Medieval Art Research

Upcoming Event: Mediterranean Connectivities and Religious Communities, Los Angeles, 2-3 May

With the collaboration and support of the Spain-North Africa Project (SNAP), and Loyola Marymount University, the Mediterranean Seminar/University of California Multi-Campus Research Project invites participants to the Spring 2014 workshop on “Mediterranean Connectivities,” to be held at Loyola Marymount University on Saturday, 3 May, 2014. This event is presented in conjunction and collaboration with the SNAP conference, “Power Relations & Religious Communities,” to be held on Friday, May 2 at LMU.

Mediterranean Connectivities – Workshop
Saturday, 3 May, 9:30am—5:15pm
A workshop consisting of three pre-circulated papers and a talk by our featured scholar:
• “Commercial Conflict Resolution Across the Religious Divide in the Thirteenth-Century Mediterranean”, Travis Bruce – History, Wichita State University
• “ Conceptualizing Cultural Interaction in Twelfth-Century Eastern Anatolia”, Sergio La Porta – Armenian Studies, CSU Fresno
• “The Extraterritorial Mediterranean: Consular Courts and Connectivity in Nineteenth-Century Morocco”, Jessica Marglin- Judaic Studies, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

Featured scholar: Adam Sabra (History, University of California Santa Barbara): “Mediterranean Connections of a Sixteenth-Century Egyptian `alim”

All interested graduate students and scholars are welcome. Pre-registration for the Saturday workshop is required; attendance is limited so please register soon. UC-and LMU-affiliated scholars may register immediately, others on or after April 1. Lunch will be provided on both days for attendees who register prior to April 15.
To register and receive the workshop papers prior to April, 1, please contact Sharon Kinoshita (sakinosh@ucsc.edu); on or after April 1, please contact Courtney Mahaney (cmahaney@ucsc.edu) at the University of California, Santa Cruz. UC-affiliated faculty and graduate students will be eligible for up to $350 for travel expenses; non-UC participants may apply but support will granted as available (contingent on availability and attendance at both events).
Limited accommodation is available through the workshop at a rate of approximately $125/night; those who register on or before April 1 should indicate if they are interested.

Power Relations & Religious Communities – Conference
Friday, 2 May, 9am—7:30pm

9:00-09:30 Registration
Registration on site: $15 for public, $10 for students, free for members of LMU community. Pre-register athttp://bit.ly/1isAGME

9:30-09:50 Opening Remarks
Welcome: Andrew Devereux (Loyola Marymount University) Dean Michael O’Sullivan (BCLA, Loyola Marymount University)
Opening Remarks: Sharon Kinoshita and Brian Catlos, co-directors UC Mediterranean Studies Multicampus Research Project (MRP)
Yuen-Gen Liang (Wheaton College, Massachusetts)

9:50-11:50 WORKSHOP: The Consolidation of Identity on the Margins in North Africa
Moderator: Paul Sidelko (Metropolitan State University of Denver)
Mohamad Ballan (University of Chicago), “‘They shall come to you from the West with God’s religion’: Ibāḍī Doctrine and Berber Identity in Ibn Sallām’s Kitāb (ca. 875)”
Commentator: Paul Love (University of Michigan)
Manuela Ceballos (Emory University), “Power and Vulnerability in the Biography of a Sixteenth-Century Moroccan Saint”
Commentator: Emily Gottreich (University of California, Berkeley)

11:50-13:00 LUNCH

13:00-15:15 PANEL: Expressions of Power
Chair: Najwa al-Qattan (Loyola Marymount University)
Discussants: Abigail Krasner Balbale (Bard Graduate Center) & Camilo Gómez-Rivas (The American University in Cairo)
Yoshihiko Ito (Tokyo University of Science), “New Power, Old Territory, and Renewed Architecture in the 10th-Century Kingdom of León”
Thomas Devaney (University of Rochester), “From Tension to Violence: Inciting a Riot in Fifteenth-Century Castile”
Marya T. Green-Mercado (University of Michigan), “Prophecy as Diplomacy: Morisco Prophecies of Henry IV of France”
Sasha Pack (University of Buffalo), “Francisco Merry y Colom and the Ambivalent Spanish Encounter with Moroccan Jewery, 1860-1864”

15:15-15:30 COFFEE BREAK

15:30-18:00 TALKING ARTIFACTS: Geographies of Power
Chair: Yuen-Gen Liang (Wheaton College, Massachusetts) Discussant: Audience
Josie Hendrickson (University of Alberta), “Power and Pilgrimage: al-Burzulī (d. 1438) on Sailing with Christians”
Karen Pinto (Gettysburg College), “Islamic Maps as Maghrib/Mediterranean Artifacts”
Gil Klein (Loyola Marymount University), “Subverting Cities: Roman Land and Rabbinic Assumption of Imperial Power in the Eastern Mediterranean”

18:00-19:30 RECEPTION

New Publications

Different Visions, Issue 4: Active Objects

Different Visions: A Journal of New Perspectives on Medieval Art is pleased to announce the publication of its 2014 issue, entitled “Active Objects.” Arising out sessions at the 2012 International Congress of Medieval Studies in Kalamazoo, MI, these five essays and one review examine the complex and responsive materiality of medieval art.

Contents:
“Active Objects: An Introduction” by Karen Eileen Overbey & Benjamin C. Tilghman

“Copper-Alloy Substrates in Precious-Metal Treasury Objects: Concealed and Yet Excessive”
by Joseph Salvatore Ackley

“On the Enigmatic Nature of Things in Anglo-Saxon Art” by Benjamin C. Tilghman

“Active Optics: Carolingian Rock Crystal on Medieval Reliquaries” by Genevra Kornbluth

“Materia Meditandi: Haptic Perception and Some Parisian Ivories of the Virgin and Child, ca. 1300” by Alexa Sand

“The Instrumental Cross and the Use of the Gospel Book Troyes, Bibliothèque Municipale MS 960” by Beatrice Kitzinger

“Of Liturgical Straws and Spiritual Breadboxes: a review of Caroline Walker Bynum, Christian Materiality and Mary Carruthers, The Experience of Beauty in the Middle Ages” by Anne F. Harris

All articles may be viewed and downloaded athttp://differentvisions.org/issue-four/
Different Visions is a web-based, open-access, peer-reviewed annual, devoted to progressive scholarship on medieval art. Information on submissions can be found at http://differentvisions.org/submissions/.

Kathleen Maxwell, Between Constantinople and Rome: an Illuminated Byzantine Gospel Book (Paris gr. 54) and the Union of Churches. Ashgate, 2014.
ISBN: 978-1409457442

Pietro Cavallini, Napoli prima di Giotto. 2014.
ISBN: 978-8856903546
Marie-Francine Jourdan, Le diable dans la cathédrale: jeux et métamorphoses à Chartres. Association Rencontre avec le Patrimoine Religieux, 2014.
ISBN: 978-2-911948-39-8
Mathieu Linlaud, Serrures médiévales, VIII-XIII siècle. Presses Universitaires de Rennes, 2014.
ISBN: 978-2-7535-2903-8

Upcoming Event: Prof. Joan Breton Connelly (NYU), Acropolis and Parthenon: Genealogical Myth, Boundary Catastrophes and Local Memory TOMORROW

Special Guest Lecture being held in the Senate House *tomorrow* (in collaboration with UCL and KCL
Prof. Joan Breton Connelly (New York University) Acropolis and Parthenon: Genealogical Myth, Boundary Catastrophes and Local Memory
When: Wednesday 19th March 2014, 17:15 – 18:45
Where: Senate House (WC1E 7HU ), South Block, Room G22/26

The Parthenon’s sculptural program is steeped in genealogical myth beckoning ever backward across imagined aeons. Cosmic and epic narratives, and the great boundary catastrophes that separated the ages, established temporal and topographic frameworks through which Athenians understood who they were and where they came from. By taking the long view from the Archaic Acropolis through to the fifth century, the power of architectural sculpture in creating and communicating a shared memory of Athenian origins and identity is revealed. For a culture without media, and without a sacred text, the centrality of great architectural sculptures in forging this solidarity cannot be overstated.

The event will be followed by a reception sponsored by Head of Zeus publications.
This is an open and public event: all are very warmly invited.

For more information, please visit http://events.sas.ac.uk/icls/events/view/16003 .

Programme: Study Day on Pseudo-Dionysius, Florence

Programma ps.-Dionigi / Programme ps.-DionysiusSOCIETÀ INTERNAZIONALE PER LO STUDIO DEL MEDIOEVO LATINO – SISMEL

Via Montebello 7, Firenze

9 aprile 2014

Seminario

LA CONOSCENZA DELLO PS. DIONIGI IN OCCIDENTE FINO ALL’ETÀ CAROLINGIA/THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE PS.-DIONYSIUS IN THE WEST UNTIL THE CAROLINGIAN TRANSLATIONS

10.30 – 10.45 Agostino Paravicini Bagliani, Introduzione

10.45 – 11.15 Ernesto Sergio Mainoldi, The Ps.-Dionysius from Constantinople to Rome. Earliest Evidences of a Planned Wide-Spreading of the Corpus Dionysiacum in the West

11.15 – 11.45 Alexandros Alexakis, The Ps.-Dionysius between Rome and Constantinople in the period of Iconoclasm

11.45 – 12.45 Discussione

13.00 – 14.30 Pranzo

14.30 – 15.00 Francesca Dell’Acqua, À rebours: from Ambrosius Autpertus to the Ps.-Dionysius?

15.00 – 15.30 Réka Forrai, The Papacy and the Corpus Dionysiacum in the Ninth Century

15.30 – 16.30 Discussione

16.30 – 17.00 Francesco Santi, Conclusioni

Medieval Art and Architecture on TV

Currently, there are a number of shows airing on television and available online that feature medieval art and architecture:

How to Get Ahead: At Medieval Court: ‘Writer and broadcaster Stephen Smith finds out what it took to get ahead at the court of Richard II, who presided over the first truly sophisticated and artistic court in England.’ Features Paul Binski and Nigel Saul in the credits.
The Culture Show Special: Viking Art. On the occasion of the opening of the BM’s blockbuster exhibition on Viking Art, Andrew Graham-Dixon explores the splendours of Viking art which is defined by intricate artistic styles – distinctly Scandinavian yet influenced by interaction with other cultures.

The Plantagenets: Professor Robert Bartlett tells the story of England’s longest-ruling royal dynasty. Henry II forges a mighty empire encompassing England and much of France.

Call for Papers: Medieval Manuscripts in Motion (Lisbon, March 2015)

The 2nd edition of the International Conference “Medieval Europe in Motion” will take place in Lisbon, 4-6th March 2015.

The conference’s main scientific goal is to analyse the phenomenon of circulation, motion and mobility of people, forms and ideas during the Middle Ages.

This time the focus will be on the illuminated manuscripts. This three-day Conference aims thus to conduct a critical and constructive revision of research on Iberian Book Illumination in the Middle Ages, proposing new questions to be discussed.

The organisers invite abstracts for papers (20-minutes in length) along the following themes:

The phenomenon of mobility in Medieval times
Clients and promoters, both individual and institutional
Material authors
Models
Image performance
Manuscript Acquisition: Luxury Market, Collecting

Proposals in English, Spanish, Portuguese, French and Italian are welcome. Please, send a 300-word abstract and a short CV to medinmotion2015@gmail.com by June 30th, 2014. Accepted proposals will be confirmed by September 15th, 2014.

Fees:
Participation with paper: 50 €
Attendance: 30 €

Lecture: ‘Script Imitation: The Shock of the Old’, Julia Crick, London Society for Medieval Studies, IHR London, 18 March 2014

The London Society for Medieval Studies is hosting a lecture on Tuesday evening, March 18th, at 7.00 in the Torrington Room (104), First Floor, Senate House (located on Malet Street, London WC1E 7HU) by:
Professor Julia Crick (King’s College London) who will be speaking on ‘Script Imitation: the Shock of the Old’.

All those who are interested in Medieval Studies are very welcome to attend the lecture. All attendees are also invited to join the Committee and the Speaker for dinner directly after the lecture and questions.

The Society is entirely funded by its members and support from the Institute for Historical Research. We suggest a small donation of £6.00 per year if you would like to become a member or, alternatively, £2.00 per lecture. Please contact Sarah (sw544@cam.ac.uk) if you would like more information.

Wiley Companion to the Mediterranean – Electronic Access

Wiley-Blackwell is offering unlimited concurrent electronic access to Peregrine Horden and Sharon Kinoshita’s A Companion to Mediterranean History for those institutions that purchase a hard copy for their library collection.

For product details, see http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0470659017.html

Call for Papers: The Art of Ritual

The Art of Ritual: Object, Image and Space in Medieval and Early Modern Europe

Saturday 17 May 2014, Senate House, London, UK

This conference is organized by three Junior Fellows of the Institute of Historical Research from diverse scholarly backgrounds: Dhwani Patel (KCL), Wendy Sepponen (University of Michigan) and Jo Edge (RHUL). It will bring together two fields of research – the material and the ceremonial – that are intimately connected but rarely explored together in a conference setting.

The Art of Ritual aims to bring focus to how material culture and art (broadly defined) fits into and shapes ritual, and will be organized into three principal thematic strands. The first is art that influenced ritual, for example space and site specificity, or the importance and history of a particular place, site or space in connection with ritual. The second is art that reflected ritual, for example representations of processions. The final strand concerns objects and images that functioned as an integral part of ritual, for example relics and magical diagrams.

This conference will have a broad chronological, disciplinary and geographic scope, drawing from art historians, historians, and archaeologists from the late antique to early modern periods. Speakers including Achim Timmermann (University of Michigan), Sophie Page (UCL), Zoe Opacic (Birkbeck), Tom Nickson (The Courtauld Institute) and Natalia Petrovskaia (University of Cambridge) are already confirmed to speak. They will share approaches and experiences that will allow postgraduates in attendance to develop skills in the examination of a wide range of evidence relating to material culture and ritual practice.

There is space for two PhD presenters to give 30 minute papers on any aspect of art, in its broadest definition, and its connection to ritual in the medieval or early modern period. An abstract of no more than 200 words should be sent to artofritualconference@gmail.com by31 March 2014.

‘Goitein in Perspective’ (31 March, Brandeis University)

The Tauber Institute presents: “Goitein in Perspective,” an International Symposium, March 31, 2014 – April 1, 2014 at Brandeis University in the Mandel Center for the Humanities, Room 303.
This symposium seeks to understand the life and work of the towering figure S.D. Goitein—scholar of Islamic Studies, Jewish Social History, the Cairo Geniza, and the medieval Mediterranean—from intellectual and biographical perspectives.

Program:
Monday, March 31, 2014
9:30 am – 12:00 noon
Introductory Remarks
Jonathan Decter, Brandeis University • “Toward a Scholarly Biography of S.D. Goitein”

I. German Beginnings and the Study of Islam • Chair: Eugene Sheppard, Brandeis University
Dirk Hartwig, Freie Universität Berlin • “Goitein’s First Love: Qur’anic Studies”
Yehoshua Frenkel, University of Haifa • “Goitein on the Life of Muhammad”
Sabine Schmidtke, Freie Universität Berlin •” Intellectual History of the Islamicate World beyond Denominational Borders: Challenges and Perspectives for a Comprehensive Approach”

1:30 pm – 4:00 pm
II: Goitein in Palestine and Israel • Chair: ChaeRan Freeze, Brandeis University
Miriam Frenkel, Hebrew University of Jerusalem •” The Magic Carpet: Goitein’s Yemenite Mission”
Walid Saleh, University of Toronto • “Goitein on Jews and Arabs”
Phillip Ackerman-Lieberman, Vanderbilt University • “Goitein as a Scholar of Jewish Studies”

Tuesday, April 1, 2014
9:30 am – 12:00 noon
III: Goitein within the Academic Disciplines • Chair: Jonathan Decter, Brandeis University
Marina Rustow, John Hopkins University • “Goitein as a Social Historian”
Aaron Hughes, University of Rochester • “Goitein as a Scholar of Religion”
Peter Miller, Bard Graduate Center • “Goitein as a Scholar of the Mediterranean”

1:00 pm – 3:00 pm
IV: Goitein in America • Chair: Susannah Heschel, Dartmouth College
Jessica Goldberg, University of California, Los Angeles • “Goitein in America”
Abraham Udovitch, Princeton University • Commentator

Closing Remarks • Susannah Heschel, Dartmouth College

Conveners: Jonathan Decter, Brandeis University, and Susannah Heschel, Dartmouth College
Sponsored in part by the Valya and Robert Shapiro Endowment. For further information, see:http://www.brandeis.edu/tauber/events/conferences.html