Medieval Art Research

CFP: Early Career Workshop in Medieval Intellectual History, All Soul’s College, Oxford, 22 March 2018

CfP: Early Career Workshop in Medieval Intellectual History, All Soul’s College, Oxford, 22 March 2018
Deadline: 30 November 2017

Early career scholars, including current and recent PhD students, are warmly invited to submit a proposal for a brief presentation on their research of 10-15 minutes. The workshop will be held in the Old Library at All Soul’s College, Oxford and is organized by Dr Lydia Schumacher, Visiting Fellow at the College, Senior Lecturer in Medieval Philosophy and Theology at King’s College London, and Principal Investigator of a European Research Council project titled, ‘Authority and Innovation in Early Franciscan Thought.’ A certain number of spaces will be reserved for participants from Oxford University and King’s College London, but submissions are welcome from members of any other university. To propose a paper, please submit an abstract of up to 200 words by 30 November 2017 to Tom J. Savage (thomas.savage@kcl.ac.uk)

Funding: Shohet Scholars Grant Program 2018/19, International Catacomb Society

Funding: Shohet Scholars Grant Program 2018/19, International Catacomb Society
Various Locations, July 01, 2018
Application deadline: January 15, 2018

The Shohet Scholars Grant Program of the International Catacomb Society is now accepting applications to the Shohet Scholars cohort of 2018-2019. Submission deadline is January 15, 2018.

This annual grant program funds research on the Ancient Mediterranean from the Hellenistic Era to the Early Middle Ages. Shohet Scholars may do their research in the fields of archeology, art history, classical studies, history, comparative religions, or related subjects. Of special interest are interdisciplinary projects that approach traditional topics from new perspectives.

One or more Shohet Scholars will be selected each year. The primary intent of the grant is to support significant, innovative research that can be completed and reported upon within and shortly after the award period. Grants may be made to seed innovative approaches and new ideas or to cover specific expenses or phases of a larger project under the direction of the applicant. At this time, awards in the range of $2,000 to $30,000 will be made. The Shohet Scholars Program reserves the right not to make a grant in a year in which there are no applications meeting the requirements of the program. A complete history of past and present Shohet Scholars awards is available on the ICS webpage, www.catacombsociety.org.

Eligibility
Scholars of all institutional affiliations and independent scholars may apply for Shohet Scholar funding if they are individual or institutional members of the ICS at the time of the application submission deadline of January 15, 2018 and in possession of a doctoral degree or the equivalent. Preference will be given to applicants in the early postdoctoral or launching stage of their careers (i.e., persons awarded the doctorate within six years prior to the application deadline).

Non-U.S. citizens may apply if a co-applicant is a legal resident or native or naturalized citizen of the U.S.A., meets all eligibility requirements, and has a genuinely collaborative and credited leadership role in the proposal. Co-applicants must submit as individuals all the necessary forms except for the research proposal, list of permissions, and budget proposal, which may be filed jointly.

Employees, contractors, and members of the Board of Directors or Advisory Board of the ICS and their families are ineligible. No applicant will be denied consideration or selection because of race, religion, or ethnic origin. Any fraudulent misrepresentation of self and information about a proposal will result in a disqualification.

Reporting Requirements
Shohet Scholar grant recipients are expected to: 1. acknowledge the Shohet Scholars Program of the International Catacomb Society in all publications and activities that are funded in part or in whole with the award with direct notification to the Society when these events occur and 2. provide the Shohet Scholarship Committee no later than three months after the end of the fellowship year with a brief, illustrated report of the work carried out or in course, suitable for publication on the ICS website.

Deadlines and Decisions
The application deadline for the 2018-2019 academic year is January 15, 2018. The award announcement for the 2018-2019 academic year will be made by May 1, 2018, for funding to be disbursed on July 1, 2018. Please note: starting in 2018, all funding is awarded directly to the USA-based awardee, for distribution among project co-applicants and collaborators. The ICS will no longer wire or transfer money to bank accounts outside of the USA.

Questions ?
If you have any questions about the suitability of proposed projects, application procedures, or any other matters related to the Shohet Scholars Program, please consult our FAQ page or contact us at shohetscholars@catacombsociety.org.

CFP: Walking with saints, Ronse, Belgium, 24-16 May 18

Call for Papers: Walking with saints, Ronse, Belgium, May 24 – 26, 2018
Deadline: Dec 10, 2017

Walking with saints: protection, devotion and civic identity. The role of the landscape.

Since the adoption of the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2003, the issue of cultural practices has increasingly gained the attention of heritage professionals, academics, decision makers and practitioners alike. Many practices, rituals, performances, social traditions, craftsmanship and more have since been put on the list of Intangible Cultural Heritage. However, despite the growing interest in the social dimensions of cultural heritage and the recognition of the importance of the intangible aspects of heritage, many issues still need further reflection. A crucial aspect is the interaction and relationship between intangible cultural heritage and its spatial contexts. This is part of a broader “spatial turn” in historiography and research.
For centuries people in Europa and elsewhere have walked the landscape carrying the relics of martyrs and saints. By doing so they gave meaning to and altered the significance of the land, be it urban or natural, in more ways than we imagine. One of these aspects is the way in which the landscape is transformed by walking it, thus setting paths, reinforcing boundaries, strengthening a community’s identity in relation to a certain landscape or setting the pace of life according to the repetition of the traditional acts in time.
“Walking with saints: protection, devotion and civic identity” focusses on the origin and evolution of procession rites with a strong link with the landscape. This conference, therefore, aims at studying the religious landscape, be it a specific spot or a larger territory, not as the mere spatial background for spiritual activities, but as an active agent in the shaping, transmission and transformation of the spiritual activity of human beings throughout time. Hence, we invite also reflections on developments in the 19th and 20th centuries when a rediscovering of the past, both within and outside the Christian churches, was en vogue and when new ways of looking at the natural landscape were moulded in the aftermath of the industrialisation of the economy.

Though the starting point is an activity that is typical for Europe, we are interested in broadening the perspective to non-Christian and non-Western traditions that have an important connection with the landscape in which they are performed. It is generally known, for example, that the landscape and natural phenomena play an important role in the traditions of indigenous cultures in Australia, the Americas and Africa. In Asia walking with the statues of gods is a common, though little understood, phenomenon. It is to be expected that these traditions can broaden our understanding of the role of the landscape in the development and sustainability of immaterial heritage.

Papers are invited that deal with the following themes of the conference:
• Sacralisation of the landscape: alteration, destruction and resistance
• Immaterial heritage: religion and landscape
• Perennial aspect of immaterial heritage
• Immaterial heritage and community building: identity, assimilation, integration
• Healing saints in their territorial context
• The influence of processions on the landscape and on the drawing of parochial and city boundaries
• Processions, pilgrimages and the senses
• Healing saints, magic and assimilation

The starting point for the conference and the reason why it is held in Ronse is the Fiertel Ommegang. This procession originates from around 1090 A.D. and is yearly held on Trinity Sunday. During a walk of 32, 6 km the inhabitants of Ronse circumscribe the territorial boundaries of the city carrying Saint Hermes’s relics for protection and cure. For ages, the Fiertel has been one of the most important religious activities in the region and it has to date remained a strong symbol of the inhabitant’s civic identity even in times of secularization.
This 3 day conference will be hosted by the city of Ronse and is part of an assessment of the local Fiertel procession as a possible candidate for recognition as UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage.

Please submit papers for individual sessions no later than December 10 2017.
Proposals should include
– A paper title of max. 10 words
– A paper abstract of max. 350 words
– A short C.V. of max. 1000 words including current current affiliation and full contact details
All documents should be merged into 1 single PDF file.
Proposals should be sent to papers@wws2018.com

Call for complete session proposals

While the sessions proposed by the conference organisers focus on the western European and Christian traditions we welcome complete session proposals on related themes covering non-Western and non-Christian traditions.
The aim of the conference is not only to study the Fiertel in its local context, but also to trace traditions and rituals which are cross-confessional and transcultural. We hope that this reflection and dialogue will help us to understand the origins of the Fiertel, as a ritual and spiritual quest outdating Christianity.

Full session proposal are to be submitted by December 10 2017.

Proposal should include:
– A session title of max. 10 words
– A session proposal of max. 350 words
– 3 individual paper proposals consisting out of a title of max. 10 words and an abstract of max. 350 words each.
– A CV of max. 1000 words for each: the session organizer and the session participants. The CV should include information on the current affiliation and full contact details.

All documents have to be merged into 1 PDF file.

Proposals should be sent to papers@wws2018.com

CFP: L’architecture gothique. Entre réception et invention. Impact, continuité et réinterprétation (XIIe – XXe siècle), Centre André Chastel, Paris, 10 March 2018

Call for Papers: L’architecture gothique. Entre réception et invention. Impact, continuité et réinterprétation (XIIe – XXe siècle), Centre André Chastel, Paris, 10 March 2018
Deadline: 15 November 2017
L’une des définitions les plus correctes du terme « gothique » est celle qui interprète ce phénomène architectural non comme l’expression d’une période historique mais comme un système structurel, défini en Ile-de-France à partir du milieu du XIIe siècle. Les connaissances techniques déjà expérimentées à l’époque romane sont alors intégrées dans une relation consciente entre structures portantes et structures portées, en obtenant de nouveaux effets esthétiques et symboliques.

Entre la fin du XIIe et le XIIIe siècle, l’architecture gothique se développe en Europe, particulièrement en Angleterre, Allemagne, Espagne, Italie, Hongrie et Bohème et entre en contact avec les traditions constructives locales, notamment grâce à l’activité des ordres monastiques. La synthèse entre la réception de modèles existants et l’invention de nouvelles expressions artistiques donne naissance à des œuvres neuves créées dans des contextes historiques, géographiques et socio-culturels différents par rapport au contexte français.

En Italie, par exemple, la leçon du gothique français, transmise principalement par les cisterciens, est ensuite assimilée par les ordres mendiants et, en Italie méridionale, par Frédéric II et finalement par les Angevins. Cependant, le gothique italien ne développe pas l’audace structurelle qui fut, en France, à l’origine d’un formidable élan vertical des parois et de l’effet de lux continua. Cette différence est à la fois due à la persistance de techniques constructives traditionnelles dans la filiation de l’architecture paléochrétienne et à l’impossibilité d’appliquer la technique de l’arc-boutant dans une zone fortement sismique.

Au même titre, en France, entre le début du XVe et le milieu du XVIe siècle, l’art gothique flamboyant se mêle à la tradition de la Renaissance importée d’Italie : si l’ossature des églises reste « gothique » même lorsque les formes ornementales assimilent des caractères à l’antique, l’originale rationalité structurelle est en grande partie perdue. La persistance des formes flamboyantes dans l’architecture de la Renaissance française est un phénomène intéressant qui révèle l’importance et l’influence de la tradition gothique.

Plus tardivement et à titre d’exemple, au XIXe siècle le phénomène des revivals historicistes atteste la reprise du langage gothique en Europe. Une telle tendance s’imposa d’abord en Grande-Bretagne puis se diffusa dans d’autres pays européens, parallèlement à l’intense activité de restauration des monuments médiévaux : en France c’est surtout Eugène Viollet-le-Duc qui en souligna la rationalité constructive. Le néogothique, devenu désormais partie intégrante de l’éclectisme historiciste, constitue une source fondamentale pour l’art nouveau jusqu’au début du XXe siècle.

La journée sera par conséquent consacrée à une réflexion sur la réception de l’architecture gothique comme langage flexible, à même de créer de nouvelles formes artistiques : l’objectif est de conduire l’historien de l’art et de l’architecture à enquêter sur la portée et l’influence de ce phénomène dans des contextes différents de celui d’origine. La journée vise ainsi à élargir l’analyse aux questions historiques, politiques, culturelles et urbaines, en fonction des objectifs des commanditaires et en établissant des liens entre aspects structurels, fonctionnels et formels. La journée doctorale sera l’occasion de partager les réflexions méthodologiques, les problématiques et les résultats des recherches en histoire de l’architecture de doctorants et jeunes docteurs de formations et de pays divers.

La série de thématiques suivante est destinée à suggérer des domaines et directions de recherche et n’a que valeur indicative :
– Techniques et matériaux de l’Architecture gothique : innovations structurelles, continuité et rupture avec le passé
– Cathédrale gothique et différentes formes locales en France
– Gothique français et sa diffusion en Europe
– Gothique flamboyant et Renaissance : dialectique entre survivances structurelles et décor « à l’antique »
– Réception du Gothique après le Gothique : survivance et renouveau néogothique
– L’architecture gothique, sa restauration ou sa réutilisation contemporaine
– L’architecture gothique intégrée dans les autres formes de l’art visuels (peinture, gravure, sculpture), sémantique visuelle et revival.

La journée donnera la priorité aux interventions des doctorants et jeunes docteurs. Elle se déroulera le 10 mars 2018 au Centre André Chastel (INHA, 2, rue Vivienne, 75002 Paris).

How to apply: Les propositions de communication (300 mots maximum), en français ou en anglais, accompagnées d’un bref curriculum vitae (2 pages maximum), sont à envoyer, le 15/11/2017 au plus tard, à Camilla Ceccotti et Emanuele Gallotta aux adresses suivantes :
camilla.ceccotti@uniroma1.it
emanuele.gallotta@uniroma1.it

10 Doctoral Fellowships in the a.r.t.e.s. EUmanities-Programme

10 Doctoral Fellowships in the a.r.t.e.s. EUmanities-Programme
Deadline: November 3, 2017
csm_eumanities_rgb_2680d6c349 a.r.t.e.s. EUmanities is a pioneering programme for a European Graduate School for the Humanities, co-funded by the European Union and the University of Cologne as part of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (Horizon 2020: MSCA). Central to this programme are its interdisciplinary approach and obligatory mobility phase.

Designed to meet the needs of individual Early Stage Researchers (ESRs) in the Humanities, beginning in April 2018 a.r.t.e.s. EUmanities provides places for up to 10 ESRs, training young scholars to excel in research and cope with the global challenges Europe is facing. Our mission is to empower ESRs in the Humanities to become aware of their pivotal role in shaping the future of Europe.

ESR positions have a duration of 36 months per person. The ESRs will be employed full-time by the a.r.t.e.s. Graduate School (living allowance EUR 3,073 less tax deductions and employer’s contribution to social insurance plus a monthly paid mobility allowance and additional travel and, if applicable, family allowances). The employment conditions include social benefit payments such as health insurance, unemployment insurance, pension contributions and parental benefits. Please note that, in general, the a.r.t.e.s. Graduate School is not able to cover tuition fees for the institution chosen for the obligatory mobility phase.

The ESRs of a.r.t.e.s. EUmanities are enrolled in the structured doctoral model of the a.r.t.e.s. Graduate School, the “Integrated Track”, according to two international mobility options. ESRs may apply for:

• “a.r.t.e.s. EU”: the European fellowship at a.r.t.e.s. EUmanities

• “a.r.t.e.s. global”: the global fellowship at a.r.t.e.s. EUmanities

a.r.t.e.s. EUmanities is funded by the Universität zu Köln and the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 713600.

For more information on the application procedures and requirements, please visit www.artes.uni-koeln.de pr contact us via e-mail: artes-EUmanities@uni-koeln.de.

CFP: 15th Annual Conference of the International Medieval Society-Paris (IMS): Truth and Fiction, 28-30 June 2018

Call for Papers: 15^th Annual Conference of the International Medieval Society-Paris (IMS), Truth and Fiction
Deadline: 24 November 2017.

In the wake of the US presidential election and the Brexit referendum, the Oxford English Dictionary chose the expression “post-truth” as its word of the year. This expression underlines the growing tendency to dismiss objective facts in favor of impulsive—and often prejudicial—feelings, frequently supported by “alternative facts.” The contentious relationship between the truth and lies, or truth and fiction, which is currently playing out in the public arena has, in fact, a long-standing legacy—one which can be traced back to the Middle Ages. For this reason, this year’s IMS conference seeks to investigate the variety of different approaches to truth and fiction that existed in the Middle Ages.

One possible avenue of inquiry concerns new ideas of Truth introduced by the Gregorian reforms. On a philosophical and doctrinal level, the idea of the infallibility of the Pope, the “Doctor of Truth,” was introduced by Gregory VII who, taking up the words of Christ, contended that he was the Truth (via, veritas, et vita). From a liturgical and sacramental point of view, on the other hand, we can study contemporary tenets of Eucharistic doctrine as a challenge to common sense as a mystery of human understanding—albeit articulated in rationalist terms. Papers thus might address the manner by which the Gregorian reforms placed the question of truth at the center of the demands of society: by constructing this “ideology of truth,” but also—and above all—by implementing mechanisms like preaching, which spread Truth to Christians, and confession, which introduced the obligation to speak the truth. We are particularly interested in the place and the role of Fictions in these devices (sermons, exempla, vita, etc.).

A second approach to this theme is through language, discourse and narrative forms that aimed to produce a supposed truth. We could examine the relationships between literature and history and their ambiguity with respect to the truth. For example, fictionalized historical narratives throughout the medieval period were frequently thought to be true because they provided a means of decrypting the social order. As John of Salisbury wrote, “even the lies of poets served the Truth.” Papers might explore relationships between truth and fiction through the lens of historical and literary genres (novels, epics, etc.) and the ‘truths’ they produced, placing special emphasis on the way that it was possible to believe the facts related in these works. The importance of these historico-literary fictions—what Paul Veyne called “doctrine in the face of facts”—might also be taken into account.

Law and rhetoric also construct notions of truth. Rhetoric permits the control of the relationship between the author and the audiences of a text and the establishment of the status of a text as veridic, among other things. It can even create direct links between music and words, using metaphor as a means of approaching the truth. Papers could consider, for instance, the virtuosity of the effects of Truth produced by the dictamen or even the quaestio scholastique as a method for establishing Truth with certitude, as well as the place of fiction within these new political languages.

Images throughout the medieval period play a fundamental role in the construction or undermining of truth(s). According to Augustine, the image is not truth, but rather a means of understanding Truth. For him, the work of art renders abstractions concrete using representations hat are both specific and individualized. What is the art object’s role in dispelling truth or decrying falsehoods? Through what formal and material means does it achieve either? Papers might consider the use and forms of medieval diagrams, the role of the art object in spiritual form, etc.

Finally, the conference aims to examine the origins and development of interrogative procedures in the medieval period, in that they illustrate relationships with the truth maintained by medieval societies. We are especially interested in the uses and status of fictive facts in inquisitorial trials, the manner that fictions were revealed during trials, or even how the participation of individuals in inquisitorial trials was viewed as an instrument of legitimization of power and as a way of acknowledging those individuals’ own truths and interpretations of facts.

This great diversity of themes opens participation to researchers working in a variety of different fields and coming from a variety of backgrounds: historians, art historians, musicologists, philosophers, literary scholars, specialists in auxiliary sciences (paleographers, epigraphists, codicologists, numismatists)… While we focus on medieval France, compelling submissions focused on other geographical areas that also fit the conference theme are welcomed. In bringing together such diverse proposals, the IMS conference seeks to take a new look at the notion of Truth, its articulations, and its relationship with Fiction in the medieval world.

Abstracts of no more than 300 words (in French or English) for a 20-minute paper should be sent to communications.ims.paris@gmail.com. Each proposal should be accompanied by full contact information, a CV, and a list of the audio-visual equipment required for the presentation.

The deadline for abstracts is 24 November 2017.

Paper selections will be made by a scientific committee composed of Catherine Croizy-Naquet (Univ. Paris 3/CERAM), Marie Dejoux (Univ. Paris 1/LAMOP), Lindsey Hansen (IMS), Fanny Madeline (LAMOP/IMS), and Valerie Wilhite (Univ. of the Virgin Islands/IMS), as well as the members of the Board of Directors of the IMS.

Please be aware that the IMS-Paris submissions review process is highly competitive and is carried out on a strictly anonymous basis.

The selection committee will email applicants in mid-December to notify them of its decisions. Titles of accepted papers will be made available on the IMS-Paris website thereafter.

Authors of accepted papers will be responsible for their own travel costs and conference registration fees (35€ per person, 20€ for students, free for members of LAMOP and CERAM; 10€ membership dues for all participants).

The IMS-Paris is an interdisciplinary, bilingual (French/English) organization that fosters exchanges between French and foreign scholars. For more than a decade, the IMS has served as a center for medievalists who travel to France to conduct research, work or study. For more information about the IMS-Paris and for past symposium programs, please visit our websites: www.ims-paris.org and https://imsparis.hypotheses.org.

IMS-Paris Graduate Student Prize:

The IMS-Paris is pleased to offer one prize for the best paper proposal by a graduate student. Applications should consist of:

1) a symposium paper abstract

2) an outline of a current research project (PhD dissertation research)

3) the names and contact information of two academic referees

The prize-winner will be selected by the board and a committee of honorary members, and will be notified upon acceptance to the Symposium. An award of 350€ to support international travel/accommodation (within France, 150€) will be paid at the symposium.

CFP: 2 sessions at the AAH Annual Conference, Courtauld Institute of Art and King’s College London, 5 – 7 April 2018

Call for Papers: Medieval Eurabia: Religious Crosspollinations in Architecture, Art and Material Culture during the High and Late Middle Ages (1000-1600)
Deadline: November 1, 2017

The coexistence of Christianity and Islam in the Medieval Mediterranean led to a transfer of knowledge in architecture and material culture which went well beyond religious and geographical boundaries. The use of Islamic objects in Christian contexts, the conversion of churches into mosques and the mobility of craftsmen are only some manifestations of this process. Although studies beginning with Avinoam Shalem’s Islam Christianized (1996), have dealt extensively with Islamic influence in the West and European influence in the Islamic Mediterranean, sacred objects, and material culture more generally, have been relatively neglected. From crosses found in Mosques, to European-Christian coins with pseudo/-shahada inscriptions, medieval material culture is rife with visual evidence of the two faiths co-existing in both individual objects and monuments.
This panel invites papers from scholars working on intercultural exchange in art, architecture and material culture. We particularly welcome contributions that focus on sacred objects that have been diverted or ‘converted’ to a new purpose, whether inside or outside an explicitly religious context.
Papers should present original research, which expands the boundaries of knowledge and which the scholars would like to be considered for publication. Abstracts should be no more than 250 words long. Panel organised by Sami De Giosa, Oxford University and Nikolaos Vryzidis, British School at Athens. Email: aahchristianmuslimpanel2018@gmail.com

CFP: Art and Law: Objects and Spaces as Legal Actors
Deadline: November 6, 2017

Art history has long investigated the role of the law, from issues of visual evidence and legal aesthetics to ideas of artistic originality and authorship. But recent scholarship has increasingly drawn attention to the ways in which art can participate in the law’s actual operation. This session aims to broaden these investigations by tracing the long history of artistic intrusions into legal life, focusing on moments when the objects and spaces of art and architecture, broadly defined, have functioned as legal actors in their own right.
The session promises to explore these ideas through interdisciplinary and cross-chronological case studies from researchers, artists, and practitioners both in art history and in parallel fields such as law, journalism, and the social sciences. How have aesthetic objects past and present actively shaped the production and execution of the law as witnesses or juridical subjects in themselves? How have artists approached the courtroom as a site of artistic production and intervention? And in what ways has aesthetic production sought to short-circuit legal structures or forward alternative, even utopian, legal systems? Such questions have taken on new urgency in light of recent political and constitutional crises worldwide.

Papers might address, amongst other topics:
– historical and contemporary objects that dispense justice
– signs, emblems, or inscriptions that enforced legal boundaries or enacted legal codes
– artworks framed as legal victims, or which have been tried in absentia of criminals
– objects and theories of legal proof
– architectural actors as part of the fabric of legal drama
– art historical or theoretical texts investigating legal production and evidence-gathering and witnessing as forms of aesthetic production and research

Proposals of 250 words, accompanied by a short academic CV, should be sent to the two session organisers no later than 6 November 2017:
Dr Jack Hartnell (University of East Anglia, UK)
j.hartnell@uea.ac.uk
Dr Kevin Lotery (Sarah Lawrence College, USA)
klotery@sarahlawrence.edu

Cambridge Medieval Art Seminar Series: ‘Transmission and Communication’, 2017-2018

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CFP: The manuscripts of Charlemagne’s Court School – Individual creation and European cultural heritage, Stadtbibliothek Trier, 11 – 13 October 2018

Call for Papers: The manuscripts of Charlemagne’s Court School – Individual creation and European cultural heritage, Stadtbibliothek Trier, 11 – 13 October 2018
Deadline: Dec 31, 2017

1024px-meister_der_hofschule_karls_des_groc39fen_001 Internationale Tagung
Die Handschriften der Hofschule Kaiser Karls des Großen – individuelle Gestalt und europäisches Kulturerbe
International Conference
The manuscripts of Charlemagne’s Court School – Individual creation and European cultural heritage”

Informationen zum Thema der Tagung: Zur Zeit gibt es intensive Bemühungen, die Handschriften aus der Hofschule Kaiser Karls des Großen in die Liste des UNESCO-Weltdokumentenerbes (Memory of the World) eintragen zu lassen. Hierbei handelt es sich um ein Korpus von acht vollständigen Handschriften und einem Fragment, ergänzt durch das aus der Palastschule Karls des Großen stammende „Wiener Krönungsevangeliar“. Die Trierer Tagung verfolgt ein doppeltes Ziel: In den Vorträgen von Sektion I soll eine aktuelle Bestandsaufnahme der Hofschul-Handschriften erfolgen und die einzelnen Kodizes sollen, basierend auf dem neuesten Forschungsstand, in handbuchartiger Weise vorgestellt werden. Mit einbezogen sind die kunstvollen Einbände der Handschriften. In den Vorträgen von Sektion II sollen die geistigen und kulturellen Rahmenbedingungen der Hofschulproduktion thematisiert werden. Hierbei geht es u. a. um Fragen nach dem kultur-, literatur- und kunstgeschichtlichen Horizont, nach der Antikenauffa

ssung, der Bibelphilologie, den politischen Implikationen, den Auswirkungen des byzantinischen Bilderstreits und dem zugrundeliegenden Bildungsprogramm der Hofschulhandschriften. Die Herangehensweise der Tagung ist dezidiert transdisziplinär. Es können Vorträge aus den unterschiedlichsten involvierten Fachdisziplinen angeboten werden.

Sektion I: Dier Handschriften der karolingischen Hofschule (Impulsreferat 20 min + 10 min Diskussion)
1. Das Godescalc-Evangelistar (Paris, BN, Nouv. Acq. Lat. 1203)
2. Evangeliar aus St.-Martin des Champs (Paris, Bibl. de l’Arsenal, Ms 599)
3. Das Ada-Evangeliar (Trier, Stadtbibl., Hs 22)
4. Der Dagulf-Psalter (Wien ÖNB, Cod. 1861). Einband: Paris (Louvre, Dép. Des Objects d’Art, Iv. 9/10)
5. Ein Evangelien-Fragment mit der Verkündigung an Zacharias (London, BL, Cotton Claudius B. V.)
6. Das Evangeliar aus Centula [de Saint Riquier] (Abbeville, BM, Ms 4 [1])
7. Ein Evangeliar unbekannter Herkunft (London, BL, Cod. Harl. 2788)
8. Das Evangeliar aus St. Médard in Soissons (Paris, BN, Ms lat. 8850)
9. Das Lorscher Evangeliar (Alba Iulia, Rumänien, Bibl. Batthyáneum, Cod. II. [Matthäus und Markus] und Vatikan, BAV, Cod. Pal. Lat. 50 [Lukas und Johannes]. Elfenbeintafeln und Buchdeckel: Vatikanische Museen, und London, Victoria and Albert Museum)
10. Das Wiener Krönungsevangeliar (Wien, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Welt. Schatzkammer, Inv. XIII 18)

Sektion II: Die geistigen und kulturellen Rahmenbedingungen der karolingischen Hofschule sowie deren Erschließung (Vortrag 30 min + 15 min Diskussion)
1. Literaturgeschichtliche Aspekte der karolingischen Epoche
2. Die Antikenauffassung der karolingischen Kunst
3. Bibelphilologie in der Zeit um 800
4. Der byzantinische Bilderstreit und die Stellung des karolingischen Hofes
5. Die Bedeutung der Abtei Tours für die Produktion der karolingischen Hofschule
6. Das Bildungsprogramm Alkuins
7. Die Stifterhandschriften aus der Zeit Karls des Großen
8. Paratexte in den Handschriften der Hofschule Karls des Großen
9. Die Soziographie der Künstler von Handschriften der Hofschule
10. Die politischen Implikationen der Hofschul-Handschriften
11. Die Handschriften der Hofschule Kaiser Karls des Großen – Digitale Rekonstruktion und Erschließung

How to apply: Einreichung eines schriftlichen Exposees (ca. 400-500 Wörter) sowie eines kurzen Lebenslaufs (max. 150 Wörter). Einsendeschluss ist der 31. Dezember 2017; eine Benachrichtigung der angenommenen Themenvorschläge erfolgt bis zum 01. Februar 2018. Ein Antrag auf Tagungsbeihilfe ist gestellt. Vorbehaltlich der erfolgreichen Bewilligung können die Reisekosten der Teilnehmer und Teilnehmerinnen ganz oder teilweise übernommen werden. Es ist geplant, die Beiträge zu publizieren.
Für weitere Informationen richten Sie sich bitte an: Prof. Dr. Michael Embach, Stadtbibliothek Trier, michael.embach@trier.de
Prof. Dr. Claudine Moulin, Universität Trier, moulin@uni-trier.de

CFP: Collecting (in) the Middle Ages, 23rd Annual Medieval Postgraduate Colloquium, The Courtauld Institute of Art, (16 February 2018), deadline 30 October 2017

Call for papers: The Courtauld Institute of Art’s 23rd Annual Medieval Postgraduate Colloquium: Collecting (in) the Middle Ages, The Courtauld Institute of Art, 16 February 2017
Deadline: 30 October 2017

The Courtauld Institute of Art’s 23rd Annual Medieval Postgraduate Colloquium invites speakers to consider the nature of medieval collections, the context of their creation and fruition, and their legacy — or disappearance — in the present.

Inspired by objects such as a cedar box chest once kept in the Holy of Holies of the Lateran, this colloquium seeks to explore a diverse set of topics surrounding medieval practices of collecting. This wooden box may seem simple, but once opened it reveals a priceless collection: fragments of rock and wood from the Holy Land, each labelled with its precise place of origin by a sixth-century hand. Here and there, stones have fallen out, leaving imprints in the soil. The wooden relic chest is an object of small size and almost no material value, but has nevertheless been treasured for centuries by one of the largest and most powerful institutions of the medieval world.

The study of medieval collecting raises a variety of questions. How and why were objects collected, practically and conceptually? What was their expected time-span and what enabled their survival? How have medieval collections impacted modern scholarship, and how do modern collecting and display practices influence our interpretation of the past?

Applicants to the colloquium are encouraged to explore these issues from a diverse range of methodologies, analysing objects from the 6th to the 16th century and from a wide-ranging geographical span. Possible areas of discussion might include:

Collecting through time: How do we define the medieval collection/collector? How did medieval objects take on new meanings in medieval collections, ie. in the case of spolia? How has scholarship on medieval art been influenced by varying collecting practices and curatorial strategies across time?
Collecting in space: can the idea of the ‘collection’ be expanded to include objects, places and spaces spread across different geographical locales? Could objects or spaces communicate their commonality across a distance? How did pilgrimage routes, travel narratives and travel guides conceptualize their surroundings and weave a thread through geographical and historical difference?
Collectors, intermediaries, and craftsmen: how did institutions and single collectors acquire and expand their collections? For example, did they rely on a merchant network to acquire foreign objects or new relics? Did they collect newly commissioned objects, and display them in purpose-built spaces?
Collections and Legacies: how did inheritance impact the notion of collecting, looking forwards as well backwards? How did the meaning of objects change as they were passed down through families and dynasties? What happened to collections when familial lines ended? How did individuals link themselves to courts or dynasties through collections?
Accessibility: When, how and why were collections visible? Were there different levels of accessibility and interaction and who was allowed to ‘access all areas’? How were restricted collections advertised and open collections protected? And did objects themselves interact with each other, for example in specific displays or assemblages?
Organising Collections: What were the systems for assembling a collection, and for how they were curated? How did purpose-built spaces impact the growth of collections, and vice-versa? What were the roles of documents in collections, and how have medieval recording practices influenced modern views of the medieval collection?

The Medieval Postgraduate Colloquium offers an opportunity for research students at all levels from universities across the UK and abroad to present, discuss and promote their research. To apply, please send a proposal of up to 250 words for a 20 minute paper, together with a CV, to costanza.beltrami@courtauld.ac.uk and maggie.crosland@courtauld.ac.uk no later than 30 October 2017.