Job: Assistant Professor in Art History, Rice University, deadline 15 November 2022

The Department of Art History at Rice University invites applications for a tenure-track Assistant Professor position in the history of medieval art and/or architecture, broadly defined. We are interested in scholars working on art from roughly 400-1400, without restriction to culture or region. Successful candidates will have a record of publication and service commensurate with their career stage and be alert to diverse methodological approaches to the study of art and/or architecture from this period.

Scholars working within transcultural frameworks are particularly encouraged to apply, as are those whose work might intersect with that being done in interdisciplinary programs and centers at Rice, including (but not limited to) those in Medical Humanities, Medieval & Early Modern Studies, Environmental Studies, African and African American Studies, and the Study of Women, Gender, and Sexuality.

The department offers programs of study leading to both the BA and PhD degrees. The new hire will teach four courses each academic year, covering a range of topics from area surveys to graduate-level courses on specialized subjects of their choice. The hire will also supervise undergraduate independent studies and honors theses, and mentor doctoral students.

Rice University is a highly selective private research university located in Houston, Texas, the nation’s fourth largest city. It is located in the heart of Houston’s dynamic museum district, where nearby museums including the Menil Collection and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston offer ample opportunities for collaboration. Rice offers undergraduate and graduate degrees across eight schools and has a student body of approximately 4,000 undergraduate and 3,000 graduate students. It consistently ranks among the top 20 national universities and the top 10 in undergraduate teaching (US News & World Report); its endowment ranks among the top 20 of US universities.

A PhD in Art History or related field is required by the position’s start on July 1, 2023. To apply, please submit a letter of interest, CV, three letters of reference, and two samples of scholarly work online via Interfolio. For fullest consideration, application materials should be submitted by November 15, 2022.

Equal Employment Opportunity Statement
Rice University is an Equal Opportunity Employer with commitment to diversity at all levels, and considers for employment qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national or ethnic origin, genetic information, disability or protected veteran status.

Rice University Standard of Civility Serves as a representative of the University, displaying courtesy, tact, consideration and discretion in all interactions with other members of the Rice community and with the public.

More information can be found here.

CFP: ‘The Wall Painting Cycle on the Sciences and Arts in the Brandenburg Cathedral Cloister in its Context: Art Production and Organization of Knowledge around 1450’, Brandenburg an der Havel (29–30 March 2023), deadline 15 November 2022

Organizers: Chair of Medieval and Early Modern Art History at the Institute of Art | Music | Textiles – Department of Art, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, Paderborn University, Prof. Dr. Ulrike Heinrichs, and Curator of the Brandenburg Cathedral Chapter, Dr. Cord-Georg Hasselmann
Project Lead: Prof. Dr. Ulrike Heinrichs

On the occasion of the completion of the art historical DFG funded project ‘The Wall Painting Cycle on the Sciences and Arts in the Brandenburg Cathedral Cloister. Art Production and Organization of Knowledge around 1450’ (project number 346774044) an interdisciplinary symposium is organized by the Chair of Medieval and Early Modern Art History at the Institute of Art | Music | Textiles – Department of Art, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, Paderborn University, Prof. Dr. Ulrike Heinrichs and the Curator of the Brandenburg Cathedral Chapter, Dr. Cord-Georg Hasselmann.

The thematic framework of the symposium is based on the recent open access project publication ‘Der Wandmalereizyklus zu den Wissenschaften und Künsten in der Brandenburger Domklausur. Kunstproduktion und Wissensorganisation um 1450` [The fragmentary wall paintings from the time of Bishop Stephan Bodeker and Provost Peter von Klitzke in the late medieval cathedral library in Brandenburg an der Havel and their inscriptions. A monumental cycle consisting of figural paintings, texts and ornaments in two library rooms] by Ulrike Heinrichs and Martina Voigt, DOI: https://doi.org/10.11588/artdok.00007730. A brief overview of the topics addressed here as well as further information on the project are available on the project homepage of the Chair of Medieval and Modern Art History at the University of Paderborn: https://kw.uni-paderborn.de/fach-kunst/mittlere-und-neuere-kunstgeschichte/projekte/der-wandmalereizyklus

For a long time, art history preserved the memory of “the very beautiful images of the seven liberal arts and the crafts, theology and medicine (…) listed in sequence in the Brandenburg Library, in the March, outside the city, where the White Canons are” (Hartmann Schedel, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek München, Clm 418) thanks to a descriptive text from the 15th century. However, the picture cycle was considered lost until the precious wall paintings in the so-called Oberer Kreuzgang (Upper Cloister) at the former Cathedral of Brandenburg an der Havel were discovered and uncovered in 2000/05 during renovation works in the north wing.

After initial publications on the new find had established connections to manuscripts from the library of the Nuremberg humanist Hartmann Schedel (1440–1514) and to the highly learned and literarily productive Bishop of Brandenburg Stephan Bodeker (tenure 1421–1459), the way was paved for the exploration of the probably oldest surviving example of a study library of the “modern” type developed in the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance, with a variety of use for collecting books, study and teaching. In the Brandenburg Cathedral Cloister it appears as a hall completely painted with murals – a monumental allegory to the canon of Sciences and Arts under the supremacy of Theology, which at the same time gives wide scope to the social and technical realities of the artes mechanicae, with opulent ornamentation and imagery as well as an extensive corpus of inscriptions resembling a learned treatise. The art historical DFG project at Paderborn University seized this great opportunity and began its work in autumn 2017 in tandem with the conservation science DFG project based at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Hildesheim / Holzminden / Göttingen (HAWK) and in cooperation with the Brandenburg Cathedral Chapter, the Brandenburg State Office for Monument Preservation and Archaeological Museum (BLDAM) as well as the architects in charge of preservation of the building – pmp Projekt GmbH-Architekten Brandenburg an der Havel.

In the light of the latest research findings, the symposium provides a new idea of the thematic core and function of the wall paintings as well as of the original extent and shape of the Brandenburg Cathedral Library of the late Middle Ages. From this perspective, it develops an expanded spectrum of questions reaching into European cultural spaces of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.
Conservational research of the DFG tandem project partner, the HAWK under the lead of Prof. Dr. Ursula Schädler-Saub, has proven the in situ visible wall paintings to be an authentic, albeit fragmentary ensemble of a high quality multi-layered secco painting with protean binding. Results of art historical research on the history of style identify it as an artistic ‘flagship project’ of regional origin with references to a variety of genres of painting exemplifying the transition between the International Style of the decades around 1400 and the Late Gothic Style.
The original manuscript of the descriptive text in the Codex Clm 650 at the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek München, which has previously been attributed to Hermann Schedel (1410–1483), Hartmann’s older cousin, proves to be authentic on the one hand and selective on the other when compared with sources and findings: the preserved murals show far more and, in addition to ornamental paintings of exceptional quality, also include coats of arms, by means of which Provost Peter von Klitzke (tenure 1425/26–ca. 1447) and Bishop Stephan Bodeker could be identified as commissioners and those responsible for the ambitious project. Further, epigraphically and iconographically so far unknown texts and figures could be secured, referring among other things to the treatise Lignum vitae (‘Tree of Life’) by Bonaventura di Bagnoregio (1221–1274) and the salvation-historical basis for the acquisition of knowledge and wisdom under the patronage of the Brandenburg bishopric run by Premonstratensians. As latest findings on building history reveal, the libraria Brandenburgensi[s], as mentioned in the copy of Hermann Schedel’s description by his cousin Hartmann, is to be understood not only as a large study hall, but as a library complex created by striking architectural changes to a large hall in the north wing of the cathedral cloister dating from the 13th to 14th centuries. The pronounced canonistic position and the sophisticated overview of the current educational canon with its roots in antiquity and scholasticism touch on relations with the Margrave and Elector of Brandenburg from the rising House of Hohenzollern as well as the self-conception of ecclesiastical rule in the midst of tense processes of negotiating power after the schism, under ecclesiastical reform efforts and economic consolidation pressure. Not least, they shed light on the role of the Premonstratensian Order within the development of ecclesiastical rule as well as the history of art and culture in the central and northern areas of the Circaria Saxoniae.

The questions raised are manifold and concern the artistic sources and strategies of dealing with traditions and innovations of decorative and figurative painting and calligraphy as well as with the multi-layered fields of allegoresis, performance, diagrammatics and mnemonics in areas of scientific literature and monumental painting. Possible topics range from questions related to the building and its spatiality, including specifics of style, construction technologies and functions, to questions regarding any integrated or adjacent rooms of the episcopal administration and jurisdiction or aspects of everyday life in and with the library, the safekeeping of books, the practice of study and the regulation of light.
Future perspectives to be discussed at the conference also concern methods of sustainable archiving and innovative use of project data as well as opportunities for presentation and mediation of this valuable ensemble of wall paintings within the framework of the Brandenburg Cathedral Museum. Based at the Chair of Medieval and Early Modern Art History at the University of Paderborn and supported locally by the Centre for Information and Media Technology (IMT) together with the University Library, the project database was jointly developed by the DFG project tandem and its cooperation partners using the data archiving system MonArch launched by the IFIS Institute at the University of Passau (since 2021 part of AriInfoWare GmbH). Designed for cooperation in its form and connectable to future projects, this medium aims at a building-based, interactively usable archiving of different types of documentation and visualization, and offers the opportunity to discuss comparable or alternative approaches within research on wall paintings in their architectural setting. The museological part of the conference is dedicated to the question of suitable presentation formats in museums, focusing the communicability of hybrid genres in historical spaces, including inscriptions and medieval sources as well as states of preservation that are difficult to access.

There are no thematic constraints. However, contributions to the following research areas are particularly welcome, and in any case both a regional and a European perspective are encouraged:

• Material culture, pictorial equipment and imagery of late medieval and Renaissance libraries
• Allegories and narratives of Sciences and Arts in images and texts
• The imagery of Theology, Wisdom, Jurisprudence and the wise Rule
• Representation of patrons and donors in medieval and Renaissance libraries in images, inscriptions or coats of arms
• Source tradition on antique library buildings in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance
• The architecture and topography of late medieval and Renaissance libraries, i.a. at episcopal sees and in White Canons chapters
• Book collections, educational programs and forms of use of ecclesiastical libraries, i.a. at episcopal sees and White Canons chapters
• Politics, education and visual arts in the Diocese Brandenburg and the Circaria Saxoniae in the Late Middle Ages
• Comparative studies on production, aesthetics and dissemination of secco painting
• Perspectives of data archiving: Interactive digital access to medieval and Renaissance wall paintings as subject matter of databases
• Perspectives for museum presentation: Medieval buildings featuring wall painting cycles and their image-text corpora

Proposals for a 30 minutes talk (followed by a 15 minutes discussion) should be no longer than 400-500 words (excluding bibliography and footnotes), accompanied with a short CV (max. 150 words). The bibliography should reflect the scope and methodology of the research.

Please send your proposal to irina.hegel@upb.de
Deadline: November 15, 2022
The organizers will notify you by December 15, 2022

Conference languages: English and German
A publication of the contributions is planned.

Please note that hotel and travel expenses of the lecturing participants will be covered within the framework of the applicable reimbursement guidelines (train 2nd class / economy flight).

Lecture: ‘Were Franciscan Churches a Betrayal of St. Francis?’, Dr Erik Gustafson, Murray Seminar Series, Birkbeck, Tuesday 18 October, 5pm (BST)

Booking link on Eventbrite for online seminar, 18 Oct 2022

Booking link on Eventbrite for in-person seminar, 18 Oct 2022

Erik Gustafson addresses two fundamental problems with regards to Franciscan churches: the question of poverty and architecture, and the issue of the role of dividing screens for the friars’ lay constituency. Both topics hang on the problematic legacy of Francis himself in relation to the development of Franciscanism as a functioning religious order across the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Was the clericalization of the order a betrayal of Francis forced by the papacy or the logical development of Francis’s idiosyncratic, charismatic spirituality, and how did these issues play out in the central Italian churches of the order? Such questions have potential ramifications for how painting and sculpture might have been experienced within Franciscan churches, as well as broader socio-religious connotations for the development of medieval religious spaces.

Lecture: ‘Risky Investments? Mercantile patronage at Santa María del Mar in Barcelona’, Dr Tom Nickson, Thursday, 6 October 2022, 18:30-19:30 (BST)

Why give money to your local church? In this paper Tom Nickson focuses on the 14th-century parish church of Santa Maria del Mar in Barcelona, and explores the risks and rewards it offered to the local merchant community who invested in its construction.

This will be a hybrid event, taking place online and in person at the Institute of Historical Research, Pollard N301.

The church of Santa María del Mar in Barcelona is justly famous for its soaring, spacious Gothic interior, a parish church that rivals Barcelona cathedral in size and splendour. The local merchants who sponsored construction of the new church in the 1320s and 1330s doubtless hoped for such an outcome, but it was far from guaranteed, and many other ambitious building projects of the period – including Barcelona cathedral itself – remained incomplete until the 19th century. In this paper Tom Nickson explores construction of Santa Maria del Mar, and the community of merchants, widows and civic officers who financed it. They were motivated by the promise that good works would be rewarded in heaven, but also by opportunities to colonise the church interior with family heraldry and create family burial chapels – opportunities hitherto restricted to the nobility. In this paper Tom Nickson explores the financing of Santa Maria del Mar in relation to new fiscal systems developed by Barcelona’s merchants in the 14th century. He compares the risks and rewards of sponsoring church construction with those of long distance trade, and consider the architectural consequences of new systems of finance.

Tom Nickson is Reader in Medieval Art History at the Courtauld Institute of Art, London. His research and teaching focus on the art and architecture of medieval England and Iberia, and his talk stems from research for one chapter of his forthcoming book, Architecture in Medieval Spain and Portugal: Seven Moments. 

Find out more information here.

Conference: ‘Monumental Medievalism, Public Monuments & the (Mis)Use of the Medieval Past’, 5-6 October 2022

In the summer of 2020, one of several dozen protests organised throughout the world in response to the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis (USA) culminated in the statue of the slave trader Edward Colston being dumped into the water of Bristol Harbour (England). The ripples were felt across the globe. In the ensuing days, weeks and months, scores of other monuments depicting historical figures were variously defaced, toppled, removed from view, or placed under new scrutiny. Many of these had played prominent roles in the slave trade and/or in European colonialism. Some of these monuments were of medieval figures, while others were evocative—to varying degrees of credibility—of the (faux-)chivalric codes and rose-tinted regalia of the medieval past. Of course, to medievalists, the convergence of civic and civil statuary with protest and activism was nothing new. In fact—from the damnatio memoriae of later Roman Emperors to Saints Florus and Laurus smashing statues in Kosovo; Byzantine Eikonomachía; Aniconism in medieval Islam; the Huichang Persecution of Buddhist images; the Ghaznavid plundering of Mathura and Somnath; the Khmer intolerance of Jayavarman monuments in Angkor; the Strigólnik stripping of Pskov and Novgorod; and the First and Second Suppression Acts of the 1530s—many of its roots actually lie in the medieval world. What use then, or advantage, might the study of the Middle Ages hold in evaluating these modern political struggles? This workshop will address precisely this question.

The workshop has three aims. Firstly, it will explore examples of statues, monuments and related forms of public sculpture which speak to the ongoing making and unmaking of medieval figures, images and histories: what we term ‘Monumental Medievalism’. Secondly, in addition to considering the ‘when’, ‘how’ and ‘why’ of monuments’ original production, it will interrogate the varied and often contested meanings that monuments later acquired over time. Of special interest, moreover, will be papers that address not only the use but the misuse of the Middle Ages, in connection to questions of local identity, gender, sexuality, race, religion and/or marginalisation. Thirdly, it will take the measure of nostalgia for the Middle Ages in the twenty-first century, asking questions of appropriation, anachronism, authenticity, nationalism and reflecting upon the possibilities and pitfalls of conscripting medieval images to serve as contemporary cultural conduits.

Find out more information and book your tickets here.

Please note that all times are in British Summer Time (UTC +1hr)

Conference programme

Wednesday 5th October 2022

12:45-13:00

Welcome, Euan McCartney Robson and Simon John

13:00-14:45

Session 1: Monumental Medievalism in Modern Japan
Chair: Simon John (Swansea University, UK)

Sven Saaler (Sophia University, Japan): ‘The medieval roots of imperial loyalty: the cult of Kusunoki Masashige in modern Japan’

Judith Vitale (University of Zurich, Switzerland): ‘The “Movement for the Establishment of a Monument for the Mongol invasions”’

Ran Zwigenberg (Pennsylvania State University, USA): ‘Date Masamune: In (and off) the Saddle of History on Japan’s Periphery’

Oleg Benesch (University of York, UK), ‘A Japanese Monument to Global Medievalism: The Origins of the Yasukuni Shrine Yushukan Military Museum’

14:45-15:15

Break

15:15-16:45

Session 2: Encountering the Middle Ages through Monuments: approaches and debates
Chair: Euan McCartney Robson (Paul Mellon Centre, UK)

Laura S. Harrison (Independent Scholar, UK) & Andrew B.R. Elliott (University of Lincoln, UK): ‘“Set in Stone”: The Participatory Function of Medieval Statues’

Sarah Gordon (Utah State University, USA): ‘“Tear it Down”: Controversial Statues of Medieval Figures in the US (Joan of Arc and St. Louis)’

Simon John (Swansea University, UK): ‘The uses of medieval traditions, invented and otherwise: Brussels’ 1848 statue of Godfrey of Bouillon and perceptions of the (mostly) medieval past’

16:45-17:15

Break

17:15-18:15

Session 3: Monuments and the Medieval Past in Ukraine and Russia
Chair: Markian Prokopovych (Durham University, UK)

Emma Louise Leahy (Independent Scholar, Germany): ‘The Kyivan Rus’ as Origin Story in Soviet and National Historiographies: The Changing Meanings of Medieval Images in the Monumental Mosaic Art of Ukraine (1960s to 2010s)’

Anastasija Ropa (Latvian Academy of Sport Education, Latvia), Edgar Rops (Independent Scholar, Latvia), and Maria Inês Bolinhas (Catholic University of Portugal): ‘The Contested Statue of Knyaz Vladimir/Volodymyr’

Thursday 6th October 2022

12:00-13:30

Session 4: Monuments, Medieval History and Nation-Building
Chair: Christoph Laucht (Conflict, Reconstruction and Memory research group, Swansea University)

Anna Lidor-Osprian and Romedio Schmitz-Esser (both Heidelberg University, Germany): ‘Between Medievalism and Baroque Maternalism: The Multifaceted Historical Monumentalism of nineteenth-century Austria’

Len Scales (Durham University, UK): ‘Unsettled Memories: Henry I (r. 919-936) in Quedlinburg’

Tommaso Zerbi (Bibliotheca Hertziana, Max Planck Institute for Art History, Italy): ‘A Tale of Two Monuments: Making, Remaking, and Unmaking the Myth of Amadeus VI of Savoy from the Nineteenth to the Twenty-First Century’

13:30-14:00

Break

15:30-17:00

Session 6: Monumental Women
Chair: Euan McCartney Robson

Julia Faiers (University of St Andrews, UK): ‘The invention and reinvention of Clémence Isaure in modern Toulouse’

Christopher Crocker (University of Manitoba, Canada): ‘Ásmundur Sveinsson’s “The First White Mother in America”: Guðríðr Þorbjarnardóttir as a (white-) feminist icon’

Caroline Bourne (University of Reading, UK): ‘The Gwenllian Monument at Kidwelly: Issues of Gender and a Contested Landscape in Commemorating Medieval Welsh History’

17:00-17:30

Break


17:30-19:00

Session 7: The Monumental Heritage of the Middle Ages
Chair: Anna Lisor-Osprian

Teresa Soley (Columbia University, USA): ‘Sculpting Portugal’s Golden Age: Tombs and the Image of the “Age of Discovery”’

Jessica Barker (The Courtauld Institute, UK): ‘Anachronic Empire: The Afterlives of the Padrões of Diogo Cão’

Ethel Sara Wolper (University of New Hampshire, USA): ‘Lessons from Mosul: ISIS, UNESCO, and the Spectacle of Definition’

19:00

Concluding remarks

New Publication: Bloomsbury’s ‘A Cultural History of Color’

A Cultural History of Color, Volumes 1-6 Carole P. Biggam (Anthology Editor), Kirsten Wolf (Anthology Editor)

A Cultural History of Color presents a history of 5000 years of color in western culture. The first systematic and comprehensive history, the work examines how color has been perceived, developed, produced and traded, and how it has been used in all aspects of performance – from the political to the religious to the artistic – and how it shapes all we see, from food and nature to interiors and architecture, to objects and art, to fashion and adornment, to the color of the naked human body, and to the way our minds work and our languages are created.

Chapter titles are identical across each of the volumes. This gives the choice of reading about a specific period in one of the volumes, or following a theme across history by reading the relevant chapter in each of the six. The themes (and chapter titles) are: Color Philosophy and Science; Color Technology and Trade; Power and Identity; Religion and Ritual; Body and Clothing; Language and Psychology; Literature and the Performing Arts; Art; Architecture and Interiors; Artefacts.

The six volumes cover: 1 – Antiquity (3,000 BCE to 500 CE); 2 – Medieval Age (500 to 1400); 3 – Renaissance (1400 to 1650); 4 – Age of Enlightenment (1650 to 1800); 5 – Age of Industry (1800 to 1920); 6 – Modern Age (1920 to the present).

The page extent for the pack is approximately 1760pp. Each volume opens with Notes on Contributors and an Introduction and concludes with Notes, Bibliography, and an Index.

The Cultural Histories Series
A Cultural History of Color is part of The Cultural Histories Series. Titles are available as hardcover sets for libraries needing just one subject or preferring a tangible reference for their shelves or as part of a fully-searchable digital library. The digital product is available to institutions by annual subscription or on perpetual access via www.bloomsburyculturalhistory.com. Individual volumes for academics and researchers interested in specific historical periods are also available in print or digitally via www.bloomsburycollections.com.

Find out more information here.

Medieval Related Volumes:

Vol. 1: A Cultural History of Color in Antiquity

Vol. 1: A Cultural History of Color in Antiquity

Edited by David Wharton, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, USA

1. Philosophy and Science, Katerina Ierodiakonou
2. Technology and Trade, Hilary Becker
3. Power and Identity, Kelly Olson and David Wharton
4. Religion and Ritual, Verity Platt
5. Body and Clothing, Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones
6. Language and Psychology, Katherine McDonald
7. Literature and the Performing Arts, Karen Bassi and David Wharton
8. Art, Mark Abbe
9. Architecture and Interiors, Stephan Zink
10. Artefacts, Ellen Swift

A Cultural History of Color in the Medieval Age cover

Vol. 1: A Cultural History of Color in the Medieval Age

Edited by Carole Biggam, University of Glasgow, UK, & Kirsten Wolf, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA

1. Philosophy and Science, A. Mark Smith
2. Technology and Trade, Jo Kirby
3. Power and Identity, Wim Blockmans
4. Religion and Ritual, Andreas Petzold
5. Body and Clothing, Gale R. Owen-Crocker
6. Language and Psychology, Carole P. Biggam, Roman Krivko, Piera Molinelli, and Kirsten Wolf
7. Literature and the Performing Arts, Mark Cruse
8. Art, Thomas Dale
9. Architecture and Interiors, Eva Oledzka
10. Artefacts, Leslie Webster

A Cultural History of Color in the Renaissance

Vol. 3: A Cultural History of Color in the Medieval Age

Edited by Sven Dupré, Utrecht University, The Netherlands, & Amy Buono, Rio De Janeiro State University, Brazil

1. Philosophy and Science, Tawrin Baker
2. Technology and Trade, Jo Kirby
3. Power and Identity, Peter C. Mancall
4. Religion and Ritual, Lisa Pon
5. Body and Clothing, Carole Frick
6. Language and Psychology, Doris Oltrogge
7. Literature & the Performing Arts, Bruce R. Smith
8. Art, Marcia Hall
9. Architecture and Interiors, Cammy Brothers
10. Artefacts, Leah R. Clark

Call for papers for an edited book on ‘Female religion and practices in Late Antiquity and early Medieval Christianity’, deadline 14th November 2022

This edited volume aims to bring an interdisciplinary view on how women were living and practicing Christianity from Late Antiquity to the Early Middle ages (from the III to XII century). The volume expects to bring together articles dealing with how women perceived and practiced Christianity in their own or shared spaces; how their practices differed from the norm, or were perceived by their peers or religious authorities; and how women can be perceived as agents of religious transformations.

The aim of the volume is to demonstrate the diversity of what could have been the female religious identity of Late Antique and Early Medieval individuals through their own practices (as perceived by others or described by themselves). Therefore, the book will focus on the religious experience of lay and religious women.

Possible approaches:

  • Prescriptions for female behaviour from religious rules and ecclesiastical text: how a women should behave in the Church, what a virtuous Christian women should and should not do;
  • Female heretics: the role of women in heresies (Priscillianism, Montanism, Manichaeism, ecc.);
  • The space and role of women in private religion;
  • Female spaces and places of cult;
  • Female iconography and material culture related to Christian practices (everyday objects, epigraphy, ecc);

• Female Christian burials, funerary practices and their social and cultural meanings;

• Female martyrs and hagiography;

• The involvement of women in Christian practices: their presence in Mass, preaching as a women, female priesthood, women and the cult of saints and martyrs (in early Christianity women were often associated with these cults and were reputed as responsible for their excesses), women pilgrims;

• Unorthodox female practices as perceived by Christian authorities and their condemnation: magic, poisoning, curing practices, ecc;

  • Hybrid practices (Christian practices that incorporated influences from other religions).

Abstracts of 200-300 words and a short bio should be sent to lilian.goncalves@fu-berlin.de by 14th of November 2022.

Please note that if your abstract is retained to be a fit contribution to the volume, it will be part of a book proposal. Even though a preliminary draft of the book received a positive feedback from the editorial board, an official proposal still need to be sent. Therefore, the book will need to receive an official thumbs up in order to really happen.

Submission of accepted chapters, of 7000-9000 words including bibliography, are provisionally anticipated for Late Summer-Early Autumn 2023.

Conference: ‘Performance, Perception & Devotional Experiences in Medieval Sacred Spaces’, Universitat de Barcelona, 13-14 October 2022

Conference programme

13 October 2022 (Facultat de Geografia i Història. Sala Jane Addams)

9.00am: Núria Jornet (Universitat de Barcelona), Fabio Massaccesi (Università di Bologna), Zuleika Murat (Università di Padova): Welcome and Opening of the Conference

9.20am: Olivia Robinson (University of Birmingham), Performance and Pleasure in Convent Spaces: Practice-based Research and the Medieval Convent Drama Project

Session I: Creating, Sanctifying and Experiencing Space: Architecture, Objects and Paintings
Chaired by Maria Soler Sala (Universitat de Barcelona)

10.00am: Fabio Massaccesi (Università di Bologna), Seeing and Believing: How the Triumphal Cross Shaped the Sacred Space (11th-14th century)

10.30am: Maddalena Vaccaro (Università degli Studi di Salerno), Sanctifying Spaces: Transmedial Interactions, Relics, and Apsis (9th-13th century)

Coffee break

11.00am: Cristina Guarnieri (Università di Padova), Pilgrims, Cripples, and Worshippers: Patterns of Devotion and Experience in the Shrine of St. Anthony in the Basilica del Santo

11.30am: Marta Crispí (Universitat Internacional de Catalunya), Los coros altos de los
monasterios femeninos como espacios litúrgicos y devoción: los monasterios de Sant Pere de les Puelles, Sant Antoni i Santa Clara i Santa Maria de Pedralbes de Barcelona

12.00pm: Davide Tramarin (Università di Padova), The Death of Christ in German Nunneries: Liturgical Spaces and Sensorial Dynamics

12.30pm: Discussion

Session II: Sight and the Other Senses: Interferences, Synergies, Synaesthesia
Chaired by Silvia Pérez (Universidad Pablo de Olavide)

14.30pm: Zuleika Murat (Università di Padova), Scenting the Blood of Christ: Material and Immaterial Aspects of Eucharistic Devotion in Late Medieval Venice

15.00pm: Micol Long (Università di Padova), Liturgical Combs or Liturgical Use of Combs?An Evaluation of Textual and Material Evidence 10th-13th century

Coffee break

16.30pm: Valentina Baradel (Università di Padova), Sensing the Saint, Experiencing the Resurrection: the Shrine of Saint Lazarus in Autun

17.00pm: Sara Carreño (Università di Padova), Tactile Discourse: Material Transmission of Theological Ideas in 14th Century Castile

17.30pm: Discussion

14 October 2023 (Museu Monestir de Santa Maria de Pedralbes)

9.30am: Anna Castellano (Director of Museu Monestir de Pedralbes), Welcome

Session III: Performances in a Monastic Space: Legal, Devotional and Liturgical Rituals
Chaired by Marta Sancho (Universitat de Barcelona)

10.00am: Silvia Pérez (Universidad Pablo de Olavide), Alberto Ruiz Berdejo (Universidad Pablo de Olavide), Muerte conmemorada y muerte ritualizada en las cofradías andaluzas de finales de la Edad Media

10.30pm: Jordina Sales (Universitat de Barcelona), Crimen y castigo en los primitivos cenobios hispanos (s. VI-VII): escenificaciones y performances

11.00pm: Sergi Sancho (Università di Padova), Monastic Performances, a Database. Conclusions on Perception and Categories

Coffee break

12.00 Núria Jornet-Benito (Universitat de Barcelona); Anna Castellano (Museu Monestir de Pedralbes), La ritualización de la obediencia a la abadesa: capellanes beneficiados y campesinos. Conventos de clarisas en la Barcelona de los siglos XIV y XV

12.30pm: Delfi Nieto (Queen Mary University of London), The Abbot, the Prior and the Destitute: The Washing of the Feet in Medieval Catalan Cloisters

13.00pm: Discussion and Closing Remarks

Organising Committee:

  • Núria Jornet (Universitat de Barcelona)
  • Fabio Massaccesi (Università di Bologna)
  • Zuleika Murat (Università di Padova)

Contact Details: Núria Jornet (Universitat de Barcelona): jornet@ub.edu

Those who wish to attend online are requested to send an email to Núria Jornet to get the link to connect via Teams.

The conference is sponsored by Universitat de Barcelona – Monastic Landscape PG2018-095350-B-100; Università di Bologna; Università di Padova – ERC StG Project “The Sensuous Appeal of the Holy. Sensory Agency of Sacred Art andSomatised Spiritual Experiences in Medieval Europe (12th-15th century) – SenSArt”. This project has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No 950248)

Online Lecture: ‘Medieval Formalism: The Corona-Crown in the Chants & Images of Ste. Foy at Conques’ with Dr Bissera V. Pentcheva, Institute of Historical Research, 3 October 2022, 5:30PM-7:30PM (GMT)

Medieval art is silent in modern times. It is neither displayed nor analytically considered within the envelope of sound, chant, prayer, and recitation. Excising this aural atmosphere in which these images once lived, has drained them of their energy to signify and to elicit affect. This paper turns to and recuperates the sonic environment of one famous imago – the late ninth-century golden statue of Holy Faith or Sainte Foy at Conques. Focus is on the eleventh-century Office of Ste. Foy, its design, and its interaction with the golden statue, with the narrative reliefs, and with the architecture at Conques. The analysis uncovers the figure of the crown, which signals the glorification of the saint, in the ring compositions of the chants and in the visual program. This audiovisual manifestation of the corona invites an engagement with the medieval fascination with form.

Find out more information and book your tickets here.

Online Lecture: ‘Opening the Case: The Giant Bible of Mainz at the Library of Congress’, Rare Book & Special Collections at the Library of Congress, 6 October 2022, 11am-12:30pm (EST)

On October 6, 2022 from 11:00am-12:30pm EST, the Rare Book & Special Collections Division at the Library of Congress will be hosting an online event: ‘Opening the Case: The Giant Bible of Mainz at the Library of Congress’. This virtual event celebrating the digitization of the Giant Bible of Mainz will present new research about the context and significance of one of the Library’s greatest treasures.

Given to the Library of Congress by philanthropist and bibliophile Lessing J. Rosenwald in 1952 as a part of the Rosenwald Collection, the Giant Bible of Mainz has captured the imagination of scholars and visitors to Library for more than half a century. Now, through digitization, a new level of public access has been achieved. In keeping with Rosenwald’s commitment to encouraging broad cultural engagement with the history of the illustrated book, these images allow anyone interested in medieval manuscripts to encounter each and every page of this singular codex.

One of the great illuminated manuscripts, the Giant Bible of Mainz represents an amazing moment of transition within the history of European book production. A magnificent Middle-Rhenish manuscript copied between April 1452 and July of 1453, the Giant Bible was written at the same time as Johann Gutenberg was printing his famous bible using moveable metal type. Join us on October 6th, 2022 to learn more about this fascinating moment in book history!

For more information and how to register click here.