The Medieval Academy Blog

Call for papers (deadline: September 15)

“Citing Authorities in the Middle Ages” at the 53rd International Congress on Medieval Studies (May 10-13, 2018), organized by Elizabeth C. Teviotdale and sponsored by the Medieval Institute, Western Michigan University

Medieval Christian authors and scribes cited the sources for information and ideas, often the Bible and works of the patristic fathers, in a variety of ways. Famously, the Carolingian theologian Paschasius Radbertus named his patristic sources in the prologue to his treatise on the Eucharist, and for much of the manuscript tradition, some (but curiously not all) of those authors were identified as sources of particular ideas by shortened names (AM, HIL, etc.) in the margins of the treatise. Authorities for ideas in medieval texts were often identified not by name at all but by sobriquet, as was the case for Averroes, so often referred to simply as “the commentator. ” This session seeks to bring together papers exploring aspects of attribution in medieval texts and manuscripts.

submissions to: e.teviotdale@att.net

Pictor/Miniator: Working across media, 1250–1500
Schoenberg Institute for Manuscript Studies Sponsored Session
at the 53^rd International Congress on Medieval Studies
Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, May 10-13, 2018

The multimedia fluidity of artists and artisans in the later Middle Ages is an area ripe for investigation. Across diverse regions in Europe and beyond, many illuminators, both named and anonymous, engaged in forms of art-making in addition to the decoration of manuscript books. Some painted frescoes, panels, and ephemera, while others provided designs and supervised the production of stained glass, enamels, tapestries, and other objects. With some frequency, those who specialized in other media were in turn called upon to illuminate books. While modern studies have focused on individual examples of such multi-media talent, the broader implications of this intermedial fluency remain obscure: within the wider art-historical canon, manuscript illumination as an art form is largely seen as derivative or prone to influence from large-scale media.

This session seeks to re-examine the relationship between manuscript illumination and other fields of artistic endeavor in the later Middle Ages. How did artists themselves consider the differing characteristics and ontologies of these varied supports? How did painters adapt their style and working method when engaging with other media and other categories of object? Did the presence of local guild regulations curtail or encourage multi-media practice, and how did this compare region-to-region or to contexts outside of Western Europe? Beyond evident differences in scale, pricing, and technique, interesting issues arise regarding patronage and audience: how different was the clientele for manuscripts compared to that for painting, for example? How did the relative accessibility and visibility of differing art forms affect the visual solutions achieved? Is a book-bound image “freer” or more experimental than a publically visible one?

The session asks these and other questions relevant to those studying the social contexts of art production, the dynamics of reception, materiality, and the technical characteristics of objects. It seeks to be open-minded in terms of methodological approach, and aims to bring together scholars working on diverse material, in order to initiate a larger conversation that can impact the discipline of art history as a whole.

Please send proposals with a one-page abstract and a completed Participant Information Form (http://www.wmich.edu/medievalcongress/submissions) to Nicholas Herman (hermanni@upenn.edu) by 20 September 2017.

Medieval Unfreedoms: Slavery, Servitude, and Trafficking in Humans before the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade

October 19 – 20, 2018

Across the medieval world (c. 500 — c. 1500), multiple forms and degrees of unfreedom—slavery, serfdom, forced concubinage, coerced labor, captivity, and bondage—co-existed. Slaves and other unfree people made crucial, but often obscured, marks on societies that accorded them varying degrees of power even as they constrained and exploited them. Trade in humans tied together distinct cultural zones, religions, and geographic regions. Shifting definitions of freedom and unfreedom shaped evolving social systems, and helped to shape developing concepts of race, ethnicity, social status, and cultural difference and belonging from Iberia to Ethiopia and from Iceland to Persia and beyond. Scholars have long pondered the decline of an ancient Roman slave society and the legacy of both Roman and late-medieval forms of unfreedom for the emergence of the trans-Atlantic slave trade (and the concomitant transformation of slavery) and of colonial systems of race, power, and government. This interdisciplinary conference, hosted by the Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies (CEMERS) at Binghamton University, seeks to bring together scholars whose research relates to unfreedom before the advent of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. We hope to foster conversations across traditional disciplinary boundaries about the definitions, cultural significance, and evolution of unfreedom in disparate parts of the medieval world. How does examining conceptions of freedom and unfreedom inform our understanding of medieval cultures? What is the legacy of medieval definitions of liberty and bondage? We particularly welcome comparative perspectives on unfreedom across religious and geographical frontiers.

We invite papers from a variety of disciplinary and methodological perspectives on any topic related to medieval unfreedom, including:

*      Forms of unfreedom after the end of ancient slavery and on cultural frontiers

*      Unfreedom in the Byzantine, Islamic, and Latin Christian worlds

*      Trafficking in humans across political and religious frontiers

*      Concepts of humanity, race, ethnicity, religion, and freedom

*      Gender, sexuality, and unfreedom

*      The interaction between slaving zones and centers of power

*      The unfree at royal and aristocratic courts

*      Textual and artistic unfreedoms

*      Law, rights, and unfree status

*      Manumission, social capital, and social mobility

*      Varieties of coerced and unfree labor

*      Raiding, piracy, and unfreedom

*      Resistance and rebellion against bondage

Abstracts for individual papers and for sessions are invited. Papers should be 20 minutes in length. Send abstracts to cemers@binghamton.edu. For information, contact Elizabeth Casteen (ecasteen@binghamton.edu).

Deadline: May 1, 2018

The Mary Jaharis Center for Byzantine Art and Culture seeks proposals for a Mary Jaharis Center sponsored session at the 25th International Medieval Congress, University of Leeds, July 2–5, 2018. We invite session proposals on any topic relevant to Byzantine studies.

The thematic strand for the 2018 IMC is “Memory.” See the IMC Call for Papers (https://www.leeds.ac.uk/ims/imc/imc2018_call.html) for additional information about the theme and suggested areas of discussion.

Session proposals should be submitted through the Mary Jaharis Center website (https://maryjahariscenter.org/sponsored-sessions/25th-imc). The deadline for submission is September 1, 2017. Proposals should include:

**Title

**100-word session abstract

**Session moderator and academic affiliation

**Information about the three papers to be presented in the session. For each paper: name of presenter and academic affiliation, proposed paper title, and 100-word abstract

**CV

Successful applicants will be notified by mid-September if their proposal has been selected for submission to the International Medieval Congress. The Mary Jaharis Center will submit the session proposal to the International Medieval Congress and will keep the potential organizer informed about the status of the proposal.

If the proposed session is approved, the Mary Jaharis Center will reimburse session participants (presenters and moderator) up to $600 maximum for European residents and up to $1200 maximum for those coming from outside Europe. Funding is through reimbursement only; advance funding cannot be provided. Eligible expenses include conference registration, transportation, and food and lodging. Receipts are required for reimbursement.

The session organizer may act as the moderator or present a paper. Participants may only present papers in one session.

Please contact Brandie Ratliff (mjcbac@hchc.edu), Director, Mary Jaharis Center for Byzantine Art and Culture with any questions.

CFP FOR AN EDITED COLLECTION:
Architectural Representation in the European Middle Ages
Edited by Hannah Bailey, Karl Kinsella, and Daniel Thomas

The architectural remnants of the Middle Ages—from castles and cathedrals to village churches—provide many people’s first point of contact with the medieval period and its culture. Such concrete survivals provide a direct link to the material experience of medieval people. At the same time, exploring the ways in which architecture was conceptualized and depicted can contribute to our understanding of the ideological and imaginative worldview of the period.

This volume seeks to investigate all aspects of architectural representation in the medieval period, encompassing actual, symbolic, or imaginary architectural features, whether still standing today, observable in the archaeological record, or surviving only through depiction in literature or art. Topics of interest might include (but are not limited to) the social and symbolic value of architecture, architectural metaphor or imagery, architecture in visual representations, architecture in the depiction of other spaces, memory and architecture, and architectural style.

The volume is interdisciplinary in outlook and we welcome contributions from across the spectrum of academic disciplines, including literature, history, art, theology, and archaeology.

Please send abstracts of no more than 250 words, with a brief biographical blurb, to the editors at: architecturalrepresentations@gmail.com by 1^st November, 2017.