Summer School: ‘Intensity and the Grades of Nature: Heat, Colour, and Sound in the Ordering of Pre-Modern Cosmos: 1200-1600’, Domus Comeliana, Pisa, 11-14 July 2023 (Deadline 28 February 2023)

Held in the stunning premises and terrace of the Domus Comeliana, this summer school will explore how heat, colour, and sound have been used, conceptualised and graded in the pre-modern cosmos shaping both disciplines of knowledge and everyday life.

Central to the various cosmologies that developed throughout the period 1200-1600 was the idea that phenomena are subject to a variation in intensity. Intensity determined why objects were of higher or lesser temperature, speed, brightness, porous or dense texture, pitch, and so forth. And yet, intensity also had wider metaphysical, theological, political and cultural implications: it was instrumental to justify the order of the cosmos, the necessity of evil, and the need for hierarchies in maintaining social peace, with shades of colour especially used to mark social status, both in garments and buildings.

Linking back to Greek philosophy and medicine (i.e Aristotle, Galen, Dioscorides) theories of intensity (intensio et remissio formarum) blossomed in the late middle ages but remained vital in early modern philosophy (e.g. Galileo, Leibniz) up to the eighteenth century, with Baumgarten and Kant attempting at measuring the quantity of virtue (quantitas virtutis) necessary to the human subject to perceive (aesthetica) an object in the external world.

On the one hand, medieval and early modern theories of intensity developed an ancient desideratum to classify the world in a hierarchical order, also known as scala naturae or ‘the great chain of being’. At the extremes of the ‘chain’ were located respectively God, as the metaphysical grantor of order and the embodiment of perfection, and matter, embodying imperfection and chaos. However, on the other hand, the pre-modern period moved beyond previous attempts, as the cosmos is now spatialised and measurable. As comprehended within two opposites (i.e. perfection/imperfection, hot/cold, up/down, etc.), change occurs within “a range” (latitudo), wherein objects acquire or lose certain “degrees” (gradus) of the quality that is being intensified; thus hotter or brighter objects are so because they participate more in the specific properties (formae) of heat or light. In this sense, it is significant that, while the modern cosmos was consciously built on “number”, “weight” and “measure”, the fabric of the pre-modern world was textured in grades and shades.

Grades and shades were at once quantities and values, representing perfection or imperfection in theology, purity or impurity of distillation in alchemical preparations, physiological or pathological functioning of the body, where humours were refined by cooking and where everything, from fever to pulse frequency, was ordered in degrees of intensity. In cosmology, light was given a preeminent role, as Robert Grosseteste (1175-1253) developed his cosmology of light where intensity shapes every aspect of the universe, and Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) ordered Inferno in rounds of degrading sin while Paradiso in spheres of ascending beatitude.

A new vision of the cosmos prompted a larger use of visual aids, such as diagrams both to visualise change and to measure intensity. Health starts being measured in latitudes, the temperature in degrees, herbs and drugs by their colours and the intensity of their effects on the human body. Colours are used to represent aspects of the material world but also to highlight status, dignity, conceptual clarity, as well as religious and seasonal cycles while the sounds of the French Ars nova (14th century) intensify the rhythmic capacity of music by developing a new virtuosity, Flemish masters establish the multilayered notation of polyphony (15th century) and the Venetian Andrea and Giovanni Gabrieli at the end of the 16th-century start experimenting with piano and forte.

Although instrumental to the constitution of the pre-modern cosmos, intensity and associated theories have remained poorly studied in modern scholarship, with the bulk of studies available in German only. Attempting to fill the gap and to deliver the thematic fullness of the pre-modern cosmos to a larger audience, this summer school features world-leading experts discussing relevant aspects of intensity in alchemy, medicine, theology, natural philosophy, music, art, optics, as well as social and religious settings.

The summer school is open to scholars of all careers and stages. As per previous events, it takes place in the outstanding setting of the Domus Comeliana (50m from the leaning tower) and it spans four days, articulated as 3+1, namely three days of lectures and guided visits to the city, plus a final day dedicated entirely to workshops, roundtables, presentation and discussion of attendees’ reports. 

The summer school will present and discuss a variety of verbal and non-verbal sources (e.g. manuscripts, images, music pieces, and artefacts) in a multidisciplinary approach that aims at attracting and welcoming scholars with different backgrounds, interests and expertise.

The Summer School features three hands-on workshops on texts, materials, and instruments and one performance-based workshop. Workshop I (M. Kemp) will involve participants in the selection of passages and visual material from Leonardo’s extensive output and in the effort to contextualise his techniques as fitting his optical theories. Workshop II (G.M. Weston) will focus on the Renaissance colour palette and the mixture of pigments involving attendees in the mixing of colours to obtain shades in accordance with 15th- and 16th-century manuals. Workshop III (F. Bigotti) will be devoted to hands-on experimentation with the replica of Santorio’s pulsilogium, an early modern instrument invented by Santorio Santori (1561-1636) to ascertain the ‘degree’ and ‘latitude’ of the pulse. Participants will be invited to experiment with the instrument in small groups, by measuring and calibrating the instrument so as to revive the experience of using what has been called “the first precision instrument in the history of medicine”. Workshop IV (L. Karshan) held by distinguished artist and honorary fellow Linda Karshan will explore the ways in which contemporary art practice has embodied Renaissance concepts of latitude as especially related to the motions of the body and the soul.

To engage fully with the speakers during this four-day experience, attendees are strongly invited to elaborate their own contributions on the topics discussed, either in the form of PowerPoint presentations and/or as short papers (max. 5 min). These will be followed by thematic roundtables focusing on the analysis of non-verbal sources, including relevant artefacts, images, videos, and music tracks. Roundtables’ topics can also be proposed by the attendees upon reaching an agreement amongst at least 3 people. For organisational reasons, only two such round tables can be proposed and must be communicated to the panel at least 3 weeks prior to the beginning of the Summer School.

The deadline for Early Bird Registration is 28th February. For complete information and to register, visit CSMBR.

New Publication: ‘Dominicans and Franciscans in Medieval Rome: History, Architecture, and Art’, by Joan Barclay Lloyd

When Saint Dominic (c. 1174–1221) came to Rome to seek papal approval of the Order of Preachers, he founded two houses on the periphery of the city — a nunnery at  S. Sisto, in structures rebuilt by Pope Innocent III, and a priory next to the early Christian basilica of S. Sabina. The Dominicans modified and enlarged the existing buildings, according to their needs. Saint Francis of Assisi (c. 1182–1226) also came to consult the Pope, but he did not make any foundations in Rome. In 1229, Pope Gregory IX ordered the Benedictine monks of SS. Cosma e Damiano in Mica Aurea to cede to the Franciscans their hospice of S. Biagio in Trastevere, where Saint Francis had stayed. The friars built the church and friary of S. Francesco a Ripa there. Later, Gregory IX took over the Benedictine monastery itself, where he established the Franciscan nunnery of S. Cosimato in 1234. Moving into the more densely inhabited parts of the city, the Friars Minor built a new friary and church at S. Maria in Aracoeli on the Capitoline Hill from c. 1248–1252 onwards. The Dominicans, in 1266, acquired a convent near the Pantheon, where they constructed the Gothic church of S. Maria sopra Minerva. In 1285, the Colonna family established a Franciscan nunnery at S. Silvestro in Capite.

In the context of the origin and evolution of the two Mendicant Orders, this book traces the history of these thirteenth-century Dominican and Franciscan foundations, focussing on their location in Rome, the history of each site, their architecture, and the medieval works of art connected with them. Popes and cardinals, members of important families, and Franciscan Tertiaries contributed generously to their construction and decoration. The book ends with Saint Catherine of Siena, who lived near S. Maria sopra Minerva, where she was buried.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

List of Illustrations

Preface

Abbreviations

Colour Plates

Introduction

Part I. The First Dominican and Franciscan Foundations in Rome

Chapter 1. The Dominican Nunnery at S. Sisto (now S. Sisto Vecchio), founded c. 1218–1221

Chapter 2. The Dominican Priory at S. Sabina, founded c. 1220–1222

Chapter 3. The Franciscan Church and Friary of S. Francesco a Ripa, founded in 1229

Chapter 4. The Franciscan Nunnery of SS. Cosma e Damiano (S. Cosimato), founded in 1234

Part II. A New Generation of Dominicans and Franciscans and their Foundations in Rome

Chapter 5. The Friars Minor at S. Maria in Aracoeli, founded c. 1248–1252

Chapter 6. The Friars Preachers at S. Maria Sopra Minerva, founded c. 1266–1276

Chapter 7. The Franciscan Nunnery at S. Silvestro in Capite, founded in 1285

Chapter 8. Medieval Dominican Penitents from c. 1286 and Catherine of Siena (1347–1380)

Conclusion

Glossary

To purchase, visit Brepols.

Lecture: ‘Speculative Geometry and the Opening Page of ‘Sir Gawain and the Green Knight”, by Arthur Bahr, University of Wisconsin, 17:00-18:30 CST

Weapons and wounds feature prominently in the first illustration of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, which depicts the Green Knight’s entry, challenge, and beheading in a single tableau. As this talk will show, these weapons are more than thematic; they also help create a complex set of embedded triangles whose angles and sight-lines preview the poem to come. This is significant because the first page of the poem, which appears opposite this illustration on folio 91/95r, is like none other in the manuscript—especially its large, eleven-line gap at the top of the page. Although not representationally illustrative like its facing page, the anomalous text-block of 91/95r nevertheless illustrates the perceptual challenges posed by Sir Gawain’s literary and numerical structures. The 90/94v+91/95r opening thus previews and enacts, in miniature, the challenges and delights of the poem it introduces. Read closely, and speculatively, it offers additional interpretive tools with which to chase the endless, gordian knot of Sir Gawain.

The lecture will be preceded by a graduate student and faculty workshop at 14:00 CST. Please contact Professor Lisa Cooper (lhcooper@wisc.edu) to participate.

Co-sponsored by the University of Wisconsin–Madison Medieval Studies Program, the Anonymous Fund, and the Department of English.

Lecture: ‘New Directions in Manuscript Studies: The Digital and Manual Future’, by Professor Elaine Treharne, 9 November 2022, 16:00-17:30 EST

Elaine Treharne is Senior Associate Vice-Provost for Undergraduate Education, Roberta Bowman Denning Professor of Humanities and Professor of English at Stanford University, where she teaches Manuscript and Archival Studies, and Early British Literatures. She co-directs Stanford Manuscript Sciences, and she is currently working on the fourth edition of Old and Middle English: An Anthology (Wiley-Blackwell, 2023) and a revised edition of Neil Ker’s Catalogue of Manuscripts Containing Early English.  Her most recent books include Perceptions of Medieval Manuscripts: The Phenomenal Book (OUP, 2021) and, with Orietta Da Rold, The Cambridge Companion to British Medieval Manuscripts (Cambridge: 2020).

Professor Treharne’s talk is titled “New Directions in Manuscript Studies: The Digital and Manual Future.”

Abstract: This is a critical moment. Millions of manuscript images are available online in repositories across the world, but what differences do they and could they make to contemporary knowledge and understanding of textual cultures from the past? Some inherited research that provides the basis of manuscript history is limited, partly because of what was available to scholars; partly because of previous scholars’ own, sometimes biased, worldviews; and partly because of the tools they had to hand. What kinds of new discoveries, then, might be facilitated by the mass digitisation of manuscripts and through new computational and digital methods and tools. More, what further limitations exist for the work (some of it manual) that is yet to be done?

The event will be held virtually via Zoom. Please register at this link.

New Publication: ‘Horizons médiévaux d’Orient et d’Occident: Regards croisés entre France et Japon’, ed. Atushi Egawa, Marc Smith, Megumi Tanabe, and Hanno Wijsman

This volume contains fifteen articles from the international symposium “Cultural exchanges in the Middle Ages: from dialogue to the construction of cultures”, held 18th and 19th November 2017 at the Yamato-Bunkakan museum in Nara, the former capital of Japan, at the initiative of the network of medievalists Ménestrel. At the end of a long joint work, it restores the experience of a meeting in polyphonic mode, resonating past and present cultures, intertwining historical themes and historical voices from the extremities of Eurasia.

Medieval cultures are compared by two main perspectives, determined by the scale of distances. On the one hand, a history of more or less close exchanges and interactions, extended by forms of mutual knowledge which, with geographical distance, tend towards the imaginary. On the other hand, between the ends of the world deprived of direct contact, a comparative approach that brings to light intriguing similarities and differences.

Bringing together and interweaving very diverse themes – war, languages, emblematic, religions, sciences, art and book collections, travels and knowledge of the world – this volume opens up new avenues in political and social history as well as in history. art or texts. Happily crossing disciplinary boundaries, it above all calls for an open dialogue between the traditions of historiographical thought.

To purchase, visit Editions de la Sorbonne.

Fellowship Opportunity: Research Fellowships for Graduate Students, Beinecke Library, Yale University (Deadline 1 December 2022)

The Beinecke Library at Yale University offers, on a competitive basis, fellowships to support graduate students to pursue onsite research with the collections for one to four months. We welcome applications from students enrolled in graduate programs at Yale and at any other university or college, locally or globally. The fellowship program aims to facilitate research by the broadest possible group of students, regardless of institutional association, race, cultural background, ability, sexual orientation, gender, or socioeconomic status. 

Students applying for a fellowship should be at an advanced stage in their research or prospectus development and propose a fully conceptualized project related to their degree program. Applications from students utilizing traditional methods of archival and bibliographic research are encouraged as are applications from students who wish to pursue creative, interdisciplinary, and non-traditional approaches to conducting research in the collections.

Applicants must be enrolled in a graduate degree program (PhD, MFA, MA, MPhil, MBA, etc.).

Fellowships will be awarded in the amount of $5,000 per month for up to four months of research depending on the research needs of the project. An additional modest travel budget may be awarded if the project would benefit from research at another repository with vital complementary materials; this research would take place directly following the fellowship period at Yale. Fellows’ funding will be awarded at the beginning of the fellowship. All fellows are responsible for reporting their fellowship to their home institution and for paying any taxes related to the receipt of their fellowship.

This is a residential fellowship and fellows are expected to spend the majority of their time in the reading room. Fellows are meant to participate in the intellectual life of the university and are encouraged to participate in the activities of library.

The application form is located on Interfolio and must be completed in its entirety to be considered. Click here to view the application. 

The application opens on August 19, 2022

The application closes on December 1, 2022 at 11:59pm EST

Applicants will be notified of all decisions by March 1, 2023

Fellowships must be taken between June 1, 2023 and May 31, 2024

Please Note: All graduate student fellows are responsible for reporting their fellowship to their home institution and for paying any taxes related to the receipt of their fellowship. Students enrolled in Yale’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences or in one of Yale’s professional schools should check with their advisor about their eligibility and funding implications before applying for a fellowship. 

All materials must be received by the deadline. Applications from previous recipients of a Beinecke fellowship will be considered only in exceptional circumstances. Applicants are required to submit the following materials

  • An application form
     
  • A curriculum vitae (3 pages max)
     
  • (Optional) A travel budget for up to $5,000 additional funding for travel and accommodations to do research in other repositories beyond Yale. Please upload this document under “Additional Documents” in the Interfolio application. 
     
  • A research proposal (1,200 words max) that outlines:

o   Significance of collections research to your project

o   Value of the project to your field 

o   Feasibility of completing the scope of research proposed within the fellowship period 

  • A detailed list of materials to be examined during your fellowship, including call numbers, collection names, and any other bibliographic information available. If you anticipate consulting oversize materials (broadsides, posters, maps, etc.), please indicate those clearly in your list
     
  • Two confidential letters of recommendation, including one from your academic advisor or equivalent

To assist with your application, most of the holdings of the Beinecke Library are described in Orbis, the online catalogue of Yale University Library, or in Archives at Yale. Applications for pre-prospectus applicants can be found here. Applications for graduate and professional students can be found here.

If you have any further questions, please contact Allison Van Rhee at allison.vanrhee@yale.edu.

Call for Papers: Vagantes 2023, Harvard University, 16-18 March 2023 (Deadline 28 November 2022)

The 22nd Annual Vagantes Conference on Medieval Studies invites abstracts from current graduate students and recently graduated MA students from all discipliners for papers on any topic related to the long Middle Ages and its study. The organizers welcome abstracts for traditional 20-mintute conference papers, as well as performances or presentations that utilize other forms of media (artistic collaborations, digital humanities projects, etc.). We also particularly encourage relevant presentations from students in the fields of historical preservation, museum studies, or library and information sciences.

Submissions should consist of a paper title, an abstract of 300 words, and a 1-page CV (including the applicant’s preferred name and pronouns), and should be submitted as a single PDF by Monday, November 28, 2022 to vagantesboard@gmail.com.

Lecture: ‘From Archive to Repertoire in Late Medieval Women’s Caregiving Communities’, by Sara Ritchey, University of Wisconsin, 11 November 2022, 17:00-18:30 CST

Drawing on a range of thirteenth- and fourteenth-century French and Latin sources, including saints’ lives, charters, psalters, devotional miscellanies, drama, and poetry, this talk will survey the performance of healthcare that religious women (primarily beguines and Cistercians) provided in hospitals, leprosaria, infirmaries, and bedsides. It speculates on how textual knowledge in these communities was augmented through oral elaboration and suggests ways that medievalists can recuperate submerged healthcare knowledge and practices from manuscript vestiges.

The lecture will be preceded by a graduate student and faculty workshop at 14:30. Please contact Sarah Friedman (friedman23@wisc.edu) to participate.

Co-sponsored by the University of Wisconsin–Madison Medieval Studies Program, the Anonymous Fund, and the Department of History.

New Publication: ‘The Bologna Cope: Patronage, Iconography, History, and Conservation’, ed. M.A. Michael

This second volume in the series Studies in English Medieval Embroidery is dedicated to the Opus Anglicanum Cope of St Domenico, Bologna now housed in the Museo Civico Medievale. Essays are by the Director, curators and conservation staff of the Museo Civico in collaboration with new archival research by leading scholars in the field of textiles and the production of medieval liturgical vestments. It is edited by Dr. M.A. Michael, head of the Opus Anglicanum Project at the University of Glasgow.

This volume presents the first detailed investigation of the iconographical cycle depicted on the cope and provides new evidence for dating which places the Bologna Cope within the short-lived patronage of Pope Benedict XI before 1304. A comprehensive investigation of the archival materials relating to the Cope and its rediscovery in the 19th century is also accompanied by a detailed historiography of the literature and exhibition history of the cope and an account of the challenges faced during its recent conservation.

Table of Contents

Massimo Medica — A King’s Gift to a Pope: Benedict XI and the Bologna Cope

M.A. Michael — The Cultural Context of the Bologna Cope: The Design and Production of Opus Anglicanum Liturgical Vestments in England

Franco Faranda and M. A. Michael — The Iconography of the Cope of San Domenico in Bologna

Giancarlo Benevolo — The San Domenico Cope in the Inventories of the Sacristy and Convent of the Friars Preachers, Bologna: 14th –19th centuries

Silvia Battistini — An Historiography of the Bologna Cope

Marta Cuoghi-Costantini — Textiles and Embroidery in Italy between 1200 and 1300

Manuela Farinelli — The Conservation of the Bologna Cope

Silvia Battistini — The Bologna Cope (Catalogue description)

Bibliography
Glossary
Index

To order, visit Brepols.

Job Opportunity: Post-Doctoral Fellow in Medieval Studies, ANR CiSaMe Project (Deadline 15 December 2022)

The person recruited will join the ANR CiSaMe project (Circulation of Medieval Knowledge in the 12th Century) for an initial period of 12 months, renewable once, and will contribute to the creation and exploitation of a database constituted from an essentially manuscript corpus of works from the legal, philosophical and theological traditions of the 12th century. It must have scientific expertise in medieval textual and intellectual traditions. Technical expertise in digital humanities is highly desirable. The candidate will work within the UMR DRES of the University of Strasbourg.

The person recruited will join the ANR CiSaMe project (Circulation of Medieval Knowledge in the 12th century) for an initial period of 12 months, renewable once. The project aims to re-evaluate the circulation of knowledge in the 12th century (law, theology, philosophy) through the implementation of a method based on digital humanities and the exploitation of a database constituted from the transcription of a vast corpus of manuscripts and OCRized published works. The person recruited will assist the project coordinator, Raphaël Eckert, in the first phase of the project, which consists
of creating the database from 12th century scholarly manuscripts (in particular legal and theological). He/she will especially contribute to the selection and collection of the manuscripts; to the collection of information on the manuscripts and their history; to the transcription of the manuscripts (in particular with the help of an automated transcription/HTR software); to the creation of an XML/TEI database and of the tools necessary for its exploitation (with the assistance of a dedicated computer scientist). He/she will participate in the dissemination of the results (publications, conferences) and will be associated with the project coordination meetings. The person recruited will work within the UMR DRES of the University of Strasbourg, in the premises of the Maison interuniversitaire des Sciences de l’Homme d’Alsace (MISHA). He/she must have a mastery of medieval Latin and paleography, scientific expertise in medieval textual and intellectual traditions, and preferably technical expertise in digital humanities. He/she must hold a doctorate in History, Legal History, History of Theology or History of Philosophy (or even Philology or Classics). He/she must have worked on intellectual history or the history of textual traditions in the Middle Ages. He/she should have a good knowledge of Latin paleography and, if possible, codicology. He/she should preferably have experience in digital humanities, if possible in both automated transcription (HTR) and encoding (XML/TEI). The working and communication language can be French or English.

The person recruited will work at the DRES premises in Strasbourg. The function cannot be carried out in teleworking on a principal basis. Some travel, financed by the CiSaMe project, is to be expected (consultation of manuscripts; libraries; meetings; conferences). The remuneration is between 2271 € and 2952 € gross, depending on the experience of the person recruited.

The candidate must hold a doctorate in History, Legal History, History of Philosophy, History of Theology or even Philology or Classics for less than two years, in the field of intellectual history or the history of medieval textual traditions. A good knowledge of paleography is required and, if possible, of codicology. Skills in digital humanities (XML/TEI encoding, HTR) are highly desirable.
A good command of medieval Latin, as well as a good command of French and/or English are required. Interested candidates should send to the project coordinator by email (raphael.eckert@unistra.fr): a CV in French or English and a letter of motivation. The deadline to submit is 15th December 2022. Interviews will be held in late 2022 or early 2023 by videoconference.