After the successful completion of our activities at the 2023 International Congress on Medieval Studies (ICMS), we offer a Report about them.\u00a0 For their programs and the abstracts of their presentations, see 2023 International Congress on Medieval Studies: Program<\/a>.<\/p>\n Note that Abstracts for Papers<\/strong> published on our website appear in the Indexes of the Abstracts for Papers<\/strong>, listed both by Alphabetical order<\/strong> of Author’s Surname and by Year<\/strong>.<\/p>\n 2023 ICMS: Pedagogy II viewed online. Michael Allman presents. Photography by Mildred Budny.<\/p><\/div>\n This year’s Congress presented more logistical challenges than ever before, in our experience of attending the annual ICMS.\u00a0 They were due to the complex and incompletely or perplexingly described conditions for holding the Congress in a nominal ‘hybrid’ format, with few fully hybrid events and the necessity for organizers mostly to choose either in-person or online formats \u2014 or to provide the alternative through their own resources.<\/p>\n In that way, for example, once the rules were clarified (within only a fortnight of the Congress), the RGME was able resourcefully to provide (through its own Zoom subscription) for online access to events assigned as in-person and to arrange (sometimes with payment) for a room to be made available for registrants on site at the Congress to gather for participating in sessions assigned as online.\u00a0 We thank the Congress staff for enabling those arrangements once we learned that they might be permitted.<\/p>\n Our activities comprised five co-sponsored scholarly Sessions, our annual Open Business Meeting at the Congress, and a co-sponsored Reception.<\/p>\n The extra arrangements for in-person facilities for the online sessions and online access for in-person sessions were designed also for the convenience of participants for our events on the first day of the Congress, which had a consecutive series of Morning Session \/ Lunchtime Business Meeting \/ two Afternoon Sessions \/ Reception.\u00a0 With the Morning Session in a nearby building, the other events that day, by design, took place on one building.<\/p>\n This year marked Year 19 of our co-sponsorship with the Societas Magica; the second (non-consecutive) year of co-sponsorship with POMONA, the third of co-sponsorship with the Index of Medieval Art, and the first year of co-sponsorship with SIMS.<\/p>\n As always, we thank the host, organizers, co-sponsors, presiders, speakers, respondents, advisers, and participants for our activities at the Congress, along with the Congress staff and support staff.<\/p>\n Day 1<\/strong> of the Congress (Thursday 11 May<\/strong>) had a full set of events. They opened with the Morning Session, led to the RGME Open Business Meeting (with lunch provided), followed with a pair of Afternoon Sessions, and rounded out with the co-hosted Reception.<\/p>\n Day 3<\/strong> (Saturday 13 May<\/strong>) had a pair of Afternoon Sessions.<\/p>\n The shortness of the notice and the complexity of the RGME’s extra preparations for an ad-hoc fully hybrid format imposed further problems in communicating updated information which, in the rush of last-minute preparations and conflicting information, meant that not all participants received the relevant information in time. Notably this affected the extra online arrangements for the in-person sessions on Saturday afternoon, so that the first one did not have an on-site log-in for the online component.<\/p>\n Informal “Evening Sessions”<\/strong>. Outside the Program, a set of traditional informal gatherings offered the occasion to revive the in-person tradition of meetings in an ad-hoc ‘Board Room’<\/strong> where board games, brought to the table for the occasion, formed a focus of activity and conversation.\u00a0 As usual, they included some elements of RGME planning.\u00a0 This year, they\u00a0 included an ad-hoc hybrid component for participation at a distance as well.<\/p>\n Our Report of all our activities at the 2023 Congress relates their accomplishment, celebrates the presentations, praises the work of organization, notes a few changes in the program and accessibility for the sessions, displays the full set of posters for our events, and illustrates some memorable moments.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n This year, the partly in-person, virtual, and hybrid modalities to the Congress added considerably to the complexity, tasks, resources, and expenses for the RGME in preparing for, and rearranging, our events there.\u00a0 The complexity encouraged us to create more flexible and resourceful arrangements for some events held in person or virtually, so as to accommodate attendance in these different modalities directed by the Congress, so long as any fully hybrid event is not permitted to us as a given component by the host institution for this online\/offline Congress.<\/p>\n Some examples of creative restructuring:<\/p>\n 1) Optional RGME Zoom Meeting Room<\/strong> in live time for some In-Person events.\u00a0 For Congress participants<\/strong> unable to travel to the place, but registered for the Congress, we offered an optional Virtual Meeting Room by RGME Zoom subscription.\u00a0 In this way, an In Person Congress event<\/strong> might be accessed virtually — with registration for each of them through our RGME Eventbrite Collection<\/strong>.<\/p>\n We provided the RGME Zoom option<\/strong> (by specific registration, without charge) for<\/p>\n 2) Especially Reserved In-Person Room<\/strong> for In-Person Attendees of the Congress who were to log-on to our Virtual Sessions.\u00a0 These reserved rooms were prepared (in different, but adjacent, buildings) for:<\/p>\n Perhaps needless to say, these extra arrangements added to the confusing conditions of a Congress with some sessions in fully hybrid modality, others solely in online modality, and others still solely in-person.\u00a0 They required more updates, a set of Zoom registrations for the specific RGME coverage for offsite participants, extra room reservations (above those already reserved with catering for our Open Business Meeting and Reception), extra circulars with detailed information, and more.<\/p>\n A description of these resourceful efforts can be found on the announcement of our Congress Program.\u00a0 See 2023 International Congress on Medieval Studies: Program<\/a>.<\/p>\n Amidst all these efforts, we heard various attendees (RGME and others) articulate frustration and disappointment that the structure of this year’s Congress limited and partly misleading \u2014 or at least confusing \u2014 approach to a so-called ‘hybrid’ event imposed more obstacles for a smooth participation that might reasonably be expected from an international conference of long standing, with dedicated core of some dedicated attendees and organizations with years’-long attendance records.<\/p>\n We survey them as presented in the order of the 2023 Congress Program<\/a>.\u00a0 This year, because they represented a return to in-person events after a hiatus from 2020 to 2022, we prepared RGME Posters announcing them. The posters correspond with the principles set out in one of our RGME Booklets:<\/p>\n This session is the second (non-consecutive) year of co-sponsorship with this organization. (See 2019 International Congress on Medieval Studies: Report<\/a>.)<\/p>\n Next year will be the third. (See 2024 International Congress on Medieval Studies: Call for Papers<\/a>.)<\/p>\n RGME Poster for 2023 Congress Session on “Words as Agents”<\/p><\/div>\n Session 50<\/strong><\/em> (Congress Program, page 19) Sponsor<\/strong>:\u00a0 Research Group on Manuscript Evidence Organizer:<\/strong>\u00a0 Phillip Bernhardt-House<\/strong> Aim<\/strong><\/p>\n The idea of words as agents of specific actions, changes of status, or as means via which changes occur in the wider world is inherent in many forms of literate and verbal communication, underlying human social phenomena as diverse as legal systems, religious community formation and practices, and the practice of magic, amongst others.\u00a0 Textual amulets, deeds, dedicatory inscriptions, and other written matter (even entire alphabets!) can convey notions of words\u2019 agency.<\/p>\n This session explores a variety of these, reflected in specific examples from pre-modern periods and cultures, from the Iron Age to the Renaissance and across wide geographic ranges.<\/p>\n Presider<\/strong>:\u00a0 Michael Allman Conrad<\/strong> (Research Group on Manuscript Evidence<\/em>)<\/p>\n Presenters<\/strong><\/p>\n Mildred Budny<\/strong> Abstract<\/a><\/p>\n Shortly before the Congress, recent events led to recasting the presentation to incorporate fresh research on approaches to reception, transmission, and promulgation of information about manuscripts on an international stage.\u00a0 To update:<\/p>\n Summary<\/em><\/p>\n Metadata<\/a> for manuscripts can sometimes clash with the original materials, for example by misstatements or mistaken assumptions about features and character of the book. Cases abound with fragments dispersed in Portfolios or Leaf-Books<\/a>, issued with generic labels copied in library catalogues and WorldCat<\/a>. We explore examples among Otto Ege<\/a> fragments.\u00a0 A test-case of sorts concerns recent widespread attention to the 6th-century Gospels of Saint Augustine of Canterbury (Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, MS 286<\/a>) and the transmission of knowledge or opinions about its characteristics.<\/p>\n Phillip Bernhardt-House <\/strong>(Academic Vagabond<\/em>) Abstract<\/a><\/p>\n Respondent<\/strong>:\u00a0 Linde M. Brocato<\/strong> (University of Miami<\/em>)<\/p>\n Fa\u00e7ade of the Celsus library, in Ephesus, near Sel\u00e7uk, west Turkey. Photograph (1910): Benh LIEU SONG, via Creative Commons.<\/p><\/div>\n SIMS Logo<\/p><\/div>\n These Sessions represent a new co-sponsorship with the Schoenberg Institute for Manuscript Studies<\/a> at the Congress.<\/p>\n Responses for the Call for Papers yielded more proposals appropriate for the subject that permission was granted for a pair of Sessions.\u00a0 They were designed to continue the tradition of our series of RGME Sessions at the Congress on “Medieval Writing Materials”, which began in 2014.\u00a0 (See 2022 International Congress on Medieval Studies Program<\/a>.)<\/p>\n Sessions 87 and 137 on Thursday 11 May Sponsor<\/strong>:\u00a0 Research Group on Manuscript Evidence Organizer<\/strong>:\u00a0 William H. Campbell<\/strong> (University of Pittsburgh \u2014 Greensburg) and Aim<\/strong><\/p>\n Medieval books communicate far more than the words on their pages.\u00a0 They were frequently subjected to damage and repair, to loss and addition, to division and recombination. Their bindings bear witness to the moments in their history that altered and shaped them, or \u2014 in the case of still older books recycled into binding material \u2014 destroyed them. This session is dedicated to everything about the codex that is not its text, to what J. A. Szirmai called The Archaeology of Medieval Bookbinding<\/a>.<\/p>\n Presider<\/strong>:\u00a0 Mildred Budny<\/strong> (Research Group on Manuscript Evidenc<\/em>e)<\/p>\n Presenters<\/strong><\/p>\n [Note<\/em>:\u00a0 The sequence changed from the one formerly announced here and as published in the Congress Booklet, moving the Paper by William H. Campbell from first to third position. This change responded to technical difficulties obstructing the entry of two speakers in time into the conference system for the pre-set online modality, and then with the audio facilities, resulting in a delayed start time for the session.]<\/p>\n Order as presented:<\/p>\n William H. Campbell<\/strong> (University of Pittsburgh \u2014 Greensburg) “Recogitabo tibi omnes annos meos<\/em>: Tracing the Life of an Office of the Dead”<\/p>\n Abstract<\/a><\/p>\n Michael L. Chrisman<\/strong> (Independent Scholar<\/em>) Abstract<\/a><\/p>\n Barbara Williams Ellertson <\/strong>(The BASIRA Project<\/a>) Abstract<\/a><\/p>\n Handout<\/a>. List of References for “Spines and Furniture: Binding Archaeology in Works of Art<\/p>\n Michael Chrisman at Work. Photograph reproduced by permission.<\/p><\/div>\n Poster for RGME\/SIMS Session 1 of 2 for the 2023 ICMS<\/p><\/div>\n Session 137.\u00a0\u00a0 Thursday 11 May, 3:30 \u2013 5:00 pm EDT Presider<\/strong>:\u00a0 William H. Campbell<\/strong> (University of Pittsburgh \u2014 Greensburg)<\/em><\/p>\n Presenters<\/strong><\/p>\n David W. Sorenson<\/strong> (Allen Berman Numismatist<\/em>) Abstract<\/a><\/p>\n Eleanor A. Congdon<\/strong> (Youngstown State University<\/em>) Abstract<\/a><\/p>\n Yukie Baba<\/strong> (Hitotsubashi University<\/em> and Baba Yukie<\/a>) Abstract<\/a><\/p>\n 2023 ICMS Session on Bindings II, online with in-person room. Photograph by Barbara Williams Ellertson.<\/p><\/div>\n Societas Magica logo<\/p><\/div>\n In Year 19 of our Sessions co-sponsored with the Societas Magica<\/a>, we held two Sessions.<\/p>\n Sessions 369 and 419.\u00a0 Saturday 11 May (In person) in Fetzer Center 2040 Sponsor<\/strong>:\u00a0 Societas Magica Organizer<\/strong>:\u00a0 David Porreca <\/strong>(University of Waterloo) Modality:<\/strong>\u00a0 In person (with RGME Virtual option)<\/p>\n Session 369.\u00a0 Saturday 13 May, 1:30 \u2013 3:00 pm EDT Aim<\/strong><\/p>\n Magic, alchemy, geomancy, and other occult arts were never part of the official curriculum in any medieval university faculty. Moreover, magical treatises abound in claims of legitimacy in terms of belonging alongside other more overtly recognized sciences. Nevertheless, the abundance of surviving treatises, manuals, and commentaries suggests that there must have been some means outside the bounds of officially recognized institutions for these bodies of knowledge and practices to have been taught, learned, and transmitted, despite the negative light often cast upon them in \u2018mainstream\u2019 circles. This session aims to investigate the pedagogy of such arts and practices.<\/p>\n Presider<\/strong>:\u00a0 David Porreca<\/strong><\/p>\n Presenters<\/strong><\/p>\n Daniel M. Harms<\/strong> (SUNY Cortland<\/em>) Abstract<\/a><\/p>\n Samuel P. Gillis Hogan<\/strong> (University of Exeter<\/em>) Abstract<\/a><\/p>\n Session 419.\u00a0 Saturday 11 May, 3:30 \u2013 5:00 pm EDT (Fetzer Center 2040) See the Fetzer Center Floor Plans<\/a>.<\/p>\n Aim<\/strong><\/p>\n During the later Middle Ages, astrology began to play an ever more prominent role in university curricula. It was frequently merged with astronomy as one of the Seven Liberal Arts<\/a>, and it became required knowledge for the practice of medicine. These developments created a need for new masters capable of rendering its intricacies intelligible to the next generation of doctors and other practitioners.\u00a0 This session aims to examine how the pedagogy of astrology<\/a> functioned, and how the teaching of that discipline fits alongside the rest of the Liberal Arts curriculum.<\/p>\n Presider<\/strong>:\u00a0 Marla Segol<\/strong> (SUNY University of Buffalo<\/em>)<\/p>\nLogistics<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/20230513_153745-Michael-Conrad-Presents-Pedagogy-Session-II-AZO-2023-cropped-more-300x173.jpg\")
Co-Sponsorship<\/h2>\n
\n
The Sequence of Events<\/h2>\n
Logistics Revisited<\/h2>\n
\n
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The Sessions<\/h2>\n
\n
I: Session Co-Sponsored with Polytheism-Oriented Medievalists of North America (P.-O.M.o.N.A.)
\n<\/strong><\/h2>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/poster-RGME-Pomona-AZO-2023-Session-with-border-232x300.jpg\")
RGME Session 1) <\/strong>“Words as Agents”<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\nOnline (with In-Person Option arranged by RGME)<\/em>
\n<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n
\nCo-sponsor<\/strong>: Polytheism-Oriented Medievalists of North America (P-OMoNA)<\/p>\n
\nCo-Organizer:\u00a0\u00a0 Mildred Budny<\/strong><\/p>\n
\n“Where Words Collide: Metadata versus Scholarship in Manuscript Studies”<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>“The Ephesia Grammata<\/em> as Grammatical Beings; Or, ‘That Orpheus Is Pretty Good . . . Who’s His Agent?’ ”<\/p>\n![\"Fa\u00e7ade](\"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Ephesus_Celsus_Library_Facade-1024x794.jpg\")
*****<\/h4>\n
II.\u00a0 Pair of Sessions
\nCo-Sponsored with the Schoenberg Institute for Manuscript Studies<\/a><\/h2>\n![\"PL](\"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/PL-SIMS-Logo-300x72.jpg\"){kind=logo}
2\u20133. “Bound but not Gagged:
\nThe Eloquence of Medieval Book Bindings”<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\n<\/strong>Online (with In-Person Option arranged by RGME)
\n<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n
\nCo-sponsor<\/strong>:\u00a0 Schoenberg Institute for Manuscript Studies<\/a><\/p>\n
\nCo-Organizer:\u00a0 Mildred Budny<\/strong> (Research Group on Manuscript Evidence)<\/p>\n Part 1:\u00a0 The Eloquence of Medieval Book Bindings from German Lands
\n<\/strong><\/h3>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/poster-RGME-SIMS-Sessions-AZO-2023-Part-I-with-Images-with-border-232x300.jpg\")
Session 87.\u00a0 Thursday 11 May, 1:30 \u2013 3:00 pm EDT
\n<\/strong>(Congress Program, page 32)<\/em><\/p>\n
\n<\/em><\/p>\n
\n“Early Bindings of the Gutenberg Bible”<\/p>\n
\n“Spines and Fastenings: Binding Archaeology in Works of Art”<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/IMG_0138-Michael-Chrisman-at-Work-adjusted-1024x796.jpg\")
Part 2.\u00a0 The Eloquence of Medieval Book Bindings:
\nDiverse Regional Techniques<\/h3>\n![\"Poster](\"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/poster-RGME-SIMS-Sessions-AZO-2023-Part-II-with-Images-with-border-232x300.jpg\")
\n<\/strong>(Congress Program, page 50)
\n<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n
\n“Some Medieval Islamic Bookbindings: A Ghost Story”<\/p>\n
\n“Covers of the Account Books in the the Datini Collection<\/a>: Binding Information Together”<\/p>\n
\n“Curious Quire Signatures Discovered in a Fourteenth-Century Legal Manuscript”<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Sorenson-presentation-1024x768.jpeg\")
*****<\/h2>\n
III.\u00a0 Sessions Co-Sponsored with the Societas Magica<\/h2>\n
![\"Logo](\"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/SocMaghead2.png\")
4\u20135. “Moving Parts and Pedagogy, Parts I\u2013II” <\/strong><\/h3>\n
\n<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n
\nCo-Sponsor<\/strong>:\u00a0 Research Group on Manuscript Evidence<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong><\/p>\nPart I: “Teaching Magic and Other Occult Arts”<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\n(Congress Program, page 136)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n
\n” ‘To give myself to be carried immediatly into Hell’:
\nWeather, Witchcraft, and Two Late Seventeenth-Century Contracts
\nbetween a Magician and a Student”<\/p>\n
\n“Philosophy is the Child of Contention:
\nThe Accretion of Theory in Instructional Chiromantic and Fairy-Summoning Texts
\nas a Response to Hostile Criticism”<\/p>\nRGME Poster for this Session<\/h4>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/poster-RGME-Societas-Magica-Sessions-AZO-2023-Part-I-with-Image-with-border-232x300.jpg\")
<\/p>\nPart II:\u00a0 “Teaching Astrology and Other Liberal Arts”<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\n(Congress Program, page 154)
\n<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n