replace the Advisory Board with three permanent bodies, each of which will have specific mandates in different areas. We are extremely grateful to the members of DIAB for their counsel and hard work over the last several years that has been instrumental in bringing us to this juncture. The new initiatives are as follows:

a) New Speculum Review Editor: Speculum editor Sarah Spence has appointed a Speculum Review Editor responsible for digital humanities and multimedia studies, a new position that will facilitate the regular review of digital resources in future issues of Speculum. In addition to informing Speculum‘s readers about new developments in digital humanities, it is hoped that these reviews will help developers of medieval digital projects receive due credit for their work in promotion and tenure dossiers. Peter Stokes (King’s College London) has agreed to serve in this new position.

b) The Digital Humanities and Multimedia Studies Prize Committee: This new Committee, currently being assembled, will adjudicate the annual DHMS Prize and will function in accordance with our other prize committees (three members serving in rotation with the senior member serving as Chair).

c) The Digital Humanities and Multimedia Studies Committee: This new Committee, currently being assembled, will be responsible for: soliciting resources for the soon-to-be-launched Database of Medieval Digital Resources; conducting an annual audit of resources in the Database to ensure their continued viability; and regularly updating the MAA’s best-practices guidelines for digital resources (to be posted online soon).

It is our hope that these initiatives will help us increase support of our members by expanding recognition of published work, providing additional support to programs and associations, and acknowledging the many ways medievalists develop and use digital methodologies and tools.

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MAA News – MAA @ Kalamazoo

Posted on May 16, 2017 by Chris

Like many of you, we’ve just returned from another splendid Congress in Kalamazoo. Sarah Spence and Lisa Fagin Davis very much enjoyed chatting with current and potential members at our table in the exhibit hall. We are particularly pleased to welcome the new members who benefited from our annual “Fifty Free” program, in which we give away fifty one-year introductory memberships at Kalamazoo.

The Friday morning plenary, sponsored by the Academy, was delivered to a large crowd by Leor Halevi (Vanderbilt Univ.), who spoke on “Artifacts of the Infidel: Medieval and Modern Interpretations of the Sacred Law of Islam.” The lecture was live-Tweeted by Jonathan Hsy here: goo.gl/YKRJKF. The two related sessions were also well-attended, expanding on themes introduced in Prof. Halevi’s lecture.

The panelists in the MAA Graduate Student Committee roundtable “To ‘Gladly Teche’: Becoming Great Teachers in Graduate School” spoke about their own and ongoing experiences as students learning not only medieval content but how to teach effectively. The GSC reception immediately afterwards was lively and convivial. If you couldn’t join us this year, we hope you will come next year!

The Committee on Centers and Regional Associations (CARA) sponsored two panels. The first, “Teaching a Diverse and Inclusive Middle Ages,” featured important discussions about inclusion and diversity not only in curricula but also in the classroom and in teaching strategies. The Twitter-feed is here: goo.gl/FQ5JzX. The second session, “Career Diversity for Medievalists: Insights from Outside the Academy,” featured presentations by medievalists who leveraged their language, analytical, and other skills into career success and satisfaction outside academia. We hope that these important conversations will continue.

The thirty attendees of the annual CARA (Committee on Centers and Regional Associations) Luncheon participated in discussions of practical topics such as budgeting, fundraising, libraries, public advocacy, and improving medieval studies in K-12 curricula. Formal reports on these conversations will be posted to the Medieval Academy Blog in the coming weeks. If you want to participate in the networking and advisory opportunities afforded by CARA, please join us at the annual CARA Meeting (on the Sunday after the Annual Meeting) and at the CARA luncheon at the ICMS (on Friday of the Congress).

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MAA News – Medieval Academy Grants Awarded

Posted on May 16, 2017 by Chris

We are thrilled to announce the winners of the 2017 Dissertation Grants, Constable Awards, and Schallek Awards.

Dissertation Grants: The nine endowed and named Medieval Academy Dissertation Grants support advanced graduate students in medieval studies.

Carol Anderson (The Catholic University of America), “Sacred Histories: Remembering the Christian Past in Medieval Tuscany (1100-1500)” (Frederic C. Lane Dissertation Grant)

Adham Bayomi Azab (Columbia University), “Cum Dicit Auctoritas: Quotational Practice in Two Bilingual Treatises on Love by Gérard of Liège” (Etienne Gilson Dissertation Grant)

Elizabeth Hasseler (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), “Holy Kings: Royal Cult and the Making of Latin Christendom, c. 1000 – 1200” (Charles T. Wood Dissertation Grant)

Rebecca Anne Hill (University of California, Los Angeles), “The Estranging Metaphor in a Strange Land: The Translatio of Arabic Poetics at the Intersection of Science and Theology in Early Middle English Lyrics, 1150-1300” (Grace Frank Dissertation Grant)

Orsolya Mednyanszky (Johns Hopkins University), “Leben Jesu: A Pictorial Meditation on Christ’s Virtues in Late Medieval German Manuscripts” (E. K. Rand Dissertation Grant)

James Morton (University of California, Berkeley), “Byzantine Canon Law and Medieval Legal Pluralism: The Southern Italian Manuscripts (10th-14th Centuries)” (John Boswell Dissertation Grant)

Peter Joseph Raleigh (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), “Writing the Deeds of Kings: Historical Narrative and Royal Representation in Angevin England” (Helen Maud Cam Dissertation Grant)

Melanie Shaffer (University of Colorado Boulder), “The (Whole) St. Victor Manuscript: Meaning, Reception, and Use of Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, lat. 15139” (Hope Emily Allen Dissertation Grant)

Sarah Jane Sprouse (Texas Tech University), “Fantasies of Wales: Some Paleographic Evidence for the Mediating Role of Gerald of Wales” (Robert and Janet Lumiansky Dissertation Grant)

Olivia Remie Constable Awards: The five Constable Awards, presented in memory of Olivia Remie Constable, support the research of junior, contingent, or unaffiliated scholars:

Abigail Agresta (Queen’s College, Ontario), “‘Improvements, by God’s Mercy’: Natural Disaster Response and the Islamic Past in Late Medieval Valencia”

Emma O’Loughlin Bérat (Independent Scholar). “Female genealogies in medieval British literature”

Nahir Ivette Otaño Gracia (Independent Scholar), “The Other Faces of Arthur: Arthurian Texts in the Peripheries of Europe/Race and Medieval Studies”

Rebekah Perry (Oregon State University), “Men Behaving Badly: Violence Against Sacred Images and Municipal Punishment in the Late Medieval City”

Melissa Erica Vise (Independent Scholar), “Speech and Violence in Late Medieval Italy”

Schallek Awards: The five Schallek Awards, given in collaboration with the Richard III Society – American Branch, support graduate students conducting doctoral research in any relevant discipline dealing with late-medieval Britain (ca. 1350-1500).

Alison Felix Harper (University of Rochester), “Comparative Religious Reading Practices in Two Late Medieval London Miscellanies”

Heather Para (University of Wales Trinity St. David), “The dispersal and use of Welsh monastic lands after Dissolution and its effects on the Welsh gentry”

Melissa Reynolds (Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey), “Reading culture and book history of late medieval and early modern England”

Spencer Strub (University of California, Berkeley), “Disciplining the Tongue: Speech and Emotion in Later Middle English Poetry”

Sarah Wilma Watson (University of Pennsylvania), “Women, Reading, and Literary Culture: The Reception of Christine de Pizan in Fifteenth-Century England”

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Jobs for Medievalists

Posted on May 15, 2017 by Chris

Publications Manager at UCLA-CMRS
Requisition Number: 25897
Job Title: EDITOR, PRINCIPAL
Working Title: Publications Manager
Department Name: 0800MEDIEVAL & RENAISSANCE STUDIES CTR
Department Website URL: www.cmrs.ucla.edu

The Publications Manager is responsible for all aspects of the UCLA Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies (CMRS) publications program, including: negotiating agreements and contracts, identifying potential authors, contributors, or publishers; critically evaluating manuscript submissions and directing them to editorial board members or readers for peer review; editing, proofreading, and translating manuscripts for publication; and overseeing the publication production

from manuscript submission to the delivery of digital print-ready files to the publisher. CMRS’s internationally acclaimed publications include:

Viator: Medieval and Renaissance Studies (a scholarly journal published in three 400page issues per year);

Cursor Mundi: Viator Studies of the Medieval and Early Modern World (a series of book-length works, three to five volumes published per year);

Comitatus: A Journal of Medieval and Renaissance Studies (a graduate student journal published annually); and, the International Encyclopedia for the Middle Ages Online (approximately 100,000 words of text translated and edited per year).

As an integral member of the CMRS team, the Publications Manager works closely with: 1) the CMRS Director and faculty to develop and implement new publication projects and digital publishing initiatives, as well as to provide them with one-to-one editorial assistance; 2) the CMRS Assistant Director to plan publication-related budgets and programming; 3) the Program Coordinator to integrate publications into CMRS’s conferences and events; 4) the CMRS Publicity and Technical Specialist to promote CMRS publications through the web, social media, and other digital technologies; and 5) the CMRS Financial Analyst to process revenue deposits and royalty and payments to readers and assistant editors.

Detailed knowledge of one or more areas of research relevant to medieval, Renaissance, and/or early modern studies. PhD or the equivalent combination of education and experience. Required

Minimum of three years of experience editing for style, content, spelling, punctuation, and grammar. Required

Excellent written and oral English language skills, with expert knowledge of English grammar, spelling, and style. Required

Ability to critically evaluate manuscripts for content, value, logic, and accuracy. Required

Ability to critically evaluate manuscripts written in at least one language other than English (French, German, Italian, or Spanish preferred). Preferred

Working knowledge of Latin, French, and German. Preferred

Published author of articles or books relevant to medieval, Renaissance, or early modern studies. Preferred

Detailed knowledge of standard copyediting procedures to prepare manuscripts for publication. Required

Meticulous attention to detail and the ability to discern errors and inconsistencies in printed and digital content. Required

Utilize word processing and publication software (e.g., MSWord, InDesign, Adobe Acrobat, WordPress, etc.) with a high degree of competence. Required

Utilize software to prepare images and illustrations for publication. Required

Experience negotiating author’s agreements and publication contracts. Preferred

Ability to keep accurate records of publication sales, royalties, expenses, and subscriptions to stay within budget. Required

Knowledge of UCLA Sales and Service account budgeting and reporting requirements. Can be trained

Skill writing effective marketing and promotional copy to generate interest in publications and to expand customer base. Required

Excellent interpersonal skills to establish and maintain cooperative working relationships with faculty, students, authors, coworkers and staff. Required

Strong organizational skills and the ability to juggle multiple tasks. Required

Highly motivated and able to set priorities, meet deadlines, and problem solve independently. Required

Ability to work some evenings and weekends. Required

Ability to travel four or five times a year to professional meetings. Required

Application Deadline: 07112017

Quicklink To Posting: hr.mycareer.ucla.edu/applicants/Central?quickFind=70572

Special Instructions:

Please submit three (3) writing samples. Candidates may be required to complete an editing test if interviewed. The targeted salary range for this position is between $56,508 and $62,000 per year

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New Exhibition in HMML’s Reading Room: Fragmented Beauty

Posted on May 12, 2017 by Chris

New Exhibition in HMML’s Reading Room: Fragmented Beauty

COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. – Our knowledge of the past is often fragmented: ancient artifacts, historical documents, architectural ruins, and other important pieces of history speak to us in an incomplete state. Much of this fractional damage is the result of the ravages of history or natural processes. However, the fragmentation of manuscripts was and is often the direct consequence of human influence.

A new exhibition at the Hill Museum & Manuscript Library (HMML) at Saint John’s University, examines manuscript fragments. Fragmented Beauty features manuscripts that span a time period of over 1,500 years and are of European and non-European origin. The exhibition also explores key components of manuscript research, including content, script, and decoration. But beyond these considerations, the circumstances of fragmentation can also raise important questions about the texts themselves.

“Manuscripts were fragmented for a variety of reasons: to be reused in book bindings, for financial benefit, or to promote access,” said Dr. Matthew Heintzelman, co-curator of the exhibition and curator for HMML’s Austria-Germany Study Center and cataloger of rare books. “Although the practice was quite common for centuries, fragmentation is discouraged today, as it degrades the integrity of important historical items.”

The exhibition begins with a Coptic Psalter, one of the oldest items on display. Created in Upper Egypt in the 9^th century and discovered in the 1880s, the fragment contains text from the Book of Psalms, and is still legible over 1,000 years after its creation.

Several fragments of non-European origin, including a stunning and ornate fragment from the 18^th century are also included in the exhibition. Called a “carpet page,” the fragment is adorned with blue fringe decoration, detailed floral patterns, and gilding, and contains text from two Surahs in the Qur’an.

Investigation of items in the HMML’s collections and records produced an exciting discovery of two separate fragments that were once part of the same manuscript. Originally part of a set of 13^th-century Cistercian manuscripts, two identical fragments of St. Anne teaching the Virgin Mary to read exist in the HMML’s collections. One image is part of an album of manuscript cuttings, and the other is glued onto parchment.

Co-curated by Dr. Heintzelman and museum operations intern Molly Lax, the exhibit is free and open to the public in HMML’s Reading Room now through August 2017. The HMML entrance is located on the lower level of Alcuin Library; the Reading Room is open during regular Alcuin hours. Those wanting more information about visiting HMML should visit www.hmml.org or call 320-363-3514.

The Hill Museum & Manuscript Library’s mission is to identify, digitally photograph, catalog and archive endangered manuscripts belonging to threatened communities around the world. Having formed partnerships with over 540 libraries and archives, HMML has photographically preserved over 140,000 manuscripts from Europe, Africa, the Middle East and India.

HMML is currently preserving manuscript collections in many global sites, including Lebanon, Iraq, Jerusalem, Egypt, Mali and Malta. These resources are available through the recently launched vHMML, at www.vhmml.org, HMML’s new online environment for manuscript research. See more at www.hmml.org.