The Medieval Academy Blog

Peregrinatio pro amore Dei: Aspects of Pilgrimage
in the Middle Ages and Renaissance
June 12-14, 2014
Denver, Colorado

The Rocky Mountain Medieval and Renaissance Association invites panel and paper proposals on the conference theme, “Peregrinatio pro amore Dei: Aspects of Pilgrimage in the Middle Ages and Renaissance.”  The conference dates are June 12-14, 2014, and venue is SpringHill Suites Marriott in downtown Denver, CO, adjacent to the Metropolitan State University of Denver.

Pilgrimage to Christian holy sites and shrines was a mainstay of western European life throughout the medieval and Renaissance periods, and the journeys to places such as Canterbury, Santiago de Compostela, Assisi, Rome, and Jerusalem informed a devotional tradition that encouraged participation from all social classes, evoked commentary by chroniclers, playwrights, and poets, and inspired artistic, iconographic, and literary expressions.  Even when the faith-based culture of the Middle Ages began to transform into the more empirical (and experiential) centuries of the Renaissance and Protestant Reformations, pilgrimages were still very much on the minds of writers and geographers as a source of both inspiration and criticism (Spenser, Shakespeare, Milton, Bunyan, Hakluyt, and Raleigh).

The RMMRA Program Committee welcomes individual paper and panel proposals that address the conference theme from disciplines within the late antique, medieval, Renaissance, and Reformation periods (c. 4^th to 17^th Centuries). We invite all approaches, but special consideration will be given to those papers that attempt historical, literary, scientific, archaeological, and anthropological inquiries of pilgrimage, especially in the following subject areas:  holy sites & shrines; cults of relics and saints; salvific aspects (healing, science, medicine); gender studies; geographical reckoning (faith-based vs. empirical); theological promotion, dissuasion, and contestation; mystical and philosophical beliefs (and criticism); internationality; secular vs. clerical approaches; considerations about (and representations of) space; relevant aspects of communitas and liminality; travel and communication; and, finally, intellectual history.

AS ALWAYS, ALL PAPER AND SESSION PROPOSALS RELATED TO MEDIEVAL & RENAISSANCE STUDIES ARE WELCOME! (THEME NOT REQUIRED.)

Proposals for panels or abstracts for individual papers should be directed via email (Word, .pdf, or Rich Text) to one of the conference’s co-organizers: Kim Klimek (klimekk@msudenver.edu) and Todd Upton (tj_upton@icloud.com). Abstracts are due December 31, 2013.

The Third International Symposium on Crusade Studies
Saint Louis University
February 27 – March 1, 2014

Plenary Speakers
Christopher Tyerman, Oxford University
Adrian Boas, University of Haifa

CALL FOR PAPERS

World events continue to bring the subject of the Crusades to a place of prominence and importance. This surge of interest comes on the heels of a renaissance in Crusade scholarship that has greatly expanded our understanding of all aspects of the movement. While a western phenomenon, the Crusades also represented an interactive episode in which diverse cultures – western Christian, eastern Christian, Jewish, and Muslim, among others – came into contact, conflict, and collaboration.

The International Symposium on Crusade Studies is organized quadrennially by the Crusades Studies Forum at Saint Louis University to explore and inquire into these questions and dynamics. The Symposium provides a venue for scholars to approach the Crusades from many different perspectives, to present the fruits of new research, and to assess the current state of the field.

Twenty-minute scholarly papers on all topics related to the crusading movement are welcome Abstracts can be submitted by mail, fax, email. or online.  Submissions must be received by December 1, 2013.

For more information, go to http://crusades.slu.edu/symposium

Postgraduate Medieval Conference
CALL FOR PAPERS
20th Annual Postgraduate Medieval Studies Conference
21-22 February, 2014
Centre for Medieval Studies, University of Bristol, UK

DEPENDENCE/INDEPENDENCE

Keynote address by Dr. Alastair Macdonald (University of Aberdeen)

The University of Bristol hosts the longest-running international medieval postgraduate conference in the UK. This annual event offers medievalists the opportunity to present their research and discuss ideas in an interdisciplinary setting. This year, the conference will celebrate its 20^th anniversary, and proposals are invited for papers from postgraduates and early career scholars on the theme of “Dependence/Independence”.

The aim of this year’s conference is to consider the connections and relationships between people, entities, and institutions in the medieval world. We are interested in the way ideas of dependence and independence existed in the political sphere, the personal realm, the religious institutions, and beyond, as well as the influence of region, socio-economic status, gender and/or other factors upon these concepts. We welcome a wide range of discussion from a variety of disciplines and perspectives, from the literary and historic to the visual arts and the performative to explore how perception and practice of dependence/ independence influenced the medieval world and our understanding of it.

Topics may include but are not limited to:

• Political connections- local, national, and international
• Private relationships, public relationships
• Community connections
• Dependence and independence in monastic communities
• Trade and the economy
• Intellectual in/dependencies: schools and universities, scholars and students
• Patronage in the arts
• Performers and audiences
• Text and oral traditions

Papers must be no more than 20 minutes long. Papers welcome from current postgraduates and early career researchers.

Abstracts of 250-300 words should be sent by email (by preference) to Jenny Markey (jm8585@bris.ac.uk)

or by post:

Jenny Markey
103 Queen’s Road
Clifton, Bristol     BS8 1LL
UK

Deadline for applications: Friday 6^th December 2013