With the shaping of the Program as a whole for the 2025 International Congress on Medieval Studies<\/a> (ICMS), we announce the Program<\/strong> for the Activities<\/strong> sponsored and co-sponsored by the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence. They comprise sponsored and co-sponsored Sessions of Papers<\/strong>; and our Annual Open Business Meeting at the Congress<\/strong>.<\/p>\n For information about the 2025 Congress<\/strong> overall, see its website<\/a>.<\/p>\n Los Angeles, Getty Center, Ms. Ludwig XV 7 (83.MR.177), fol. 1. Scipio and Guillaume de Loris Lying in Their Beds Dreaming. Image Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.<\/p><\/div>\n Building upon our successful activities at the 2024 ICMS (see our 2024 International Congress on Medieval Studies Report<\/a>), we prepared for the 2025 ICMS. First we proposed a set of sessions, sponsored and co-sponsored. Then, when they had been accepted by the Congress Committee, we issued the Call for Papers<\/a><\/strong> (CFP<\/strong>) for our proposed Sessions. The strength and number of the responses by the due date (15 September 2024) led us to seek, in some cases, two sessions in place of the one which we had proposed.<\/p>\n Now that the Congress Program itself has been scheduled, we can present the Program of our activities, both sponsored and co-sponsored.<\/p>\n We give thanks to our organizers, co-organizers, presenters, respondents, advisors, and the Congress.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n RGME Activities at the 2025 Congress comprise:<\/p>\n Societas Magica logo<\/p><\/div>\n Four S<\/span>essions are our own.\u00a0 Our co-sponsors for ICMS Sessions in 2025 are:<\/p>\n Among our co-sponsorships for the Congress over the years, 2025 marks<\/p>\n Year 21 of our co-sponsorship with the Societas Magica<\/strong>, Also, the Session co-sponsored with Postal History at Kalamazoo<\/strong> continues the tradition of our long-term series of RGME Sessions at the ICMS on “Medieval Writing Materials”<\/strong>, which began in 2014.\u00a0 See, for example,<\/p>\n RGME Activities at the 2025 Congress comprise:<\/p>\n Sessions (Sponsored and Co-Sponsored)<\/strong> We report these activities activities in their scheduled sequence across the three days of the Congress.<\/p>\n They start on Thursday 8 May, the first day of the Congress<\/strong>, with two sessions flanking our Annual Open Business Meeting, for which lunch is provided through a donation.<\/p>\n One of our sessions takes place on Friday 9 May<\/strong>.<\/p>\n The remaining sessions take place on Saturday 10 May, the last day of the Congress<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University, Houghton Library, MS Typ 7. Macrobius Ambrosius Theodosius, Comentum Macrobii Ambrosii in somnium Scipionis. Dated 1469 Feb. 7. Image Public Domain via https:\/\/houghtonlib.tumblr.com\/post\/146944005911\/macrobius-ambrosius-aurelius-theodosius-comentum.<\/p><\/div>\n Session 17 (Congress Program Booklet page 7) Organized by Speakers<\/strong> Leigh Ann Craig<\/strong> (Virginia Commonwealth University) Meghri Doumanian<\/strong> (McGill University) Notebook of “Recettes” in French, open at the front with inserted slips. Photography from Private Collection by Mildred Budny. Handlist Number 5.<\/p><\/div>\n Research Group on Manuscript Evidence Please register for this Meeting by the RGME Eventbrite Portal<\/a> for in-person and online attendance. Registration will let us know how many people to expect for the Meeting and enable us to arrange the catering appropriately. The registration form allows you to indicate if you have dietary requirements.<\/p>\n There is no charge to register (apart from the Congress Registration fee). We welcome Voluntary Donations for our nonprofit educational organization powered principally by volunteers.<\/p>\n London, British Library, Harley MS 4431, fol. 4r.Christine de Pisan sits at work writing in an interior accompanied by a dog. France (Paris), c. 1410 \u2013 c. 1414. Image via https:\/\/blogs.bl.uk\/digitisedmanuscripts\/2013\/06\/christine-de-pizan-and-the-book-of-the-queen.html.<\/p><\/div>\n Session 63 (Congress Program Booklet, page 22) Organized by Speakers Marisa Rose Bordonarou<\/strong> (Western University) Jacob Lollar<\/strong> (Durham University) Faremeh Shahnavaz<\/strong> (Western University) [Note: This paper will not be presented<\/em>.]<\/p>\n Paris, Biblioth\u00e8que nationale de France, D\u00e9partement des Manuscrits. Fran\u00e7ais 835, fol. 1r. Opening of collection of texts by Christine de Pizan. Image via https:\/\/gallica.bnf.fr\/ark:\/12148\/btv1b8449047c\/f9.item.<\/p><\/div>\n Organizers<\/em>: Session 117 (Congress Program Booklet, page 41) Speakers Gal Sofer Respondent Register for Online Option (Congress Registrants Only)<\/p>\n Halle (Saale), Universit\u00e4ts- und Landesbibliothek Sachsen-Anhalt, 14 B 36, fol. 243r: Image image of the almadel or “table of spirits”. Astro-magical texts on paper, circa 1400. Image C.C. BY 4.0, via http:\/\/dx.doi.org\/10.25673\/33754.<\/p><\/div>\n Session 165 (Congress Booklet, page 60) Speakers Rosario Cornejo<\/strong> (University of Virginia) Agata Paluch<\/strong> (Frei Universit\u00e4t Berlin) Matthew Melvin\u2013Koushki Session 224 (Conference Program Booklet, page 79) Organized by Speakers<\/strong> Eleanor A. Congdon<\/strong> (Youngstown State University) Private Collection, Courier delivering letter. German translation of Petrarch (1559).<\/p><\/div>\n Session 336 (Conference Program Booklet, page 116) Organized by Paris, Biblioth\u00e8que nationale de France. D\u00e9partement des Manuscrits. Latin 8878, fol. 119v. Image Public Domain, via ark:\/12148\/btv1b52505441p.<\/p><\/div>\n Speakers<\/p>\n Zoey M. Kambour<\/strong> (Graduate Center, City University of New York) [Note: Zoey Kambour will not be able to attend to present her paper<\/em>.]<\/p>\n Sarah E. Frisbie<\/strong> (Case Western University)![\"\"](\"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Scipio_Lying_in_Bed_Dreaming_Guillaume_de_Lorris_Lying_in_Bed_Dreaming_-_Google_Art_Project-cropped-300x210.jpg\")
RGME @ 2025 ICMS<\/h1>\n
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![\"Logo](\"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/SocMaghead2.png\")
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\nYear 4 with P.O.M.o.N.A.<\/strong>, and
\nYear 2 with\u00a0 Postal History at Kalamazoo<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n
Our 2025 Program<\/h1>\n
\nand
\nRGME Annual Open Business Meeting at the Congress<\/strong><\/p>\nProgram of RGME Activities<\/h1>\n
Day 1. Thursday<\/h2>\n
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1. “Dream Books, Spells, Divination,
\nIncubation, and Interpretation:
\n‘Sandalphon, send me a dream’ “<\/strong><\/h2>\nCo-Sponsored with the Societas Magica<\/a>
\nand
\nPolytheistic-Oriented Medievalists of North America<\/strong>
\n(P.-O.M.o.N.A.)<\/h3>\n
\nThursday 8 May 2025
\n10:00 AM – 11:30 AM
\nSangren Hall, 3130
\n<\/strong>(hybrid)<\/span><\/p>\n
\nMildred Budny<\/strong> (Research Group on Manuscript Evidence)
\nPhillip Bernhardt\u2013House<\/strong> (Polytheistic-Oriented Medievalists of North America)
\nClaire Fanger<\/strong> (Rice University)<\/p>\n
\nPhillip Bernhardt\u2013House
\n<\/strong>“Incubation, Inspiration, Incantation, or Intervention?
\nThe Imbas Forosnai<\/em> Ritual in Sanas Cormaic<\/em> as Dream Divinatory Operation”<\/p>\n\n
\n” ‘The very same ears were thrown away’:
\nDemons, Diagnostics, and Dream Interpretation in a Thirteenth-Century Miracle Story”<\/p>\n\n
\n“Dreams, Anxieties, Magic, and Liturgical Healing in Armenian and Judeo-Arabic Cultures:
\nThe Examples of the Erazahan<\/em> and the Sefer Pitron Halomot<\/em>”<\/p>\n\n
2. Lunchtime Open Business Meeting (with lunch provided)<\/h2>\n
Sponsored by the RGME<\/h3>\n
![\"Notebook](\"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/DSC_0006-GC-Recettes-open-at-front-with-misc-cards-lightened-300x199.png\")
\nOpen Business Meeting<\/strong>
\nThursday 8 May 2025
\n12:00 PM – 1:30 PM, Student Center, 2207
\n<\/strong>Lunch is provided through a donation
\n<\/strong>(hybrid)<\/span><\/p>\n\n
![\"London,](\"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/6a00d8341c464853ef0192aba26c93970d-500wi-Harl-4431-f4r-213x300.jpg\")
3. “Women and Manuscripts:
\nQuestions of Authorship”<\/strong><\/h2>\nSession
\nSponsored by the RGME<\/h3>\n
\nThursday 8 May 2025
\n1:30 PM – 3:00 PM, Sangren, 3130
\n<\/strong>(hybrid) <\/span><\/p>\n
\nJaclyn A. Reed<\/strong> (Research Group on Manuscript Evidence)<\/p>\n
\nLisa Templin<\/strong> (Mount St. Vincent University)
\n” ‘Not soe good as common’:
\nThe Eroticization of the Female Voice in the Margins of
\nRachel Speght’s A Mouzell for Melastomas<\/em>”<\/p>\n\n
\n“For the General Good of My Country:
\nSugar as a Transcorporeal Means of Liberation and Colonial Subjugation
\nin Hannah Wooley’s The Queen-Like Closet<\/em>”<\/p>\n\n
\n“For the Praise and Glory of the Glorious Woman:
\nWomen in Syriac Manuscripts and Book Culture, and the Attempts to Erase Them”<\/p>\n\n
\n“Penning with Paint:
\nRedefining Female Authorship through Lady Anne Clifford’s Visual Autobiography”<\/p>\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Christine_de_Pizan_Cent_balades_...Christine_de_btv1b8449047c_9-724x1024.jpeg\")
4\u20135. “Grimoires of the Greater West”
\n(Parts 1\u20132)<\/strong><\/h2>\nSessions
\nCo-sponsored with the Societas Magica<\/a>
\n<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\nVajra Regan<\/strong> (Centre for Medieval Studies, University of Toronto)
\nGal Sofer<\/strong> (Ben-Gurion University of the Negev)
\nMatthew Melvin-Koushki<\/strong> (University of South Carolina)<\/p>\n(1) “Multicultural Solomonic Magic:
\nThe Case of the Almandal”<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\nSangren Hall 4520
\nThursday 8 May 2025
\n3:30\u20135:00 pm EDT
\n(in-person)<\/span><\/p>\n
\nVajra Regan
\n<\/strong>“The Liber Almandal<\/em> of Solomon ans Its Christian Elaborations:
\nNew Evidence from the Manuscripts”<\/p>\n\n
\n<\/strong>“Al-Mandal<\/em>:
\nMulticultural Magic and the Quest for an Urtext”<\/p>\n\n
\nDavid Porreca<\/strong> (University of Waterloo)<\/p>\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Handschrift-14-B-36_Scan00243-759x1024.jpg\")
(2) “From Arabic and Persian to Hebrew and Latin”<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\nSangren Hall 3130
\nFriday 10:00\u201311:30 am EDT
\n(hybrid)<\/span><\/p>\n
\nMichael Noble<\/strong> (Exeter University)
\n“The Hidden Secret of Fakhr al-Din R\u00e3z\u012b:
\nTheurgy as Pre-Mongol Cosmocracy”<\/p>\n\n
\n“Interpreting Repetition and Variation in the Picatrix<\/em> and the Lapidario<\/em>”<\/p>\n\n
\n“Theosophical and Practical Knowledge in European Jewish Grimoires”<\/p>\n\n
\n<\/strong>“Occult Democracy in Persian Grimoires”<\/p>\n\n
6. “Moving the Mail:
\nLetters, Couriers, and Post Offices in the Medieval<\/span> World”<\/strong><\/h2>\nSession
\nCo-Sponsored with Postal History at Kalamazoo<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\nFriday 9 May 2025
\n1:30 PM – 3:00 PM, Sangren, 4540
\n<\/strong>(In person)<\/span>
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nDavid W. Sorenson<\/strong> (Allan G. Berman, Numismatist)<\/p>\n
\nRalph W. Mathiesen<\/strong> (University of Illinois \u2013 Urbana\u2013Champaign)
\n“Institutionalized Mail Delivery Networks in Early Medieval Europe from the Fourth to Seventh Century”<\/p>\n\n
\n“Time as a Commodity:
\nMerchants Tracking of the Spread of ‘News’ in the Fifteenth-Century Mediterranean”<\/p>\n\n
\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Sorenson-courier-deliv-letter-germ-transl-petrarch-1559.jpg\"){kind=spacer}
7. “Rending the Veil:
\nThe Rupture of Image and Text
\nin Medieval<\/span> Apocalypse Commentaries<\/strong>“<\/h2>\nSession
\nSponsored by the RGME<\/h3>\n
\nSaturday 11 May 2025
\n10:00 \u2013 11:30 am
\nSangren Hall, 4540
\n<\/strong>(In person)<\/span>
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nMildred Budny<\/strong>
\nVajra Regan<\/strong><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Beatus_a_Liebana_Commentarius_in_...Beatus_a_btv1b52505441p_2533-228x300.jpeg\")
\n” ‘The Speaking Mouth of Terrible Vastness’:
\nVisualizing the Fourth Beast of the Apocalypse in Beatus Manuscripts”<\/p>\n\n
\n“In terra et mare<\/em>:
\nConstructing Cosmos in the Beatus of Saint-Sever”
\n(Paris, Biblioth\u00e8que nationale de France, D\u00e9partement des manuscrits, Ms. Lat. 8878)<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/110807v_0180-0181-Morgan-M.644-fols-222v-223r.jpg\")