Sunday, November 30, 2008

MANCASS Anglo-Saxon Texts and Writers CFP

Call for Papers

M A N C A S S
5th Annual Postgraduate Conference
2nd - 3rd March, 2009

Anglo-Saxon Texts and Writers


We are inviting postgraduate students in all disciplines to submit
proposals for 20-minute papers for the 5th Annual MANCASS Postgraduate
Conference, 2nd- 3rd March, 2009. This year's conference will focus on:

-- The nature of Anglo-Saxon texts (literary, legal or religious) with
special reference to the manuscripts and codices used in their
transmission.
-- The influence and distribution of these texts and their authors in
other insular and continental cultures.
-- Post-medieval usages and interpretations of the Anglo-Saxon texts and
manuscripts.

Proposals should not exceed 300 words. Selected papers will be
published in the online journal, The Proceedings of the Manchester
Centre for Anglo-Saxon Studies Postgraduate Conference.

All proposals should be directed to Fran Álvarez at
Fran.Alvarez@manchester.ac.uk

The deadline for proposals is 23 January, 2009

via Old Irish net

I just came across 3 important works of Old Irish grammatical
scholarship that have been placed online. I'm not sure if people are
aware of them, so I thought I'd send the links to the list.

1) O Maille's 'contributions to the history of the verbs of
existence in Irish' (1911)
http://www.archive.org/details/contributionstoh00mrich

2) Strachan's 'substantive verb in the glosses' (1899)
http://www.archive.org/details/transact189900philuoft

while rather old, these two do have a lot of interesting things about
the development and usage of the substantive verb and the copula from
Old Irish to Modern Irish.

FROM THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF BYZANTINE MUSIC AND HYMNOLOGY

SECOND NOTICE:


FROM THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF BYZANTINE MUSIC AND HYMNOLOGY


In preparation for the Second International Conference to be held in
Athens in June of 2009, the Society and the co-organisers, are
preparing an audiovisual album entitled "BYZANTINE CHOIRS OF THE
HELLENIC DIASPORA". Canada and Europe will be represented by a number of
Byzantine Choirs who have already confirmed participation.

The Society has requested participation from Byzantine choirs across the
Hellenic Diaspora including Europe, Africa, the US and Australia, in
communication with the Archdioceses and the Metropolises.

This communication serves as an auxiliary notification-request, the
first has already been received by your hierarchs who have hopefully
communicated it to you, to individuals and choirs who wish to
participate in this historically unique and relevant album.


To be considered, choirs should select traditional Byzantine music
material of a theme (and in a language) of their choice (duration no
longer than one hour) and preferably recorded in live video-DVD format
(i.e. choir should be visible; recorded in an empty church or other
ecclesiastically-relevant place). Alternatively, audio is acceptable in
CD form. The material should be new (and not from other published
projects or previous copyrighted recordings).

Accompanying the audiovisual material should be a description of the
choir and its history, a short bio of the director and a list of all
current and past choristers.

As part of the Conference events, this album will be unveiled at an
evening event attended by diplomats from embassies of the participants,
musicians, musicologists, academics, writers, artists, poets, and other
people of the Greek fine arts Diaspora.

When the Conference website is up, we also encourage a representative of
each choir to register to attend the meeting to receive a plaque of
recognition for their role in preserving and disseminating Byzantine
music in the Diaspora.

The deadline to submit the materials is February 1st, 2009.

Please let us know as soon as possible about your intent to participate
by email. Our website is currently under reconstruction, but should
be up before
the end of the month (www.asbmh.pitt.edu) with an electronic version
of all papers
of the 1st Conference, video of the speaker sessions of the 1st conference
and a lot more useful information.

Please submit DVD/CD material and all accompanying letters to:

The American Society of Byzantine Music and Hymnology
c/o Dr. Nick Giannoukakis
Center for Russian & East European Studies
University Center for International Studies
4400 Wesley W. Posvar Hall
University of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, PA 15260
USA

Lindsay Young Visiting Fellowships

The Marco Institute for Medieval and Renaissance Studies announces the first Lindsay Young Visiting Fellowships. Thanks to the generosity of the Aslan Foundation, the Institute will offer Visiting Fellowships beginning January 1, 2009. These non-service Fellowships are intended to bring scholars from Tennessee and the neighboring region to UTK, where they can make use of research resources in medieval and Renaissance fields to further their research agendas and take part in the intellectual life of the Institute. Fellowships are open to scholars at all regional institutions of higher education and credentialed independent scholars, but preference will be given to faculty teaching in the state of Tennessee. The tenure of the Visiting Fellowship is variable according to the requirements of an individual's research plan and will carry a stipend of $600/week for a period of between one and ten weeks. The costs of travel to and from Knoxville are also covered by the Fellowship. Vi siting Fellows are encouraged to arrange their plans to take advantage of the various symposia and workshops offered by the Institute (a schedule can be viewed at http://web.utk.edu/~marco/ ). Fellows will have library privileges for the duration of their Fellowship and are expected to acknowledge the support of the Institute in publications arising from their tenure of the Fellowship. Applications, including curriculum vitae and a detailed research plan, should be sent to Prof. Michael Kulikowski, Riggsby Director, Marco Institute for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996.

Monday, November 24, 2008

Carnivalesque 45

Carivalesque 45 for Things Medieval is up at CrankyProfessor.

Saturday, November 22, 2008

Newberry Library Fellowships in the Humanities, 2009-2010

Newberry Library Fellowships in the Humanities, 2009-2010

The Newberry Library, an independent research library in
Chicago,Illinois, invites applications for its 2009-2010 Fellowships
in the Humanities. Newberry Library fellowships support research in
residence at the Library, and all proposed research must be
appropriate to the collections (excluding the Terra Foundation
Fellowship and certain short-term awards). Our fellowship program
rests on the belief that all projects funded by the Newberry benefit
from engagement both with the materials in the Newberry’s collections
and with the lively community of researchers that gathers around
those collections. Long-term residential fellowships are available
for periods of six to eleven months to postdoctoral scholars who must
hold the Ph.D. at the time of application. The stipend for these
fellowships ranges from $25,500 to $70,000. In 2008-2009 the Library
inaugurated a new Terra Foundation for American Art Fellowship in Art
History carrying an academic-year stipend of $70,000 for a full
professor (or its equivalent outside the academy) and $50,400 for all
other awardees. Short-term residential fellowships are intended for
postdoctoral scholars or Ph.D. candidates from outside the Chicago
area who have a specific need for Newberry collections. The tenure of
short-term fellowships varies form one week to two months. The amount
of the award is generally $1600 per month. Applications for long-term
fellowships are due January 12, 2009; applications for most
short-term fellowships are due March 2, 2009. For more information or
to download application materials, visit our website at:
http://www.newberry.org/research/felshp/fellowshome.html

If you would like materials sent to you by mail, write to the
Committee on Awards, 60 West Walton Street, Chicago, Il 60610-3380.
If you have questions about the fellowships program, contact
research@newberry.org or (312) 255-3666.

EPISCOPAL ELECTIONS IN LATE ANTIQUITY (CA. 250 - CA. 600 AD) CFP

CALL FOR PAPERS

International Conference
26-28 October 2009

EPISCOPAL ELECTIONS IN LATE ANTIQUITY (CA. 250 - CA. 600 AD)

Hosted by the Faculty of Theology
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven

Keynote speakers include:

Pauline Allen (ACU, Brisbane), George Bevan (Queen’s, Kingston),
Philippe Blaudeau (Paris XII), Peter Bruns (Bamberg), Bruno Dumézil
(Paris X), Geoffrey Dunn (ACU, Brisbane), Rudolf Haensch (DAI, München),
David G. Hunter (Kentucky), Hartmut Leppin (Frankfurt), Veit Rosenberger
(Erfurt), Claire Sotinel (Tours), Raymond Van Dam (Michigan), Eckhard
Wirbelauer (Strasbourg), Ewa Wipszycka (Warsaw)

Organising Committee: Boudewijn Dehandschutter (Leuven), Johan Leemans
(Leuven), Peter Van Nuffelen (Exeter), Shawn Keough (Leuven), Carla
Nicolaye (Leuven – Aachen)

URL: Episcopal Elections and Episcopal Succession in Late Antiquity
Conference Secretary: Dr. Shawn Keough: shawn.keough@theo.kuleuven.be

It is well known that episcopal elections in the later Roman Empire were
often a complicated and complicating event, as the controversy (and even
violence) attendant upon the elections and successions of many bishops
indicates. This conference will approach the phenomenon of episcopal
elections and succession from the broadest possible perspective,
examining the varied combination of factors, personalities, rules and
habits that played a role in the process that eventually resulted in one
specific candidate becoming the new bishop, and not another. The many
diverse and even conflicting aspects of this phenomenon will be
addressed: the influence of doctrinal conflicts, the relationship
between Church and State, patronage, local habits and regional
differences, chronological developments, ethnic identity. Also relevant
is the development of images of the ideal bishop, especially the manner
in which such idealized representations shaped the outcome of contested
elections and affected the character and exercise of episcopal authority
in late antique society.

Proposals for papers approaching the broader theme by any number of
perspectives and methodologies are welcome: particular elections,
specific bishops, geographical surveys (e.g. a city or a province), and
concrete texts (e.g. legislation – both civil and canonical, or,
hagiography) are all legitimate points of entry shedding valuable light
upon a relatively little studied phenomenon.

English will be the primary conference language, although proposals for
papers in French and German are equally acceptable. Following the
conference there will be opportunity for participants to submit their
papers for peer review, as the conference organizers intend to edit the
conference proceedings for publication.

Paper proposals should be sent to the conference secretary by 15 May
2008. Proposals should consist of a title and an abstract of up to 300
words providing a clear indication of the paper’s thesis, sources and
methodology.

All those interested are encouraged to contact the conference secretary,
Dr. Shawn Keough [shawn.keough@theo.kuleuven.be].

Disclaimer: http://www.kuleuven.be/cwis/email_disclaimer.htm

SIR ISRAEL GOLLANCZ MEMORIAL LECTURE : Rescheduled

SIR ISRAEL GOLLANCZ MEMORIAL LECTURE

The Alfredian project and its aftermath: rethinking the literary history of
the ninth and tenth centuries

Professor Malcolm Godden
University of Oxford

Thursday, 15 January 2009
5.30pm - 6.30pm, followed by a drinks reception

The British Academy,
10 Carlton House Terrace,
London, SW1Y 5AH

Free Admittance

King Alfred's preface on the state of learning in England quickly became one
of the best-known Anglo-Saxon writings, and one of the key documents for
writing the cultural history of the period. But there is much that is
doubtful about the programme of translation and book-production which has
been deduced from the preface, and the Alfredian initiative itself was
possibly of limited scope and doubtful novelty. Instead, some of the texts
traditionally associated with the king can be seen as part of a quite
distinct and more ambitious initiative engaging with more challenging ideas.

Please visit our website
Id=7646239>
for full details of our forthcoming events.
Telephone enquiries: 020 7969 5246
Email: lectures@britac.ac.uk

Please note our ticketing and seating policy:
British Academy Lectures are freely open to the general public and everyone
is welcome; there is no charge for admission, no tickets will be issued, and
seats cannot be reserved. The Lecture Room is opened at 5.00pm, and the
first 100 audience members arriving at the Academy will be offered a seat in
the Lecture Room; the next 50 people to arrive will be offered a seat in the
Overflow Room, which has a video and audio link to the Lecture Room.
Lectures are followed by a reception at 6.30pm, to which members of the
audience are invited.

This lecture was originally scheduled to take place on 2 October 2008 but
had to be postponed because of the lecturer's ill health.

Graduate Conference in Medieval Studies at Princeton University

Graduate Conference in Medieval Studies at Princeton
University

Law and Legal Culture in the Middle Ages

4 April 2009

Call for Papers
The Program in Medieval Studies at Princeton
University invites graduate students to submit paper
proposals for its sixteenth annual graduate
conference.

We are pleased to announce this year's keynote
speaker, Robin Stacey, Professor of History at the
University of Washington. Opening with an address by
Professor Stacey that investigates the intersection of
law and literature through the example of
thirteenth-century Welsh law books, the conference
invites students to discuss the social and cultural
aspects of law in the Middle Ages.

In an effort to better understand how people conceived
of and used codes of behavior and judicial recourse in
their communities, this conference explores ways that
law was identified, upheld, challenged, idealized, and
reinvented in a period of great legal diversity and
innovation.

In keeping with the Program's aim to promote
interdisciplinary exchange among medievalists, we
encourage proposals from a variety of chronologies,
geographies, and disciplines. Topics could include,
but are of course not limited to:

ƒ{ƒ{ƒnƒndispute resolutions
ƒ{ƒ{ƒnthe intersection of law and literature
ƒ{ƒ{ƒnmodes of proof and legal technologies
ƒ{ƒ{ƒnreligious prescription
ƒ{ƒ{ƒncustom and codification
ƒ{ƒ{ƒnmanorial courts, by-laws, and rural society
ƒ{ƒ{ƒnlaw and gender
ƒ{ƒ{ƒnthe profits of justice
ƒ{ƒ{ƒnlegislative idealism
ƒ{ƒ{ƒnlegal commentary and criticism

In order to support participation of speakers from
outside the northeastern United States, we are
offering a limited number of modest subsidies to help
offset the cost of travel to Princeton. Financial
assistance may not be available for every participant;
funding priority goes to those who have the furthest
to travel. Every speaker will have the option of
staying with a resident graduate student as an
alternative to paying for a hotel room.

Papers should take no more than twenty minutes to
deliver.

Please submit a 250-word abstract of your project by
16 January 2009 to Jamie Kreiner
(jkreiner@princeton.edu) or Mary Campbell
(mmcampbe@princeton.edu).

Call for Papers: Digitizing Medieval and Early Modern Material Culture

Call for Papers: Digitizing Medieval and Early Modern Material Culture

Editors Brent Nelson (University of Saskatchewan) and Melissa Terras
(University College London) invite submissions for a collection of
essays on “Digitizing Medieval and Early Modern Material Culture” to
be published in the New Technologies in Medieval and Renaissance
Studies Series edited by Ray Siemens and William Bowen.

This collection of essays will build on the accomplishments of recent
scholarship on materiality by bringing together innovative research
on the theory and praxis of digitizing material cultures from roughly
500 A.D. to 1700 A.D. Scholars of the medieval and early modern
periods have begun to pay more attention to the material world not
only as a means of cultural experience, but also as a shaping
influence upon culture and society, looking at the world of material
objects as both an area of study and a rich source of evidence for
interpreting the past. Digital media enable new ways of evoking,
representing, recovering, and simulating these materials in
non-traditional, non-textual (or para-textual) ways and present new
possibilities for recuperating and accumulating material from across
vast distances and time, enabling both preservation and comparative
analysis that is otherwise impossible or impractical. Digital
mediation also poses practical and theoretical challenges, both
logistical (such as gaining access to materials) and intellectual
(for example, the relationship between text and object). This volume
of essays will promote the deployment of digital technologies to the
study of material culture by bringing together expertise garnered
from complete and current digital projects, while looking forward to
new possibilities for digital applications; it will both take stock
of the current state of theory and practice and advance new
developments in digitization of material culture. The editors welcome
submissions from all disciplines on any research that addresses the
use of digital means for representing and investigating material
culture as expressed in such diverse areas as:

• travelers’ accounts, navigational charts and cartography
• collections and inventories
• numismatics, antiquarianism and early archaeology
• theatre and staging (props, costumes, stages, theatres)
• the visual arts of drawing, painting, sculpture, print making, and
architecture
• model making
• paper making and book printing, production, and binding
• manuscripts, emblems, and illustrations
• palimpsests and three-dimensional writing
• instruments (magic, alchemical, and scientific)
• arts and crafts
• the anatomical and cultural body

We welcome approaches that are practical and/or theoretical, general
in application or particular and project-based. Submissions should
present fresh advances in methodologies and applications of digital
technologies, including but not limited to:

• XML and databases and computational interpretation
• three-dimensional computer modeling, Second Life and virtual worlds
• virtual research environments
• mapping technology
• image capture, processing, and interpretation
• 3-D laser scanning, synchrotron, or X-ray imaging and analysis
• artificial intelligence, process modeling, and knowledge representation

Papers might address such topics and issues as:

• the value of inter-disciplinarity (as between technical and
humanist experts)
• relationships between image and object; object and text; text and image
• the metadata of material culture
• curatorial and archival practice
• mediating the material object and its textual representations
• imaging and data gathering (databases and textbases)
• the relationship between the abstract and the material text
• haptic, visual, and auditory simulation
• tools and techniques for paleographic analysis

Enquiries and proposals should be sent to brent.nelson[at]usask.ca by
10 January 2009. Complete essays of 5,000-6,000 words in length will
be due on 1 May 2009.

NEH Seminar on History of the Book

John N. King and James K. Bracken of The Ohio State University will direct a
National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Seminar for College and
University Teachers on continuity and change in the production,
dissemination, and reading of Western European books during the 200 years
following the advent of printing with movable type. In particular, they plan
to pose the governing question of whether the advent of printing was a
necessary precondition for the Protestant Reformation. Participants will
consider ways in which adherents of different religious faiths shared common
ground in exploiting elements such as book layout, typography, illustration,
and paratext (e.g., prefaces, glosses, and commentaries) in order to inspire
reading, but also to restrict interpretation. Employing key methods of the
History of the Book, our investigation will consider how the physical nature
of books affected ways in which readers understood and assimilated their
intellectual contents. This program is geared to meet the needs of
teacher-scholars interested in the literary, political, or cultural history
of the Renaissance and/or Reformation, the History of the Book, art history,
women’s studies, religious studies, bibliography, print culture, library
science (including rare book librarians), mass communication, literacy
studies, and more.

This seminar will meet from 22 June until 24 July 2009. During the first
week of this program, we shall visit 1) Antwerp, Belgium, in order to draw
on resources including the Plantin-Moretus Museum (the world’s only
surviving early modern printing and publishing house) and 2) London,
England, in order to attend a rare-book workshop and consider treasures at
the British Library. During four weeks at Oxford, where we shall reside at
St. Edmund Hall, we plan to draw on the rare book and manuscript holdings of
the Bodleian Library and other institutions.

Those eligible to apply include citizens of USA who are engaged in teaching
at the college or university level and independent scholars who have
received the terminal degree in their field (usually the Ph.D.). In
addition, non-US citizens who have taught and lived in the USA for at least
three years prior to March 2009 are eligible to apply. NEH will provide
participants with a stipend of $3,800.

Full details and application information are available at
http://people.cohums.ohio-state.edu/king2/Reformationofthebook/. For further
information, please contact rankinmc@jmu.edu. The application deadline is
March 2, 2009.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

S 10 POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWSHIPS FOR ACADEMIC YEAR 2009/2010

BSANA Listserv FWD

CALL FOR APPLICATIONS
10 POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWSHIPS FOR ACADEMIC YEAR 2009/2010

The Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences, the Fritz
Thyssen Foundation and the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin
invite scholars to apply for ten post-doctoral fellowships
for the research program

EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE EAST - THE MIDDLE EAST IN EUROPE

This research program seeks to rethink key concepts and
premises that link and divide Europe and the Middle East.
The project draws on the international expertise of scholars
in and outside of Germany and is embedded in university
and extra-university research institutions in Berlin.
'Europe in the Middle East ? The Middle East in Europe'
supports historical-critical philology, rigorous engagement
with the literatures of the Middle East and their histories,
the social history of cities and the study of Middle Eastern
political and philosophical thought (Christian, Jewish, Muslim,
and secular) as central fields of research not only for area
or cultural studies, but also for European intellectual
history and other academic disciplines. The program explores
modernity as a historical space and conceptual frame. The
program puts forward three programmatic ideas:
1) supporting research that demonstrates the rich and
complex historical legacies and entanglements between
Europe and the Middle East;
2) reexamining genealogical notions of mythical 'beginnings',
'origins', and 'purity' in relation to culture and society;
and
3) rethinking key concepts of a shared modernity in
light of contemporary cultural, social, and political
entanglements that supersede identity discourses as well
as national, cultural or regional canons and epistemologies
that were established in the nineteenth century.
The program 'Europe in the Middle East - The Middle East
in Europe' is funded by the Fritz Thyssen Foundation.
It supports and builds upon the following interconnected
research fields:

CITIES COMPARED: COSMOPOLITANISM IN THE MEDITERRANEAN AND
ADJACENT REGIONS
This research group is directed by Ulrike Freitag and
Nora Lafi, both of the Centre for Modern Oriental Studies,
Berlin. It contributes to the debate on cosmopolitanism
and civil society from the historical experience of
conviviality and socio-cultural, ethnic, and religious
differences in the cities around the Mediterranean;

ISLAMIC DISCOURSE CONTESTED: MIDDLE EASTERN AND EUROPEAN
PERSPECTIVES
This research group is directed by Gudrun Kraemer, Institute
for Islamic Studies, Freie Universitaet Berlin. It analyzes
modern Middle Eastern thought and discourses in the framework
of theories of multiple or reflexive modernities;


PERSPECTIVES ON THE QUR'AN: NEGOTIATING DIFFERENT VIEWS
OF A SHARED HISTORY
This research group is directed by Angelika Neuwirth,
Seminar for Arabic Studies, Freie Universit?t Berlin, and
Stefan Wild, Universitaet Bonn. It situates the foundational
text of Islam within the religious landscape of late
antiquity and combines a historicization of its genesis
with an analysis of its reception and perception in Europe
and the Middle East;

TRAVELLING TRADITIONS: COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVES ON NEAR
EASTERN LITERATURES
This research group is directed by Friederike Pannewick,
Centrum fuer Nah- und Mitteloststudien, Philipps-Universitaet
Marburg, and Samah Selim, IREMAM, Aix-en-Provence. It
reassesses literary entanglements and processes of
canonization between Europe and the Middle East.

TRADITION AND THE CRITIQUE OF MODERNITY: SECULARISM,
FUNDAMENTALISM AND RELIGION FROM MIDDLE EASTERN PERSPECTIVES
This a special forum, directed by Amnon Raz-Krakotzkin,
Ben Gurion University, that attempts to rethink key
concepts of modernity like secularity, tradition, or
religion in the context of the experiences, interpretations,
and critiques of Jews, Arabs, and Muslims in the Middle
East and in Europe.

PREREQUISITES AND APPLICATION PROCEDURE

The fellowships are intended above all for scholars of history,
literature, philology, political philosophy, religion and
sociology who want to carry out their research projects in
connection with the Berlin program. Fellows gain the
opportunity to pursue research projects of their choice
within the framework of one of the above-mentioned
research fields and in relation to the program 'Europe
in the Middle East - the Middle East in Europe'. In Berlin,
they will be integrated into a university or non-university
research institute. The working language of the research
program is English.
Fellows will receive a monthly stipend of 1.800 Euro (supplement
for accompanying spouses: 250 Euro), and are obliged to work in
Berlin and to help shape the seminars and working discussions
related to their research field.
As a rule, the fellowships begin on 1 October 2009 and end
on 31 July 2010. The applicant's doctorate should have been
completed no earlier than 2001.
An application should be made in explicit relation to one of
the research fields and consist of 1.) a curriculum vitae,
2.) a 2 to 4 page project sketch,
3.) a sample of scholarly work (maximum 20 pages from an article,
conference paper, or dissertation chapter) and
4.) a letter of recommendation by one university instructor.

The application should be submitted by e-mail as word document
or PDF File in English and should be received by 11 January 2009,
sent in to:

E-mail: eume@wiko-berlin.de
Europe in the Middle East - the Middle East in Europe
c/o Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin
Attn: Georges Khalil
Wallotstrasse 19, 14193 Berlin
Fax +49 30 - 89 00 12 00
E-mail: khalil@wiko-berlin.de

For further information on the program 'Europe in the
Middle East - The Middle East in Europe' and for detailed
information on the research fields, please see:
www.eume-berlin.de


For information on the research institutions in Berlin
participating in the program, please visit:
Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences:
www.bbaw.de/
Center for Literary Research:
www.zfl.gwz-berlin.de/
Centre for Modern Oriental Studies:
www.zmo.de/
Institute for Islamic Studies: userpage.fu-berlin.de/~islamwi/
Seminar for Arabic Studies: web.fu-berlin.de/semiarab/
Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin:
www.wiko-berlin.de/

A Scandal to the Whole Clergy': Priests and their Partners

Subject: [medren] Friday, Nov. 21: Ruth Karras, Lea Lecture


Please mark your calendars: we hope you will be able to attend the
Henry Charles Lea Lecture for 2008-09:

Ruth Mazo Karras, Professor of History, University of Minnesota,
author of Sexuality in Medieval Europe (2005).

"'A Scandal to the Whole Clergy': Priests and their Partners"

Date: Friday, November 21, 2008
Time and location: 5:00PM, Rosenwald Gallery, 6th floor, Van
Pelt-Dietrich Library

More information on the annual Lea Lecture is available here:

http://www.library.upenn.edu/exhibits/lectures/lealecture.html

Monday, November 17, 2008

Mapping the Medieval City: space, place and identity

Mapping the Medieval City: space, place and identity
An Interdisciplinary Colloquium
Swansea University, 30-31 July 2009
CALL FOR PAPERS

This colloquium, held to mark the completion of the AHRC-funded
research project 'Mapping Medieval Chester'
(www.medievalchester.ac.uk), will launch the digital materials
produced by the project and provide a forum for wider discussion of
place and identity in the medieval city, as well as concepts of
'mapping' in the Middle Ages and today. The colloquium will feature
papers on medieval Chester, but we are also seeking inter-disciplinary
contributions relating to the medieval city more generally.

The 'Mapping Medieval Chester' project has brought together scholars
working in the disciplines of literary studies, geography, archaeology
and history to explore how material and imagined urban landscapes
construct and convey a sense of place-identity. The focus of the
research project itself is the city of Chester and the identities that
its inhabitants formed between c.1200 and 1500. A key aspect of the
project is to integrate geographical and literary mappings of the
medieval city using cartographic and textual sources and using these
to understand more how urban landscapes in the Middle Ages were
interpreted and navigated by local inhabitants. We hope the colloquium
will use our research on Chester as the basis for broader discussions
centering on the project's themes, methods and theoretical
preoccupations.

We therefore invite 20-minute paper proposals (abstracts of around 300
words) on any subject relating to the project's broad themes of place
and identity in the medieval European city. These might include:

- Place and identity in medieval Chester
- Writers and texts of medieval Chester (e.g. Lucian, Higden, The
Cycle Plays, Bradshaw, medieval Welsh poetry)
- Place and identity in the medieval city

- Medieval border towns and/or border writing
- Writers and texts of the medieval city (e. g. Benedict's Mirabilia
urbis Romae, William FitzStephen, Richard Devizes, vernacular drama
and verse)
- Multilingualism and the medieval city

- Theories of space, place and mapping

Proposals should be sent to Mark Faulkner (mailto:m.j.faulkner@swan.ac.uk) by
23 February 2009.

For further information on the 'Mapping Medieval Chester' project,
please visit www.medievalchester.ac.uk or contact Mark.

DARC/CCH Symposium: Digitization of the Gutenberg Bible - Retrospect & Prospect

DARC/CCH Symposium: Digitization of the Gutenberg Bible - Retrospect
& Prospect
Saturday 22 November 2008
Venue: Room 2B08, Strand Campus, King's College London

Note: attendance by pre-registration
(http://armour.cc/tinc?key=VRk38phB&formname=DARC_Symposium_2008)

9:15 Introduction and welcome
Chair: Toshiyuki Takamiya (Director of DARC)

9:30-10:15 Facsimiles of the Gutenberg Bible as Research Tools (Paul
Needham, Princeton)

10:25-10:45 Discussion

10:45-11:00 Coffee/tea

11:05-11:30 The Digital Gutenberg Bible and the Incunable Collection
at the British Library (John Goldfinch,BL); respondent: William Hale
(Cambridge University Library)

11:45-12:10 Incunable Digitization at Munich: From the Gutenberg Bible
to Mass Digitization (Bettina Wagner, BSB); respondent: William Hale
(Cambridge University Library)

12:25-12:45 Discussion

12:45-13:00 Closing address (Harold Short, CCH)

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Medieval Academy Website Down Temporarily

For various reasons, a link to the Medieval Academy website came up
on Old Norse recently and to list members surprise, the link didn't
work.

I contacted Paul E. Szarmach and he asked if I would pass this
information along to all and sundry and request crossposting to all
lists concerned.

"There was a problem on our host's end. We contacted support and
they have fixed the problem. It will take anywhere between 24 and 72
hours before we're back up and running.


(There seems to have been a mixup in our DNS resolutions and they
take several hours to days to propogate throughout the Domain servers
around the world which is how people type in medievalacademy.org and
reach us.)"

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Anglo-Saxon Kent Electronic Database

The ADS, the AHRC and the Leverhulme Trust are pleased to announce the
online launch of the Anglo-Saxon Kent Electronic Database (ASKED):

http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/archive/asked_ahrc_2008/

This database was created by Stuart Brookes and Sue Harrington to facilitate
their respective PhD researches at UCL Institute of Archaeology, from
1998-2000. This online subset of the data acts as the pilot for a larger
corpus of material currently being gathered under the aegis of the 'Beyond
the Tribal Hidage Project'
(http://www.ucl.ac.uk/archaeology/project/tribal-hidage/index.htm) - a
Leverhulme funded research project undertaken at UCL Institute of
Archaeology by Martin Welch with Sue Harrington. This further dataset will
also be deposited with the Archaeology Data Service in late 2009, in the
same fully searchable online format as this version of ASKED.

The resource at the heart of ASKED is the archaeological evidence for the
Anglo-Saxon populations of east and west Kent AD 400-750. The evidence
consists of the human skeletal remains, the grave goods and the burial
structures from inhumation cemeteries. ASKED brings together various sources
in one unified and accessible dataset. A subset of 53 cemetery sites are
prioritised here together with isolated burials, settlements and find spots.
Whilst the user may not find, for example, a complete list of every artefact
found in Kent, they will find all coherently published examples.
This database already represents a fantastic new resource for the study of
Anglo-Saxon Kent and England more broadly, and it will continue to grow both
in size and usefulness with further deposits of data in the coming months.

Friday, November 7, 2008

The Monastic Research Bulletin is a newsletter which aims to provide a point of contact between individuals interested in a variety of monastic studies (historical, archaeological, art historical, literary etc) and contains news of academic research in progress, descriptions of new projects, information about the sources for monastic history in national and local repositories, details of theses completed and current, and an annual bibliography of publications on monasticism in Britain.

Partially available online: http://www.york.ac.uk/inst/bihr/Publications/MRBfront.htm
The Monastic Research Bulletin is a newsletter which aims to provide a point of contact between individuals interested in a variety of monastic studies (historical, archaeological, art historical, literary etc) and contains news of academic research in progress, descriptions of new projects, information about the sources for monastic history in national and local repositories, details of theses completed and current, and an annual bibliography of publications on monasticism in Britain.

Partially available online: http://www.york.ac.uk/inst/bihr/Publications/MRBfront.htm

Presentation at "Insel der Information

Presentation at "Insel der Information", November 25th, 2008:
Bettina Wagner (SL: Bettina Ethaniel):
Incunable digitization at Munich: From the Gutenberg Bible to mass
digitization

We would like to invite you to the SIM of the Bavarian State Library
for a talk with the title "Incunable digitization at Munich: From
the Gutenberg Bible to mass digitization".
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Insel%20der%20Information/132/23/22.
The presentation will be held on 25/Nov/08, at 6pm CET, 9:00 AM SLT
by Dr. Bettina Wagner in English and follows up a symposium organized
by the Humanities Media Interface Project, Keio University, Tokyo, on
22 November in London, UK.
Abstract:
The talk will demonstrate how the Munich Gutenberg Bible is presented
online and how users can search for descriptive information in the
electronic catalogue, thus placing the Bible in various contexts,
e.g. of 15th-century Bible production, of incunable illumination or
of provenance. In addition, access points for printed illustrations
in incunabula will be shown.

The Bayerische Staatsbibliothek Munich holds the world*s largest
collection of incunabula, which currently amounts to c. 20.000 copies
of c. 9700 editions. The Munich copy of the Gutenberg Bible is one of
the most important treasures of the library. In cooperation with the
HUMI team, the Bible was digitized in October 2005 and was made
accessible freely on the internet.
In Munich, digitization of incunables and online access to the
catalogue descriptions have proceeded in close parallel. The first
digitization project started already in 1998 and focussed on
illustrated incunabula; a project for the digitization of broadsides
followed in 2000. At the same time, the printed incunable catalogue
was converted into a database and made accessible online in 2004. The
catalogue database serves as central access point to incunables and
integrates all digital images as well as additional metadata
generated in such projects. In 2008, a project for the complete
digitization of the collection was begun, and eventually, as a
complete electronic facsimile will be generated for every
15th-century edition now held in Munich. The results are not only
made accessible through the incunable catalogue database, but also
through the Bavarian union catalogue and the ISTC and GW databases.

Call for Papers IFLA-conference Milan 2009

Call for Papers IFLA-conference Milan 2009
IFLA Rare Books and Manuscripts Section,
Preservation and Conservation Section,
Library History Section


Theme:
Dispersed cultural collections
Preservation, reconstruction and access

The IFLA Rare Books and Manuscripts Section, the Preservation and
Conservation Section, and the Library History Section jointly invite
proposals for presentations at the Sections* programme in Milan,
23-27 August 2009.
Following the main theme of the conference "Libraries create futures:
Building on cultural heritage", papers should focus on dispersed
cultural collections and their preservation and conservation,
reconstruction, and access to them, preferably in electronic form.
* Dispersed cultural collections comprises libraries and other
collections formerly held by institutions or private collectors which
were dispersed through political events (wars, dissolution of
monasteries) or through auctions and duplicate sales, and are today
held in various public institutions (libraries, archives, museums) or
in different sections of such institutions. The dispersed materials
may be in different formats (manuscripts, printed books, archival
documents, photographs) and may date from any period. Papers about
individual collectors and dealers will also be considered
* Preservation and conservation deals with aspects of the physical
assessment of an object for the better understanding of its contexts,
with special regard to provenances. The role of the conservator
should be given particular consideration, including procedures for
preserving and documenting features relevant for the history of an
item during conservation, such as provenance marks and former
shelfmarks.
* Reconstruction should cover questions of identifying individual
items which once belonged to such a collection; of investigating the
survival of historical collections; or of maintaining inventories or
archives of collections that have been dispersed. Papers should
discuss methods of reconstruction, i.e. through identification of
provenances, through matching of historical inventories with
surviving items, or through digitization as well as methods for the
creation of virtual libraries or databases of dispersed materials.
* Access refers to the questions concerning the needs of
target-groups of such projects (from researchers to the general
public), the standards applied for cataloguing and presentation and
problems of overcoming heterogeneous standards for diverse materials;
technical solutions for their presentation; and also raising
awareness and funds for such projects.

Papers should place particular emphasis on issues of project
management and methodology, e.g. policies regarding preservation and
digitization; standards for cataloguing and recording provenances;
cross-institutional cooperation (national and international).
Materials presented should be placed in a broader cultural-historical
context in order to demonstrate their relevance to a wide range of
(academic) subjects and users, taking up the theme of IFLA president
Claudia Lux for 2007-9: "Libraries on the Agenda*.
* Papers can be given in any of the official IFLA languages (English,
French, German, Russian, Spanish), but abstracts should be submitted
in English.
* Papers should not be longer than 15 pages.
* The oral presentation of each paper should not exceed 20 minutes.

The proposals must be submitted in an electronic format and must contain:
Title of paper
Summary of paper (250 - 350 words max)
Speaker*s name, institutional affiliation, address, telephone
Important dates:
deadline for submission of abstract 31 December 2008
notification of acceptance March, 2009
deadline for submission of paper: 1 May 2009

All submissions should be sent via email to:

Bettina Wagner, Rare books and Manuscript Section chair, Bayerische
Staatsbibliothek:
bettina.wagner@bsb-muenchen.de
Per Cullhed, Preservation and Conservation Section chair, Uppsala
University Library:
per.cullhed@ub.uu.se
Hermina G.B. Anghelescu , Library History Section chair, Wayne State
University:
ag7662@wayne.edu

Please send your proposal to all three addresses.

Please note that the IFLA sections have no funds for financial
assistance to prospective authors: abstracts should only be submitted
on the understanding that the expenses of attending the conference
(including travel expenses and conference fee) and registration and
hotel bookings will be the responsibility of the presenter(s) of
accepted papers. Some national professional associations may be able
to help fund certain expenses, and a small number of grants for
conference attendance may be available at:
www.ifla.org/III/members/grants.ht



_______________________________________

Dr. Bettina Wagner
Abteilung fuer Handschriften und Alte Drucke
Bayerische Staatsbibliothek
Ludwigstr. 16
D-80539 Muenchen
Germany
email: bettina.wagner@bsb-muenchen.de
Tel. +89 / 28638-2982
Fax. +89 / 28638-12982 oder 2266
postbox: D-80328 Muenchen
_______________________________________

Inkunabelkatalog der Bayerischen Staatsbibliothek (BSB-Ink) online:
http://mdz1.bib-bvb.de/cocoon/bsbink/start.html
_______________________________________

IFLA Rare Books and Manuscripts Section:
http://www.ifla.org/VII/s18/index.htm
_______________________________________

Programm zum 450jährigen Jubiläum der BSB:
http://www.450jahre-bsb.de/

McGill University - Postdoctoral Fellow

FWD from Alice Mary Talbot, Dumbarton Oaks

McGill University - Postdoctoral Fellow, Transmission, Translation and
Transformation in Medieval Textual Cultures Research Group

Location: Quebec, Canada
Institution Type: College/University
Position Type: Post-doctoral Fellow
Submitted: Thursday, October 16th, 2008
Main Category: Medieval History
Secondary Categories: Sociology
Social and Cultural History
Religious Studies
Philosophy
Literature
Linguistics
Languages
Jewish History
Humanities
History of Science/Medicine/Technology
European History

The research group "Transmission, Translation and Transformation in
Medieval Textual Cultures" (TTT), Faculty of Arts, McGill University,
seeks applications for a two-year postdoctoral fellowship, starting August
1, 2009. We are a six-member interdisciplinary research team supported by
the Fonds québécois de la recherche sur la société et la culture
(FQRSC), and consisting in Professors Robert Wisnovsky (Islamic Studies --
Principal Investigator), Jamie Fumo (English), Carlos Fraenkel (Jewish
Studies/Philosophy), F. Jamil Ragep (Islamic Studies), Sebastian Sobecki
(English) and Faith Wallis (History). We are looking for a scholar who has
completed a doctorate in a humanistic discipline on a topic related to the
processes by which the textual cultures of medieval Judaism, Christianity,
and Islam re-shaped the legacies of Greco-Roman antiquity and the ancient
Near East. We are particularly interested in scholars who study how
cultural forms were transmitted from Antiquity to the Middle Ages or
between medieval cultures, translated (literally and metaphorically) into
the learned idiom of the recipient culture, and transformed into new
cultural productions. The responsibilities of the postdoctoral fellow will
include conducting research in his/her field of specialization, and
co-teaching a graduate research seminar on Transmission, Translation and
Transformation in Medieval Textual Cultures, with substantial
participation from each of the current members of the group and colleagues
from McGill and other Montreal universities. The postdoctoral fellow will
be given a stipend of $38,000 p.a., and provided with the use of a shared
office and a research/travel fund of $2,000 p.a. Please send a CV, a
letter detailing your doctoral work and future research plans, a sample
chapter from your dissertation, and two letters of reference (one of which
must be from your doctoral supervisor), to Prof. R. Wisnovsky, Principal
Investigator, TTT Research Group, Institute of Islamic Studies-McGill
University, 3485 McTavish Street, Montreal, Quebec H3A 1Y1, Canada. The
general requirements for postdoctoral status at McGill are outlined at
http://www.mcgill.ca/gps/postdoc/genguide/. Informal inquiries may be
directed to Prof. Wisnovsky at robert.wisnovsky@mcgill.ca. Application
deadline: December 12, 2008.

Contact Info:
Prof. R. Wisnovsky
Principal Investigator, TTT Research Group
Institute of Islamic Studies
McGill University
3485 McTavish Street
Montreal, Quebec H3A 1Y1
Canada

daily "bretha" of the Tríar Manach

Are there any websites out there entirely in Old Irish? Probably
not, until now:

http://www.smo.uhi.ac.uk/sengoidelc/donncha/triar_manach/bretha/

This site gives voice to the daily "bretha" of the Tríar Manach. An
old question among the Celts was "What is this day good for?" We
hear it, for example, in the Táin (O'Rahilly's edition of the first
recension):

"Cét fer ndéinmech dó oc foglaim druídechta úad, is é lín
doninchoisced Cathbad. Íarmifoacht araili dia ḟelmaccaib do
ṡudiu cid díambad maith a llá sa."

"He had one hundred noble men learning druidry from him, that is the
number whom Cathbad taught. One of his students ask him what that
day would be good for."

And now - ta da! - we have the Monks on line to tell us what each
passing day is good for, based on their own experience from the day
they renounced the world right up to the day they had a falling out

Fordham University 2008 Fall Medieval Studies Lecture Series

Fordham University 2008 Fall Medieval Studies Lecture Series presents:

Outside the Camp?
Inventing the Medieval Leper *

Professor Carole Rawcliffe* *
University of East Anglia, UK

Thursday, November 6th, 12:00 pm*
Walsh Library, 4th Floor
O'Hare Special Collections
Fordham University, Bronx Campus /

A lunch buffet will follow the lecture. All are welcome /


On Thursday, Nov. 6 at noon in the O’Hare Room of Walsh Library, Prof.
Carole Rawcliffe will give a talk on /Outside the Camp? Inventing the
Medieval Leper/ that draws on medieval sources to expose the myths and
misunderstandings that have grown up around the medieval leper. Just as
Cancer and AIDS have become the iconic diseases of modern times, so
leprosy has often been projected as a symbol of ‘the Dark Ages’, when
superstition and fear marched hand in hand with ignorance. Many of our
most cherished assumptions about medieval responses to ‘the leper’ are,
however, based on myths and misunderstandings that developed in the
nineteenth and early-twentieth century, and find little, if any, support
in the original records. In England, anxiety about contagion was, for
example, limited and confined to the later Middle Ages; and it is clear
that presumed victims of the disease were never forcibly segregated into
remote hospitals. Nor were they subject to bizarre rituals or social
ostracism. The complex picture that emerges from a return to primary
source material provides a fascinating insight into medieval responses
to human suffering and a salutary case study of the misinterpretation of
historical evidence in the interests of scientific progress.




Kerri Kupec
Administrative Assistant
Center for Medieval Studies
Fordham University
medievals@fordham.edu

Deadline Extended for Conference for Medieval Studies

Deadline Extended

The seventh annual Conference for Medieval Studies, a graduate student conference sponsored by Comitatus (the Purdue Medieval Studies student organization) will be held at Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana on February 20-21, 2009. The theme for this year’s conference will be "Saints and Sinners of the Middle Ages."

Ann W. Astell, Professor of Theology at Notre Dame University and author of The Song of Songs in the Middle Ages (1990), Job, Boethius, and Epic Truth (1994), Chaucer and the Universe of Learning (1996), and Eating Beauty: The Eucharist and the Spiritual Arts of the Middle Ages (2006) will be the keynote speaker for this year’s conference.

Our theme looks at the various roles of saints and sinners throughout the Middle Ages. The literary and historical texts surrounding these medieval figures are multilingual, fantastic, and spiritually rich—fitting well into the interdisciplinary approach of our conference. Because saintliness and sinfulness could be idiosyncratic, they were often expressed in different and interesting ways in the texts of the Middle Ages. What is more, saintliness and sinfulness extend beyond words on a page to other areas such as scribal practices, manuscript creation, art, architecture, and many other facets of medieval life.

We are inviting both 250-word abstracts for papers and panel proposals from graduate students and advanced undergraduates. Individual papers should be kept to 15-20 minutes in length. Possible topics might include, but are certainly not limited to, the following:

- The lives of saints in vernaculars and their dependence upon the Latin tradition.

- The occurrence of marginalia in manuscripts depicting both the sacred and the sordid.

- The role of saintliness or sinfulness in everyday medieval life.

- The commodification of relics in the Middle Ages.

- Saintliness and sinfulness in detailed illuminations, wall paintings, architectural reliefs, etc.

- The experiences of holy women and holy men.

Due Date for Abstracts: November 21st, 2008

Please send all abstracts to:
Jack R. Baker
jackrbaker@purdue.edu (preferred method)
Purdue University
Department of English
500 Oval Drive
West Lafayette, IN 47907-2038

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

New Folklore List

The notice below was received from H-Net on 3rd
November, 2008, and seemed of possible interest to
subscribers to this list:

ANNOUNCING: H-Folk: H-Net Network on Folklore
http://www.h-net.org/~folk
Member of: H-Net: Humanities and Social Sciences Online
http://www.h-net.org

H-Net proudly announces its newest addition to its
family of over 180 discussion networks -- H-Folk -- in
cooperation with The American Folklore Society, The
Folklore Society of Great Britain, The Folklore Studies
Association of Canada, the International Society for
Folk Narrative Research, the National Folklore Support
Centre [India], and the Socit internationale
dethnologie et de folklore.

H-Folk has been created to foster better international
communication among folklorists and to increase
scholarly dialogue in the field. H-Folk encourages
discussions of research, teaching, policy, and
historiography in the fields of folklore and ethnology.
In addition, H-Folk welcomes news of major conferences,
calls for papers, announcements of fellowship and
research opportunities, and links to organization
websites. H-Folk also supports the exchange of ideas
and information with scholars on related H-Net
networks. Finally, H-Folk disseminates information
about its six sponsoring organizations. It is a
network developed in conjunction with all these
organizations, although it is open for all to join.

The H-Folk resources list
(http://www.h-net.org/~folk/resources.html) contains
information about these organizations. Suggestions for
additional resources are welcome; please email the
editors.

The goals of H-Net lists are to enable scholars to
easily communicate current research and teaching
interests; to discuss new approaches, methods and tools
of analysis; to share information on online resources;
to test new ideas and share comments on the literature
in their fields; to publish quality reviews in many
fields; and to support academe through publication of
the JobGuide. All network messages are permanently
archived and searchable.

Like all H-Net lists, H-Folk is moderated to edit out
material that, in the editors' opinion, is not germane
to the list, involves technical matters (such as
subscription management requests), is inflammatory, or
violates the evolving, yet common, standards of
Internet etiquette. H-Net's procedure for resolving
disputes over list editorial practices is Article II,
Section 2.20 of our bylaws, located at:
http://www.h-net.org/about/by-laws.php. Logs and more
information can also be located at:
http://www.h-net.org/~folk.

Lead Editor
Ergo-Hart Vstrik, ergo@folklore.ee, Director, Estonian
Folklore Archives, Tartu, Estonia

Additional Editors Kristin Kuutma, kkuutma@neti.ee,
University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia Timothy Lloyd,
lloyd.100@osu.edu, Executive Director, The American
Folklore Society, Columbus, Ohio, US Dorothy Noyes,
noyes.10@osu.edu, The Ohio State University, Columbus,
Ohio, US Elo-Hanna Seljamaa, seljamaa.1@osu.edu,
Secretary, International Society for Folk Narrative
Research, Columbus, Ohio, US

Advisory Board members Ian Brodie, ian_brodie@cbu.ca,
Cape Breton University, Canada (representing the
Folklore Studies Association of Canada) Donald Haase,
dhaase@wayne.edu, Wayne State University, Detroit,
Michigan, US (representing the International Society
for Folk Narrative Research) M.R. Muthukumaraswamy,
muthu@indianfolklore.org, National Folklore Support
Centre, Chennai, India Dorothy Noyes, noyes.10@osu.edu,
The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, US
(representing the American Folklore Society) Ian
Russell, ianrussell@abdn.ac.uk, Elphinstone Institute,
Aberdeen, Scotland (representing the Folklore Society
of Great Britain) Cristina Snchez-Carretero,
csanchez@ile.csic.es, Consejo Superior de
Investigaciones Cientficas, Santiago de Compostela,
Spain (representing the Socit internationale
dethnologie et de folklore)

To join H-Folk, please send a message from the account
where you wish to receive mail to:
listserv@h-net.msu.edu (with no signatures or styled
text, and with word wrap off for long lines) and only
this text:

sub H-Folk firstname lastname, institution
Example: sub H-Folk Leslie Jones, Pacific State
University

Alternatively, you may go to
http://www.h-net.org/lists/subscribe.cgi to perform the
same function as noted above. Follow the instructions
you receive by return mail.

If you have questions or experience difficulties in
attempting to subscribe, please send a message to:
help@mail.h-net.msu.edu.

H-Net is an international network of scholars in the
humanities and social sciences that creates and
coordinates electronic networks, using a variety of
media, and with a common objective of advancing
humanities and social science teaching and research.
H-Net was created to provide a positive, supportive,
equalitarian public environment for the friendly
exchange of ideas and scholarly resources, and is
hosted by Michigan State University.

McGill University - Postdoctoral Fellow

McGill University - Postdoctoral Fellow, Transmission, Translation and
Transformation in Medieval Textual Cultures Research Group

Location: Quebec, Canada
Institution Type: College/University
Position Type: Post-doctoral Fellow
Submitted: Thursday, October 16th, 2008
Main Category: Medieval History
Secondary Categories: Sociology
Social and Cultural History
Religious Studies
Philosophy
Literature
Linguistics
Languages
Jewish History
Humanities
History of Science/Medicine/Technology
European History

The research group "Transmission, Translation and Transformation in
Medieval Textual Cultures" (TTT), Faculty of Arts, McGill University,
seeks applications for a two-year postdoctoral fellowship, starting August
1, 2009. We are a six-member interdisciplinary research team supported by
the Fonds québécois de la recherche sur la société et la culture
(FQRSC), and consisting in Professors Robert Wisnovsky (Islamic Studies --
Principal Investigator), Jamie Fumo (English), Carlos Fraenkel (Jewish
Studies/Philosophy), F. Jamil Ragep (Islamic Studies), Sebastian Sobecki
(English) and Faith Wallis (History). We are looking for a scholar who has
completed a doctorate in a humanistic discipline on a topic related to the
processes by which the textual cultures of medieval Judaism, Christianity,
and Islam re-shaped the legacies of Greco-Roman antiquity and the ancient
Near East. We are particularly interested in scholars who study how
cultural forms were transmitted from Antiquity to the Middle Ages or
between medieval cultures, translated (literally and metaphorically) into
the learned idiom of the recipient culture, and transformed into new
cultural productions. The responsibilities of the postdoctoral fellow will
include conducting research in his/her field of specialization, and
co-teaching a graduate research seminar on Transmission, Translation and
Transformation in Medieval Textual Cultures, with substantial
participation from each of the current members of the group and colleagues
from McGill and other Montreal universities. The postdoctoral fellow will
be given a stipend of $38,000 p.a., and provided with the use of a shared
office and a research/travel fund of $2,000 p.a. Please send a CV, a
letter detailing your doctoral work and future research plans, a sample
chapter from your dissertation, and two letters of reference (one of which
must be from your doctoral supervisor), to Prof. R. Wisnovsky, Principal
Investigator, TTT Research Group, Institute of Islamic Studies-McGill
University, 3485 McTavish Street, Montreal, Quebec H3A 1Y1, Canada. The
general requirements for postdoctoral status at McGill are outlined at
http://www.mcgill.ca/gps/postdoc/genguide/. Informal inquiries may be
directed to Prof. Wisnovsky at robert.wisnovsky@mcgill.ca. Application
deadline: December 12, 2008.

Contact Info:
Prof. R. Wisnovsky
Principal Investigator, TTT Research Group
Institute of Islamic Studies
McGill University
3485 McTavish Street
Montreal, Quebec H3A 1Y1
Canada

Website: http://www.mcgill.ca

The above information is also available on-line at:

http://www.h-net.org/jobs/display_job.php?jobID=37755

Old and Middle English Research Seminar annual conference Final CFP

This is a final call for papers for the London Old and Middle
English
Research Seminar annual conference: "Studies in the Exeter Book":
19-20
June 2009: Institute of English Studies, University of London,
Senate
House.



Some of the topics for consideration: Scriptorium; Exeter;
Palaeography;
Codicology; Patronage; Reception; History and Context; Texts;
Authorship(s); Literary Contexts; Textual Editing. Proceedings will
be
edited. Proposals (200-300 words please) to Ruth Kennedy
by 30 November 2008.

Digitized incunabula from Munich

the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft is currently funding a project
for the digitization of the incunabula of the Bayerische
Staatsbibliothek München, which comprises c. 9700 editions in more
than 20.000 copies and constitutes the largest collection world-wide
in terms of copies. It is intended to digitized one copy per edition.

Since the beginning of the project, digital images of more than 1100
incunabula have been made freely available online. The can be
accessed in several ways:

1. OPAC: http://www.bsb-muenchen.de/
Short records of all digitized incunabula have been integrated into
the Bavarian Union Catalogue (Gateway Bayern) and the local OPAC of
the BSB. However, these records do not contain the same level of
detail as the BSB's printed and electronic incunable catalogue
(BSB-Ink, see below 3). You can search for catalogue numbers in
BSB-Ink and GW via the "freie Suche"; it is recommended to place them
in inverted commas (e.g.. "BSB-Ink M-149" or "GW M19909").
The digital images can be accessed under "Weblinks" or the URL/URN.
From Gateway Bayern, the button "SFX" (in the bottem right-hand
corner) offers a connection to the full record in the online database
of BSB-Ink.

2. Digital collections:
http://www.digital-collections.de/index.html?c=kurzsammlungen&l=en
Here you find, by order of projects, lists of incunabula which have
been digitized, which can be sorted in alphabetical or chronological
order or by shelfmarks.
The current project is listed under:
Incunabula
http://mdz10.bib-bvb.de/~db/ausgaben/uni_ausgabe.html?projekt=1157526886
All incunabula digitized in other projects which have already been
completed, like "Book illustrations (woodcuts) of the 15th century",
"Early modern broadsides" (if before 1501) and the "Gutenberg-Bible",
are already accessible via BSB-Ink online.

3. BSB-Ink online: http://www.bsb-muenchen.de/Inkunabeln.181.0.html
The electronic catalogue of incunabula was converted from the printed
version, published in the Reichert-Verlag Wiesbaden in so far 6
volumes since 1988. All digitized images of incunabula are
successively integrated into this database, which contains the most
detailed descriptions (both bibliographic and copy-specific data). In
the course of the current project, iconographic data (IconClass and
keywords) are created for illustrated incunabula; these can be
searched via the function "Bildsuche".

We constantly strive to consider suggestions for improvements in the
online presentation as well as wishes for incunabula to be digitized,
inasmuch as it is feasible in the project workflow. In the current
phase of the project, primarily illustrated and German incunabula as
well as unique copies will be digitized. It is intended to continue
the project for the entire collection (in one copy per edition).

If would like to draw your special attention to the unique copy of
the "Türkenkalender" from the workshop of Johannes Gutenberg himself,
the earliest incunable in German printed in December 1454, which was
recently digizited from the original - a "Liber Eximiae Raritatis et
inter Cimelia Bibliothecae asservandus" in the words of the Bavarian
historian Andreas Felix von Oefele (1706-1780):
http://mdzx.bib-bvb.de/bsbink/Ausgabe_M-149.html

Yours sincerely,

THE AMERICAN SCHOOL OF CLASSICAL STUDIES AT ATHENS MEDIEVAL GREEK SUMMER SESSION AT THE GENNADIUS LIBRARY, SUMMER 2009

THE AMERICAN SCHOOL OF CLASSICAL STUDIES AT ATHENS
MEDIEVAL GREEK SUMMER SESSION
AT THE GENNADIUS LIBRARY, SUMMER 2009

The Gennadius Library of the American School of Classical Studies at
Athens announces the 2009 summer session focused on the teaching of
Medieval Greek.

Founded in 1881, the American School is the most significant resource in
Greece for American scholars in the fields of ancient and post-classical
studies. One of the two major research libraries of the School, the
Gennadius Library, which houses 115,000 volumes and archives, is devoted
to post-classical Hellenic civilization, and will offer a month-long
Summer Session for Medieval Greek at the Intermediate Level from June 29
to July 28, 2009. The objective is to familiarize students who have a
sound foundation in Classical Greek with Medieval Greek language and
philology by exposing them to primary sources, different kinds of literary
genres, paleography and epigraphy as well as bibliographic and electronic
tools, drawing on the resources of the Gennadius Library. The program will
also include site and museum visits. The session will have 12 members. The
two Professors leading the session are Professor Alexander Alexakis,
University of Ioannina and Professor Eustratios Papaioannou, Brown
University.

STRUCTURE

The month-long program will include daily analysis and translation of
Byzantine texts; paleography; introduction to the bibliography of
Byzantine philology and electronic resources; introduction to the
collections of the Gennadius Library; visits to area museums and libraries
including the Byzantine, the Benaki, and the Epigraphy Museums and the
National Library; visits to sites, museums, and monuments outside Athens
including Corinth , Mistra, Thessaloniki , Hosios Loukas, and Boetia; and
individual tutorial and assignments for each student determined by his/her
specific needs and field of study.

ELIGIBILITY

The program is offered at the intermediate level, and will be geared to
students enrolled in a graduate program in any field of Byzantine studies
in a North American or European university. A minimum of two years of
college level Classical Greek (or the equivalent) is required. If there
are available spots, college professors in North America or Europe who
have no access to the instruction of Medieval Greek in their home
institutions may also be considered. A diagnostic test (available
electronically) may be administered to finalists before the final
selection of students is made.

ACADEMIC CREDIT

The American School is not a degree-granting institution. No grades are
given for its programs, nor are transcripts provided. An optional final
exam at the end of the program may be provided if requested, and the
directors will write a letter to the participant's home institution, if
requested, recommending that credit be granted, provided that the student
has satisfactorily participated in the program and passed the final exam.



COSTS

The fee of $3,000 covers the costs of the month-long program in Greece,
including tuition, lodging for the entire period, domestic travel within
Greece , and museum and site fees. Lodging will be in apartments in the
vicinity of the Gennadius Library or in the area of Kolonaki.
International airfare to and from Greece , meals, and incidental expenses
are the participant's responsibility. One or two scholarships may be
available, pending funding, for the full amount of the fee, awarded on the
basis of academic merit. Rates and fees are subject to change.



APPLICATIONS

Submit application, curriculum vitae, two letters of recommendation (one
from the academic advisor and one from a Greek language teacher) online on
the ASCSA web site at www.ascsa.edu.gr. Transcripts for undergraduate and
graduate study should be submitted to:

Professor John Papadopoulos

Chair, Committee on the Gennadius Library

American School of Classical Studies at Athens

6-8 Charlton Street

Princeton , NJ 08540-5232

E-mail: application@ascsa.org

Web site: www.ascsa.edu.gr



DEADLINE: JANUARY 15, 2009.

The selection results will be announced March 15, 2009.

Language, Texts, and Gender in the Viking Diaspora Viking Identities Network IV

Call for Papers

Language, Texts, and Gender in the Viking Diaspora
Viking Identities Network IV

30-31 March 2009
University of Leicester

The Viking Age is traditionally seen as the aggressive, militaristic
expansion of a Scandinavian seafaring and warrior culture with imperialist
ambitions. The Viking Identities Network is challenging this view and
researching the implications of reconfiguring the period as a diaspora,
with subsequent effects on ethnic, religious, linguistic, cultural and
genetic identities. While the Viking ‘migrations’ were a physical
movement, with the re-settlement of people and the re-establishment of key
institutions, ‘diaspora’ can be seen as the consciousness of being
connected to people and traditions of a homeland and to migrants from the
same ethnic origin.

While the raiding warrior vikings were male, the settlements of the Viking
diaspora included women, who may have been of Scandinavian origin or from
the areas settled. This seminar aims to address the impact that the gender
relations which pertained to the various areas of Viking settlement had
upon their linguistic – and, later, textual – milieus.

Papers might address such questions as:

• To what extent is it possible to assess gender roles and gender
construction within the various contexts of the Viking diaspora?
• How might we assess the role of women in the transmission of languages
and myths during the period of Viking expansion and settlement?
• How can we account for the relatively ‘pure’ Norseness of the Icelandic
language in relation to the genetic evidence which suggests that Iceland’s
male settlers came from Scandinavia, while its female settlers came from
the British Isles?
• What part can place-names, or mythology, play in the assessment of such
matters?
• What part does gender play in later accounts of the diasporic movements?

Keynote lecture: Professor Neil Price (University of Aberdeen): ‘Bodylore:
material narratives and the gendered creation of Norse mythology’.

The symposium is open to all, and postgraduates are particularly
encouraged to offer papers or posters. We are looking for around fifteen
30-minute papers and up to five posters. To facilitate discussion,
preprints will be made available on the internet in advance, and the
overall number of participants will be limited to around 30.

There will be no conference fee, and lunch and refreshments will be
provided free of charge for all participants who choose to stay in campus
accommodation. Accommodation and evening meals will be available to
participants at a cost to be confirmed shortly.

Please send an abstract (no more than 300 words) by e-mail to Jayne
Carroll (jc237@le.ac.uk) no later than December 19th 2008.

Jayne Carroll, University of Leicester
Judith Jesch and Christina Lee, University of Nottingham
Christopher Callow, University of Birmingham
http://vin.nottingham.ac.uk

Commentary on the Nicene Creed

I've placed the English translation by Alphonse Mingana of Theodore
of Mopsuestia's "Commentary on the Nicene Creed" online here:

http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/theodore_of_mopsuestia_nicene_02_tex
t.htm

Introduction here:

http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/theodore_of_mopsuestia_nicene_01_int
ro.htm

The text above is public domain: please copy freely. It now forms
part of my collection of public domain patristic texts available here:

http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/

For those who would like to support the work of the site, you can buy
a CDROM of the translations from here:

http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/all_the_fathers_on_cd.htm

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Old Irish summer schools, Mary Immaculate College, Limerick

Mary Immaculate College, University of Limerick, will offer Summer Schools in
Old Irish, June–July 2009. The aim of the summer schools is to provide help to
students who wish to improve their knowledge of Old Irish but who are not in a
position to sign up for full-year courses. The dates are fixed to facilitate
students wishing to attend the Third International Táin Conference at Coleraine
(22nd-25th June 2009) and the Irish Conference of Medievalists (27th-30th June)
in Limerick.

Each course involves sixty hours’ contact time, spread over ten days, and
there are three levels: Beginners, Intermediate, and Advanced. Students choosing
the Intermediate and Advanced options will be asked to take a short test at the
beginning of the course so as to identify the best stream for their needs.

Beginners Course: 8–18th June 2009. This course is for those students with
little or no previous knowledge of Old Irish and gives the basic grammatical
structure of the language and some essential vocabulary. It will also provide
students with the opportunity of translating a variety of Old Irish texts,
concentrating on those that have historical implications.

Intermediate and Advanced: 6–17th July 2008. The Intermediate course will
cover the second half of Quin’s Old Irish Workbook and will also involve
reading the law-text Uraicecht na Ríar, which deals with the status and
functions of the filid or learned poets in Early Ireland. The Advanced course
will cover an introduction to Middle Irish grammar as well as reading extracts
from a variety of Old and Middle Irish texts such as Bethu Phádraig, Fingal
Ronáín, and Críth Gablach.

The cost of a course in Old Irish is €300 (£210 sterling; $500 Aus). The 2009
offerings will appear on the website in the course of November. In the interim,
queries can be addressed via e-mail to Catherine Swift
(Catherine.Swift@...; http://irishmedievalists.com). A video with
interviews from past students of the courses is available on the website.

Medieval News

War crime? Battle of Agincourt was our finest hour, says author Bernard Cornwell

Medieval relic to be displayed in region


Medieval Age structures in Bangladesh fading away due to neglect


The Vikings' burning question: some decent graveside theatre

and

Excavated burials reveal the Viking world-view


Vikings preferred male grooming to pillaging

Swedish archaeologists find Iron Age wooden artifacts

Does ring found in field date back to Norman conquest?

Saturday, November 1, 2008