The Medieval Academy Blog

As the Medieval Academy marks its centenary, today’s members may be interested in learning about their counterparts a hundred years ago. The names of most of the first members and some information about them can now be found on the Academy’s website. Here is a brief report by the compiler of the list of first members, Jacqueline Brown: “The results of my research into the first members of the Medieval Academy are mixed. I wasn’t able to find all of the 761 people who had joined the Academy by the end of its first year, but I did come close: 656. Many of the names are still familiar ones to medievalists: the paleographer E. A. Lowe, the Chaucerian scholar John Matthews Manly, the art historian Arthur Kingsley Porter, the economic historian Eileen Power, the historian of science Lynn Thorndike, to cite only a very few. In its early days the Academy also attracted non-academics, among them the artists Charles Connick (stained glass), I. Kirchmayer (woodcarving), Vincent Tack (painting), and Charles Maginnis (architecture); the art collectors Henry Walters, founder of the Walters Art Museum, and Raymond Pitcairn, founder of Glencairn Museum, were members, as were the rare book dealers Lathrop C. Harper and W. M. Voynich. Some early members looked back on the Middle Ages as the best of times (see James J. Walsh, author of The Thirteenth, Greatest of Centuries); others disagreed (see almost anything written by G. G. Coulton). Today’s members may be surprised, as I was, to find two dukes among our predecessors (Alexander, Grand Duke of Russia; the duke of Berwick and Alba), while two other early members (H. W. L. Dana and John Brooks Wheelwright) were left-wing activists, and another (Margaret Schlauch) fled the US during McCarthyism. In a category by himself is Bernard Fuller, an Illinois priest when he joined the Academy who faked his death a year later and started a new life as a professor of German at Amherst College. Some of the first members remain total mysteries to me, Joseph M. Wallace of the Wallace Studio in Brooklyn, for example, about whom I know only his name and address. The fragmentary information I found about others, Childéric Hill of Leicestershire, for example, left me wanting to know more about them. I hope today’s members will find their predecessors interesting. My project isn’t finished—there are still 105 first-year members to identify—and I would be grateful for corrections, additions, and leads to new sources.”

Robert L. Kindrick–CARA Award for Outstanding Service to Medieval Studies: The Medieval Academy of America’s Committee on Centers and Regional Associations (CARA) invites nominations for its annual service prize. The Robert L. Kindrick–CARA Award for Outstanding Service to Medieval Studies recognizes Academy members who have provided leadership in developing, organizing, promoting, and sponsoring medieval studies through their administrative work—work that is critical to the health of medieval studies, but that often goes unrecognized by the profession at large. This award of $1000 is presented at the Annual Meeting of the Medieval Academy. The annual deadline for nominations is 15 November; please note that three nominators are required, all of whom should have first-hand knowledge of the nominee’s contributions to Medieval Studies. For more information, please visit the CARA Service Award web page.

CARA Award for Excellence in Teaching: The Medieval Academy’s Committee on Centers and Regional Associations (CARA) invites nominations for its annual teaching prize, which recognizes outstanding pedagogical achievement by Medieval Academy members. This can include:

• teaching inspiring courses at the undergraduate or graduate levels;

• creating innovative teaching materials (including textbooks);

• developing courses and curricula;

• scholarship of teaching and learning (including presentations at conferences as well as publications)

• support for K-12 pedagogy and curricula;

• community-oriented or publicly-directed educational initiatives.

Normally, one prize is given for undergraduate and one prize for graduate teaching, each in the amount of $1000. These will be presented at the Annual Meeting of the Medieval Academy. The annual deadline for nominations is 15 November. For more information, please visit the CARA Teaching Award web page.

2026 Baldwin Fellowship
Deadline 15 November
Birgit Baldwin Fellowship

The Birgit Baldwin Fellowship in French Medieval History provides a grant of $20,000 to support a graduate student in a North American university who is researching and writing a significant dissertation for the Ph.D. on any subject in French medieval history that can be realized only by sustained research in the archives and libraries of France. The fellowship helps defray research and living expenses for the equivalent of an academic year of study. It may be renewed for a second year upon demonstration of satisfactory progress.

Applications must be submitted by 15 November 2025 for funding beginning in September 2026. Please note that applicants must be members in good standing at the time of application. Click here for more information and to apply.

We are very pleased to announce our new partnership with the American Trust for the British Library! MAA grantwinners who need to conduct research at the British Library will now be eligible for an additional $2,500 Fellowship from ATBL to support that research. When you apply for an MAA grant, you may check a box indicating your interest in being considered for this supplementary Fellowship, should your MAA application be funded. We are extremely grateful to the ATBL for supporting our members in such a generous way!

Self-Nominate for MAA Committee Service:
Nomination forms due Dec. 1

Volunteer committee service is critically important to our mission, and we welcome your expertise and efforts. Even if you have already checked the relevant box on your MAA Member Profile page or you self-nominated for service last year, please confirm your specific area of interest and provide additional information by filling out this form to self-nominate for committee service in the upcoming cycle. You may also nominate a colleague.

See our FAQ page for information about how Committee members are selected. Committee members seated in the upcoming cycle will begin their three-year term of service in March 2025.

Click here for more information and to submit a nomination.

Thank you for your interest!

Integrating Gaming into the Medieval Classroom (on Zoom), with Lucy Barnhouse (Arkansas State), Jay Diehl (Long Island University—CW Post), Catherine Twomey (University of Nebraska–Lincoln), and more!

4pm-5pm EST on Thursday 11/13/25

Looking to teach the Middle Ages in new and fun ways? Interested in immersive active learning approaches in the classroom? Have you struggled with student engagement and AI-written assignments? Join CARA members of the Medieval Academy to discuss the use of student-centric games in specialized medieval as well as premodern units of survey courses. Panelists will briefly present how they have developed and integrated roleplaying games—such as Reacting to the Past—into their courses with substantial time for discussion and questions to follow. This panel and discussion will consider broad pedagogical approaches as well as practical how-tos in time for next semester’s course planning.

Please click here to register.

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The Inclusivity and Diversity Committee is proud to present the work of our annual prize winners.

Is that Burning Love or is it Hellfire?”: Sultan, Saint, Race & Conversion in Fourteenth- & Fifteenth-Century “Trial by Fire” Scenes
Tirumular Narayanan
November 14, 2025 3pm-4pm (EST)

Giotto’s well-known fresco in the Bardi Chapel depicts the “Trial by Fire” episode from Bonaventure’s Legenda Maior. The scene recounts a purported interaction between Francis and the Sultan when the Saint attempts to convert the Islamic ruler during the Fifth Crusade. Previous scholarship as well as contemporary interfaith dialogues have lionized this meeting as an example of cross-confessional tolerance. Resisting these interpretations, this paper focuses on the inherent racializing narrative in the visualization of this scene which centers on the Sultan’s failure to convert rather than Francis’ inability to convince him. I argue that in the fourteenth- and fifteenth- century geopolitical context Latin Christian viewers would understand the fresco and similar depictions as representations of the Sultan’s inevitable infernal destination. If the desired Christianization of the Sultan could not have a glimmer of possibility, even in the visual imagination, then he and his co-religionists could not truly function as human.

Click here to Register.

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“Trans Studies as Book Historical Method”
JD Sargan
December 5, 2025, 12pm-1pm (EDT)

Archival collections are political spaces: the decisions that govern whose histories are preserved, when, and by whom are not neutral. They reflect the communities that make them. For most of western history queer, trans, and gender non-conforming people were excluded from such communities. As a result, the experiences of premodern gender-divergent people went largely unreported and reconstructing such histories relies on the piecing together of ephemeral glimpses. Tackling these limitations requires generative modes of reading through the archive to seek out trans lives beyond the trace. Literary scholars have developed tactics and tools to read through such traces, but how do we move beyond the limits of the trace to uncover a more expansive history of premodern gender non-conformity?

Click here to Register.

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Digital Humanities Showcase
21 November, 1-2 PM ET

As part of the celebrations for the MAA’s Centennial Year, the Digital Humanities and Multimedia Studies Committee and the Graduate Student Committee have partnered to organize a year-long series of webinars showcasing exciting DH projects. Each session will feature a moderated discussion of two recent/ongoing DH projects followed by an audience Q&A. Beyond highlighting a diverse array of new and exciting projects in Medieval Studies, this series will also serve as an opportunity to share ideas and best practices within the medieval DH community.

Final Session:
Friday, November 21, 1-2 pm ET (10-11 am PT) : Immersive Realms (Elina Gertsman); and AnyBook Experience (Sabina Zonno and Lynn Dodd)

Click here to Register.

The 101st annual Meeting of the Medieval Academy of America will take place on March 19–21, 2026 on the campuses of the University of Massachusetts Amherst and Amherst College, and will also include events at Mt. Holyoke College and Smith College. Hosted by the Five College Consortium, the theme of the meeting is “Consortiums and Confluences.” The program will bring together scholars from a wide range of disciplinary backgrounds addressing the medieval world and critical topics in Medieval Studies. Our plenary lectures will be given by Elly Truitt (Associate Professor of History and Sociology of Science at the University of Pennsylvania), Peggy McCracken (President of the Medieval Academy of America and Professor of French, Women’s Studies, and Comparative Literature at the University of Michigan), and Jesús Rodríguez-Velasco (Augustus R. Street Professor of Spanish & Portuguese and Comparative Literature at Yale University). We are excited to welcome you to Amherst, MA, and its environs, and look forward to meeting you, learning from you, and celebrating our shared commitment to Medieval Studies. Watch this space for program and registration information in the coming months: 
https://maa2026.wordpress.amherst.edu/