51st International Congress on Medieval Studies

12–15 May 2016

Program

[Published on 11 January 2016, with updates]

After the completion of the 2016 Congress Call for Papers, which described the aims of the sessions, and the Congress Planning, which reported the Sessions selected by the Congress Committee, the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence advances with the planning for its 4 sponsored and co-sponsored sessions for the next International Congress on Medieval Studies.

Now we announce the programs. The Congress Schedule reveals the time- and room-assignments.  Also, we begin to publish Abstracts of the papers, as their authors might wish.

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The next Congress will be the eleventh year of our co-sponsorship with the Societas Magica, the third year of co-sponsorship with the Center for Medieval and Early Modern Studies at the University of Florida, and the second year of co-sponsorship with the Index of Christian Art at Princeton University.

Our 2014 and 2015 sessions and receptions with these organizations are illustrated in the 2014 Congress Report and 2015 Congress Report. The history of our sponsorships and co-sponsorships at the Congress is recorded for our Sponsored Sessions and Co-Sponsored Congress Sessions, and in our blog.

Sessions

The aims of these sessions are described in the 2016 Congress Call for Papers.

I.  Sponsored by the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence

1.  ‘Parchment or Paper? Choosing the Writing Medium in the Era Before the Printing Press’

= Congress Session 212.  Friday 10:00–11:30 am (Schneider 1355)

Organizers:  Mildred Budny (Research Group on Manuscript Evidence)
and Eleanor Congdon (Department of History, Youngstown State University)

Presider: David Porreca (Department of Classics, University of Waterloo)

Presenters:

Mildred Budny (Research Group on Manuscript Evidence)
‘Double Act: Manuscripts Combining Paper and Parchment’
Abstract of Paper, illustrated

David Sorenson (Allan G. Berman, Numismatist)
‘Four Cartulary Fragments in Parchment and Paper’
Abstract of Paper, illustrated

Eleanor Congdon (Department of History, Youngstown State University)
‘The Rise of Merchant Use of Paper in the Later Middle Ages’
Abstract of Paper

Jesse Meyer (Pergamena Parchment and Leathers, Montgomery, NY)
‘Parchment: The Worst Writing Medium Except For All Others’
Abstract of Paper

This Session is the fifth in our series on ‘Medieval Writing Materials’ at the Congress (2011–2014 and 2016).
Specimens of materials, manuscripts, and documents may be on view, as in earlier years.

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II.  Co-Sponsored with the Societas Magica

2.  ‘Magic on the Page: Transmission and Representation of Magic’

= Congress Session 304.  Friday 3:30–5:00 pm (Schneider 1225)

Organizer: László Sándor Chardonnens (Radboud University Nijmigen, The Netherlands)

Presider: Mildred Budny (Research Group on Manuscript Evidence)

Presenters:

Samuel Gillis–Hogan (University of Saskatchewan)
‘Stars in the Hand: The Infusion of Astrology in Chiromancy’
Abstract of Paper

Jan R. Veenstra (Independent Scholar: Drachten, The Netherlands)
‘Magical Reconfigurations in Ganell’s Summa Sacre Magice in the Kassel Manuscript’
Abstract of Paper

Lazlo Sandor Chardonnens (Radboud University, Nijmigen)
‘Retrofitting Early Modern Magical Manuscripts’
Abstract of Paper

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III.  Co-Sponsored with the Center for Medieval and Early Modern Studies
at the University of Florida

For the first time, we prepare a Program Booklet, with the Abstracts, for these co-sponsored Sessions at the Congress.  It continues the tradition of Program Booklets, published by the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence and set in RGME Bembino, for our Symposia and Colloquia.  (Examples available here and here.) Last year, we produced the first Program Booklet for one of our Sessions at the Congress (available for download here).  And now, for this interlinked pair of sessions.  We thank the contributors for their long journeys to the Congress to present the fruits of their expertise for this program.

3. ‘Crusading and the Byzantine Legacy in the Northwestern Black Sea Region’

= Congress Session 13.  Thursday 10:00–11:30 am (Fetzer 1045)

Organizers: Florin Curta (University of Florida)
and Mildred Budny (Research Group on Manuscript Evidence)

Presider: Florin Curta

Presenters:

Laurenţiu Rădvan (‘Alexandru Ioan Cuza’ University, Iaşi, Romania)
‘Between Byzantium, the Mongol Empire, Genoa, and Moldavia:
Trade Centers in the Northwestern Black Sea Area’

Ovidiu Cristea (‘Nicolae Iorga’ Institute of History, Bucharest, Romania)
‘The Crusade in the Black Sea Region:
Discourses, Projects, and Actions from the 13^th to the 15^th Centuries’

Liviu Pilat (Faculty of History, ‘Alexandru Ioan Cuza’ University, Iaşi)
‘A Plan for the Annihilation of Mehmed II in Moldavia (1475‒1476)’

Bogdan-Petru Maleon (‘Alexandru Ioan Cuza’ University, Iaşi)
‘Warriors’ Corpses in the Moldavian Anti-Ottoman Wars of the 15^th and 16^th Centuries’

4.  ‘The Medieval Balkans as Mirror:
Byzantine Perceptions of the Balkans and the World Beyond’

= Congress Session 79.  Thursday 1:30–3:00 pm (Schneider 1355)

Organizers: Mildred Budny (Research Group on Manuscript Evidence)
and Florin Curta (University of Florida)

Presider: Mildred Budny

Presenters:

Kirił Marinow (Department of Byzantine History, University of Łódź, Poland)
‘”Wild Sprout Grafted into the Excellent Olive Tree of the New Israel”:
Byzantine Views of the Bulgarians after Their Conversion’

Aleksander Paroń (Center for Late Antique and Early Medieval Studies,
Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Wrocław, Poland)
‘ “More Savage than Nature Itself”:
The Image of the Nomads in 10th‒12^th Century Byzantine Sources
and the Political Practice of the Constantinopolitan Court’

Jan Mikołaj Wolski (Department of Byzantine History, University of Łódź)
‘The Image of Peter I in Bulgarian Historiography: Petăr Mutafčiev’s Views’

Elisaveta Todorova (Department of History, University of Cincinnati)
‘Byzantine Perceptions of the Bulgarian Economy as a Distorted Mirror’

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IV.  Other Events

5.  Open Business Meeting
of the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence

Thursday, 12 May, 12:00–1:00 pm (Fetzer 1055)
Refreshments provided
All are welcome

This year’s Open Business Meeting is the second such meeting
scheduled within the Congress Program (2015 Agenda here).
The goals are to consider our activities, plans for future activities
(including programs, research, publications, promotion, and recruiting),
and the suggestions emerging from these discussions.

6.  Reception
co-sponsored with the Index of Christian Art at Princeton University

Friday, 13 May, 5:15–7:30 pm (Bernhard 208)
Open Bar
All are welcome

The 2016 Reception takes inspiration from our Receptions at recent Congresses:

• the 2014 Anniversary Reception, co-sponsored by the Societas Magica, and
• the 2015 Reception, co-sponsored by the Societas Magica and the Index of Christian Art.

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We thank the Societas Magica, the Center for Medieval and Early Modern Studies, and the Index of Christian Art for permission to include their logos as Co-Sponsors.

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Special Note: At the Congress, some copies will be available of our principal publication so far, the Illustrated Catalogue in 2 volumes (Text and Plates), whose distribution has been transferred to the Research Group. See our Promotional Offer.

You might collect your copy, or a copy for your institution, and save on the shipping costs!
Please contact our Director at the Congress, for example at our Business Meeting or Reception, or through [email protected].

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Please watch this space. In stages in the approach to the Congress and its follow-up, we post the Abstracts for the papers and the Posters for the sessions. This approach resembles our 2015 Congress Report, illustrations included.

We look forward to seeing you at the Congress.
Also, please subscribe to our Newsletter and sign up for notices of our activities here.

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Events planned for 2016 began with the Symposium on “Words & Deeds” at Princeton University on Friday, 25 March 2016, hosted by the Department of Art & Archaeology and the Index of Christian Art.  Details here.

Later this year, for the first time, the Research Group will sponsor a Special Session, organized by Justin Hastings, at the Conference of the Midwest Modern Language Association in November at Saint Louis.

Information about these events and other activities appear here. Join us!

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