Support for Turkey and Syria

As the death toll and suffering in Turkey and Syria mounts, and reports on the destruction of museums and monuments of the Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman period filter in, the Medieval Academy of America and its community of scholars wishes to convey its utmost sympathy and concern for those affected by the recent earthquakes. Even those living and teaching outside the area have lost colleagues and students (many had gone home for the holidays), as well as the very materials on which their research is based. Our membership mourns the loss of life, homes destroyed, livelihoods interrupted, and utter devastation in Antakya (Antioch), Aleppo and many other centers in this historic region.

Should you wish to do something, there are many ways to support relief efforts, among those ways are giving to the International Rescue Committee (rescue.org); the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC.org); the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR.org); and Doctors Without Borders (doctorswithoutborders.org).

Medieval Academy of America Advocacy Committee

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Online Lecture: Dialogue in Homilies and Hymns on the Annunciation

The Mary Jaharis Center for Byzantine Art and Culture is pleased to announce the next lecture in its 2022–2023 lecture series.

Wednesday, March 1, 2023 | 12:00 PM EST | Zoom
Dialogue in Homilies and Hymns on the Annunciation: The Dynamics of a Divine Encounter
Mary Cunningham, University of Nottingham

The story of the Annunciation of the archangel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary is first recounted in the Gospel of Luke 1: 26-38. The event was formally adopted as a major feast in the Eastern Church, celebrated on 25 March (nine months before Christmas) in 560, during the reign of the Emperor Justinian. Homilies and hymns on the Annunciation were composed long before this date, however, not always in association with the feast. These texts build on Luke’s narrative, describing Mary as the ‘Second Eve’ who overturned the disobedience of her first ancestor by consenting to God’s will and conceiving Christ, the Son of God. They celebrate the event as the inauguration of the new dispensation, which will bring salvation to humanity and the rest of creation. Further elaboration, which appears especially in homilies – but later also in hymns – on the Annunciation, can be seen in the invention of dialogues between Gabriel and Mary or Mary and Joseph. These serve not only to convey the doctrine of the incarnation to audiences, but also to illustrate the Virgin’s human condition. She expresses shock and doubt at her first encounter with the archangel, but gradually accepts his message of salvation. This lecture will examine variations in liturgical writers’ handling of the issues of free will, gender, and Marian devotion in Byzantine homilies and hymns on the Annunciation. It will be illustrated by images of the scene, including in icons, manuscript illustrations, and monumental art.

Mary B. Cunningham is Honorary Associate Professor of Historical Theology at the University of Nottingham. Her latest monograph is The Virgin Mary in Byzantium, c. 400-1000. Hymns, Homilies, and Hagiography (Cambridge University Press, 2021).

Advance registration required at https://maryjahariscenter.org/events/dialogue-in-homilies-and-hymns-on-the-annunciation

Contact Brandie Ratliff (mjcbac@hchc.edu), Director, Mary Jaharis Center for Byzantine Art and Culture with any questions.

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Jobs for Medievalists

The Boston Public Library is seeking an experienced, enthusiastic Rare Books and Manuscripts Cataloger to join our Rare Books and Manuscript Department. Working in a permanent, full-time position under the title of Rare Books and Manuscripts Librarian, the successful candidate will provide original and complex bibliographic description for a broad range of materials, including incunabula, early American imprints, fine press publications, medieval and early modern manuscripts, and print ephemera, among numerous other formats and genres. The cataloger will also work to shape local existing policies and procedures, contributing to the oversight of large-scale retrospective conversion projects, backlog cleanup, and database maintenance.

This is a great opportunity to join a newly reconstituted team, working closely with many of the BPL’s signature collections in a highly visible public institution. The incoming cataloger will have the opportunity to make significant contributions, both to the accessibility of rare materials at the BPL and to the many fields of scholarship that rely on these collections.

The salary range for this position is $69,941-$91,224.
Please read further for a detailed explaination of benefits, including union membership, automatic annual step raises, and pension plan. Please also note that this position is subject to a City of Boston residency requirement.

Recent renovations and new facilities

The BPL recently completed a multi-year renovation of many of its Special Collections spaces. The incoming cataloger will be working in the middle of this new, vibrant, state-of-the art facility.

About the BPL Rare Books and Manuscripts Department

The Rare Books and Manuscripts Department is the BPL’s primary repository for rare and historically significant books, manuscripts, and related materials. Strengths of the collection include 19th-century American abolitionism and anti-slavery movements; British and American literature and drama; Boston, New England, and early American history; and early European printed books and manuscripts, among many others.

Situated in the BPL’s Central Library in Copley Square, we work to support the overall mission of BPL Special Collections, facilitating discovery and fostering public engagement with library’s rare, distinctive, and culturally significant holdings.

Boston Public Library is committed to racial equity and to becoming an anti-racist organization and formed an action plan in 2020 in response to systemic racism, inequity, and injustice prevalent in our society. You can read more about the action plan and the steps BPL is taking to address diversity, equity, and inclusion here.

Scope of responsibility

1. Provides reference service which often includes difficult and complex queries; takes responsibility for developing and maintaining quality reference service within the Department.

2. In coordination with the Special Collections Cataloging Manager and according to the cataloging policies of the Library, performs original and complex descriptive and subject cataloging, classification, and authority work for rare books, manuscripts This work will require special language, subject, and technical knowledge.

3. Establishes new personal and corporate names and uniform titles, with appropriate cross references, for inclusion in the name authority file. Where appropriate, revises existing authority records.

4. Assists in retrospective conversion projects, including digitization projects, by facilitating an accurate conversion of data into appropriate machine readable forms, including MARC21, XML, or other formats as required.

5. Remains current with existing and emerging cataloging policies, practices, standards, schema and procedures including, but not limited to, MARC 21, DCRM suite, AACR2, RDA, LC Rule Interpretations, and OCLC bibliographic standards.

6. Works collaboratively with Content Discovery staff in order to resolve problems relating to item and bibliographic records.

7. Assumes responsibility for implementing the policies of the Library as they pertain to the Rare Books and Manuscripts Department.

8. Keep abreast of current trends in scholarship in order to match research needs with collection holdings.

9. Alternates with other staff members in supervising the reading room in such a way as to maintain an atmosphere conducive to research at the same time as preserving and protecting materials.

10. Contributes to cultivation and stewardship of prospective donors and identification of potential collections for acquisition.

11. Increases visibility of the collections through presentations, web-based projects, exhibitions, and public programs.

12. Suggests items or collections in need of conservation, makes recommendations for reformatting of materials, and instructs patrons and other staff in the proper handling of rare books and manuscripts.

13. Prepares statistical and other reports and analyses, as assigned.

14. Performs other related and comparable duties as assigned.

Residency requirement

Please note that the city of Boston residency requirement applies to this position, which means that the successful candidates must be residents of the city of Boston on or before the date of hire.

Salary and benefits

  • Special Collections has a particular commitment to growing the skills of our unit, and has funds both through the library and affiliate donors to draw on for training and conferences.

Applying
For further information and to apply to this position, please visit the City of Boston employment website. Please combine your cover letter and resume in a single PDF file and attach them together in the resume upload section of the website.

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Call for Papers: Pliny the Elder and Traditions of Natural Histories

Call for Papers: Pliny the Elder and Traditions of Natural Histories

October 27-29th 2023

At the bi-millennium of the birth of the Latin author–administrator–statesman–soldier Pliny the Elder, we are reminded that the elder Pliny and his Natural History represent an important opportunity for the study of not only the man and his work, but also the craft and intellectual milieu with which he was engaged. Pliny’s work is of great importance both in the arc of writing “natural histories” and in encyclopedism. Its import is observable in the reception and transmission of the Natural History in the later Roman and post-Roman worlds. In the spirit of Pliny’s endeavor, this conference aims to explore the traditions that guided the study of the natural world across the first millennium CE and beyond, along with the ways in which “natural historians” carried out their work, and how contemporary scholars approach and utilize the bounty of information his text contains. The conference seeks to bring together researchers interested not only in the Roman author himself, but also in the legacy of the Natural History or the contours of natural philosophical inquiry in premodern societies. Given the persistence of “Dark-Age” stereotypes with regard to scientific inquiry, we hope to focus on connections between Antiquity and the earlier Middle Ages in Byzantine, Islamic, and European cultures, as well as on global approaches that highlight comparisons between the Natural History and texts with similar objectives produced in East or South Asia.

We invite papers and panels from a variety of disciplinary and methodological perspectives on any topic related to the traditions of natural history, including:

  • The afterlives of Pliny the Elder in later traditions
  • Pliny and medieval and Renaissance medicine and materia medica
  • Pliny and materiality, especially when it comes to craft techniques
  • Magic, mystic visions, and folk knowledge vs. encyclopedic traditions
  • Taxonomies of natural history (within a Plinian tradition or outside of it)
  • Cooking the books–experimental archaeology based on natural history texts
  • Pliny and manuscript traditions in various languages (Latin, Arabic, etc.)
  • Environmental preoccupations of the premodern past
  • Visualizing natural history
  • Particular themes in natural histories (e.g., art, science, philosophy, astronomy, animals)

Keynote speakers: Cynthia Damon, Professor of Classical Studies, University of Pennsylvania

Sarah Blake McHam, Distinguished Professor of Art History, Rutgers University

Abstract Submission deadline: March 31, 2023. Abstracts for individual in-person papers and for in-person sessions are invited. Papers should be 20 minutes in length. Send abstracts to cemers@binghamton.edu.

For Information visit: www.binghamton.edu/cemers/conference

For questions contact Hilary Becker at hbecker@binghamton.edu.

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Grant Opportunity for Ph.D. Candidates and Emerging Scholars

The Servane de Layre-Mathéus Grant Fund of the

American Friends of Chartres

The American Friends of Chartres is accepting proposals from current graduate students and emerging scholars for its annual research grant for the study of Chartres. The American Friends of Chartres will provide a stipend of $2,000.00 and will facilitate lodging, as well as access to the cathedral, the Centre International du Vitrail, the municipal library, archival collections and related resources.

The grant will help to support a research project requiring on-site research in Chartres that promises to advance knowledge and understanding of the cathedral of Notre-Dame de Chartres or its historical contexts in the medieval to early modern period. Topics in the fields of art history, history, or related disciplines might include architecture, stained glass, sculpture, urban development, economy, religious practices, manuscripts, or the cathedral treasury, among others.

Applicants should currently be pursuing a Ph.D. or have received the degree within the last six years. Following the research project, the grantee is asked to provide a synopsis of the research and conclusions, which will be publicized through the cultural activities and website of the American Friends of Chartres. Questions about the grant may be addressed to ChartresResearchGrant@gmail.com.

Applicants should supply:

A description of up to 500 words of the proposed project, including:

  • questions to be researched and their importance to scholarship on the art, culture, or history of Chartres;
  • requirements for access to monuments, works of art, and archival resources;
  • projected length of time and tentative dates to be spent in Chartres;
  • expectations for publication of conclusions, whether alone or as part of a larger project, including a Ph.D. dissertation, article, or book.

A current Curriculum Vitae

Names and contact information of two references

Please send application materials as e-mail attachments in Word or PDF format to ChartresResearchGrant@gmail.com

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS: March 31, 2023

The Servane de Layre-Mathéus Fund for Research on Chartres Cathedral

The American Friends of Chartres has established a special fund honoring the memory of Servane de Layre-Mathéus (1939-2020), co-founder of Chartres–Sanctuaire du Monde, of the Centre International du Vitrail, and of American Friends of Chartres. Servane dedicated much of her life to the preservation of Notre-Dame de Chartres Cathedral, and to the pursuit and transmission of knowledge of medieval art, culture, and spirituality. In recognition of her contributions, she was made chevalier of the Légion d’honneur, officier des Arts et des Lettres, and officier de l’ordre national du Mérite. The fund is intended to support research that furthers her work.

 

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Call for Proposals – Speculations: The Centennial Issue of Speculum

Speculations
The Centennial Issue of Speculum
January 2026

The centenary of a scholarly journal offers the opportunity to recognize, reflect on, and reimagine scholarly methods and objects, including canonicity and the discursive possibilities of scholarship; the boundaries, borders and spaces that define our disciplines; the genres and taxonomies that shape our work.

To mark the 100th anniversary of Speculum, we aim to commemorate the journal by raising questions about the methods and parameters of our study in a prospective rather than retrospective manner. What might the future of medieval studies look like? What might the place of this journal in that future be? The volume focuses on the future of the journal and the field it helps to define by inviting a wide breadth of scholarship that can collectively speculate about how we can take medieval studies into the future. But of course those living in the medieval world broadly considered speculated on their future as well. How was the future conceived in the past and what might those past reflections about the future, and about the condition of futurity generally, have to teach us as we consider recent shifts in our field and a shifting institutional context.

The format of the centennial volume will model the kind of contributions we seek: instead of 4-5 long form articles, we plan to publish 50 short essays (of approximately 3000 words each) in an attempt to represent a broader range of voices, perspectives, methodologies, and areas of study. We welcome traditional essays as well as innovative forms of research and reflection (pedagogical speculations, creative or dialogic writing, speculative history, etc.).

We invite contributions that speculate on the past and future of scholarly work in medieval studies. We particularly welcome essays that address gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, and that use comparative and interdisciplinary methods and that address at least one of the following questions:

  • What kinds of methods and theoretical models shape our work and will orient us in the future?
  • How might we call on more inclusive and expansive understandings of the Middle Ages in light of the global turn and critical reappraisals of periodization.
  • What histories do we examine, what histories do we obscure, and what criteria will most productively guide our examination of histories in the future?
  • How have scholarly understandings of medieval historicity and temporality shaped the parameters of our inquiry, and how might we critically engage these accounts?

Proposals of 300 words should be sent to speculations@themedievalacademy.org by December 1, 2023.

Speculations editorial collective
Mohamad Ballan
Peggy McCracken
Cecily Hilsdale
Katherine Jansen
Sierra Lomuto
Cord J. Whitaker

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Call for Papers – Political Poetry in European Literature from the 12th to the 15th centuries

Call for Papers
Fribourg Colloquium

Medieval Institute, University of Fribourg
6th–8th september 2023

Political Poetry in European Literature from the 12th to the 15th centuries

At the beginning of the second book of ‘De vulgari eloquentia’, Dante discusses the question of which themes deserve to be treated by the best poets in the venerable vernacular, and names three main themes (magnalia): salus videlicet, venus et virtus (II ii 8), so the fitness for arms (armorum probitas), the passion of love (amoris accensio) and the righteousness of the will (directio voluntatis). This list of themes – weapons, love and moral-didactic poetry – thus excludes, among others, the genre of political poetry, although it was very much cultivated in Dante’s homeland of Italy. Presumably the reason for this omission is that in the eyes of the Florentine poet, political poetry is a hybrid genre, either because moral, social and military themes flow together in it, or because political poetry sometimes appears as fictional or allegorically dressed-up love songs and thus as a variant or subgenre of erotic poetry. For Dante, the magnalia must be treated by the best poets in each case in their pure form or else in the form of themes derived directly and immediately from them (Dve II iv 9); political poetry, on the other hand, is invaded by a dimension of the contingent and accidental. Political poetry, insofar as it mostly relates to specific historical events, is partisan and directed towards a practical purpose (be it exhortatory, persuasive, propagandistic or defamatory).

The reflections on the magnalia in ‘De vulgari eloquentia’ cannot necessarily be assigned to literary traditions other than Italian lyric poetry; nevertheless, they allow us to narrow down and characterize the field of political poetry as a whole. On this basis, the Fribourg Colloquium aims to explore European traditions of political poetry by gathering experts in medieval poetry who deal with lyrical traditions of different languages and geographical regions, between Iceland and the Caucasus, and inviting them to comparative discussions. The focus is on the period between the 12th and the first half of the 15th century. Besides the vernacular languages, the ‘sacred’ and/or ‘imperial’ languages (Latin, Greek, Arabic, Hebrew) are also considered.

What is the status of political poetry in a specific literary tradition or within related traditions? What are the formal characteristics of political poetry (metrical forms, mis-en-texte, mise-en-page)? Who are the authors and for what audience are the texts intended? Under what conditions were the texts handed down? Are they in dialogue with visual media? And around which historical events do political poems emerge? Can cross-linguistic and/or transnational themes and debates be discerned? Under what conditions can we speak of political propaganda in verse?
The Fribourg Colloquium will attempt to provide answers to these and other questions in order to begin sketching the first outlines of an overall picture of European political poetry in the high and late Middle Ages.

Every two years the Medieval Institute of the University of Fribourg (Switzerland) organizes an interdisciplinary colloquium in order to bring together researchers and specialists from different fields to focus on a specific theme in medieval studies The colloquium will be attended by approximately 12–15 researchers from the various fields of medieval studies, such as linguistics and literature (Romance studies, German studies, English studies, Nordic studies, Slavic studies), history, philosophy, art history and theology. The presentations can be given in French, German, English or Italian. A time slot of 45 minutes is allocated for each contribution, which includes both the presentation time of approx. 30 minutes and the time for discussion. As is customary at the Fribourg Colloquium of the Medieval Institute, the results of the event will be published in the Institute’s own book series “Scrinium Friburgense”, published by Reichert Verlag (Wiesbaden).

All expenses, including travel, accommodation and meals will be covered.
Presentation proposals with a one-page synopsis are requested by 5 March 2023 to:

Prof. Dr. Paolo Borsa
Letteratura e filologia italiane
Universität Freiburg
paolo.borsa@unifr.ch

or

Medieval Institute
University of Fribourg
iem@unifr.ch

The organizers will draw up a conference programme on the basis of the proposals received and provide feedback to the senders in short term.

More information: www.unifr.ch/mediaevum/fr/manifestation/colloques-fribourgeois/

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Call for Papers – Medieval History Seminar

Medieval History Seminar
5–7 October 2023

The German Historical Institutes in London and Washington, D.C., are excited to announce the thirteenth Medieval History Seminar, to be held in London from 5 to 7 October 2023. The seminar will bring together Ph.D. candidates and recent Ph.D. recipients (2022/2023) in medieval history from American, Canadian, British, Irish, and German universities for three days of scholarly discussion and collaboration. Participants will have the opportunity to present their work to their peers and distinguished scholars from both sides of the Atlantic. Conveners for the 2023 seminar will be Fiona Griffiths (Stanford University), Michael Grünbart (Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster), Jamie Kreiner (University of Georgia), Simon MacLean (University of St Andrews), Len Scales (Durham University), and Dorothea Weltecke (Humboldt-Universität Berlin).

The Medieval History Seminar invites proposals from all areas and periods of medieval history and is not limited to historians working on German history or German-speaking regions of Europe. All methodological approaches are welcome. Applications from neighbouring disciplines are welcome if the projects have a distinct historical focus.

The seminar is bi-lingual and papers and discussions will be conducted both in German and English. Participants must have a good reading and listening comprehension of both languages. Successful applicants must be prepared to submit a paper of approximately 5,000 words by August 15, 2023. They are also expected to prepare and present a commentary on the papers of another session.

Travel and accommodation expenses of the participants will be covered.

Applications may be submitted in German or English and should include:

  • a CV (including institutional affiliation, postal address, and e-mail)
  • a description of the proposed paper (4–5 pages, double-spaced)
  • one letter of recommendation

Please e-mail a single PDF-file with all application documents to: events@ghil.ac.uk

The extended deadline for submissions is 28 February 2023.

For further information, please contact Stephan Bruhn: s.bruhn@ghil.ac.uk

German Historical Institute          17 Bloomsbury Square

Tel. +44–(0)20–7309 2050           London WC1A 2NJ (UK)

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MAA News – From the President

Dear Academy Members,

As we approach the Annual Meeting later this month, I would like to highlight two features of the 2023 meeting that merit replication in future MAA conferences. The first is its inclusion of medievalists reflecting the career diversity that is keeping our field vital as the academic landscape changes. The second is its mobilization of a wonderfully diverse regional community of medievalists to create this event.

The Annual Meeting program features an impressive array of medievalists working beyond the tenured or tenure-track positions in higher education that have long defined our “profession.” In the first set of concurrent sessions on Thursday February 23rd, for example, a roundtable on “Scholarly ‘Crowdsourcing’ the Chalice of Abbot Suger,” draws on the expertise of an object conservator (Dylan Smith), a curator of sculpture and decorative arts (Emily Pegues), and a visual arts digital humanist (Matthew J. Westerby) from the National Gallery of Art as well as from a professional object photographer (Genevra Kornbluth). Independent scholars—such as art historian Julie A. Harris, retired diplomat Marie Richards, and cultural historian Tova Leigh-Choate—are contributing to sessions as are a high school Latin teacher, Laura Robertson, and journal editors Leland Grigoli and Colin Whiting. Museum professionals from the MET Cloisters, Dumbarton Oaks, Walters Art Museum, the Smithsonian, and the Baltimore Museum of Art are participating in sessions too. These medievalists who have built careers beyond the shrinking faculties of our beleaguered institutions of higher education will be sharing their scholarship with us and their experiences in re-imagining professional life for medievalists in the twenty-first century.

This year’s Annual Meeting also models how to build community and strengthen scholarly cooperation in the local/regional eco-systems of medievalists that will be increasingly important for medieval studies. Its Program Committee and Organizing Committee include members from fifteen institutions in the greater Washington DC area, among them The Public Medievalist, the Library of Congress, the Center for the Advanced Study of the Visual Arts, as well as academic institutions ranging from Northern Virginia Community College, the United States Naval Academy, and Mount St. Mary’s University to the University of Maryland Baltimore County, Georgetown, and Johns Hopkins. Independent scholars and librarians contributed alongside faculty members to create this annual conference of the Medieval Academy of America. As we know, both the financial and environmental costs of national and international conferences are increasingly unsustainable. But this doesn’t mean we have to give up sharing our scholarship and socializing with colleagues. It does mean that getting to know our local and regional medievalists is a great investment in scholarly support and intellectual life. I am grateful to Annual Meeting co-organizers Jennifer R. Davis and Laura K. Morreale for their visionary and inclusive leadership.

Finally, in this last presidential letter of my term, I thank all of YOU, the members of the Medieval Academy of America. It has been an honor to serve you and learn from you.

With gratitude and warmest regards,

Maureen C. Miller, President of the Medieval Academy of America

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MAA News – Annual Meeting Registration

Although early-bird discounted registration for the Annual Meeting has ended, online registration is available until February 15. In-person registration will be available for an additional $25 on top of the $50 late-registration fee. No refunds will be issued after February 15. Click here for more information and to register. We look forward to seeing you there!

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