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  • News
    • News & Views
    • Reviews
    • Highlights
  • Blogs
    • Manuscript Studies
      • Manuscript Studies: Contents List
    • International Congress on Medieval Studies
      • Abstracts of Congress Papers
        • Abstracts of Papers Listed by Author
        • Abstracts of Papers Listed by Year
  • About
    • Mission
    • People
      • Mildred Budny — Her Page
      • Adelaide Bennett Hagens
    • Activities
      • Events
      • Congress Activities
        • Sponsored Conference Sessions (1993‒)
          • Panels at the M-MLA Convention
        • Co-sponsored Conference Sessions (2006‒)
    • History
      • Seals, Matrices & Documents
      • Genealogies & Archives
  • Bembino
    • Multi-Lingual Bembino
  • Congress
    • Sponsored Conference Sessions (1993‒)
    • Co-sponsored Conference Sessions (2006‒)
    • Abstracts of Congress Papers
      • Abstracts Listed by Author
      • Abstracts Listed by Year
    • Kalamazoo Archive
    • Panels at the M-MLA Convention
      • Abstracts of Papers for the M-MLA Convention
  • Events
    • The Research Group Speaks: The Series
    • Seminars, Workshops, Colloquia & Symposia (1989–)
      • Seminars on ‘The Evidence of Manuscripts’
      • Symposia on ‘The Transmission of the Bible’
      • The New Series
        • 2019 Anniversary Symposium Program: The Roads Taken
        • 2019 Anniversary Symposium Registration
        • 2019 Anniversary Symposium Registration Open
    • Abstracts of Papers for Events
      • Abstracts of Papers for Seminars on ‘The Evidence of Manuscripts’
      • Abstracts of Papers for Symposia, Workshops & Colloquia
    • Receptions & Parties
    • Business Meetings
    • Photographic Exhibitions & Master Classes
    • Events Archive
  • ShelfLife
    • Journal Description
    • ShelfMarks: The RGME-Newsletter
    • Publications
      • “Insular, Anglo-Saxon, and Early Anglo-Norman Manuscript Art at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge” (1997)
        • Mildred Budny, ‘Catalogue’
        • The Illustrated Catalogue (1997)
      • The Illustrated Handlist
      • Semi-Official Counterfeiting in France 1380-1422
      • No Snap Decisions: Challenges of Manuscript Photography
    • History and Design of Our Website
  • Galleries
    • Watermarks & the History of Paper
    • Galleries: Contents List
    • Scripts on Parade
    • Texts on Parade
      • Latin Documents & Cartularies
      • New Testament Leaves in Old Armenian
    • Posters on Display
    • Layout Designs
  • Donations and Contributions
    • 2019 Anniversary Appeal
    • Orders
  • Contact Us
  • Links
    • Catalogs, Metadata, and Databases: A Handlist of Links
    • Manuscripts & Rare Books
    • Maps, Plans & Drawings
    • Seals, Seal-Matrices & Documents

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2021 International Congress on Medieval Studies Call for Papers

July 13, 2020 in ICMS, International Congress on Medieval Studies, Societas Magica, Uncategorized

Research Group on Manuscript Evidence
at the 56th International Congress on Medieval Studies
(13–16 May 2021)

Call for Papers

Proposals Due by 15 September 2020

[Posted on 13 July 2020, with updates]

After the cancellation of the 2020 Congress, the preparations now for the 2021 Congress permit re-submitting the sessions which had been designed to take place in May 2020.  By popular request, we performed that re-submission for all 5 Sessions.  With approval now by the Congress Committee, we announce the Call for Papers. This announcement augments the brief listings of all Sessions on call on the Congress website.  #kzoo2021.

Update:  5 August 2020:

Please note these updated instructions for submission of proposals for papers.  New for this year, all such submissions must be made through the Confex system, as directed on the Congress website.  However, the Congress’s plans for Session Organizers to access any proposals were overly optimistic.  Exploring this problem, we have now learned that it is uncertain when (or if?) such access would be enabled.  So we ask that, when you submit your proposal by that method as required, you inform the Session Organizer as well.  Here we list each Session’s Organizer and contact address.

Sorry for the inconvenience, not of our making. 

Perhaps an easy way of informing the Organizer of your proposal would be to forward thence the confirmation email which the Confex system would send for your completed proposal (title, abstract, contact information).  We look forward to hearing from you.

Adèle Kindt (1804–1884), The Fortune Teller (circa 1835). Antwerp, Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten. Image via Wikimedia Commons. A young lady, brightly lit and beautifully dressed, looks outward as an older woman, beneath a dark hood, holds a set of cards and stares at them with intent.

Adèle Kindt (1804–1884), The Fortune Teller (circa 1835). Antwerp, Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten. Image via Wikimedia Commons.

The Plan We Had for the 2020 Congress

The Announcement for our Sessions and other Activities at the 2020 Congress describes what we planned.  Note that we published the Abstracts of Papers, so as to record the intentions of speakers for their presentations. The Abstracts are accessible both through that Announcement and through the Indexes of Abstracts by Year and by Author.

Our tradition regularly has been to post on our website the Abstracts before the Congress, as a foretaste of the Menu.  Years ago, as a sign of appreciation, we adopted the custom of posting the Abstract of one or other contributor who became unable to attend to present in person (as with the 2016 Congress and the 2014 Congress).  Thus we honor the intentions of our participants to present the results (or interim results) of their research and reflections, even when they could not do so at the event.

The Papers and their sequences within the intended Sessions were selected through the responses to the 2020 Call for Papers, which described the aims of the individual Sessions, both sponsored by the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence (3 Sessions), and co-sponsored with the Societas Magica (2 Sessions).  The 2020 Congress would have been the 16th year of this co-sponsorship  at the International Congress on Medieval Studies.

Like the 2015–2019 Congresses, we also planned for

  • an Open Business Meeting and
  • a co-sponsored Reception.

Even so, the Agenda for the postponed 2020 Business Meeting is available.  It takes into account the changes for Spring 2020:

  • 2020 Agenda.

The Plan for 2021

We contemplate a similar or suitably revised approach to the 2021 Congress, conditions permitting.

For the 2021 Congress, we aim to re-present the Sessions, and we invite proposals for Papers or Responses.

The sponsorship and co-sponsorship remains as before — with only 1 change.  For 2021, the Societas Magica has agreed to co-sponsor 1 of the Sessions which the RGME sponsored on its own in 2020: “Prologues in Medieval Texts of Magic, Astrology, and Prophecy”.  Now with an adapted title, this Session now joins the already co-sponsored pair of sessions dedicated to “Revealing the Unknown I–II”.  The 2021 Congress will be the 17th year of our co-sponsorship with the Societas Magica, in a constructive partnership of friends, students, and colleagues.

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Keeping Up: Updates for Spring 2020

April 4, 2020 in Abstracts of Conference Papers, Announcements, Bembino, Business Meeting, Conference, Conference Announcement, ICMS, Index of Medieval Art, International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, Manuscript Studies, Princeton University, Societas Magica

Keeping Up:

Updates for Spring 2020

Baltimore, The Walters Art Museum, MS W.782, folio 15r. Van Alphen Hours. Dutch Book of Hours made for a female patron in the mid 15th century. Opening page of the Hours of the Virgin: "Here du salste opdoen mine lippen". Image via Creative Commons. At the bottom of the bordered page, an elegantly dressed woman sits before a shiny bowl- or mirror-like object, in order, perhaps, to perform skrying or to lure a unicorn.

Baltimore, The Walters Art Museum, MS W.782, folio 15r. Van Alphen Hours. Scrying, Perchance? Image via Creative Commons.

This Spring, the cancellation of 2 of our major events planned for this year, and intended to take place in mid-March and mid-May, produces perforce a redirection of energies and activities.  Call it “Regrouping”.

We report updates.

1.  Our 2020 Spring Symposium:  “From Cover to Cover”

Planned for 13–14 March at Princeton University
But Cancelled or Postponed

As preparations were proceeding apace, the event was cancelled by Princeton University — along with other events — on 9 March, in response to growing concerns for the spread of COVID-19 on a global scale.  Although at short notice, it was possible swiftly to cancel reservations for the venue, catering, and other services before participants had begun their journeys.

What We Planned

  • 2020 Spring Symposium: Save the Date
2020 Symposium "From Cover to Cover" Poster 2

2020 Symposium Poster 2

We aimed to consider, “From Cover to Cover”, activities dedicated to manuscripts, early printed materials, and beyond, from collecting and cataloguing to deciphering and beholding.  We prepared to gather specialists, teachers, students, and others engaged or interested in activities such as “Collecting, Curating, Conserving, Cataloguing, Deciphering, Reading, Reconsidering, Editing, Teaching, Displaying, Accessing, Beholding, and More”.

The focus was designed to center primarily upon medieval and early modern materials, both Western and non-Western.  The presentations would include reports of discoveries, work-in-progress, cumulative research, and collaborative projects by specialists from multiple centers, including independent scholars and younger scholars.

Included were workshops over original materials in manuscript and early print, a demonstration of materials and processes for medieval scripts, discussions about databases devoted to manuscripts and rare books, and sessions addressing multiple activities approaching medieval, early modern, and other textual resources.  Subjects would span a wide range geographically and chronologically, and take care to attend to the material and bibiographical evidence.

What We Can Do

There are requests for rescheduling the Symposium, or parts thereof, when conditions might permit.

Meanwhile, we can publish the Symposium Booklet.  At the time of cancellation, it had come close to completion for printing and distributing at the event and then afterward, as is our custom.  For example:

  • 2019 Anniversary Symposium on “The Roads Taken”
  • 2016 Symposium on ‘Words & Deeds”
  • 2014 Symposium on “Recollections of the Past”
  • 2013 Symposium on “Identity & Authenticity”

For all these and our other Booklets (see our Publications), the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence is the nonprofit publisher and distributor.  The design and layout conform with our Style Manifesto and employ our own digital font Bembino .

Florence, Galleria degli Uffizi, Anonymous, Still Life of an Illuminated Book, German School, 15th century. Oil on Wood. Opened book with fanned pages. Image via Wikimedia, Public Domain.

Florence, Galleria degli Uffizi, Anonymous, Still Life of an Illuminated Book, German School, 15th century. Image via Wikimedia, Public Domain.

The new 44-page Symposium Booklet contains the 2020 Symposium Program, Abstracts of the Papers and Masterclasses, and a set of accompanying Illustrations (some published for the first time).  The Booklet includes corrections and revisions offered by several of the authors as we completed the layout and editing, after the cancellation of the event.

It is the longest so far of all our Symposium Booklets. The 2019 Booklet for “The Roads Taken” has 28 pages, and the 2016 Booklet for “Words & Deeds” has 24 pages.  Only the Booklet for our multi-lingual digital font Bembino is longer, at 56 pages, including all the font tables for the different styles and languages. That Booklet and the font itself (now in Version 1.6) are freely available for download and use (commercial use included).  Here:  Bembino .

Our illustrated 2020 Spring Symposium Booklet is likewise freely available for download. As with other cases, for your convenience, we make it available in 2 versions, which may suit different printing arrangements, as wished.  The versions are:

  • printable in consecutive quarto-sized pages (8 1/2″ × 11″)
    2020 Spring Symposium Booklet as Consecutive Pages
  • printable as double sheets (11″ × 17″) which can be folded into the booklet, nesting the bifolia within each other
    — a design which does not require staples for closure and perusal
    2020 Spring Symposium as a Foldable Booklet

We thank our hosts, sponsors, contributors, owners and donors of images, editor, copy-editor, and layout designer. The publication is our gift to all who aimed to participate in the event and to follow its ‘ripples’ after the accomplishment of the Symposium. We offer it as a ‘souvenir’ of what our contributors, and the spirit of generous participation, intended for the event.

While we may explore plans to reschedule the event, or its parts, in some way or ways, the Booklet stands as a place-holder, and as a vivid glimpse of what could be and, indeed, can be. The gathering energy and enthusiasm for the event, as the weeks and days advanced toward it, remain a testimony to the constructive collective spirit which inspired it.

2020 Symposium "From Cover to Cover" Poster 1

2020 Symposium Poster 1

_____

With these observations, I am reminded of the Motto which I chose, years ago, for the 2-volume Illustrated Catalogue, co-published by the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence.

For Books are not absolutely dead things,
but doe contain a potencie of life in them
to be active as that soule was whose progeny they are;
nay, they do preserve as in a violl the purest efficacie and extraction
of the living intellect that bred them.

John Milton, Aeropagitica (1644)

Perhaps same as it ever was.

_____

Cover Page for Sorenson (2020 Spring Symposium Paper as Draft for Comment), with an array of illustrations and the title "Introduction to Indian Manuscripts"

Cover Page for Sorenson (2020 Spring Symposium Paper as Draft for Comment)

P. S.  Already one of our speakers, David W. Sorenson, has provided a draft version of his intended Symposium Paper for feedback. It expands the Abstract which appears in the 2020 Spring Symposium Booklet.

The paper provides “A Quick Introduction to Indian Manuscripts for the Non-Specialist”, with examples and illustrations.

With permission, we offer here his pdf.

Please contact us with your questions or suggestions.  (Contact details below.)

*****

2.  Our Activities at the 55th International Congress on Medieval Studies

Planned for 7–10 May at Kalamazoo
But Cancelled or Postponed

On 17 March, this year’s International Congress on Medieval Studies in May was cancelled, and with it all the activities which we were to sponsor and co-sponsor there, including Sessions and other meetings.  The Congress organizers declared that “We invite the organizers of sponsored . . . sessions approved for the 2020 Congress to re-propose them for the 2021 congress.  If proposed, they will be approved automatically”.

Unlike some organizations, who have declared this intention to re-present for the 2121 Congress, we do not know automatically if such a course would be appropriate for us, or for each and every one of our sessions.  Time will tell.

2019 Anniversary Reception Invitation. set in RGME digital font Bembino.

2019 Anniversary Reception Invitation.

Poster for our Session co-sponsored with the Societas Magica on "Celtic Magic Texts", organized by Phillip A. Bernhardt-House and sponsored by both the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence amd the Societas Magica at the 2018 International Congress on Medieval Studies. Poster set in RGME Bembino.

2018 Poster

The cancellation came in time before all reservations for the journey had been set into place.  Because our customary year-long preparations for the Congress had not reached the last weeks of its approach, we had not yet prepared the customary Posters for our Sessions or the Invitations to the Reception and Business Meeting, nor had the Agenda for that Meeting yet been drawn up.  Posters for previous Congresses show the standards.

However, we did in place have a series of posts on our website (You Are Here) announcing the plans for our 2020 Congress Activities, in stages with updates:

  • the Call for Papers for our approved Sessions, with descriptions of their aims and with selected Images (poster-worthy when the time would come) to exemplify their subjects and scope
  • the 2020 Congress Program, with the authors and titles of the selected Papers for each Session — including a permitted extra Session, given the strength of the responses to the Call, for our proposed Session “Seal the Real”
  • the 2020 Congress Program Announced, with the times and rooms assigned by the Congress Committee for our Program Activities, and with some of the Abstracts for the Papers.

In keeping with custom, we had begun, one by one (starting with the New Year), to post the Abstracts, as a foretaste for the presentations and discussions to come.

The cancellation of the Congress brought these stages to a halt, for a while, during which time we turned to other tasks — including the on-going follow-up from the cancellation or postponement of our Spring Symposium, and the completion of its Booklet.

Baltimore, The Walters Art Museum, MS W.782, folio 15r. Van Alphen Hours. Dutch Book of Hours made for a female patron in the mid 15th century. Opening page of the Hours of the Virgin: "Here du salste opdoen mine lippen". Image via Creative Commons. At the bottom of the bordered page, an elegantly dressed woman sits before a shiny bowl- or mirror-like object, in order, perhaps, to perform skrying or to lure a unicorn.

Baltimore, The Walters Art Museum, MS W.782, folio 15r. Van Alphen Hours. mage via Creative Commons.

What We Planned

  • 2020 International Congress on Medieval Studies Program Announced

We prepared for 5 Sessions with Papers, an Open Business Meeting, and a Reception.

These resemble the numbers and sorts of our activities in recent years at the Annual Congress.  For example:

  • 2019 Congress
  • 2018 Congress
  • 2017 Congress
  • 2016 Congress
  • 2015 Congress

This year’s plans also involved our 2 co-sponsors in recent years for Sessions and/or Receptions.

A.  Sessions

We prepared for 5 Sessions this year.

3 Sessions Sponsored by the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence

1–2. Seal the Real: Documentary Records, Seals & Authentications

organized by Mildred Budny

Part I.  Signed & Sealed
Part II.  × Marks the Spot

3. Prologues in Medieval Texts of Magic, Astrology, and Prophecy

organized by Vajra Regan

Logo of the Societas Magica, reproduced by permission

Logo of the Societas Magica

2 Sessions Co-Sponsored with the Societas Magica
in the 16th year of this collaboration

4–5. Revealing the Unknown

organized by Sanne de Laat and László Sándor Chardonnens

Part I.  Scryers and Scrying in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Period
Part II.   Sortilège, Bibliomancy, and Divination

B.  2020 Open Business Meeting of the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence

1-Page Agendas customarily provided at the time.  This year we send it out already.  (See below.)

C.  Reception co-sponsored with the Index of Medieval Art at Princeton University
in the 3rd year of this collaboration

_____

P. S.  Part of Mildred Budny’s on-going research on the subject of seals and signatures, which would have figured in her Response to Session II of our “Seals” Sessions, now appears on our blog, Manuscript Studies, presenting Preston Take 2.  (See the Contents List for the blog, as more discoveries await publication.)

_____

P. P. S.  It is not lost on us that some of our planned Sessions for 2020 were to consider aspects of the history of divinatory skills across time and place.  But when we collectively chose these, as well as other subjects, last year for our sponsored and co-sponsored Sessions this year, it was not easy to guess then that this year’s Sessions would not take place, after all, at their appointed time and place.

Adèle Kindt (1804–1884), The Fortune Teller (circa 1835). Antwerp, Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten. Image via Wikimedia Commons. A young lady, brightly lit and beautifully dressed, looks outward as an older woman, beneath a dark hood, holds a set of cards and stares at them with intent.

Adèle Kindt (1804–1884), The Fortune Teller (circa 1835). Antwerp, Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten. Image via Wikimedia Commons.

What We Can Do

A.  Abstracts for the 2020 Congress Papers

Detail of opened book with schematic text. Photography © Mildred BudnyOur custom is to post on our website the Abstracts for the Papers of our Sessions at the Congress.  (See our Abstracts for Congress Papers.)  This year is no different.

In the winter of 2019–2020, we had begun to post the 2020 Abstracts, one by one, as is our custom.  They are linked to our announced Program: 2020 Congress Program Announced. The Abstracts function as a foretaste of the ‘Menu’ of the Sessions, and can provide a record of their subjects, aims, and scope of the presentations.

Already in earlier years (as with the 2016 Congress and the 2014 Congress), as a sign of appreciation, we chose to adopt the tradition of posting Abstracts even when a contributor was unable to travel to the Congress and to present the paper in person.  The publication of such Abstracts states that, although proposed, accepted, and scheduled within the Session and Congress Program, the paper was not, in the event, presented.

Before March 2020, only once before, in more than 30 years of activities in many centers in the United States and elsewhere (see our Events and Congress Activities), has the Research Group had to cancel an event itself.  That case was only 1 Session among 7 sponsored and co-sponsored Sessions at the 48th International Congress on Medieval Studies in May 2013.

This year, after the cancellation of both our 2020 Spring Symposium (see above) and the 2020 Congress, we first turned to completing the Symposium Booklet, and then to completing the posting of the 2020 Abstracts.

Those tasks are now accomplished.  For these Congress Abstracts, see

  • 2020 Congress Program Announced and Abstracts of Congress Papers Listed by Year.

For the Symposium Booklet, see

  • 2020 Spring Symposium: Save the Date

Thus we honor the intentions of our participants and their readiness to contribute to our events.

Next, we might turn to contemplating further activities, and perhaps rescheduling some of these ones.

[Update:  In the summer and autumn of 2020, we advance with planning to hold the same Sessions, albeit with a few changes, at the 2021 Congress.  See the 2021 Congress Program in Progress.]

B.  Agenda for the 2020 Business Meeting

Meeting to be rescheduled:  Time and Place to be Determined

The Annual Agendas for our Open Business Meetings, customarily held at the International Congress on Medieval Studies, remain available for consultation.

  • 2019 Agenda
  • 2018 Agenda
  • 2017 Agenda
  • 2016 Agenda
  • 2015 Agenda

These 1-page statements serve as concise Reports for our Activities, Plans, and Desiderata.  After the Meetings, the Abstracts are available for download on our website.  Some of them remain among the most popular downloads here.

Normally, the Agenda is presented at the Meeting.  This year, we send it out ahead of time.  It incorporates the updates of Spring 2020 and their constructive measures.

  • 2020 Agenda

It is not yet clear when this year’s Meeting, which had to be postponed, will take place.  Under present circumstances, we may contemplate a virtual meeting, say via online conferencing in some form.

Please let us know if you wish to participate in the Meeting.  We invite your comments, questions, and suggestions.  (See below.)

C. More

We thank all our contributors to the 2020 events.  The continuing momentum for such activities is a tribute to you all.

Please Contact Us with your questions and suggestions, for example to items on our  2020 Agenda.

For updates, please visit this site, our News & Views, and our Facebook Page .

For our nonprofit educational mission, with tax-exempt status, your donations in funds and/or in kind (expertise, materials, time) are welcome. Join us!

Tags: 'Manuscript Studies' Blog, 2020 Congress, 2020 Symposium, Bembino, Bembino Digital Font, Business Meeting, Early Printing, History of Documents, Manuscript studies, Medieval Studies, Seals and Signatures, Style Manifesto
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2019 International Congress on Medieval Studies Call for Papers

July 5, 2018 in Announcements, Call for Papers, Conference, Conference Announcement, Events, ICMS, Index of Medieval Art, International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, Manuscript Studies, Societas Magica

Sessions
Sponsored and Co-Sponsored
by the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence
at the 54th International Congress on Medieval Studies
9–12 May 2019

Call for Papers
Deadline for Proposals = 15 September 2018

[Published on 5 July 2018, with updates]

With the achievement of our Activities at the 2018 International Congress on Medieval Studies, as announced in our 2018 Congress Program, we both give a 2018 Congress Report and prepare a Behind the Scenes Report.

For updates, please watch this space and our Facebook Page.  [And now, with the completion of the span for the CFP in mid-September 2018, we prepare the Programs for our Sessions at the 2019 Congress, for which see, in time, our 2019 Congress Program announcement.]

*****

Now we proceed to preparations for the 2019 Congress. This next year, the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence celebrates its 20th year as a nonprofit educational corporation and its 30th year as an international scholarly organization.

We have a tradition of celebrating landmark Anniversaries, both for our organization, with organizations which which we share anniversaries, and for other events. As described, for example, in our 2014 Anniversary Reflections.

This coming year, 2019, we prepare events at the Congress and elsewhere, so as to represent, to explore, to promote, to celebrate, and to advance aspects of our shared range of interests, fields of study, subject matter, and collaboration between younger and established scholars, teachers, and others, in multiple centers.

In June 2018, we learned that most — not all — of our Session Proposals (due on 1 June) for the 2019 Congress have been accepted by the Congress Committee, so that we progress to their Call for Papers.  We regret the rejections for proposed Sessions which, for example, promoted initiatives by Graduate Students and by Independent Scholars, and which we wished to support.

Logo of the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence (colour version)The Congress Committee will publish the full 2019 Call for Papers for the 54th ICMS, with the list of Session Titles and Sponsors. Here we announce our 5 sponsored and co-sponsored Sessions and describe their aims.

As in recent years, we co-sponsor Sessions with the Societas Magica (2 Sessions). It will be the 14th year of this co-sponsorship.  It will be the first year of co-sponsorship with the newly-founded organization Polytheism-Oriented Medievalists of North America (POMONA).

Also, like the 2015–2018 Congresses, we plan for

  • an Open Business Meeting and
  • a Reception.

As usual, we aim to publish the Program for the accepted Papers, once the Call For Papers has completed its specified span.  We will publish the Abstracts for these Papers as the preparations for the Congress advance and as their Authors permit.  Abstracts for previous Congresses appear in our Congress Abstracts, conveniently Indexed both by Year and by Author.]

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Tags: Animals in Celtic Magical Texts, Classical Deities in Medieval Northern European Contexts, History of Magic, Index of Medieval Art at Princeton University, Manuscript studies, Medieval Manuscript Fragments, POMONA, Ritual Magic, Societas Magica
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2018 International Congress on Medieval Studies Report

May 22, 2018 in Abstracts of Conference Papers, Announcements, Business Meeting, Conference, Conference Announcement, ICMS, Index of Christian Art, Index of Medieval Art, International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, Manuscript Studies, Princeton University, Reception, Societas Magica

Report:  Sessions & Events
Sponsored and Co-Sponsored
by the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence
at the 53rd International Congress on Medieval Studies
10–13 May 2018

[Published on 23 May 2018, with updates]

20180514_131049 The Scene of the Time the Morning After cropped more

“The Scene of the Time” Photography by Mildred Budny.

With the completion of our Call for Papers for the 2018 Congress, we prepared the Programs for our Sessions and other Events — Reception and Open Business Meeting included. With the turn of the New Year, as customary, we began to add the Abstracts of Papers and Response, as their Authors permit, to our webpost announcing our activities for the 2018 Congress Program.  Next, with the publication of the full Congress Program in a “sneak preview” at the beginning of February, the allocated times and locations become known.  Also, as time progressed, more Abstracts joined our gathering Report.

Now we report the Congress activities as they occurred.  You Are Here.

A Behind The Scenes Report gathers momentum as well.  Coming Soon to a Screen Near You.  Watch This Place.

Background and Foreground

The course of announcements and reports about the 2018 Congress may follow the sequence of previous years. For example, for the 2018 Congress, we announced the Plans and the Call for Papers (which has a deadline of 15 September), the Program (once the Sessions are designed from the responses to the Call for Papers), then an updated version or versions of the Program with the addition of the Abstracts and other news (same URL), and, once the Congress is accomplished, a Report as well as, it may be, a Report Behind the Scenes.

  • 2018 Congress Call for Papers
  • 2018 Congress Program
  • 2018 Congress Report
  • 2018 Congress Behind the Scenes Report (in preparation).

*****

Logo of the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence (colour version)As in recent years, we co-sponsored Sessions with the Societas Magica (3 Sessions), and we co-sponsor a Reception.

Also, like the 2017 Congress, we held

  • an Open Business Meeting and
  • a Reception, co-sponsored with The Index of Medieval Art at Princeton University.

It is the 13th year of our co-sponsorship with the Societas Magica, and our 3rd year of co-sponsorship with the Index of Christian Art at Princeton University, now (since 2017) known as the Index of Medieval Art at Princeton University.

As usual, we publish the Abstracts for the accepted Papers. Both they and the Abstracts for previous Congresses appear in our Congress Abstracts, listed by Year and by Author.

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Tags: Business Meeting, Index of Christian Art at Princeton University, Index of Medieval Art at Princeton University, International Congress on Medieval Studies, Reception, Societas Magica
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2017 Congress Program

March 8, 2017 in Announcements, Conference, ICMS, International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, Uncategorized

Duck Family at the 2007 Congress. Photography © Mildred Budny.

Photography © Mildred Budny

The Research Group on Manuscript Evidence
at the
52nd International Congress on Medieval Studies
Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan
11–14 May 2017

We announce the Programs for our Activities

Upon the publication of the complete Schedule for the 2017 International Congress on Medieval Studies, we now announce the Programs of our 5 co-sponsored Sessions and other Activities.

Upon completion of last year’s International Congress on Medieval Studies, we gave both a 2016 Congress Report and a special Behind the Scenes Report (Also Known As “Doctor Who Done It”).  Then we turned to preparing for this year’s Congress.

Logo of the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence (colour version)After our proposals for the 2017 sessions were accepted, our 2017 Call for Papers described the scope and aims of the sessions and invited proposals for their papers for consideration. Next, after the official closure of the Call for Papers on 15 September 2016, we selected the programs of the sessions, submitted them to the Congress Committee, and, in due course, announced these 2017 Congress Preparations.

As the preparations for the Congress shift into the next phase, we will also, as customary, post the Abstracts for the Papers, as their authors permit. Note that our site conveniently lists the published Abstracts not only for the individual years of the Congress, but also in the Indexes both by Author and by Year.  Thus we invite you to discover, even at a distance across time and space, the subjects, aims, and accomplishments of the presenters at the Sessions.

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Tags: Adelaide Bennett Hagens, Business Meeting, Center for Medieval and Early Modern Studies at the University of Florida, History of Magic, Index of Christian Art at Princeton University, International Congress on Medieval Studies, Magical Materials, Medieval Central Europe, Medieval Rulership, Medieval Tools, Military Orders and Crusades, Reception, Societas Magica
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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

  • our Congress Planning, which reported the Sessions selected by the Congress Committee,
  • our 2016 Congress Call for Papers, which described the aims of the Sessions, and
  • our Congress Program, which set forth the schedule for our Sessions and other Activities
    (together with the Abstracts of some Papers),

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.

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Tags: Balkan Studies, Bembino, Business Meeting, Center for Medieval and Early Modern Studies at the University of Florida, History of Paper, Index of Christian Art at Princeton University, magic in manuscript, Medieval Writing Materials, Parchment making, Reception, Societas Magica
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2015 Reception

May 30, 2015 in Events, ICMS, International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, Reception

Co-Sponsored Reception
at the 50th International Congress on Medieval Studies

[Published on 11 November 2015]

Invitation for Reception at the 2015 International Congress on Medieval Studies co-sponsored by the Societas Magica, the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence, and the Index of Christian Art at Princeton UniversityAt the 2015 Congress, we continued the tradition of co-sponsoring a Reception.  The tradition began with the 2014 Anniversary Reception, co-sponsored at the 49th International Congress on Medieval Studies by the Societas Magica and the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence, to celebrate the anniversaries of both organizations.

And so, we held another Reception at the 2015 Congress, this time co-sponsored by

  • the Societas Magica
  • the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence, and
  • the Index of Christian Art at Princeton University.

The Reception Invitation (shown here) is laid out in the RGME copyright font Bembino, with donated design layout according with our style principles, as expressed in our Style Manifesto (now available in an illustrated version, updated for the Congress). This multilingual digital font is available for download, for FREE: Bembino.

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Tags: Index of Christian Art at Princeton University, Manuscript studies, Societas Magica
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2015 Congress Report

May 23, 2015 in Abstracts of Conference Papers, Bembino, Business Meeting, Conference, Conference Announcement, ICMS, International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, Reception

Events Sponsored and Co-Sponsored
by the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence
at the 2015 International Congress on Medieval Studies

14–17 May

[First published with the Announcement of Programs on 6 January 2015, with updates;
revised with Schedule Assignments on 1 February, with updates;
issued with Program Updates plus Abstracts of Papers on 7 April, also with updates;
and now issued here on 23 May 2015 with the 2015 Congress Report
]

Corbel Head with handlebar moustache on Le Pont Neuf, Paris. Photograph by Ilya V. Sverdlov, reproduced by permission

Photography by Ilya V. Sverdlov

For the 50th International Congress on Medieval Studies, the Research Group had 2 sponsored and 3 co-sponsored Sessions. They build, in part, upon our 2014 Congress in our Anniversary Year.  The aims of the 2015 sessions are described in our 2015 Congress Call for Papers.

As before, we co-sponsored sessions with the Societas Magica (since 2006) and with the Center for Medieval and Early Modern Studies at the University of Florida (since 2014). Like last year, we sponsored a celebratory Reception — now with both the Societas Magica and the Index of Christian Art at Princeton University.

For the first time, our Business Meeting was open to all and listed in the Congress Schedule, which presents the Program as a whole (see below).

Here we announce the events as accomplished, with their Posters. We also post the Abstracts of Papers.  A new Feature of our website this year are the
Indexed lists of the Authors of Abstracts for our Congress Sessions
searchable
By Author and
By Year.

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Tags: ancient and biblical models for medieval kings, Carolingian Studies, Center for Medieval and Early Modern Studies at the University of Florida, Dream Books, Dream Interpretation Manuals, Early Medieval Art, Germanic folk prayers, Index of Christian Art at Princeton University, Lydgate, Manuscript Photography, Medieval astrological songs, medieval charms, medieval counterfeiting, Medieval Dream Interpretation, medieval forgery, Medieval Kingship, medieval princes in Central Europe, merovingian chronicles, Power of Words, pre-photographic reproduction, Reginald Scot, Saint Erkenwald, Saints Edmund and Fremund, Semi-Official Counterfeiting, Societas Magica, Solomonic Magic, Somniale Danielis, Songs of the Zodiac
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2015 Congress Program Updates Plus Abstracts

April 7, 2015 in Abstracts of Conference Papers, Bembino, Business Meeting, Conference Announcement, Events, ICMS, International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, Reception

Events Sponsored and Co-Sponsored
by the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence
at the 50th International Congress on Medieval Studies

14–17 May

[First published with the Announcement of Programs on 6 January 2015, with updates; revised with Schedule Assignments on 1 February, with updates; and now issued with Program Changes and the Abstracts of Papers on 7 April, also with updates]

For the 50th International Congress on Medieval Studies, the Research Group has 2 sponsored and 3 co-sponsored Sessions.  They build, in part, upon the accomplishments of the 2014 Congress in our Anniversary Year, described in the 2014 Congress Report. The aims of the sessions are described in our 2015 Congress Call for Papers.

As before, we co-sponsor sessions with the Societas Magica (since 2006) and with the Center for Medieval and Early Modern Studies at the University of Florida (since 2014).  Our Business Meeting (open to all) will take place at Friday lunchtime.  Like last year, we sponsor a Reception — now with both the Societas Magica and the Index of Christian Art at Princeton University.

Here we announce the events, with their assigned times and rooms.  We also begin to post the Abstracts of Papers.
A new Feature of our website are the indexed lists of the Authors of Abstracts for our Congress Sessions searchable
By Author and
By Year.

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Tags: astrological songs, Center for Medieval and Early Modern Studies at the University of Florida, Dream Books, dream interpretation, Germanic charms, Greek magical papyri, Index of Christian Art at Princeton University, Lydgate, magic in song, manuscript facsimiles, medieval counterfeiting, medieval forgery, Medieval Kingship, pre-photographic reproduction, Reginald Scot, Societas Magica, Solomonic Magic
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2015 Congress Announced

September 23, 2014 in Business Meeting, Conference Announcement, ICMS, International Congress on Medieval Studies, Reception

Sessions and Events for the
50th International Congress on Medieval Studies
14-17 May 2015

Frowning Corbel Head on Le Pont Neuf, Paris. Photograpny by Ilya V. Sverdlov

The Skeptic

[Published on 23 September 2014, with updates]

With the completion of the Call for Papers and the reception of proposals for papers by 15 September 2014, the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence plans its 5 sponsored and co-sponsored sessions for the next Congress.   Their programs now settle into place for notification to the Congress by the deadline of 1 October.  Following that process, we will be able to announce the programs and, in time, publish abstracts of papers as their authors might wish.

The next Congress will be the tenth year of our co-sponsorship with the Societas Magica and the second year of co-sponsorship with the Center for Medieval and Early Modern Studies at the University of Florida.  Our 2014 sessions with these organizations are reported and illustrated in our 2014 Congress Report.  This is the first year of co-sponsorship for the Reception also with the Index of Christian Art at Princeton University.

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Tags: Dream Divination, Forgeries & Imitations, ideal kingship, less-than-ideal kingship, magic in manuscript, magic in print, magic in song, magic in utterances, the magic of words, the power of words, words in magic
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