2023 International Congress on Medieval Studies: Report

Light at the End of the Corridor

Behind the Scenes

RGME Activities
at the 2019 International Congress on Medieval Studies

[Posted on 6 May 2020]

Following the successful completion of our activities at the 2019 Congress, we offer an informal glimpse Behind the Scenes.  Customarily, the completion of the Congress is followed by its Report.  Occasionally, there also follows a Behind-the-Scenes Report.  For the 2019 Congress, we planned already then to offer such an additional, informal Report, but events and tasks arising along the way back from the Congress pushed back its timetable for completion.  Then, in steady succession, other tasks and activities occupied attention.

Some are reported in our blog about our Congress Activities, as we prepared for the 2020 Congress, while others have their say in our blog about Manuscript Studies, and in our reports about other Events, including the 2020 Spring Symposium. The required cancellation in March and April 2020 of that Symposium and the 2020 Congress as a whole led to further re-arrangements. Among other things, we attended to publishing the 2020 Symposium Booklet and the Abstracts for all our 2020 Congress Sessions as “souvenirs” of what had been planned.  Research Group plans and adaptations, including possible rescheduling of parts of those events, are reported in the announcement about Keeping Up: Updates for Spring 2020. Now, as the appointed time would have come to travel to the 2020 Congress as formerly intended, we revisit the 2019 Congress with its Behind-the-Scenes Report, including some hindsight.

Earlier Reports from Behind-the-Scenes

For the 2016 Congress Report, its Follow-Up Report took shape under the title of Doctor Who-Done-It.  That term had its inspiration from a conversation on the way from one of the Research Group co-sponsored Sessions to our Reception, likewise co-sponsored with the Societas Magica.  Then it was revealed that our Director, Dr. Mildred Budny, drives an equivalent of the  Tardis (a conveyance for “Time and Relative Dimension in Space”).  

As described on the official website for Doctor Who (see also Doctor Who), the Tardis is the “Doctor’s method of travel through both time and space — all Gallifreyan Time Lords use TARDISes for getting from A to B — and from then to now.”  Who knew that this conveyance would also figure among the activities behind the scenes at the 2019 Congress?

The conversation at the 2016 Congress had to do with transporting some copies of the Illustrated Catalogue to the Reception for collection by their new owners.  2016 was the first year that our Director elected to drive, rather than to fly, to Kalamazoo for the Congress — because of the new arrangements by which the Research Group, as its co-publisher, took over the distribution of that Publication, and through which our Director had identified prospective owners, who wished to collect their copies at the Congress (rather than, say, to have to cover the international shipping costs).  At that Congress, our Director could be seen with some of these copies in tow, on a wheeled luggage cart, on the way from one Session or Meeting to another.  On the way to the Reception, there came the question if the ones that time were the only ones that had been brought.  “Oh, no!  These are not the same ones that you have seen on earlier days of the Congress.  These are new, and there are more where they came from, for tomorrow.””

“Ah”, said Collin.  “Where do they [meaning the new ones] come from?”
“Ah”, said our Director, “They come from the back of my car.  There are the refills.”
“Oh!  So your car is the Tardis”.

And so came the title Doctor Who-Done-It.

At the next Congress, the 2017 Congress Report included an image of that conveyance, again in the company of the Illustrated Catalogue and one of its new owners.

Gathering

Arriving at the Congress base to register on the Eve of the Congress, some of us gathered, as customary, at Bilbos Pizza.  Then it was time to place the Research Group Posters on billboards, where permitted and where space allowed.

The landscapes also await Arrivals.  Here, outside one of the Dorms — inside which, on occasions, we visit the Board Room (see below).

Setting the Stage

Preparing to start the Sessions and to engage in their Question-and-Answer discussions, our participants engaged in arranging the projection and other aims. The official Report for this Congress includes some Group Portraits of contributors to the different Sessions.  Here, two Speakers set up the projection for their joint paper at our first Session of the Congress, the Organizer of one of our co-sponsored Sessions participates in its discussion, and the Respondent for that Session strokes his beard as he delivers his paper.

Ian Cornelius and James Eric Ensley prepare to tell us about “The Lost Medieval Exemplar of Beinecke Library, Takamiya MS 23”

Vajra Regan listens to the progress of his Session on “Embedded in the Mainstream: Ritual Magic Incorporated in ‘Legitimate’ Texts”, one of the 2 Sessions co-sponsored by the Research Group and the Societas Magica .

Michael A. Conrad offers an erudite Response to Vajra’s Session by his observations “In Plain Sight:  The Promotion of Astrology and Magic at Royal Courts in the Thirteenth Century in Transcultural Perspective”.

It was then that we learned that often, giving Papers, Michael ponders while he holds his beard — an observation which he readily confirmed.

Our Business Meeting

This year’s Open Business Meeting was an outstanding success.  So many attendees — newcomers gladly included — that we had to bring in more chairs.  Our Associate, William H. Campbell, volunteered to find those arrangements.  As customary, Derek Shank recorded the Minutes.  Constructive suggestions abounded.

Scheduled for lunchtime (lunch provided) on the first full day of the Congress, and right after our first Session (only 1 building away), the Meeting offered an excellent way to launch our activities at the Congress and beyond.  Apparently there are no photographs of the occasion, but the 1-page Agenda not only sets the stage, but also provides a concise record of our achievements and aims for 2017–2018 and beyond, with requests for suggestions and contributions in funds and in kind.

The 2019 Agenda is now downloadable.  Please join us!

Our Reception

As in some previous years, our Reception was co-sponsored with the Societas Magica .  Conversation flowed, and some manuscript materials were examined.

Dan Attrell heads the table.

Groups hold conversations.

Greeting the gatherers.

Showing some specimens.

Pondering.

*****

The Board Room

At the end of the day, as in previous years, it was possible to retreat to one of the Student Lounges, where we gathered to talk, relax, and, on occasion, play board games.  Hence my customary term for that Room.  (Never “Bored”.)

Making a Move.

Engaging in the Game.

Options.

The customary Shedding of Shoes.

Conversing in the Board Room.

Telling Stories.

Not forgetting Refreshments.

Happy Traditions in Good Company among Colleagues and Friends.

*****

Book Signing

At last, the edition and translation has appeared.  The Picatrix: A Medieval Treatise on Astral Magic, translated with an introduction by Dan Attrell and David Porreca (2019). The authors sign copies.   Hurray!

Congratulating the achievement, we join the company of admirers with the happy awareness that we have heard about the research for this publication over the years, including in some of our Sessions at the Congress.

For example, at the 2018 Congress, Abstract of Paper included.

Displays, Dragons Included.

*****

Sunday Lunch, Plus Some Manuscript Materials

As customary in recent years, some of us gather at the cafeteria for Sunday lunch, as the Congress draws to its close and we prepare for return journeys.  As in recent years, the gathering gives the opportunity to look afresh at some manuscript materials.

Here.

With some improvised, reclaimed materials, Michael wraps his newly won Manuscript Facsimile Page for safe transit.

Travelling T-Shirts as Selected and Modelled by Research Group Associates.

*****

Heading Home

As the Congress shuts down, participants, exhibitors, staff, and employees, hurry to pack and depart.  Then comes a quiet time, as some await their transport.  Among them is Ilona.

As packing is completed, there is pause to look around the setting and reflect upon the completion of another Congress.

1) Looking out from a ground-floor dorm room toward the Parking Lot as its spaces have cleared.

2) A view of the Corridor leading to and from that room shows some “Light at the End of the Corridor”.

Now is the time to drive away.

The grey weather following the Congress made a contrast with the sunny days along part of its course. By some of that sunlight might we remember it.

*****

“Le Chariot” Hitches a Ride and Comes to the End of the Line

Remember the  Tardis-like conveyance driven by our Director?  See Above and also the Reports for the  2016 Congress and the 2017 Congress .

Our lamented Associate, Michel Huglo, named this selfsame vehicle “Le Chariot de Milly” when he caught first sight of it.  That was when our Director came to collect him for brunch in Princeton following our 1998 Symposium on The Bible and the Liturgy, at which he had spoken.  That name has proved as trusty as, for years, did the car.  With the Director, it has ventured to conferences — including those in which the Research Group participated as organizer and sponsor or co-sponsor — in various states, including MA, CT, PA, OH, and MI.

This time, on the way back from the Kalamazoo Congress, the car gave up with a pop on the Ohio Turnpike.  In the middle lane, at that, but with no traffic, so that it was possible safely to move to the side of the road, where conveniently stood a layby.

It took some time for help to arrive, but then Le Chariot was able to hitch a ride.

This car had come to the end of the line, so had to remain in Ohio.  Another means of conveyance could be found for the return to home base, but that car has now passed into history.  Legend, some might say?

*****

With hindsight, it seems somehow fitting that my thoughtful photographs in leaving the Congress rooms and spaces included choices to record them in the absence of people within the frame, but not without their presence, and their presence of mind.

*****

The grey weather following the Congress made a contrast with the sunny days along part of its course. By some of that sunlight might we remember it.

Or, as I also wish to think about it, there might be some “Light at the End of the Corridor”.

*****

Now see the 2020 International Congress Program Announced.

Although some of our Sessions planned for the 2020 Congress considered aspects of Divination and other approaches to “Seeing the Unknown” (in Parts I & II), we did not guess that the Congress itself would have to be abandoned.  And so now, on the day which would have been devoted to travel to the 2020 Congress, I reflect on the forms of light which presence and hindsight — perhaps also forethought — might offer for our explorations across time and space, guided by experiences and reflections.

*****