Call for Papers – Confound the Time: Reception in Medieval & Early Modern Studies

Confound the Time: Reception in Medieval & Early Modern Studies
January 24th-January 25th 2026
Online

Confound the Time welcomes papers that investigate the ways in which texts, objects, and images from the medieval and early modern periods re-envision and reconstruct the past or imagine and anticipate the future. We also welcome papers that explore the ways in which medieval and early modern artifacts, history, and culture are reimagined and reconstructed in later periods.

As part of our commitment to accessibility, Confound the Time will be entirely virtual and have no registration fee. Graduate students and early career scholars are especially encouraged to submit.

Topics for individual papers may include:

  • Medieval and early modern reception of classical mythology/culture
  • Early modern reception of medieval literature/culture
  • The Pre-Raphaelites and other neo-medievalist movements
  • Contemporary video games, graphic novels, television shows, and/or films with medieval or early modern settings, characters, and cultures
  • Dungeons and Dragons and/or other role-playing or tabletop games
  • Manuscript Studies/Book History
  • Time/The Times
  • Gender and Sexuality
  • Nationalism and Race

Papers that address these subjects are encouraged, but any paper that centers on medieval or early modern studies will be considered.

Paper submissions should include:

  • An abstract of approximately 250 words
  • A 2-3 sentence third-person bio

Please send all application materials to confoundthetime@gmail.com. The deadline for all abstract submissions is October 25th, 2025. Questions can be directed to Drs. Audrey Gradzewicz (U of Wisconsin-Madison) and Audrey Saxton (Bethany College, KS).

 

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Fellowships at the Harry Ransom Center, 2026–2027

THE HARRY RANSOM CENTER, an internationally renowned humanities research library and museum at The University of Texas at Austin, invites applications for its 2026–2027 research fellowships. The fellowships support projects that require substantial on-site use of its collections in all areas of the humanities, including literature, photography, film, art, the performing arts, music, and cultural history. For details and application instructions, visit: https://ransom.center/fellowships

ONE- TO TWO-MONTH FELLOWSHIPS

$3,500 PER MONTH*

One- to two-month fellowships are available for graduate students, current and former academic faculty at any level of career, and independent researchers such as journalists and artists, whose projects require extensive use of the Ransom Center’s collections.

TRAVEL STIPENDS

$2,000*

Travel stipends are available for graduate students, current and former academic faculty at any level of career, and independent researchers such as journalists and artists, whose projects require less than one month’s use of the Center’s collections. Travel stipends may not be combined with other Ransom Center fellowships.

DISSERTATION FELLOWSHIPS

$2,000*

Dissertation fellowships are available for graduate students whose doctoral dissertations require use of the Center’s collections.

*International fellows will receive an additional $500 stipend to offset visa and travel costs.

APPLICATION DEADLINE: NOVEMBER 3, 2025, 5 PM CST

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Jobs For Medievalists

Tenure-track Assistant Professor of English: Medieval Literature

Review of applications will begin 10 November, 2025

The English Department at Trinity University seeks to hire a tenure-track Assistant Professor in medieval literature and culture. Teaching and research specialties may include the Global Middle Ages, premodern critical race studies, gender and sexuality studies, disability studies, ecocritical studies, book or manuscript studies, or other theoretical or interdisciplinary approaches which focus on the period before ca 1450. Teaching responsibilities will include upper-division seminars in the successful candidate’s field of specialization, as well as surveys of pre-1800 literature, introductions to literary study, First-Year Experience courses, and other courses in the Pathways general education curriculum. Candidates should have a demonstrated record of teaching excellence, a passion for mentoring undergraduates, and an active research agenda. In addition, candidates should have a PhD in hand or plan to complete their program’s PhD degree requirements by August 2026.

The faculty in the English Department are committed scholar-teachers who maintain active research agendas and impressive publication records. Their scholarship informs their teaching, and they are encouraged both to design courses that reflect their interests and, when appropriate, to involve undergraduates directly in their scholarly work. The Department of English and the University as a whole value and safeguard academic freedom for faculty members in their teaching and scholarship. Trinity is guided by a set of core values and is committed to implementing practices in pursuit of an inclusive campus for all students, faculty, and staff to feel welcomed and engaged in a community of learning.

For full information and application links, please visit:

https://trinity.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/Trinity_University/job/Assistant-Professor-of-English—Medieval-Literature—Global-Medievalism_JR101286

Tenure-track Assistant Professor in Classical Studies: Ancient Rome

Review of applications will begin 23 September 2025

The Department of Classical Studies at Trinity University invites applications for a tenure-track position in Classical Studies, beginning in August 2026, at the rank of Assistant Professor. The department is seeking a candidate who specializes in the ancient Roman world and has a demonstrated ability in and enthusiasm for teaching Latin language and literature at all levels. We seek applicants who are engaged in innovative scholarship on any aspect of the study of Ancient Rome, for example Latin literature, Roman history and material culture, digital humanities, or modern reception. Candidates must demonstrate a strong research profile and a firm commitment to teaching at the undergraduate level. The successful candidate will be expected to maintain a vigorous program of scholarship and to teach introductory lower-division courses while developing upper-division courses in their area of specialization. The ideal candidate will have a facility for interdisciplinary teaching and interest in mentoring students in undergraduate research projects. All faculty are expected to contribute to Pathways, the University’s interdisciplinary general education program.

Classical Studies at Trinity is a vibrant department with six tenured / tenure-track faculty and strong connections with other departments on campus, including Anthropology, Art History, Philosophy, and Religion. We encourage our students to pursue undergraduate research, often in collaboration with faculty, and we have been active participants in our university’s summer undergraduate research program. The department participates in a faculty-led study abroad summer course in Rome and in a faculty-led archaeological dig in Cyprus. In addition, Trinity has just completed a major renovation project that has created appealing new spaces for the Classical Studies department and several other adjacent humanities departments.

The Department of Classical Studies and the University as a whole value and safeguard academic freedom for faculty members in their teaching and scholarship. Trinity is guided by a set of core values and is committed to implementing practices in pursuit of an inclusive campus for all students, faculty, and staff to feel welcomed and engaged in a community of learning.

https://trinity.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/Trinity_University/job/Assistant-Professor-of-Classical-Studies—Ancient-Rome_JR101225

Trinity University and the School of Arts and Humanities
Trinity University is a secular, independent, private institution, founded in 1869. Trinity offers high-quality science, liberal arts, and pre-professional programs as represented by the four schools (STEM, Arts & Humanities, Social Science and Civic Engagement, and Business) to approximately 2,500 undergraduate students from the U.S. and more than 45 countries. The attractive campus overlooks downtown San Antonio, a city rich in heritage and ethnic diversity. Additional information can be found on the Resource Guide to Trinity & San Antonio.

The School of Arts and Humanities is at the center of Trinity’s liberal arts education. Faculty are international leaders in their respective fields, creating engaged learning experiences grounded in careful study of tradition, critical thinking, clear communication, and creative expression. For more information about Trinity’s liberal arts education, see the following links for information about Trinity’s curriculum, including the First-Year Experience, experiential learning, and faculty-led study-abroad programs.

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Call for Papers – 25th International Medieval Sermon Studies Symposium

25th International Medieval Sermon Studies Symposium
“Collecting, transmitting, and (re)using sermons”
Nijmegen, 1-5 July 2026
Hosted by Radboud University Nijmegen (NL)
Organising committee: Shari Boodts, Pietro Delcorno, Patricia Stoop, Patrick Outhwaite

Sermons have a life beyond the moment of their creation and performance. Over the course of the Middle Ages, sermons were rewritten, recycled, translated, and repurposed to fit different monastic, liturgical and communal settings. Authoritative patristic author names were appropriated, model sermons were copied, and bestselling collections were produced and distributed. Sermons also permeated other genres, outside of the context of preaching. This dynamic medieval reception of sermons continued beyond the Middle Ages into Early Modern times. This conference will put the spotlight on the varied and influential ways in which sermons were received and (re)used, often long after they were first spoken aloud, and on the compilers, editors and collectors who mediated this process.

The International Medieval Sermon Studies Society invites early career researchers and established scholars to submit proposals for 20-minute papers on the subject of “Collecting, transmitting, and (re)using sermons”. We welcome papers from all areas and religious traditions for the period of ca. 500–1500 CE. We also encourage proposals for the poster session.

Topics may include but are not limited to:

  • The transmission of sermons and sermon collections
  • Rewriting, recycling, and adapting (model) sermons
  • The practice of collecting and disseminating sermons
  • Sermon collections from the patristic to the early modern period
  • Compilers, copyists, editors, collectors
  • Indirect access to or reuse of sermons
  • Translations and cross-lingual connections
  • Sermons as connectors across religious and cultural contexts

Proposals should include paper or poster title, your name, institutional affiliation (if applicable), and e-mail address. Proposals for papers should additionally include an abstract of max. 350 words and an indication whether you plan to come in person or present virtually. Although attendance in person is preferred, the committee is willing to consider a limited number of virtual presentations.

Please send proposals before 1 November 2025 to Shari Boodts (shari.boodts@ru.nl).

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Jobs for Medievalists

Professor – Late Antiquity
Department of Classics / Centre for Medieval Studies, University of Toronto
Application Deadline: November 6

The Department of Classics and the Centre for Medieval Studies in the Faculty of Arts and Science at the University of Toronto invite applications for a full-time, tenure-stream position in Late Antiquity. This will be a joint appointment between the Department of Classics (75%) and the Centre for Medieval Studies (25%). The successful candidate will also be eligible to be named the Jackman Professorship in the Arts. This endowed chair appointment would be for a five-year term and is renewable following a favourable review. The appointment will be at the rank of Professor, with an anticipated start date of July 1, 2026.

Applicants must have earned a PhD degree in Classics, Medieval Studies, or a related area, with a clearly demonstrated record of excellence in research and teaching. Candidates will have an established international reputation and will be expected to sustain and lead innovative and independent research, and to maintain an outstanding, competitive, and externally funded research program.

We seek candidates whose research and teaching interests will be in some field of the history and culture of Late Antiquity up to 600 CE, and who will complement and enhance existing strengths in Classics and Medieval Studies. The successful applicant will be expected to teach courses at all levels in the original language(s) of their sources and in translation, and to contribute to the undergraduate programme in Classics and the graduate programmes in both units.

For full information and applications links, please visit: https://jobs.utoronto.ca/job/Toronto-Professor-Late-Antiquity-ON/594584517.

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21st Annual Marco Manuscript Workshop

The 21st annual Marco Manuscript Workshop will take place January 30–31, 2026, at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. The workshop is organized by Charles Kuper (Classics) and R. D. Perry (English) and is hosted by the Marco Institute for Medieval and Renaissance Studies.

This year’s workshop explores the issues of “destruction and preservation.” As anyone working in the premodern period knows all too well, culture is fragile. It is beset by forces that would rather destroy it, sometimes intentionally, as when authorities make certain things verboten or seek to suppress them, or when changing attitudes in revolutionary moments call upon the present to attack the past. These forces, though, are sometimes unintentional, as when the natural processes of decay or the vagaries of history damage texts and artifacts as they make their way through time. Fortunately, we can meet these forces of destruction with acts of preservation, whether using new technologies to uncover what time has obscured, or simply by the act of reading and transcribing work anew. In this way, any work with a manuscript is an act of preservation. This workshop focuses on how we understand these acts of destruction and preservation. What tools or strategies can be brought to bear on damaged texts? How do we read around acts of destruction? What are the possibilities or limitations on our capacity to preserve these fragile cultural documents? Examples might include work with light-, animal-, or chemically-damaged books; how to handle intentional acts of destruction, like the removal of illuminations or cutting up manuscripts; texts that time has rendered illegible or fragmentary; technologies and strategies for recovering deliberate acts of erasure or unintended destruction; and efforts to identify fragmented materials and return them to their proper place. How can we read what history has tried to destroy? As always, we welcome presentations on any aspect of this topic, broadly imagined, or on any other aspect of manuscripts, epigraphy, and the history of writing.

The workshop is open to scholars and students in any field (Art History, Classics, English, History, Languages, etc.) who are engaged in paleography and codicology or any other aspect of manuscript studies, textual editing, or epigraphy. Individual 75-minute sessions will be devoted to each project; participants will be asked to introduce their text(s) and context(s), discuss their approach to working with their material, and exchange ideas and information with other participants. As in previous years, the workshop is intended to be more like a class than a conference; participants are encouraged to share new discoveries and unfinished work, to discuss both their successes and frustrations, to offer practical advice and theoretical insights, and to work together towards developing better professional skills for textual and codicological work. We particularly invite the presentation of works in progress, unusual problems, practical difficulties, and new or experimental models for studying or representing manuscript texts. Presenters will receive a $500 honorarium for their participation. This year, we’re pleased that, Roy Liuzza, Professor Emeritus of Medieval Literature and co-founder of the Marco Manuscript Workshop, will serve as a respondent for all the papers.

The deadline for applications is November 1, 2025. Applicants are asked to submit a current CV and a two-page abstract of their project to both Charles Kuper and R. D. Perry via email to ckuper@utk.edu and rdperry@utk.edu.

The workshop is also open at no cost to scholars and students who are interested in sharing a lively weekend of discussion and ideas about manuscript studies. Further details will be available later in the year; please contact the Marco Institute at marco@utk.edu for more information.

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Getty Graduate Internship- Department of Manuscripts

Many of you may already be familiar with the Getty’s paid yearlong graduate internship program, but I wanted to let you know that application portal for the 2026/27 year is now open: https://www.getty.edu/projects/graduate-internships/  Students can learn more about the position in the Department of Manuscripts at the J. Paul Getty Museum at: https://www.getty.edu/projects/graduate-internships/opportunities/  I am writing to you in the hopes that you will encourage your best-qualified students to apply.

In recent years, the Department of Manuscripts has been more active than ever developing and expanding our programs of exhibitions, publications, education, and online resources. Interns in the department work with the Museum’s collection of illuminated manuscripts in a variety of contexts. They will have the opportunity to work on an exhibition, to collaborate on the Museum’s interactive multimedia program, to conduct research on the collection, and to observe at close hand how a curatorial department functions. The Getty also offers the opportunity to get to know scholars from all over the world, including Manuscripts Department guest scholars and conservators in residence at the Museum as well as the Getty Research Institute scholars. We are welcome applicants who are eager to work on projects that are vital and relevant to contemporary, diverse audiences both in and outside of the galleries. We give all qualified applications careful consideration.

Please note that the application deadline is November 4, 2025.

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Jobs For Medievalists

Tenure-track Assistant Professor in Classical Studies: Medieval Literature
Department of English: Trinity University, San Antonio TX
Review of applications will begin November 10, 2025

Tenure-track Assistant Professor of English: Medieval Literature

The English Department at Trinity University seeks to hire a tenure-track Assistant Professor in medieval literature and culture. Teaching and research specialties may include the Global Middle Ages, premodern critical race studies, gender and sexuality studies, disability studies, ecocritical studies, book or manuscript studies, or other theoretical or interdisciplinary approaches which focus on the period before ca 1450. Teaching responsibilities will include upper-division seminars in the successful candidate’s field of specialization, as well as surveys of pre-1800 literature, introductions to literary study, First-Year Experience courses, and other courses in the Pathways general education curriculum. Candidates should have a demonstrated record of teaching excellence, a passion for mentoring undergraduates, and an active research agenda. In addition, candidates
should have a PhD in hand or plan to complete their program’s PhD degree requirements by August 2026.

The faculty in the English Department are committed scholar-teachers who maintain active research agendas and impressive publication records. Their scholarship informs their teaching, and they are encouraged both to design courses that reflect their interests and, when appropriate, to involve undergraduates directly in their scholarly work. The Department of English and the University as a whole value and safeguard academic freedom for faculty members in their teaching and scholarship. Trinity is guided by a set of core values and is committed to implementing practices in pursuit of an inclusive campus for all students, faculty, and staff to feel welcomed and engaged in a community of learning. 

For full information and application links, please visit:

https://trinity.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/Trinity_University/job/Assistant-Professor-of-English—Medieval-Literature—Global-Medievalism_JR101286

 

 

Trinity University and the School of Arts and Humanities

Trinity University is a secular, independent, private institution, founded in 1869. Trinity offers high-quality science, liberal arts, and pre-professional programs as represented by the four schools (STEM, Arts & Humanities, Social Science and Civic Engagement, and Business) to approximately 2,500 undergraduate students from the U.S. and more than 45 countries. The attractive campus overlooks downtown San Antonio, a city rich in heritage and ethnic diversity. Additional information can be found on the Resource Guide to Trinity & San Antonio.

 

The School of Arts and Humanities is at the center of Trinity’s liberal arts education. Faculty are international leaders in their respective fields, creating engaged learning experiences grounded in careful study of tradition, critical thinking, clear communication, and creative expression. For more information about Trinity’s liberal arts education, see the following links for information about Trinity’s curriculum, including the First-Year Experience, experiential learning, and faculty-led study-abroad programs

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Call for Papers – The Sale of Governance in Pre-Modern Europe and the Mediterranean (1100-1600)

Call for Papers
The Sale of Governance in Pre-Modern Europe and the Mediterranean (1100-1600)
Workshop Friday-Saturday, 19-20 June 2026
University of Vienna, Institute of Austrian Historical Research

Workshop Aims: Beginning in the High Middle Ages, rulers in Europe and the Mediterranean put governance on offer. From Crete (purchased by the Venetians in 1204) to the Canary Islands (bought by the Spanish nobleman Enrique Pérez de Guzmán y de Castilla in 1418) to Iceland (offered first to the Dutch, then to Henry VIII of England in 1518) to countless examples in the Holy Roman Empire, late medieval/early modern secular and religious authorities priced, pawned, mortgaged, bought, and sold offices, bishoprics, titles, fiefs, cities, and entire regions in what became an active market for governance that ultimately totaled many millions of pounds, florins, ducats, hyperpyron, and guilders. Selling governance meant more than just accepting a bribe in exchange for appointing an official; it involved temporarily or permanently transferring authority over land and people to those who would pay for it.

In the past decade, numerous studies of public finance and taxation have taken note of this phenomenon. While richly detailed and important, these works typically approach the market for pre-modern governance from the perspective of either diplomatic or economic history. This workshop aims to build from this excellent work by exploring the market for pre-modern governance in its broadest and most ambitious geographical and methodological terms. It aspires to bring together scholars working across all of pre-modern Europe and the Mediterranean. It further encourages contributions drawing on a wide range of archival, visual, and literary sources including legal decisions, private letters, chronicles, funeral orations, civic rituals, poetry, prose, manuscript illuminations, frescoes, and mosaics, among others. We also invite scholars working beyond political and economic elites to explore how all levels of pre-modern European and Mediterranean society from rulers to ruled came to imagine governance as monetizable. Ultimately, the organizers wish to promote scholarship that examines vendible governance outside merely the financial and economic by addressing how the market for governance intersected with questions of class, race, gender, politics and society. 

Questions the workshop aims to address include:

  • How and why did selling and mortgaging rights of governance arise in the High Middle Ages and become commonplace in later centuries?
  • Did the sale of secular and ecclesiastic governance differ across Latin Christendom? Can we speak of one culture of vendible governance or many?
  • How do the selling and mortgaging of governance require us to rethink historical grand narratives on state formation and capitalism?
  • What role did the Commercial Revolution play in promoting the market in governance? How did political actors borrow technologies, practices, and routines from the commercial world?
  • Given that recent research has begun to draw attention to women who bought and sold governance, what roles did gender and gendered language play in shaping these practices?
  • How did contemporary chroniclers, annalists, and other historical writers narrate the sale of governance? What economic, legal, religious, and spatial exempla from the classical, Christian, and commercial worlds did they draw upon?
  • How did contemporary artists render visual the sale of governance in various media including mosaic, manuscript illustration/illumination, tapestry, etc.?
  • What role did the sale of governance play in the expansion of Latin Christian rule in the Baltic, the Levant, and the Aegean (e.g. the Frankokratia)?
  • How did local populations respond to the sale of their communities or rights? How did they articulate their resistance or cooperation? How should historians integrate the sale of governance into our narratives of pre-modern colonialism, imperialism, and race? 

Workshop Details

  • We welcome proposals based on new research from scholars at any stage in their career.
  • Proposals should include a 250-word abstract. Please include a two-page vita.
  • Submit proposals by 15 October 2025 to either Prof. Michael Martoccio (martoccio@wisc.edu) or Prof. Jonathan Lyon (lyon@univie.ac.at) with the subject line “2026 Vienna Conference.” Acceptances will be sent by 1 November.
  • The organizers will offer to cover presenters’ travel and lodging expenses.
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Call for Papers: Britain and Ireland before the Vikings: Intercultural Interactions (In Person)

Call for Papers: Britain and Ireland before the Vikings: Intercultural Interactions (In Person)

61st International Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University (Kalamazoo, Michigan), May 14–16, 2026

Sponsored by the Medieval and Renaissance Studies Program at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville

The formative years between the Roman withdrawal from Britain and the first Viking incursions into Britain and Ireland have proved some of the most fertile for the medieval and modern imagination, but part of the allure of this period is the big questions it leaves imperfectly—or even completely—unanswered. This session aims to bring together the perspectives of scholars working in diverse fields to deepen our understanding of literary, political, religious, and educational cultures of early medieval Britain and Ireland, particularly by focusing on interactions—such as contacts, exchanges, collaborations, and influences—between said cultures.

Possible topics for consideration include but are by no means limited to:

  • Particular individuals, places, or people-groups as focuses of intercultural interactivity
  • Literary interactions and cross-cultural literary legacies
  • Historical and artistic representations of intercultural interactions
  • The emergence and disappearance of polities and alliances
  • Rome’s imperial legacy in Britain
  • Warfare, fianna
  • The church in Britain and Ireland and the Roman church
  • Peregrinatioand eremetism abroad
  • Education and exile in Ireland
  • Colonization and its impacts on ethnicity
  • Trade between cultures
  • Loan-words, onomastics, and epigraphy as evidence of interactions

Please submit your paper proposal to the ICMS Confex site by Friday, September 15, 2025: https://icms.confex.com/icms/2026/prelim.cgi/Session/7403.

Proposals must include a title and an abstract of 250 words, as well as the author’s name, affiliation, and contact information.

If you have any questions, please contact Matthew Coker (mc271@uark.edu).

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