2016 Congress Report

May 19, 2016 in Abstracts of Conference Papers, Bembino, Business Meeting, Conference, ICMS, Kalamazoo, Reception, Reports

Jesse Meyer demonstrates the squirrel parchment prepared for the Research Group's Session, at the 51st International Congress on Medieval Studies. 13 May 2016. Photography © Mildred Budny

Show & Tell. Photography by Mildred Budny

51st International Congress on Medieval Studies

12–15 May 2016

Report

[Published on 18 May 2016, with updates]

The Research Group on Manuscript Evidence reports its activities accomplished at the 2016 International Congress on Medieval Studies, held at Kalamazoo, Michigan.

After the completion of

we now Report its achievements.  They include the notice of a couple of late changes to the Program of individual Sessions, the unveiling — with the publication here — of both the Posters for our multiple activities at the Congress and an illustrated Program Booklet for a pair of co-sponsored Sessions, and other developments.  These publications, as is our practice, are set in our copyright multilingual font Bembino and laid out in accordance with our Style Manifesto. You may view them below.

This Congress marks 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. The overall 2016 Congress Schedule with Corrigenda is now archived; the few changes to our Programs came to attention on the eve of the Congress, too late to reach the pre-Congress Corrigenda.  This Report provides the most up-to-date and authoritative account of the activities as accomplished.

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 Congress Activities blog.

Sessions

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

At the Congress, 2 of the intended Speakers were unable to travel to attend and to present their papers, as noted below.  We continue to post the Abstracts of their Papers, noting this change, with respect for the authors’ intentions for the subjects and with thanks for their proposed contributions.  The scheduling of the Congress placed first our pair of co-sponsored Sessions with the Center for Medieval and Early Modern Studies.  Travel delays prevented Florin Curta from arriving in time for its first Session, for which Mildred Budny presided in his stead.  He arrived in time for the second Session and its spirited discussion.

Logo of the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence (colour version)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

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)

Poster for the Sponsored Session on 'Paper or Parchment' at the 51st International Congress on Medieval Studies, sponsored by the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence. Poster laid out in RGME Bembino, with images supplied by David W. Sorenson. Reproduced by permission.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

Pausing after the Session and its extended discussions, the cast for the Sponsored Session on 'Paper or Parchment' considers its accomplishment.

Lining Up

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 were on view, as in earlier years.

A surprise bonus was the specimen of squirrel parchment, still stretched upon the frame, which Jesse Meyer prepared especially for this Session and the Congress.  His sample packets of parchment from various types and grades of skins, designed to aid teaching purposes, were available for purchase after the session.  All of them found recipients among teachers and students of manuscripts.

Jesse Meyer demonstrates different types of prepared parchment and tools for the 'Paper or Parchment' Session at the 2016 International Congress on Medieval Studies. Photography © Mildred Budny

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II. Co-Sponsored with the Societas Magica

Logo of the Societas Magica, reproduced by permission2. ‘Magic on the Page: Transmission and Representation of Magic’
= Congress Session 304

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

Presider: Mildred Budny (Research Group on Manuscript Evidence)

Poster for the co-sponsored Session on 'Magic on the Page', laid out in RGME Bembino.

Presenters:

Note:  Just before the Congress, we learned that Jan Veenstra was unable to travel to the Congress to present his paper.  His Abstract reports the intentions for its scope.

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 Intended Paper]

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

The Speakers Respond at the 'Magic on the Page' Session at the 2016 International Congress on Medieval Studies. Poster set in RGME Bembino. Photography © Mildred Budny

Listening Up

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

Program Booklet for Both Sessions

For the first time, we prepared a Program Booklet for these co-sponsored Sessions at the Congress, with the Abstracts for the Papers and some illustrations. It continues the tradition of Program Booklets for our Symposia and Colloquia, published by the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence, set in RGME Bembino, and compliant with the RGME Style Manifesto. (Examples of those Booklets are available here and here.)

Last year, inspired by the Session organized by our Associate Valerio Cappozzo on ‘Predicting the Past’ at the 2015 Congress, we produced the first Program Booklet ever for one of our Sessions at the Congress. Compiled and edited by Valerio Cappozzo and Mildred Budny, and set in RGME Bembino, it is available freely for download.

And now, we do so for this interlinked pair of sessions. Compiled and edited by Mildred Budny and Florin Curta, the Booklet is set in RGME Bembino and freely available.  As customary, the Booklet — like the Posters at the Congress itself — made a debut in printed form on the day of the Sessions.  We publish its form in PDF for download on this site, as customary.  With thanks to the contributors, to the donors of images, and to Ovidiu Cristea for help with permission for reproducing manuscript photography, we offer it here.

We thank the contributors for their long journeys to the Congress to present the fruits of their expertise for this program.

Logo of the Center for Medieval and Early Modern Studies at the University of Florida, reproduced here by permission3. ‘Crusading and the Byzantine Legacy in the Northwestern Black Sea Region’
= Congress Session 13

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

Presider: Florin Curta > Mildred Budny

Poster for 'Crusading and the Byzantine Legacy" Session 1 of the RGME MEMS Sessions. Poster set in RGME Bembino.

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’
Abstract of Paper

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

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

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

Reading the Paper in Session 1 of the pair of Sessions Co-Sponsored by the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence and the Center for Medieval and Early Modern Studies at the University of Florida. Photography by Mildred Budny

‘In the Light’. Photograph by Mildred Budny

4. ‘The Medieval Balkans as Mirror:
Byzantine Perceptions of the Balkans and the World Beyond’
= Congress Session 79

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

Presider: Mildred Budny

Poster for 'The Medieval Balkans as Mirror" Session 2 of the RGME MEMS Sessions. Poster set in RGME Bembino.

Presenters:

Note:  We learned just before the Congress that Aleksander Paroń was unable to travel to the Congress to present his paper.  The Program Booklet contains his Abstract, which represents the intentions for a paper not delivered.  The other Abstracts represent their Speakers’ papers.  In preparing the archive for the Abstracts, we will include this information, as in earlier Congresses.  An example is the Session for which our first Speaker this year was unable to attend in 2014.

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’
Abstract of Paper

[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‒12th Century Byzantine Sources
and the Political Practice of the Constantinopolitan Court’
Abstract of Intended Paper]

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

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

Group Portrait for the 2 Co-Sponsored Sessions of the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence and the Center for Medieval and Early Modern Studies at the University of Florida. Photograph by Andrzej Kompa, reproduced by permission.

A Good Gathering. Photograph by Andrzej Kompa.

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IV. Other Events

2016 RGME Business Meeting with border2016 Reception Invitation full page with border

Logo of the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence (colour version)5. Open Business Meeting
of the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence

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

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

The 2016 Agenda for this Meeting is now downloadable here.  Its concise report offers a useful guide to our current activities, needs, and intentions.

6. Reception
New logo (2015) for the Index of Christian Art at Princeton University. The logo presents a medieval-style ornamental intial 'I' decorated with panels and extensions of interlace patterns, plus a rosette in a roundel at its bulbous waist. Reproduced by permission.
co-sponsored with the Index of Christian Art at Princeton University

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

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

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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.

We thank the photographers of images for permission to include them here.  Special thanks to Mildred Budny, Sean Winslow, and Andrzej Kompa!

We thank the participants of the pair of Sessions on Balkan Studies for their kindness in bringing copies of publications from their institutions for presentation to the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence and its Director:

  • Medieval and Early Modern Studies for Central and Eastern Europe, VI–VII (2014–2015)
  • Studia Ceranea.  Journal of the Waldemar Ceran Research Centre for the History and Culture of the Mediterranean Area and South-East Europe, Volume 5 (2015)
  • Byzantium and the Arabs:  The Encounter of Civilizations from Sixth to Mid-Eighth Century, edited by Teresa Wolińska and Paweł Filipczak.  Byzantina Lodziensia, XXII (2016)

We happily note that these publications include contributions by several of the speakers and the co-organizer for the pair of co-sponsored sessions.

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Our Co-Sponsors held other Sessions at the Congress, sometimes in co-sponsorship with another organization.

  • The Societas Magica (Sessions 119, 245, 408, and 463)
  • The Center for Medieval and Early Modern Studies at the University of Florida (Sessions 507 and 535),
    also with the Centrum Ceraneum of the Uniwersytet Łódzki (Session 355)
  • The Index of Christian Art (Sessions 508 and 536)
Group Portrait following the successful accomplishment of the Co-Sponsored Session of the Center for Medieval and Early Modern Studies at the University of Florida and the Centrum Cerenaum. Photrograph courtesy of Andrzej Kompa.

Photograph courtesy of Andrzej Kompa

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Gold stamp on blue cloth of the logo of the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence. Detail from the front cover of Volume II of 'The Illustrated Catalogue'Gold-stamped logo of the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence on Red fabric ground on the Front Cover of Volume I (Text) of 'Insular, Anglo-Saxon, and Early Anglo-Norman Manuscript Art at CorpusChristi College, Cambridge' by Mildred BudnySpecial Note: At the Congress, some copies were 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.

Various collectors, both individual and institutional, collected their copies at the Congress, or sent delegates to collect them, and thus saved on the shipping costs.
Further copies are available, at the special Promotional Price.  Shipping and Gift-Wrapping are available.
Contact our Director through [email protected].

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Flowering Attendants. Flowers at Valley II at Western Michigan University during the 51st International Congress on Medieval Studies. Pansies and Others. Photography © Mildred Budny, reproduced by permission.

Flowering Attendants, Shadow Included. Photography © Mildred Budny

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

Then came the Program Booklet for the pair of Sessions co-sponsored with the Center for Medieval and Early Modern Studies at the University of Florida, with the Abstracts for those Sessions.  Available here.

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Tardis2 via Wikipedia CommonsUpdate: And now we offer an unprecedented Report of our Activities Behind the Scenes at the Congress. We call it Doctor Who Done It.

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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 2 Special Panels, organized by Justin Hastings, at the Convention of the Midwest Modern Language Association in November at Saint Louis, Missouri.

We begin to plan for the 52nd International Congress on Medieval Studies in 2017 and other events.

We continue to post reports of discoveries in the Manuscript Studies blog (with a Contents List).

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

Also, please subscribe to our Newsletter and sign up for notices of our activities here.

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