XXIV Finnish Symposium on Late Antiquity
Slavery in Late Antiquity

Sorry for potential cross-posting - 2nd call - deadline for abstracts May 2nd

Tvärminne, Finland
11–12 November, 2016

The multidisciplinary Finnish Symposium on Late Antiquity will be  
organized on 11–12 November 2016. The symposium brings together  
scholars and postgraduate students of Late Antiquity from a variety of  
universities and academic disciplines.

The theme of this year’s symposium is Slavery in Late Antiquity.  
Research on slavery in the late Roman Empire and in the post-Roman  
kingdoms has been expanding and evolving in the recent decades. The  
theme will be approached from a wide perspective, including social,  
economic, political, legal, ideological and religious levels. We  
welcome papers that discuss slavery from the point of view of  
landowning, local differences, changes in rural and urban settings,  
alterations in ideas and attitudes, and modifications in status and  
everyday life. Papers that analyse scholarly approaches to late  
antique slavery are also welcome.

Please send a short abstract of 250–300 words along with your name,  
institution, e-mail and title by 2nd May 2016 to Dr. Ville Vuolanto:  
ville.vuolanto(at)uta.fi. Applicants will be informed by 1st June 2016  
whether they have been accepted. 20 minutes is reserved for each  
presentation, plus 10 minutes for discussion.

***

The keynote speakers of the symposium are:

Chris De Wet: Emancipating the Spirit: Late Ancient Slavery in/and the  
Religious Thought of Eunomius and Basil of Caesarea. Prof. De Wet (New  
Testament and Early Christian Studies, University of South Africa), is  
specialist of slavery in early Christianity and early Christian Greek  
and Latin literature, especially John Chrystostom. His next book The  
Unbound God: Slavery and the Making of Early Christian Theology will  
be published this year.

Marianne Bjelland Kartzow: The Paradox of Slavery in Early Christian  
Discourse: An Intersectional Approach. Prof. Kartzow (New Testament  
Studies at the University of Oslo) has worked with theories of gossip  
and other types of oral communication in the ancient world, and  
written books and articles related to gender and slavery in early  
Christian texts.

Marja Vierros: Slaves in the Sixth Century Palestine in the Light of  
Papyrological Evidence.
Dr Vierros (Classics, University of Helsinki) is specialist of Greek  
papyrology and linguistics. She is author of Bilingual Notaries in  
Hellenistic Egypt. A Study of Greek as a Second Language (2012) and  
has been involved in publishing the Byzantine papyrus dossier found in  
Petra, Jordan.

***

The symposium is free, but the number of participants we can take is  
limited. It will be organized at the Tvärminne Zoological Station on  
the southern coast of Finland. We offer transportation from Helsinki  
to Tvärminne and the return journey, as well as accommodation (one  
night) and meals in Tvärminne. However, we are not able to cover any  
travel costs to or accommodation in Helsinki. Registration for the  
symposium starts on 1 October and closes on 26 October 2016.

The symposium is organised by
Maijastina Kahlos, University of Helsinki,
Ulla Tervahauta, University of Helsinki and
Ville Vuolanto, University of Tampere / University of Oslo.

Internet pages of the symposium are to be found here:  
http://www.helsinki.fi/worldcultures/fsla/papers.html.

The Symposium is funded by the Centre of Excellence “Reason and  
Religious Recognition”, Faculty of Theology; Jaakko Frösen Fund; and  
Department of World Cultures, Faculty of Humanities, University of  
Helsinki.

The Week's Headlines!

A Nice Bit on the Librarians of Timbuktu!


A Saxon burial in Wiltshire


Another bit on the Bosnian Sphere


Some Speculation on Why Vikings went A-Viking


Possible Third Norse Site in Newfoundland


Staffordshire Hoard Exhibit on the Road


Reconstructing Climate at Norse Sites in Greenland


The Coins of Aethelred II


More Digging at Holystone 


10th Century Bulgarian Church Discovered (and some 13th c. coins attesting to the Tartars)

COMMITTEE FOR THE STUDY OF LATE ANTIQUITY CONFERENCE

FRAMING THE LATE ANTIQUE AND EARLY 

MEDIEVAL ECONOMY

FLAME

APRIL 29-30, 2016 (EAST PYNE 010)

AN ADDITIONAL WORKSHOP WILL TAKE PLACE ON MAY 1, 2016 (DICKINSON HALL 211)

For further information visit coinage.princeton.edu

Florin Curta, Merle Eisenberg, Andrei Gandila, Stefan Heidemann, Richard Hobbs, Marek Jankowiak, Jonathan Jarrett, Tommi Lankila, Lee Mordechai, Cecile Morrisson, Rory Naismith, Vivien Prigent, Jane Sancinito, Peter Sarris, Alejandro G. Sinner, Alan Stahl, Paolo Tedesco, Jan Van Doren, Luca Zavagno, Ruth Pliego

Cosponsored by:

Department of Rare Books and Special Collections Firestone Library, Center for Collaborative History, Department of History, Sharmin and Bijan Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Iran and Persian Gulf Studies, PIIRS (Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies), Seeger Center for Hellenic Studies with the support of the Stanley J. Seeger Hellenic Fund, Program in the Ancient World, Graduate School, Department of Art and Archaeology, Program in Medieval Studies, Center for Digital Humanities

 think this list is an excellent audience to properly present our research project in progress, Arnau DB. Digital corpus on Arnau de Vilanova. You are invited to visit our website < http://grupsderecerca.uab.cat/arnau/en >, where you will find:

• A rigorous up-to-date view of the figure and works of the physician and religious reformer Arnau de Vilanova (Arnold of Villanova, Arnaldus de Villanova), in contrast to the distorted perception that is still all too common today even in academy.
• Access to the databases that our team is developing on 1) The works attributed to Arnau, both authentic and apochryphal (medical, religious and alchimical), more than 300 titles including translations and different versions, 2) the manuscripts transmitting these works (c. 900 mss. so far recorded), 3) the early modern editions of Arnau's or Pseud-Arnau's works (more than 200 so far recorded, 4) the archive documents related to Arnau's biography, and 5) the secondary literature referring to Arnau de Vilanova and to his corpus (more than 1100 references). By now only databases 1 (works) and 5 (bibliography) are open to any visitor, while we are finishing the others.
• news about the research on Arnau de Vilanova.

We hope it will be useful to you,

Sebastià Giralt
Professor agregat
Departament de Ciències de l'Antiguitat i l'Edat Mitjana
Filologia llatina

Edifici B, Campus de la UAB  08193 Bellaterra (Cerdanyola del Vallès) 

Please pass this message along to graduate students in your department. The Vagantes Conference on Medieval Studies is now accepting applications for our 2018 host institution. The conference is an itinerant, interdisciplinary graduate student conference focusing on the Middle Ages, and is entirely organized and run by graduate students. Vagantes in a unique opportunity to showcase the Medieval Studies community at your institution, as well as to gain valuable professional development experience in planning and organizing the event, and to meet and interact with top medievalist graduate students. Applications can be found on the conference website, athttp://vagantesconference.org/hosting-vagantes/. Please submit any questions and completed applications to Kyle G. Sweeney [kgsweene@rice.edu] by 4 May 2016. The 2018 host will be selected at the Vagantes Board Meeting at Kalamazoo.

Sincerely,

The Vagantes Board of Directors

Australian Association for Byzantine Studies 19th Conference, 24-26 February
2017, Monash University, Melbourne http://www.aabs.org.au/conferences/dreams-memory-and-imagination-in-byzantium/ In the last two decades, the role of dreams, memory and the imagination in
the ancient world and its cultural productions have come to receive
increased attention, along with the importance of emotions in the
Greco-Roman and medieval worlds. This conference will focus on the ways that
the Byzantine imagination shaped its dreams and memories from the fourth to
fifteenth centuries and the many ways in which these were recorded in the
Byzantine world, in its historiography, literature, religion, art and
architecture. Professor Derek Krueger of Greensboro University, North Carolina, will be
our guest speaker at this international conference. We welcome papers on any aspect of the topic, including reception studies.
The deadline for the first call for papers is 31st July 2016. Two student
bursaries will be offered to HDR students who present papers. Further information will be available on the web site or from the Convenor,
Dr Eva Anagnostou-Laoutides, at eva.anagnostoulaoutides@monash.edu, or for
general enquiries conference@aabs.org.au. Andrew Stephenson
Treasurer
Australian Association for Byzantine Studies
http://www.aabs.org.au/

The University of Rochester, in cooperation with the University of St.
Andrews, Scotland, will sponsor a two-day conference (9-10 May 2016) on Older
Scots Literature and Culture. Seventeen scholars, from the UK, EU, Canada and
the US, will present cutting-edge research in a series of plenary panels. The
event is open to all, from specialists to those in the general public who
simply love Scots poetry and culture. The program and instructions on how to
take part in the proceedings are available at the conference website:
http://olderscots.weebly.com/ . For further information, get in touch with
Tom Hahn (thomas.hahn@rochester.edu ) or Rhiannon Purdie (rp6@st-
andrews.ac.uk ).

The fourth annual conference of the International Society for Late Antique Literary Studies (ISLALS) will convene on the campuses of Bryn Mawr College and Haverford College on October 21–22, 2016. The organizers for this year’s conference, in despair of capturing under a single rubric all the exciting new work being done in late antique literary studies, issue an open call for all papers on late antique literature qua literature. Close analyses of a single textual moment in poetry or prose; sweeping surveys of author, genre, image, or trope; precise detective work on a long nettlesome crux; and paradigm-shifting theoretical diatribe are all encouraged.  

If you would like to participate, please send a brief abstract of your paper via email attachment to Bret Mulligan (bmulliga@haverford.edu) by June 15, 2016. Papers should run no longer than thirty minutes. Also welcome are abstracts for shorter papers and proposals for other forms of scholarly presentations (panels, lightning talks, posters, etc.).

ISLALS requires no dues and there is no registration fee for the conference. ISLALS will provide transportation, refreshments, breakfast, and lunch during the conference. A closing banquet for all conference participants will round out this year’s gathering. Expenses for lodging and travel to and from the conference will be the responsibility of participants. The organizers will help participants secure lodging on campus (limited) or at nearby hotels.

Bryn Mawr College and Haverford College are located ten miles from downtown Philadelphia. Additional information about the conference can be found at: iris.haverford.edu/islals2016

Please send queries about conference particulars to Bret Mulligan at bmulliga@haverford.edu. General queries about ISLALS may be sent to any member of the steering committee: smcgill@rice.edu, Joseph_Pucci@brown.edu, dbright@emory.edu.

News of the Medieval!

More on the Wallington Hoard This Week


An NPR piece on the Medieval Roots of the Mod Univ


Reading Dante in the 21st Century


That Shakespeare Folio found on the Isle of Bute


Also in Shakespeare news, the Curtain Theatre to be "dug up"


In Medieval Asia, a 1500 year old Mongolian Mummy


The "found" Scottish village from a couple weeks ago may still be lost.....


A Medieval Arabic Chess Piece found in Wallingford


Skeletons, some Anglo-Saxon, discovered at Hildersham


Five Medieval Documents rediscovered in Berkshire


Grand Ages-Medieval Strategy Game Released--have not yet played


Tremulous Hand's tremor diagnosed--subscription needed though


Franciscan Convent dating from Medieval Period opens doors to refugees


Community Dig in Lincoln Unearths Medieval artefacts

Digital Scholarly Editions as Interfaces

'd like to remind you that the deadline for submissions for „Digital Scholarly Editions as Interfaces“ – a two days symposium at the Centre for Information Modelling at Graz University (23.-24.9.2016) – is approaching. The symposium will explore the role of digital scholarly editions as interfaces between humans, machines and manuscripts from different perspectives (editors, users of editions, interface designers, developers etc). Keynotes speakers are Dot Porter (Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, Univ. of Pennsylvania) and Stan Ruecker (Institute of Design at Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago). For more information see the call for papers:https://informationsmodellierung.uni-graz.at/de/aktuelles/digital-scholarly-editions-as-interfaces/

We invite you to submit proposals for a talk (20 minutes; < 700 words) until April 17, 2016 to dixit(at)uni-graz.at.

Call for Papers MEMSA CONFERENCE 14-15 JULY 2016 

MEMSA is pleased to announce its tenth annual conference on the theme of Identifying Identity: Ideas of Personal and Public Identity in the Medieval and Early Modern World. 

This interdisciplinary conference will invite postgraduate and early career researchers to speak on all aspects of identity. We welcome papers from all disciplines studying identity in the medieval and early modern world. Identity is an increasingly important subject in academic research that transcends interdisciplinary boundaries. Identity and the methodologies we use to find and communicate evidence of identity in literary, historical, archaeological and other sources are relevant to both our own lives today, as well as the medieval and early modern world we study. 

Suggestions for topics include, but are not limited to:  Performed identities  Transnational identity and conflict  National and local, macro and micro-identities  Ownership, artistry and patronage in private and public buildings  Mistaken identity and deception  Authorship and attributions in texts  Gender and sexual identities  Imagined community  Urban and rural identities  Identification with literary figures  Medieval and early modern ideas of the self  Religious identities  Kinship, community and neighbourhood  Expressions of identity in ego-documents 

In addition to the panels the conference will include two key note lectures by Prof Andrew Beresford (Durham University) and Dr Fiona Edmonds (University of Cambridge) and opportunities for delegates to visit Durham Cathedral and Castle. The conference fee will be £10, which will cover costs for refreshments and lunch. 

Papers should be 15-20 minutes long and will be followed by time for questions and discussion. Abstracts of 200-300 words can be sent to imrs.memsa@durham.ac.uk. The deadline for the submission of abstracts is 10 April 2016.

For more information and updates, visit dur.ac.uk/imems/memsa, our blog durhammemsa.wordpress.com, and follow us on twitter @DurhamMEMSA

Midwest Medieval History Conference

Call for Papers

October 21 and 22, 2016

Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, TN

Keynote speaker: Thomas Burman, PhD.

The Midwest Medieval History Conference is seeking papers for its annual conference. We welcome papers addressing any aspect of the Middle Ages, particularly papers on this year’s topic, the Medieval Mediterranean. Graduate student papers are welcome for the Friday afternoon sessions, which are dedicated to graduate student research. We also invite papers on the scholarship of learning and on practical approaches to teaching.

Submission deadline: June 15, 2016.

Submit abstracts for paper proposals to Paula Rieder at paula.rieder@sru.edu

The Viking Age was a period of profound changes and global impact: from the expansion across the Atlantic to the extension of trade routes to the east. It is fair to say that England was forged in response to Viking activity and even today ‘Vikings’ seem to elicit much response in popular culture. In a year that sees the anniversary of the first Scandinavian king on the English throne in 1016 and the 950th anniversary of the Norman Conquest it seems pertinent to look at the Viking World in all its different facets. We are therefore very pleased to announce the conference programme for 'The Viking World: Diversity and Change' which will take place at Nottingham from 27th June to 2nd July 2016:
https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/conference/fac-arts/english/viking-world/documents/viking-world-2016-timetable-final.pdf

 Papers cover a range of topics and disciplines: from the Eastern expansion to North Atlantic colonies, language, place-names and literature, archaeology, runology, mythology and modern perceptions.

Please visit the Conference website at: https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/conference/fac-arts/english/viking-world/index.aspx

Medieval in This Week's News

James Robinson has died--Medievalists would know him as the editor and translator of the Nag Hammadi Library


Another Bit on the new North American Viking site--also advertising for a BBC documentary to air tomorrow, April 4 for those who have access.


Bones of St. Erik that have been in the news of late are likely authentic


A reconsideration of King John


Dig at Lochore in Fife shows habitation in early medieval period


A metal "rope" found in 2014 now thought to have been a monastic flagellant


The Search for Henry I Begins


Kashmir has first female leader since medieval period 


Medieval Kitchen Uncovered at Bury St. Edmunds


Medieval Castle to host St. George's Day Celebrations at Dudley


Medieval Wall Painting in Suffolk Vandalized


A Feature on St. Martin's in Colchester


Movie To Be Done in Old Norwegian


Archaeology at Chateau de Clissons

TEMA CFP

Proposals on all topics in medieval studies are invited for TEMA 2016. Abstracts of individual papers and sets of abstracts for full sessions are equally welcome.

We especially hope to attract papers and panels contributing to the 2016 conference theme: in shorthand, –form–, but invoking any word sharing this root. The numerous –form– terms, though divergent in meaning, all pertain to organization, configuration, or structured relations. Virtually any topic in any discipline can be viewed through its engagement with these concepts. Those who wish to connect to the conference theme may seek intersections of their areas of interest with ideas of transformation, information, conformity/non-conformity, performance, formulation, reformation, or any other component of the far-reaching –form– network.

Papers may be delivered in English or Spanish. If the presentation language will be Spanish, please specify this. Send abstracts (in English) of approximately 200 words to Britt Mize (bmize@tamu.edu) no later than August 1, 2016. Early submission is encouraged: rolling acceptance will begin on May 31, 2016, and space may become limited after this date. Among proposals for full sessions, those including participants from more than one institution will be given priority. A prize will be awarded for the best paper by a graduate student (learn more).

Defining Paganism: Processes of Christianisation in the Early Middle Ages – A workshop

The Franks Casket (front) © British Museum

13 May 2016 |14.00-18.00 |University of Utrecht, Drift 6 room 0.07

This workshop discusses the processes of Christianisation in the Early Middle Ages. The focus shall be on concepts of ‘paganism’ as employed in these processes. This should provide a basis to discuss what can be known about ‘pagan religions’ in this period in order to develop further methodological and theoretical reflexions on the topic.

Each participant will give a short presentation (max. 20 minutes) based on his or her own research. Scholars of different levels will contribute to the workshop – from senior researchers to master students. Plenty of time will be reserved for debate, as it is the aim of this workshop to exchange perspectives. The workshop is open to all.

To stimulate debate the following reading material is recommended:
James Palmer, ‘Defining Paganism in the Carolingian  World’, Early Medieval Europe, 15, 4 (2007), 402–425.
Please access this  title in your local library or, if unavailable, write to e.pereirafarrell@uu.nl.

The Golden disc from Limons
© Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale

PROGRAMME (Workshop_Paganism_PDF):

14:00-14:20  ‘Christianity and paganism: some preliminary thoughts’, Rob Meens (UU)

14:20-14:40   ‘Who are the pagans? Religious problems and Christian idealisations in  Adam of Bremen’s Gesta Hammaburgensis’, Lukas Grzybowski (USP; FAPESP)

14:40-15:00   ‘Regulating “Paganism” in the Penitentials?’, Elaine Pereira Farrell (IRC; UU; UCD)

15:00-15:30   Master Students’ presentations (UU): Nina Crowther, Birgit ter Horst, Annemarie Veenstra

15:30-15:50    Discussions

15:50-16:10    Coffee Break

16:10-16:30   ‘Some perspectives on reconstructing the pre-Christian religion of the Frisians’,  Han Nijdam (Fryske Akademie)

16:30-16:50   ‘More questions than answers: the (lack of) evidence for religion in Merovingian archaeology’, Martine van Haperen (UL)

16:50-17:10   ‘Why early medieval prognostics are no “pagan relics”’, Carine van Rhijn (UU)

17:10-17:30    Discussions

17:30-18:00    Final Remarks, Roy Flechner (UCD) & Marco Mostert (UU)