In Anti-Judaism: The Western Tradition (Norton, 2013), David Nirenberg seeks “to demonstrate how different people put old ideas about Judaism to new kinds of work in thinking about their world; to show how this work engaged the past and transformed it; and to ask how that work reshaped the possibilities of thought in the future.” This discussion-oriented symposium will explore implications of Nirenberg’s work through a series of roundtable conversations. Panelists will circulate short papers in advance to fellow participants and registered attendees. To register, please contact David Freidenreich (david.freidenreich@colby.edu); the event is free and all are welcome.
Conference: The Mediterranean City and Its Rulers, Princeton
The Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies presents “The Mediterranean City and Its Rulers: A Comparison of Byzantium, Islam, and Western Christendom in the High Middle Ages,” a conference, directed by Teresa Shawcross, Assistant Professor of History, to held on 26–27 April at 216 Aaron Burr Hall.
The High Middle Ages were a period of profound transformation for the Christian cities of the central and western Mediterranean. However, it has generally been thought that the urban centers of the Islamic and Byzantine worlds to the south and east did not share in the same economic, political, and cultural developments. Most interregional studies carried out so far have promoted this understanding of the period by considering the “classic example” of the cities of northern Italy solely in the context of the situation on the other side of the Alps. Otherwise, attention has tended to be focused on specific polities within each of the three Mediterranean macro-regions, to the neglect of the picture across macro-regions. There has been no in-depth comparison of how cities were ruled in the various lands encircling the Great Sea, despite the existence of a strong common Roman heritage, as well as evidence for extensive interaction through long-distance trade, pilgrimage, diplomacy, and warfare. This conference will begin to undertake such an analysis, highlighting similarities and differences in governmental institutions, civic identity, and revolutionary activity throughout the Mediterranean. The event is intended as a pilot establishing a network of scholars. The next meeting will be held at the University of Edinburgh in 2015 and is being organized by Dr. Gianluca Raccagni, Chancellor’s Fellow in History.
http://www.princeton.edu/piirs/research/piirs-conferences-and-wor/mediterraneanconf/
Re-opening: National Archaeological Museum, Madrid
The important medieval collections of the National Archaeological Museum in Madrid are finally accessible again after the museum re-opened after six years of restoration.
CFP: Art Out of Time, deadline 30 April 2014
Art Out Of Time invites academics, curators and artists to challenge periodization anxiety apparent in the recent trend for inviting contemporary artists into museums to create interventions in early modern displays; or for juxtaposing medieval and modern art in current publications. This symposium starts from questions as to whether distinctions between pre-, early-, and post- modern are disciplinary fictions, what exactly is gained and what is lost in this dialogue—or clash—between old and new objects, and if museums perhaps want to get rid of a ‘stuffy’ reputation to take on some of the lustre and prestige of contemporary art. Speakers include Whitney Davis, Karen Lang, Tamar Garb, Ian Kiaer, Amy Powell, Elizabeth Price, and Alexander Sturgis.
We invite abstracts for presentations in one of the four workshops organized around specific themes (see below). Selected papers will be included in the conference publication.
Please send a 300-word abstract, a short cv, and an indication in which workshop you would like to participate to visualresearch@torch.ox.ac.uk. Deadline: April 30, 2014. For more info: www.visualresearchoxford.org
Replacement speaker: English and Scottish Art Patronage in Late Medieval France
A replacement speaker is sought for the following panel at Leeds
International Medieval Congress this July:
“English and Scottish Art Patronage in Late Medieval France: Book
Illumination in Times of War” (July 8, 9am-10.30am)
Late Medieval book production was characterised by a high degree of
cultural and artistic exchange between England, Scotland, and the
Continent, due to numerous military conflicts as well as economic,
ecclesiastical, dynastic, and diplomatic links. Patrons and artists
travelled a great deal across the Channel, contributing to the transfer
of ideas, style, and content, as well as devotional and liturgical
practice. Illuminated books served diverse purposes, from diplomatic
gifts and the representation of political ideas, to means of private
devotion and liturgy.
Papers for this session can focus on the production and use of these
books as well as their makers and patrons. Attention can be given to
the reciprocal transfer of stylistic, iconographic, and liturgical
orientation and influences, in the political context.
Abstracts for suggested twenty-minute papers should be submitted before
the 18 April to Julia Crispin (juliacrispin1982@gmail.com) and Alex
Collins (alexanderjarviscollins@gmail.com).
Exhibition: Les Enluminures (New York & Paris)
This exhibition will seek to reveal a “new” history of medieval French literature by presenting a group of 15 very rare, previously unpublished, mostly illuminated manuscripts written in French between c. 1300 and c. 1550. The manuscripts encompass a wide variety of subjects ranging from literature and science, philosophy and theology, to history and government.
Of special interest will be a section within the exhibition devoted to the often overlooked but critically important role played by French medieval women in advancing the “mother tongue”. As authors, subjects, patrons, and collectors, French women like the 16th- century patron and poet Catherine d’Amboise were important champions of the vernacular. Their advocacy helped ensure that French would overtake Latin in less than two centuries to become the national language of literature.
The exhibition will be on view at Les Enluminures New York, from April 2- 26, and Les Enluminures Paris, from May 13 – May 20. The INHA Paris Colloquium will take place on May 17.
For more information, please visit. http://www.lesenluminures.com/expodetail.php?cat=coming&expoid=47&
Call for papers: Mediterranean Visions/ Mediterranean Frame
On 13-15 June 2014, the Sant’Anna Institute in Sorrento will host two events: a conference “Mediterranean Visions: Journeys, Itineraries and Cultural Migrations/ Visioni Mediterranee: Viaggi, Itinerari e Migrazioni Culturali” and a symposium, “History, Literature and Culture in a Mediterranean Frame.”
Paper proposals are being accepted for “Mediterranean Visions” (13 & 14 June), organized by Giovanni Spani (College of Holy Cross) and Marco Marino (Sant’Anna Institute). This conference will focus on the perceptions of the journey to/from/around the Mediterranean Sea, moving from Italian, European and extra-European perspectives (and with specific reference to the Americas), and concentrating on the theme of immigration/emigration to/from the Mediterranean Basin), the intercultural exchanges occurring between its shores, as well as new challenges (social and economic) facing the region from the globalized society and from the increasingly urgent democratic imperatives of the populations inhabiting it.
Selected conference papers will published in a volume of proceedings.
In conjunction with the conference, the symposium, “History, Literature and Culture in a Mediterranean Frame,” co-organized by Wake Forest University and the Mediterranean Seminar with the sponsorship of Centro di Cultura e Storia Amalfitana, will be held on 15 June, and is open to all.
Confirmed speakers include:
Brian A. Catlos (University of Colorado Boulder/University of California Santa Cruz)
John Dagenais (University of California at Los Angeles)
Sharon Kinoshita (University of California Santa Cruz)
Roberta Morosini (Wake Forest University)
Pasquale Sabbatino (Universita’ degli studi “Federico II’ di Napoli)
Carlo Saccone (Universita’ di Bologna)
Roberto Tottoli (Universita’ degli studi di Napoli “L’Orientale”)
and
Prof. Giuseppe Gargano (Honorary President, Centro di Cultura e Storia Amalfitana)
For information regarding the symposium, please contact: mailbox@mediterraneanseminar.org
Conference Proposals
Please send your proposal (2 paragraph maximum) in Italian, English, Spanish, or French, along with a brief CV, to the conference Organizing Committee at mediterraneanvisions@gmail.com by April 10, 2014.
Please visit http://santannainstitute.com/en/conference-at-sant-anna-institute.php for more details and the list of topics.
Material Witness continues: Studying the Literary Archive and Stone Sculpture in-situ
As well as the blog, the study days for Material Witness, a CHASE consortium-led initiative to engage emerging researchers with the physical artefact continue.
On the 8th of April, Shane Weller will be leading an investigation into the literary archive at the University of Kent, using the manuscripts of Samuel Beckett as a case study.
On the 9th May Kim Woods will head the Studying Stone Sculpture in-situ workshop at the Mercer’s Hall and St Helen’s, London.
There may be a few places left on these workshops so please contact J.A.Wackett@kent.ac.uk if you have any questions about the programme.
Publications
- Spike Bucklow, The Riddle of the Image: the Secret Science of Medieval Art. Reaktion Books, 2014. ISBN: 978-1780232942
- Crusafont, M., Balaguer, A.M., Grierson, P., Medieval European Coinage: Volume 6, The Iberian Peninsula. Cambridge University Press, 2013. ISBN: 978-0521260145
- Piana, M., and Carlsson, C., Archaeology and Architecture of the Military Orders: New Studies. Ashgate, 2014. ISBN: 9781472420534
- Barbara Schedl, Der Plan von St. Gallen: Ein Modell europäischer Klosterkultur. Böhlau, 2014. ISBN: 978-3205795025
- Cédric Giraud, Notre-Dame de Paris, 1163-2013. Brepols, 2013. ISBN: 978-2-503-54937-8
Upcoming Conference: ‘The Abbot’s Table’, Glastonbury Abbey, 13th June 2014
Conference on eating and monastic life in medieval England.
Chaired by Prof. Roberta Gilchrist (University of Reading).
Speakers include Prof. James Clark (University of Exeter), Prof. Chris Woolgar (University of Southampton) and Marc Meltonville (Hampton Court Palace).
For more info, email info@glastonburyabbey.com.
Medieval Art Research 