Call for Applications: PhD ON the Project, Portraying Medieval Women: The Materiality of Female Images and Art Patronage in the Latin East (12th–15th centuries)

Call for Applications

PhD Candidates for the SNSF PRIMA Project

Portraying Medieval Women: The Materiality of Female Images and Art Patronage in the Latin East (12th–15th centuries)

University of Fribourg

Due 20 February 2023

Taux d'activité/Activity Rate: 80-100%

Lieu / District/Location: Fribourg, CH, Sarine, CH

Délai de postulation/Application Date:  20.02.2023

Date d'entrée en fonction/Date of Entering the Position:  01.03.2023 or to be agreed

Type de contrat/Contract Type: CDD

Who Are We?

The SNSF PRIMA Project Portraying Medieval Women: The Materiality of Female Images and Art Patronage in the Latin East (12th–15th centuries) (https://data.snf.ch/grants/grant/208477), hosted at the Chair of Medieval Art History at the University of Fribourg, offers a four-year doctoral position focused on female representations and patronage in Southern Italy under Latin rule (12th–15th century). Her/his dissertation will be dedicated in the compilation of a comprehensive catalogue of the extant material in the assigned territories.

Why Join Us?

The state-employer encourages the balance of work life and private life and offers an environment and working conditions attractive to its employees. To know more, follow this link.

Your Mission

The most important task of the PhD researcher will be the carrying out of original research and the completion of her/his dissertation. Moreover, she/he is expected to actively participate in all the project’s research activities and scientific events, such as workshops, conferences and research trips.

Ideal Profile

• MA in Art History with specialization in Medieval or Byzantine Art

• Proficiency in Italian

• Very good language skills in English

• Good command of French and/or German

For more information, contact the project’s PI (Asst. Prof. Rafca Nasr, rafca.nasr@unifr.ch), or visit https://jobs.fr.ch/job/Fribourg%2C-CH-PhD-Position-Sari/763894202/. or https://data.snf.ch/grants/grant/208477.

Call for Papers: The Fourth Middle Ages in Modern Games Twitter Conference (6-9 June 2023, Online), Due 9 April 2021

Call for Papers

The Fourth Middle Ages in Modern Games Twitter Conference

(@MidAgesModGames, #MAMG23)

6 to 9 June 2023 (ONline)

Applications Due 9 April 2021

The Public Medievalist and the Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Research at the University of Winchester present The Fourth Middle Ages in Modern Games Twitter Conference. The central themes of this year’s event are ‘Fantasy’ and ‘Apocalypse’. Fantasy and Apocalypse are closely tied to medievalist games. Pseudo-medieval worlds are by far the most common setting for fantasy games from Dungeons and Dragons to World of Warcraft. Meanwhile, many games with apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic settings such as Fallout and Torment: Tides of Numenera make use of medieval tropes to build their worlds. These settings are clearly removed from the Middle Ages, but are nevertheless fundamentally medieval and can strongly influence modern perceptions of the period.

This conference considers the Medieval and Medievalism in Modern Games. We invite ‘papers’ (comprising a thread of 12 Tweets) and sessions of 3 to 5 papers which address any aspects of the medieval period or medievalism in any and all forms of modern games. We particularly welcome papers addressing the central conference themes of ‘Fantasy’ and ‘Apocalypse’. The conference will be conducted remotely and there will be no registration fee. To promote accessibility and inclusivity, the event runs asynchronously across time zones.

Topics may include (but are not restricted to):

• The End of the World in Medievalist Games

• Fantasy Games beyond Western Europe

• Post-Apocalyptic Feudalism

• Medieval and Fantasy Mechanics in Sci-Fi Worlds

• Magic and Technology

• Gender and Sexuality in Fantasy and Apocalyptic Worlds

• ‘Historical Accuracy’ in Fantasy Games

• Boundaries between Fantasy and Medievalism

• Constructing and Portraying Nuanced Fantasy Races

• Building Pseudo-Medieval Worlds

• Literary and Audio-Visual Influences

• Teaching through Fantasy and Apocalyptic Games

• Heterogeneity and Diversity in Fantasy Games

• Chronological and Genre limits of Medievalism

We encourage submissions from medievalists, and games scholars and developers at any point in their career— especially those from Postgraduate Students, Early Career Researchers and members of any groups under-represented within the academy and industry. We welcome pieces addressing any region globally, and within a broad definition of ‘medieval’ and ‘medievalism’.

Please send abstracts of no more than 200 words, brief biographies, and indications of time zone and availability as attachments in Word to Robert.Houghton@Winchester.ac.uk by Friday 9 April.

For a PDF of the call for papers, click here.

Call for Applications: The Servane de Layre-Mathéus Grant Fund of the American Friends of Chartres, Deadline 31 March 2023

Call for Applications

GRANT OPPORTUNITY FOR
Ph.D. CANDIDATES AND EMERGING SCHOLARS

The Servane de Layre-Mathéus Grant Fund of the
American Friends of Chartres

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS: March 31, 2023

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

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.

Call for Applications: Studienpreis des Landesdenkmalamtes Berlin, Deadline 17 February 2023

Call for Applications

Studienpreis des Landesdenkmalamtes Berlin

Bewerbungsfrist für den Studienpreis 2023: 17. Februar 2023.

Bild: Landesdenkmalamt Berlin

Die Berliner Denkmallandschaft ist so vielfältig wie die Stadt: Moderne Siedlungen und alte Dorfkerne, intime Hausgärten und weitläufige Volksparks, durchmischte Gründerzeitquartiere und wohlhabende Villenvororte, technische Infrastrukturen und global operierende Industrien, weltbekannte Ikonen der Moderne und Aufsehen erregende archäologische Funde.

So vielfältig wie die Denkmallandschaft sind die Formen der Beschäftigung mit ihr: Bau- und stadthistorische Forschungen, denkmalgerechte Sanierungen und Umnutzungen, Partizipationsangebote und Vermittlungsaufgaben sind wichtige Grundlagen der Berliner Denkmalpflege.

Seit 2021 vergibt das Landesdenkmalamt Berlin einen Studienpreis. Der Studienpreis des Landesdenkmalamtes Berlin würdigt und fördert die Beschäftigung an Universitäten und Hochschulen mit der Berliner Denkmallandschaft. Er wird jährlich für herausragende Bachelor- und Masterarbeiten verliehen, die sich auf die Berliner Denkmallandschaft beziehen und für die Berliner Denkmalpflege relevante Themen behandeln.

Es handelt sich um den ersten Studienpreis der Amtsdenkmalpflege in Deutschland.

Teilnahmeberechtigt sind Studierende an allen Universitäten und Fachhochschulen im In- und Ausland. Eine Eingrenzung auf bestimmte Disziplinen oder Fachgebiete wie Kunstgeschichte, Denkmalpflege, Architektur, Gartenarchitektur, Restaurierung oder Archäologie besteht nicht. Ausschlaggebend ist allein die thematische Ausrichtung der Abschlussarbeit.

Der Studienpreis des Landesdenkmalamtes Berlin wird jährlich an bis zu drei Bachelor- oder Masterarbeiten verliehen. Jeder Preis ist mit 1.000 Euro dotiert. Über die Verleihung der Preise entscheidet das Landesdenkmalamt Berlin.

Aktuelle Ausschreibung

Einsendeschluss ist der 17.02.2023.

Teilnahmeberechtigt sind Bachelor- und Masterarbeiten, die im Zeitraum von bis zu zwei Jahren vor der Auslobung des Studienpreises an einer Universität oder Fachhochschule abgeschlossen und bewertet wurden. Für den Studienpreis 2023 entspricht das dem Zeitraum vom 01.01.2021 bis zum 17.02.2023.

Folgende Dokumente müssen bis zum Einsendeschluss vollständig vorliegen:

1. Anmeldeformular als PDF

2. Gutachterliche Empfehlung von mindestens einer der betreuenden Professuren als PDF

3. Zusammenfassung der Arbeit nach dem vom LDA vorgegebenen Muster als PDF

4. Vollständige Bachelor- oder Masterarbeit in deutscher oder englischer Sprache als PDF

Die geforderten Dokumente stehen hier zum Download bereit. Sie sollen über einen Filehosting-Dienst per E-Mail an studienpreis-landesdenkmalamt@berlin.de geschickt werden. Es können nur vollständig vorliegende Einreichungen berücksichtigt werden.
Sonderformate nach Rücksprache

Das Landesdenkmalamt freut sich auf interessante Anmeldungen – viel Erfolg!

Kontakt: Frau Schneider, Tel. 0163-3642100

Bewerbungsunterlagen zum Download: https://www.berlin.de/landesdenkmalamt/aktivitaeten/kurzmeldungen/2022/studienpreis-2023-ausgeschrieben-1269184.php

49th Annual Conference of the Midwest Art History Society, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 30 March - 1 April 2023

49th Annual Conference of the Midwest Art History Society

Milwaukee, Wisconsin

March 30 to April 1, 2023

The 49th Annual Conference of the Midwest Art History Society will be held from March 30 to April 1, 2023 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Those attending will find an iconic example of contemporary architecture and leading research universities within a vibrant cultural setting along Lake Michigan. On Thursday, March 30, the Haggerty Museum of Art at Marquette University will host sessions at the Raynor Memorial Library and will offer tours of the museum. That evening, the Milwaukee Art Museum will host the keynote speaker—internationally recognized multidisciplinary artist and member of the Lac Seul First Nation (Anishinaabe) Rebecca Belmore—and a reception. On Friday, March 31, sessions will be offered at the Art History Department of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and tours will be available of the Art History Department’s Emile H. Mathis Art Gallery. For weekend events and more information, click here for the Fall 2022 edition of MAHS eNews.

The Midwest Art History Society brings together academic, museum-based, and independent art historians in the common goal of scholarly inquiry and the exchange of ideas.

For more information about registering, accommodation, and other aspects of the conference: https://www.mahsonline.org/conference/

Interdisziplinäres Symposium: Der Wandmalereizyklus zu den Wissenschaften und Künsten in der Brandenburger Domklausur im Kontext, Brandenburg an der Havel, 30-31 März 2023

Interdisziplinäres Symposium

Der Wandmalereizyklus zu den Wissenschaften und Künsten in der Brandenburger Domklausur im Kontext. Kunstproduktion und Wissensorganisation um 1450

Institut für Kunst | Musik | Textil, Universität Paderborn und Domstift Brandenburg, Brandenburg an der Havel

30 - 31 März 2023

Anlässlich des Abschlusses des kunsthistorischen DFG-Projekts (Projektnummer 346774044) „Der Wandmalereizyklus zu den Wissenschaften und Künsten in der Brandenburger Domklausur. Kunstproduktion und Wissensorganisation um 1450“ organisieren der Lehrstuhl für Mittlere und Neuere Kunstgeschichte am Institut für Kunst | Musik | Textil – Fach Kunst, Kulturwissenschaftliche Fakultät, Universität Paderborn, Prof. Dr. Ulrike Heinrichs und das Domstift Brandenburg, Domkurator Dr. Cord-Georg Hasselmann ein interdisziplinäres Symposium.

Das Symposium stellt im Spiegel der jüngsten Forschungsergebnisse ein neues Bild von der Thematik und Funktion der Wandmalereien wie auch von der ursprünglichen Ausdehnung und Gestalt der Brandenburger Dombibliothek des späten Mittelalters vor und entwickelt von diesem Standpunkt aus ein erweitertes Spektrum von Fragestellungen in die europäischen Kulturräume des Mittelalters und der Renaissance hinein.

Abstract

ProgrammÜbersicht PDF

Programm

Tag 1 – Donnerstag, 30. März 2023

Auftakt und Begehungen

[Ort: Domstift Brandenburg, Aula der Ritterakademie]

9.00 Ankunft / Willkommen

9.30 Grußworte: Dr. Cord-Georg Hasselmann, Domstift Brandenburg, Domkurator; Prof. Dr. Thomas Drachenberg, Brandenburgisches Landesamt für Denkmalpflege und Archäologisches Landesmuseum (BLDAM), Landeskonservator; Prof. Dr. Maria Deiters, Brandenburgische Historische Kommission |Einführung: Ulrike Heinrichs, Universität Paderborn | Musikalische Begleitung: Clothilde Oelmüller, Harfe

10.30–13.00 Michael Adam, Ulrike Heinrichs, Dirk Schumann, Martina Voigt: Führungen zur Architekturgeschichte, zu Werken der Skulptur und Malerei im Dom und im Dommuseum sowie zum Wandmalereizyklus der Wissenschaften und Künste in der ehemaligen Dombibliothek

13.00 Mittagsimbiss [Ort: Sommerrefektorium in der Domklausur, Domklausur Brandenburg, Burghof 8, 14776 Brandenburg an der Havel]

Vortragssektionen 

[Ort: Altstädtisches Rathaus, Rolandsaal, Altstädtischer Markt 10, 14770 Brandenburg an der Havel]

14.00 Ankunft / Willkommen

14.30 Begrüßung durch den Oberbürgermeister der Stadt Brandenburg an der Havel, Steffen Scheller | Ulrike Heinrichs, Universität Paderborn: Einführung in die Sektionsthemen

Sektion I –  Zum baulichen Umfeld: Beobachtungen der Architekturgeschichte und der Restaurierungswissenschaft

15.00–15.30 Dirk Schumann, Berlin: Bischöfliche Ambitionen und bauliche Repräsentation – die spätgotische Architektur der Brandenburger Domklausur

15.30–16.00 Sabine Herrmann, pmp Architekten, Brandenburg an der Havel: Zur Rekonstruktion der Bauzustände des 13. und 15. Jahrhunderts am Nordflügel der Brandenburger Domklausur. Grundlagen, Ergebnisse und offene Fragen

16.00–16.20 Olaf Schwieger, Wilhelmshorst: Befunde mittelalterlicher Putze und Wandmalereien im Inneren und am Außenbau des nördlichen Klausurgebäudes - ein Rapport nach knapp 25 Jahren

Diskussion

16.45–17.15 Kaffeepause

Sektion II – Entwicklung, Vermittlung und Archivierung an den Institutionen und historischen Bauten der Brandenburger Domklausur

17.15–17.45 Lennart Hellberg, pmp Architekten, Brandenburg an der Havel: Ausblick auf das Projekt der Sanierung der Spiegelburg und des Ostflügels der Domklausur

17.45–18.15 Michael Adam, Domstift Brandenburg, Domschatz: Die Wandmalereien in der spätmittelalterlichen Dombibliothek zu Brandenburg – Museale Präsentation vs. Konservierung und Bewahrung

18.15–18.35 Burkhard Freitag, Passau und Alexander Stenzer, AriInfoWare GmbH, Passau: Modellierung von Nutzungskontexten im zeitlichen Verlauf in MonArch am Beispiel der Domklausur in Brandenburg

Diskussion

19.30 Öffentlicher Vortrag | Sabine Krause-Riemer und Ursula Schädler-Saub, Hochschule für angewandte Kunst und Wissenschaft (HAWK) Hildesheim/Holzminden/Göttingen: Das Fragment zum Sprechen bringen: Innovative Techniken zur Dokumentation und Visualisierung des Wandmalereizyklus in der Brandenburger Domklausur

Tag 2 – Freitag, 31. März 2023

Fortsetzung der Vortragssektionen

[Ort: Altstädtisches Rathaus, Rolandsaal, Altstädtischer Markt 10, 14770 Brandenburg an der Havel]

Sektion III –  Quellen und Themenfelder

9.00–9.30 Julia Knödler, Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg, Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Sachsen-Anhalt Historische Sammlungen: Wer führte die Feder in Clm 650? Paläographische Anmerkungen zu den Autographen Hermann und Hartmann Schedels

9.30–10.00 Mischa von Perger, Neusäß: Theologie und Jurisprudenz in den Wandgemälden der Brandenburger Dombibliothek

10.00–10.30 Katharina Pick, Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin – Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz: Zur Ikonographie der Artes mechanicae im Bildprogramm der ehemaligen Brandenburger Dombibliothek

Diskussion

11.00–11.30 Kaffeepause

11.30–12.00 Michael Stolz, Universität Bern: Altera pictura artium: Schedels Bildbeschreibung der Brandenburgischen Bibliothek im Kontext der Büchersammlung des Frühhumanisten Sigmund Gossembrot

12.00–12.30 Martina Voigt, Berlin: Die Inschrift zur Stiftung von Matthias Prenne in St. Gotthard in Brandenburg. Zum epigraphischen Umfeld der Inschriften in der ehemaligen Dombibliothek in Brandenburg

Diskussion

12.45-13.45 Mittagspause

Sektion IV –  Stilgeschichtliche und gattungsgeschichtliche Bezüge und Kontexte

13.45–14.00 Maria Deiters, Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Corpus vitrearum medii aevi. Arbeitsstelle für Glasmalereiforschung Potsdam: Einführung in die Thematik der stilgeschichtlichen Bezüge

14.00–14.30 Ulrike Heinrichs, Universität Paderborn: Zwischen ‚internationalem Stil‘ und ‚Ars Nova‘: diachrone und synchrone Bezüge eines großen Werks brandenburgischer Malerei

14.30–15.00 Steffen Kremer, Köln: Schlüssel und Schwert – Der fragmentarische Wappenfries des südlichen Bibliothekssaals im europäischen Kontext

Diskussion

15.15–15.45 Annegret Möhlenkamp, Lübeck: Ikonographische Bezüge: Die spätmittelalterliche Ausmalung der ehemaligen Sakristei der Franziskanerkirche St. Katharinen mit Sibyllen und Propheten

15.45–16.15 Hans-Walter Stork, Erzbischöfliche Akademische Bibliothek Paderborn: Der Bibliotheksraum im ehemaligen Augustiner-Chorherrenstift Böddeken. Zur Ausmalung in Böddeken und in vergleichbaren Stiftsbibliotheken

Diskussion

16.30–17.00 Kaffeepause

Sektion V – Durch (Wand-)Malerei geprägte historische Räume im Museum – Perspektiven der Erforschung und Vermittlung

17.00–17.30 Helga Fabritius, Stiftung Kloster Dalheim. LWL-Landesmuseum für Klosterkultur, Lichtenau-Dalheim: Wandmalerei – eine sperrige Attraktion im Museum? Erschließung der Malereifragmente im Kreuzgang von Kloster Dalheim

17.30–18.00 Peter Knüvener, Städtische Museen Zittau: Die Wandmalereien im Dormitorium des Zittauer Franziskanerklosters und ihre museale Präsentation

18.00–18.30 Merike Kurisoo, Niguliste Museum, Tallinn: Presenting the Dance of Death. Biography and exhibition history of the Tallinn Dance of Death | Vortrag in englischer Sprache

Diskussion

Ende der Tagung ca. 19.30 Uhr

Nähere Informationen unter: https://www.uni-paderborn.de/forschungsprojekte/wandmalereizyklus

22nd Annual Vagantes Conference on Medieval Studies, Harvard University, 16-18 March 2023

22nd Annual Vagantes Conference on Medieval Studies

Harvard University, Cambridge, MA

16-18 March 2023

Click the link below to register for the 22nd annual Vagantes Conference on Medieval Studies! This year’s conference will be held at Harvard University in Cambridge, MA from March 16-18th, 2023. We look forward to seeing you there!

Register here: https://forms.gle/eh88pGh7oNrDh3PS8

The program for the 22nd Vagantes Conference on Medieval Studies will be posted in early 2023.

For more information: https://vagantesconference.org/

33rd Annual Medieval Studies Student Colloquium (MSSC), "Lacunae," Cornell University, 11 March 2023 (Zoom)

33rd Annual Medieval Studies Student Colloquium (MSSC)

“Lacunae”

Cornell University

Saturday 11 March 2023 (Zoom)

Time: TBA

“Lacunae” can refer to unfilled spaces, gaps, cavities, holes, or absences. For the purposes of this conference, papers may address lacunae in medieval archives or records (i.e., what materials or knowledge about the Middle Ages are we missing or have we lost?) or lacunae in research and other later engagements with the Middle Ages. What strands of theory or scholarship have not been applied to medieval studies? What voices are absent in the field? What medieval works or aspects of medieval culture (material or immaterial) have been overlooked by postmedieval thinkers or reconstructions/re-imaginings of the ‘medieval'? What are the ramifications of medieval lacunae in our current or past understandings of the Middle Ages? Papers may respond to, but are certainly not limited to, these questions.

For more information: https://events.cornell.edu/event/2023_medieval_studies_student_colloquium_lacunae

Book Launch: Is Byzantine Studies a Colonialist Discipline? Toward a Critical Historiography, Cornell University, 7 March 2023 12:00-1:30 PM

Book Launch

Is Byzantine Studies a Colonialist Discipline? Toward a Critical Historiography

Physical Sciences Building, 401 (245 East Avenue), Cornell University

7 March 2023 12:00 - 1:30 PM

Benjamin Anderson (Cornell) and Mirela Ivanova (Sheffield) will discuss their edited volume, Is Byzantine Studies a Colonialist Discipline? Toward a Critical Historiography, forthcoming this summer from Penn State University Press. In this volume, scholars of art, history, and literature address the entanglements, past and present, between the academic discipline of Byzantine Studies and the practice and legacies of European colonialism. Starting with the premise that the Byzantine Empire and the field of Byzantine Studies are both simultaneously colonial and colonized, the chapters address topics ranging from the material basis of philological scholarship and its uses in modern politics to the colonial plunder of art and its consequences for curatorial practice in the present. 

Editor bios:

Benjamin Anderson is Associate Professor of the History of Art and Classics at Cornell University.

Mirela Ivanova is Lecturer in Medieval History at the University of Sheffield.

The event is funded under a collaborative research grant from the Society for the Humanities. Co-sponsored by Medieval Studies, History of Art, and Classics

For more information: https://events.cornell.edu/event/book_launch_is_byzantine_studies_a_colonialist_discipline_toward_a_critical_historiography

Seminar: Thresholds of Heaven: The Creation and Judicial Use of Sacred Space in Post-Carolingian Catalonia, 800-1100, Adam Matthews, Cornell University, 28 March 2023 4:45-6:00 PM

Medieval Studies Lecture Series

"Thresholds of Heaven: The Creation and Judicial Use of Sacred Space in Post-Carolingian Catalonia, 800-1100"

Adam Matthews

AD White, Guerlac Room, Cornell University

28 March 2023, 4:45 PM to 6:00 Pm

Between the ninth and early twelfth centuries, judges in the Catalan counties of northeastern Iberia and Septimania adjudicated disputes using the Visigothic law code. These judges, who often lacked guarantees of litigant commitment to the judicial process, developed strategies in order to fulfill the code’s mandates and thereby keep courts functional. One such strategy was to place special emphasis on the procedural step of bringing witnesses and litigants to church altars to authenticate testimony with an oath. This practice transformed centers of worship into arenas of justice. Despite the prominence of churches in legal records and the importance of oath exaction to stabilizing particularly challenging disputes, scholars still know little about how exactly judges themselves understood the sacred spaces they used. Hundreds of documents of church dedication (dotalia) offer a way forward. They reveal the close relationship between judges’ conception of these places and the broader regional attitude toward sanctuaries in the wake of the Carolingian liturgical reforms. This talk explores the variety of ways in which judges participated at dedication assemblies, including as scribe, celebrant, builder/founder, and even liturgical commentator. Attention to such varied forms of involvement allows legal historians to nuance judges as a professional class and thereby to refine our understanding of the strategic resources at their disposal in the courts of post-Carolingian Catalonia.

Adam Matthews is a historian of the legal, documentary, and liturgical practices of medieval Catalonia and southern France during the ninth through eleventh centuries. His current book project examines how the judges and community leaders of the lands bordering the eastern Pyrenees Mountains capitalized on ever-evolving conceptions of churches as sacred spaces in order to develop innovative court strategies and thereby reinforce the authority of the region’s law code and disputing norms. He received his Ph.D. from Columbia University in 2021 and is currently a Visiting Lecturer in the Department of History at Cornell University. 

The Cornell Medieval Studies Program presents a series of lectures on a wide range of medieval topics. All lectures take place on Tuesdays at 4:45pm.

Cosponsored by the Society for the Humanities

For more information: https://events.cornell.edu/event/medieval_studies_lecture_series_adam_matthews

Exhbition Closing: Die Normannen/The Normans, Reiss-Engelhorn-Museen, Museum Zeughaus, 18 September 2022 - 26 February 2023

Die Normannen/The Normans

Reiss-Engelhorn-Museen, Museum Zeughaus, Mannheim, Germany

18 September 2022 - 26 February 2023

The history of the Normans continues to astonish and surprise to the present day: starting out as highly mobile warriors, mercenaries or minor aristocracy, Normans became powerful princes and rulers who left their traces all over Europe and beyond. Their history is a story of interconnectedness, which influenced in a long-lasting way the cultural and political development of Europe and the Mediterranean.

For the first time in such a comprehensive fashion, the Reiss-Engelhorn-Museen and their partners will dedicate an exciting exhibition project under German-French aegis to the “men from the North”. In a presentation with around 300 outstanding exhibition-pieces from more than 10 countries, the exhibition tells a multifaceted story and ties together different and highly fascinating threads of a history spanning the eighth tothirteenth centuries. Precious works of art encounter other treasures, weapons and manuscripts coming from North-, East- and West-Europe as well as the Mediterranean. These exhibits are complemented by the latest digital reconstructions which provide innovative ways of displaying and transferring knowledge.

Discover the secrets of the Normans’ success, as well as when and why these techniques failed them. Embark on an adventurous journey from Scandinavia across Europe to the Black Sea and the Mediterranean.

The exhibition is developed and presented together with the “Réunion des Musées Metropolitains” in Rouen and connected to a co-project realised by the Musée de Normandie in Caen.

For more information: https://www.rem-mannheim.de/en/exhibitions/special-exhibitions/the-normans/

Exhibition Closing: THE HABSBURGS IN THE MIDDLE AGES: Rise of a Dynasty, Historisches Museum der Pfalz Speyer, 16 October 2022 - 16 April 2023

THE HABSBURGS IN THE MIDDLE AGES: Rise of a Dynasty

Historisches Museum der Pfalz Speyer, Speyer, Germany

16 October 2022 - 16 April 2023

No major medieval history exhibition in Germany comparable to the important surveys of the Carolingians, Ottonians, Salians, Hohenstaufens and Wittelsbachs has ever explored the medieval imperial Habsburg dynasty. Speyer, the sole grave site of medieval Habsburgs outside Austria, is particularly suited among German museum and exhibition venues to trace the dynasty’s rise from Rudolf I to Maximilian I on the occasion of the 750th anniversary of Rudolf I’s accession to the throne.

Following the state exhibitions “Salians” (2011) and “Richard the Lionheart” (2017/18) shown at the Historical Museum of the Palatinate, the Habsburgs will make it possible to localize major history of the European Middle Ages in Speyer and the Palatinate once again.

The Habsburg dynasty shaped Europe’s fortunes for centuries. The family, known as the “House of Austria”, has its roots in southwestern Germany, though. Rudolf I, who in 1273 became the first Habsburg elected King of the Romans, laid the foundation for their rise from comital to imperial dynasty. Following his death in Speyer on July 15th 1291, he was laid to rest in the Imperial Cathedral of Speyer “where more of my ancestors are, who were also kings”.

The exhibition takes the grave site of Rudolf I and his son Albrecht I as its point of departure and, building upon this, recounts the history of the Habsburgs through the European Middle Ages. It follows the struggles for kingship in the 13th and 14th century and the resurgence of the House of Austria in the shadow of the crown through their return to the throne and ultimately Maximilian I’s presence on the European stage in the 15th century – both 300 years of imperial history and a success story with fateful detours and caesuras.

The special art and cultural history exhibition has been elevated to the status of a Rhineland-Palatinate State Exhibition under present Rhineland-Palatinate Minister of Science Konrad Wolf.

In preparation for the exhibition, the Europäische Stiftung Kaiserdom zu Speyer hosted a scholarly conference in April 2018, the year of Rudolf I’s 800th birthday, the findings of which are entering into the preparation of the exhibition.

An extensive and richly illustrated publication with essays by prominent scholars will be published to accompany the exhibition.

For more information about the exhibit: https://museum.speyer.de/en/preview/translate-to-englisch-habsburger-1

For information about hours and directions: https://museum.speyer.de/en/informationen/visitor-service

Euro-Mediterranean Entanglements in Medieval History Seminar: Venetian Mediterranean Networks, Nicola Carotenuto, 28 March 2023, 5:00-6:00PM CET/11:00AM-12:00PM ET (Online)

Euro-Mediterranean Entanglements in Medieval History

Online seminars organised by the German Historical Institutes of Paris and Rome

Venetian Mediterranean Networks

Nicola Carotenuto (Oxford)

Tuesday, 28 March 2023

5:00–6:00 PM (CET)/11:00 AM -12:00 PM (ET)

Discussant: Ella Sophie Beaucamp (München)

To register, click here.

Organisers: German Historical Institute of Paris/German Historical Institute of Rome Location: Online Zoom
Date: Academic year 2022/2023
Language: English

Coordinators: Dr. Amélie Sagasser (DHI Paris), Dr. Kordula Wolf (DHI Rome)

The German Historical Institutes of Paris and Rome are continuing the online seminar series on "Euro-Mediterranean Entanglements in Medieval History". It focuses on sharing new ideas and perspectives. The sessions take place every two months and are addressed to both young and established scholars from all medieval disciplines. The aim is to create an international and interdisciplinary forum where diverse topics and methodological approaches can be presented and discussed.

Our speakers begin with a 10-minute keynote to present their ongoing or recently completed work, followed by a 10-minute commentary from a specialist. This is the basis for the subsequent 40-minute discussion with the online-audience.

If you have any questions about the research seminar, please contact:

Amélie Sagasser (DHI Paris): asagasser@dhi-paris.fr

Kordula Wolf (DHI Rome): wolf@dhi-roma.it

For more information on the Deutches Historiches Institut Rom/Istituto Storico Germanico di Roma, click here.

For more information on the Italien und Deutsches Historiches Institut Paris, click here.

Exhibition Closing: Magic Rock Crystal Museum Schnütgen, 25 November 2022 - 19 March 2023

Magic Rock Crystal

Museum Schnütgen, Köln/Cologne, Germany

25 November 2022 - 19 March 2023

Precious stones have fascinated people since time immemorial. The Museum Schnütgen is now dedicating an exhibition to the water-clear rock crystal with around 130 objects from international collections. The exhibition is based on the high-quality rock crystal objects in the museum's own collection and the hitherto unique discovery of a 12th-century rock crystal cutting workshop near Cologne Cathedral.

Manifestation of power and beauty
The Roman scholar Pliny the Elder considered the pleasantly cool, colourless rock crystal to be petrified ice that will never melt. Even in ancient times, people believed in the healing powers and magical properties of the crystal. In the Middle Ages, the precious mineral played an important role in the context of Christian faith - it was interpreted as a manifestation of the divine. But it was also in demand at the courtly table and, of course, for fortune-telling.
It is above all its transparency and translucency that give rock crystal its great attraction. Even uncut, it offers an imposing appearance with its sparkling, six-sided cones. When processed, the material becomes even more luxurious - the sacred and profane exhibits made of and with rock crystal bear witness to this and stand for themselves in their uniqueness and preciousness.
Rock crystal is a hard but fragile material that requires great skill to work. It cannot be carved or worked with hammer and chisel, but it can be shaped and decorated using various cutting techniques.
On display are exquisite rock crystal containers that were used, among other things, as reliquaries and as royal ceremonial vessels. But also optical lenses, cooling balls and even a chess stone made of rock crystal await the visitors. In addition, hundreds of individual parts of the Cologne rock crystal workshop found in 2005 will be on display. Furthermore, panel paintings, sculptures and manuscripts bear witness to the importance and use of the transparent "gemstone".

For more information: https://museum-schnuetgen.de/Magic-Rock-Crystal

Call for Papers: Conques at the Crossroads of Histories Interdisciplinary Perspectives, International Conference (11-13 October 2023), Centre Européen, Conques-en-Rouergue, Due by 15 February 2023

Call for Papers

Conques at the Crossroads of Histories Interdisciplinary Perspectives

International conference

October 11–13, 2023 at the Centre Européen, Conques-en-Rouergue

Due by: 15 February 2023

The aim of this conference is to collectively rethink the cultural, material, and performative history of Conques-en-Rouergue. Despite being a site of major importance with a millennium of accumulated history, premodern Conques has often been the object of sectorial studies: specialists in architecture have been interested in the abbey church, historians of visual culture in the sculpted tympanum, historians of material culture in the goldsmith’s objects or in the treasure, and historians in the practical documents or in the hagiography. Musicologists have studied associated songs and liturgical performances. Philologists or literary historians have studied the famous Liber miraculorum sancte Fidis, the Cançon de santa Fe, and other texts related to the cult of the saint in Conques.

Beyond the premodern, the history of Conques in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries has been an object of study only for divergent fields: religious history, history of heritage and conservation, and histories of the construction of a national or European narrative. Fields such as environmental sciences, topography, or historical geography have yet to be integrated in a more organic way into the history of this site. Additionally, research concerning Conques has often been produced either in a French-speaking environment or at the international level. These various approaches have too rarely interacted, leaving comprehensive knowledge of this site incomplete and marred by a web of disconnected historiographies.

With this call for papers, we would like to rectify this disciplinary divide by inviting researchers to Conques to rethink the site together, through a living, organic debate that goes beyond linguistic and national borders. We welcome speakers from all disciplines but ask that their contributions be conceived in such a way that they can be understood and integrated by researchers from divergent backgrounds, which may require explication of disciplinary givens. Multi-voiced papers prepared by researchers from different disciplinary and linguistic backgrounds are particularly welcome. The expected disciplines are not limited to those mentioned above, on the contrary, participants specialized in environmental science, biology, archaeogenetics, or other disciplines are warmly invited.

The symposium will be held at the Centre Européen of Conques from October 11 to 13, 2023. The organization will cover the costs of accommodation and meals, and at least part of the travel expenses (depending on actual costs). This conference is conducted within the framework of the MSCA-RISE project Conques in the Global World (https:// conques.eu/).

Researchers wishing to contribute are invited to send their proposals, including a title, an abstract (about 200 words) and a short biography, to adrien.palladino@phil.muni.cz before February 15, 2023.

Call for Papers: Early European Puppetry Studies Conference (12-15 October 2023), Yale University, Due by 1 May 2023

Call for Papers

Early European Puppetry Studies Conference

Yale University - October 12-15, 2023

Due BY: 1 May 2023

From moving statues to artificial animals to marionette performances, puppetry seems to have appeared in every sector of medieval and early modern European society. Jointed religious figures illustrated the liturgy, while dragon effigies processed through cities on feast days, and popular and courtly audiences enjoyed puppet shows of legendary and historical events. Despite the ubiquity of medieval and early modern puppets in Europe, scholarly consideration of these performing objects is often limited to case studies. Consideration of “puppetry” as a particular form with its own norms and commonalities is also uncommon, due in part to the marginal position of puppetry in Western culture. However, considering the variety and complexity of medieval and early modern European puppetry provides an opportunity to reassess the role of figural objects and performance in Western culture. As objects used in performance, puppets enrich expanding scholarship on the inter- and multimedial dimensions of medieval and early modern theater, liturgy, and entertainment. As imitative objects, puppets inform discussions about representation in medieval and early modern Europe. And as objects unsettling boundaries between animate and inanimate, puppets nuance conversations about object agency, object-oriented ontology, and the so-called “material turn” happening across the humanities.

This conference aims to bring together scholars from art history, history, European literary and language studies, theater, and other fields to formally establish early European puppetry studies as a cross-disciplinary field and scholarly community. To that end, sessions will provide an opportunity for collecting and sharing resources as well as sites for setting the terms and questions that structure early European puppetry studies. We intend to build on the conference’s presentations to produce the first edited volume in early European puppetry studies in the following year.

Considering a wide range of objects and practices under the rubric of puppetry, the conference is interested in what defines a puppet. How might movement, interaction, animation, liveliness, or spectatorship, matter? How do the contexts of puppet performance (professional, amateur, civic, courtly) or its sites (church, stage, fairground, street) affect its possibilities? How did puppetry operate as a site of cross-cultural encounter that allowed swift exchanges across the continent? In what ways does the materiality of a puppet shape its modes of embodiment as it plays characters ranging from human and animal to divine? How does actual puppetry practice complicate or resist prevailing cultural metaphors of puppetry in relation to power and aesthetics?

We invite work on all manner of performing objects that can usefully be examined or theorized in terms of puppetry. We welcome proposals from scholars already working explicitly on puppetry as well as those newly imagining their work in relation to puppetry. In particular, we are interested in papers that resist dominant cultural discourses that limit puppetry to “popular” or “folkloric” spaces, seeking instead to locate fruitful avenues for using puppetry as a framework to analyze art, literature, culture, and performance traditions in medieval and early modern Europe. In other words, we hope to expand the field of inquiry from puppetry as metaphor to puppetry as praxis.

The conference will be held at Yale University (New Haven, CT) from October 12-15, 2023.

To propose a paper, please submit a 300-word abstract to Michelle Oing and Nicole Sheriko at earlyeuropeanpuppetrystudies@gmail.com by May 1, 2023.

For more information: https://www.earlyeuropeanpuppetrystudies.com/

ICMA 2023 FORSYTH LECTURE IN OKLAHOMA, ARKANSAS, AND MISSOURI: DIRTY DIGITAL BOOKS, Professor Kathryn Rudy, 7-13 February 2023

2023 ICMA FORSYTH LECTURES

DIRTY DIGITAL BOOKS

DR. KATHRYN RUDY
PROFESSOR, SCHOOL OF ART HISTORY, UNIVERSITY OF ST. ANDREWS

Join us for a dynamic lecture exploring the intersections of technology and medieval book history. Esteemed manuscript scholar Dr. Rudy will discuss new research related to her project, “Dirty Books,” which uses technology to understand how Books of Hours were read and handled in the late Late Middle Ages. The most used sections became darkened with fingerprints, which she has analyzed with a machine called a densitometer. Her new project makes use of digital resources in addition to hands-on study, benefiting from recent initiatives to digitize manuscripts and make them available online.

The lecture will be given at three locations:

• Oklahoma State University (Stillwater), Tuesday 7 February, 4:30 PM

  Helmerich Reading Room, OSU Library

  Contact: Jennifer Borland, jennifer.borland@okstate.edu

• University of Arkansas (Fayetteville), Thursday 9 February, 5:15 PM

  Gearhart 26

  Contact: Mary Beth Long, marylong@uark.edu

• University of Missouri-Kansas City, Monday 13 February, 3:30 PM

  Miller Nichols Library Room 451

  Contact: Virginia Blanton, blantonv@umkc.edu

An internationally-recognized scholar of the reception and function of medieval manuscripts, Kathryn Rudy (Kate) is Bishop Wardlaw Professor of Art History at the University of St Andrews, a member of the St Andrews Institute of Medieval Studies, and the Director of the Centre for the Study of Medieval Manuscripts and Technology. She is also an Excellence Professor at Radboud University in Nijmegen, Netherlands.

THESE EVENTS HAVE BEEN SUPPORTED BY THE INTERNATIONAL CENTER OF MEDIEVAL ART’S FORSYTH LECTURE FUND AS WELL AS OKLAHOMA STATE UNIVERSITY, UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS, AND UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI-KANSAS CITY.

For a flyer of this event, click here.

ANNOUNCING THE 2022 ICMA ANNUAL BOOK PRIZE RECIPIENT

ICMA ANNUAL BOOK PRIZE

We are delighted to announce the recipient of the 2022 ICMA Annual Book Prize:

SHIRIN FOZI

ROMANESQUE TOMB EFFIGIES: DEATH AND REDEMPTION IN MEDIEVAL EUROPE, 1000–1200

The Pennsylvania State University Press, 2021.
Click here for the Penn State University Press site.

The straightforward title of Shirin Fozi’s Romanesque Tomb Effigies both offers homage to the classic iconographic studies to which it is heir and belies the important ways in which this volume disrupts traditional approaches to the analysis of sculptural tombs dating to the late eleventh through twelfth centuries in northern Europe. In this compelling, rigorously researched and elegantly written book, the author investigates the phenomenon of figural tomb sculpture in its earliest medieval period of emergence, setting aside the anachronistic narrative that has long framed these works simply as precursors to the great flowering of figural tombs in the thirteenth through fifteenth centuries. Instead, close analysis of the archeological, textual, epigraphic, and social context of a series of works mostly from northern Germany and France allows Fozi to account for them in their own settings. At the center of the book lies the argument that these early effigy tombs consistently mark communal interventions into troubled histories of loss and failure, serving to recuperate, reframe, and reorient the pasts of living communities through the represented bodies of the dead. This is a mature work of scholarship that speaks of longstanding and intimate acquaintance with the works under consideration, some of which, such as the Plantagenet funerary monuments at Fontevrault with which the book concludes, are well known, but others of which have received less attention than they deserve, especially in English-language scholarship. Engaged with current discourses about the cultural construction of space, memory, body, and material, the study ultimately centers the objects themselves as the protagonists in the narrative, resulting in a book that will serve as a model and departure point for future scholarship, and one that is eminently readable for audiences ranging from interested amateurs, to undergraduates, to professional medievalists in a variety of fields.
 
We thank the ICMA Book Prize Jury:
Alexa Sand (chair), Heather Badamo, Péter Bokody, Dorothy Glass, and Eric Ramirez-Weaver

YOU ARE INVITED! THE ICMA ANNUAL MEETING - IN PERSON - ON FRIDAY 17 FEBRUARY 2023. RSVP TODAY!

YOU ARE INVITED!

ICMA ANNUAL MEETING
IN PERSON, NEW YORK CITY

FRIDAY, 17 FEBRUARY 2023
7:30PM - 9:30PM

THE RAINES LAW ROOM AT THE WILLIAM
24 EAST 39TH STREET (BETWEEN PARK AND MADISON)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK    10016

RSVP HERE

Royal Reception in a Landscape, left folio from the double frontispiece of a Shahnama (Book of Kings) of Firdausi (Persian, about 940–1019 or 1025), 1444. Iran, Shiraz, Timurid period (1370-1501). Opaque watercolor, ink, gold and silver on paper Recto Image: 26.1 x 20.7 cm (10 1/4 x 8 1/8 in.); Overall: 32.7 x 22 cm (12 7/8 x 8 11/16 in.). John L. Severance Fund 1956.10, Cleveland Museum of Art.

The ICMA Annual Meeting is open to all members and their guests. It is a social event with about 20 minutes of speeches, announcements, and thank-yous to colleagues for their service to the organization. We especially have reasons to celebrate — a return to the feasibility of in-person gatherings and an opportunity to toast President Nina Rowe’s term at the helm of the ICMA. The rest of the time will be an opportunity for ICMA members to reconnect. Hope to see you there!

The venue is an indoor/outdoor space (with heating lamps), so you'll be able to pick an area that best suits your comfort zone.

RSVP HERE

---

We would like to celebrate the triumphs of colleagues over the past few years! We will put together a rotating PowerPoint, showcasing the professional achievements of ICMA members from 2020 to 2023. Whether you plan to attend the gathering or not, please let us know if you have published a book, been tenured or promoted, gotten a new job, taken on a new administrative role, retired, or otherwise reached a milestone worthy of a toast!

Upload text and pics (of yourself, book covers, or whatever is relevant) HERE by Friday 10 February 2023, 9am.

Call for Papers: International Conference/Journée d’étude internationale, Le ridicule en question à l’époque médiévale (27 March 2023), Bordeaux Université, Deadline BEFORE 20 February 2023

Call for Papers:

International ConferEnce/Journée d’étude internationale

Le ridicule en question à l’époque médiévale

27 March 2023/27 mars 2023

Bordeaux Université, Bordeaux Montaigne, UR 24142 Plurielles

Deadline: Before 20 February 2023/Avant le 20 février 2023

Manuscrit Paris, BnF, fr. 2810

Cette manifestation scientifique propose d’aborder la question du ridicule dans l’art et la littérature du Moyen Âge, en se fondant sur différents types de récits et d’œuvres, afin d’explorer sa fabrication, ses mises en scène, ses objets, ses visées, ses rejets et ses effets. Il s’agira aussi d’analyser le rapport que ces œuvres ou passages ridiculisants entretiennent, d’une part, avec le monde, d’autre part, avec l’art lui-même. Si les notions voisines de comique et de grotesque ont été étudiées de longue date dans l’art médiéval, notamment par le biais du rire – grâce à l’historien Jacques le Goff, par exemple – ou du comique, en relation étroite avec le tragique et le sérieux – ainsi que l’ont montré les travaux d’Élisabeth Lalou[1] –, la question du ridicule quant à elle demeure peu travaillée.

La plupart des travaux sur le sujet ne touchent pas la sphère francophone. En outre, les études parues à ce jour s’inscrivent avant tout dans les domaines sociologique, politique, philosophique et ont trait à des époques antérieures ou postérieures au Moyen Âge. Par exemple, Michael Billig, dans Laughter and Ridicule. Towards a Social Critique of Humour (2005)[2], étudie en diachronie le rapport de la notion de ridicule avec la norme sociale. Un peu plus tard, dans Rhetoric of ridicule[3], Greg Grewell reprend la distinction établie par Renate Lachmann entre force centripète et force centrifuge dans l’humour carnavalesque[4]. Il différencie dans sa théorie deux manières de construire le ridicule : un discours monologique et un discours dialogique. Le premier discours, de type centripète, tend à conformer l’individu à une norme sociale et le second, de type centrifuge, dans un mouvement inverse, amène ce même individu à faire voler en éclat les représentations normées de l’objet ou du sujet ridiculisé. Ce dernier modèle de discours permet alors l’invention de nouveaux codes et donc un décentrement par rapport aux normes préétablies, voire une désacralisation de ces dernières. Nous pouvons sans doute envisager le ridicule dans les œuvres littéraires et artistiques selon cette double dynamique. Au niveau littéraire, les études ont été plutôt ponctuelles, elles concernent des auteurs en particulier, comme Molière ou Scarron[5], ou encore des genres spécifiques comme la comédie[6]. Toutefois, la notion de ridicule dépasse le simple cadre des genres comiques, nombreux et identifiés au Moyen Âge (farce, fabliau, fatrasie, sottie, théâtre) et relie des genres d’aspect très divers si bien qu’elle conduit à les mettre en perspective.

Aussi, dans une approche interdisciplinaire et transgénérique, nous souhaiterions confronter et comparer, dans leurs différences, les genres, les supports et les approches scientifiques afin d’enrichir une réflexion autour d’une notion très présente dans la production médiévale. Ridiculiser vise avant tout à faire rire, mais tourner en ridicule c’est aussi déprécier, porter un jugement de valeur, c’est enfin faire ressortir l’absurdité, le non-sens d’un être, d’une chose ou d’une situation et se placer ainsi sur le terrain du sens, en particulier du bon sens. Ridiculiser permet autant d’écarter que de souligner, de faire rire que de susciter de la compassion. Semblent se nouer des rapports aux normes, au pouvoir, au sens, à un ordre et à des effets variés, qui, tous, contribuent à installer la richesse registrale et interprétative de l’art médiéval, quel qu’il soit. Le ridicule semble être ainsi le lieu de l’évidence autant que de l’ambiguïté.

Axes de recherche
 
Fabliaux, récits de voyage, chansons de geste, poésies, nouvelles, enluminures, statues, etc. : nombreux sont les supports qui accueillent et fabriquent le ridicule au Moyen Âge. Le corpus est immense. Nous souhaitons travailler selon différents axes afin de cerner progressivement la notion et ses fonctions tout autant que la variété de ses apparitions.

-     Axe 1. Les différents sujets et objets de ridicule 

Il s’agira d’observer les thèmes et les sujets du ridicule afin d’installer l’étude : quelles sont les récurrences et les irrégularités en la matière ? La ridiculisation du clergé et de la scolastique est fréquente dans l’art profane et les genres comiques ; en est-il de même dans d’autres domaines ? Quelles sont les figures ridiculisées et de quoi sont-elles la cible ? L’homme, l’étranger, la femme, le vilain, le chevalier sont autant de personnages typiques fréquemment caricaturés, moqués. Quelle est ainsi la visée de ces peintures grotesques, qui tournent en ridicule leur objet ? 

-     Axe 2. Ridiculiser : mode d’emploi et style(s)

L’examen des différentes manières de ridiculiser, des plus évidentes aux plus subtiles, retiendra l’attention. Le ridicule se limite-il à la parodie ? Quels effets ou quelles figures sont mobilisées pour construire le ridicule ? Les procédés de grossissement, de rétrécissement, de déplacement, d’ironie sont-ils préférentiellement employés dans un genre ou chez un auteur ? Produisent-ils des effets identiques ? 

-     Axe 3. La déconstruction ou le renforcement d’une norme

Interroger le rapport à la norme de manière plus générale en explorant les visées des auteurs permettra de voir s’il s’agit de ridiculiser pour dénoncer, rire, défaire ou refaire un modèle, de manière à comprendre quelles postures sont adoptées et quelles valeurs sont déconstruites. Qu’en est-il par ailleurs du rapport aux genres et aux normes génériques ?
 
-     Axe 4. Non-sens ou bon sens ? 

La question du langage, littéraire ou artistique, pourrait aussi nourrir la réflexion autour du sens. Si le ridiculum dictum chez Plaute peut renvoyer à l’idée de bon mot, peut-on envisager le recours au ridicule comme simple jeu sur le sens ? Le jeu de pouvoir se nouant autour du ridicule amène-t-il à la construction d’un bon sens, autant qu’il permet de révéler les absurdités d’un code ou d’une norme ? 
 
D’autres réflexions pourront bien sûr venir étayer cette étude.

Modalités de participation

Les propositions de communication accompagnées d’un argumentaire d’une dizaine de lignes et d’un bref curriculum vitae sont à envoyer aux organisatrices avant le 20 février 2023.

Raphaëlle LABARRIÈRE, r.labarriere@hotmail.fr

Priscilla MOURGUES, priscilla.mourgues@gmail.com

Le logement et le repas du midi seront financés par l’organisation, les frais de transport seront laissés à la charge des équipes de recherche des participantes.


 
[1] E. Lalou, « Le théâtre médiéval, le tragique et le comique : réflexions sur la définition des genres », dans Tragique et comique liés, dans le théâtre, de l’Antiquité à nos jours (du texte à la mise en scène), Rouen, Publications numériques du CÉRÉdl, 2012, disponible en ligne, URL : <http://ceredi.labos.univ-rouen.fr/public/?le-theatre-medieval-le-tragique-et.html>.
[2] M. Billig, Laughter and Ridicule : Towards a Social Critique of Humour, Londres, Thousand Oaks, New Dehli, SAGE, 2005.
[3] G. Grewell, Rhetoric of ridicule, ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, 2013, disponible en ligne, URL : <https://www.proquest.com/docview/1500846086?parentSessionId=safon260V7ZDX4wQheTQckcsZWknSQf5LZdtVH3L5Z8%3D&pq-origsite=primo&accountid=9671>.
[4] R. Lachmann, Bakhtin and Carnival : Culture as Counter-culture, Center for Humanistic Studies, College of Liberal Arts, University of Minnesota, 1987.
[5] P. Dandrey, Molière Ou L'esthétique Du Ridicule, Paris, Klincksieck, 1992.
[6] On peut par exemple citer P. Lerat, Le ridicule et son expression dans les comédies françaises de Scarron à Molière (thèse dir. R. Lathuillère, Lille, ANRT, 1980, URL : https://excerpts.numilog.com/books/9782307481843.pdf)) et E. Pinon, « Perdican et "la fleur nommée héliotrope" : ridicule et sacré du classicisme au romantisme » (Toulouse, Littératures, 2009, p. 75-86, URL : https://doi.org/10.4000/litteratures.2030))

For a PDF of the call for papers, click here.

For more information: https://plurielles.u-bordeaux-montaigne.fr/manifestation/le-ridicule-a-l-epoque-medievale