CfP: Dissolving Kinship in the Early Middle Ages, ca. AD 400-1000

The University of York, 1-2 June 2023

Confirmed external participants: Catherine Cubitt (UEA); Erin Dailey (Leicester), Rachel Stone (Bedfordshire & KCL),

Kinship is often treated as a social phenomenon that binds people together permanently through the creation of mutual ties, obligations, and emotions between individuals. Over the last decades, work on family and kinship in the early Middle Ages has addressed the basis of this claim through considering two key issues: i) how new types of kinship ties emerged in the early Middle Ages; ii) how far early-medieval kinship was derived from spiritual or blood ties. 

However, kinship can also be used to separate as much as bring together, and kinship ties were not always as permanent as might be inferred. The moments where kinship ties were considered to cease offer us the opportunity to investigate how these conceptual differences might shape or be expressed in social behaviour. By considering the extent to which moments of imposed (or initiated) separation can be considered dissolvement of kinship ties, our workshop addresses two related issues.

First, our workshop seeks to investigate how such separations occurred, and by whom they were acknowledged. Second, it seeks to establish comparable factors that can be extended to kinship ties in early-medieval European and Mediterranean societies that did not necessarily share the same ideological underpinning of family, systems of enforcement, or agreement on which ties were intra- or extra-familial.

Throughout the event and during a final roundtable discussion, we hope to interrogate the extent to which revealing the processes through which kinship may have been dissolved can improve our understanding of how kinship ties were created and sustained in the first place.

Proposals for 30-minute papers are invited from late-stage postgraduates and ECRs. We suggest a few suggested moments to stimulate but not limit the scope of enquiry:

The status of hostages and their familial dependents; their status and reception on return

The treatment of absent or missing relatives and their partners and dependents

The negotiation of familial ties between relatives of differing free/unfree statuses

The treatment of imprisoned, convicted or executed relatives and their dependents

Remarriage, adoption, and other methods to restore familial relationships

Adultery, assault and other (non-legal) modes of instigating separation

Concubinage, fosterage and other modes of quasi-familial status

Familial ties across ethnic, racial or religious divisions

(In)consistent alienation of specific familial rights or duties within separations

Due to the generosity of the Past & Present Society and the Department of History, University of York, accepted speakers who wish to present in person will receive at least a 150-pound bursary towards travel and accommodation. We also welcome applications for virtual presentations.

Please send ca. 300 word abstracts and a brief bio to both organisers, Dr Alex Traves (alex.traves@york.ac.uk) and Dr Becca Grose (becca.grose@york.ac.uk), by 7 April 2023.

 

Call for Papers – CEMS Graduate Conference 2023, 30-31 May (Center for Eastern Mediterranean Studies, Central European University, Vienna)

by Osman Kocabal

 

 

Center for Eastern Mediterranean Studies, Central European University, Vienna

 

Call for Papers – CEMS Graduate Conference 2023, 30-31 May (Center for Eastern Mediterranean Studies, Central European University, Vienna)

 

Keynote Speaker: Nükhet Varlık (Rutgers University, Newark)

 

Humans and Nature in the Mediterranean Landscape 

 

The consequences of global warming, pandemics, and ecological catastrophes serve as painful reminders of the contingency of human history on its natural environment. These issues have provided a forceful impetus to the study of history with environmental considerations in mind, leading to what scholars coined as an ecological turn. Since Fernand Braudel, several conceptualizations of the Mediterranean and its surroundings as a subject of historical research emphasized how common patterns of climate, geography, flora, and fauna give rise to shared models of ecology, agriculture, and social organization. Subsequently, environmental history, as well as various approaches centering on the environment in several other disciplines, inspired scholars working on a broad range of topics related to the history of the Mediterranean and led to the emergence of various perspectives on the problems of nature, landscape, sustainability, environment, and ecology.  

 

We would like to highlight chase the broad variety of approaches to these topics and to show that themes of nature, environment, and ecology are not only a concern of environmental historians, but they could serve as shared spaces of encounter between scholars arriving from an array of backgrounds and disciplines. To this end, we would like to encourage the application of any participants whose interest relates to these fields, even if they don’t consider themselves “environmental historians proper.” Also, we hope to grope toward a conceptualization of the relations between humans and nature, which complements the agricultural and rural focus of the discipline with a thematization of urban landscapes and spaces as parts of ecologies.  

 

We welcome the application of scholars working on but not limited to Anthropology, Archeology, Art History, Classics, Environmental Science and History, Gender Studies, History, Languages and Literatures, Medieval Studies, Early Modern Studies, Philosophy, Religion, and Theology. We hope that this lax interpretation of the boundaries of environmental history will engender new avenues of dialogues on past ecologies that would help participants and audiences think anew and appreciate the diversity of environments and their historical representations in the context of Mediterranean history.  

 

We welcome any topics related but not limited to the following themes and disciplines: 

 

• Climate, climate change and natural catastrophes
• Botanical and meteorological history
• History of ecologies and landscapes 
• Landscapes and ecologies as cultural heritage
• Folklores, religions, belief systems and the natural world
• History of sacred spaces and their heritage
• History of agriculture, resource management and sustainability
• History of public health
• History of pandemics and plagues
• Animal history and human-animal relations
• Representations of ecologies, nature, landscapes, animals and pandemics in art, architecture literature.
• History of cosmologies, natural sciences and natural philosophies
• Everyday lives and nature
• History of urban and rural landscapes
• History of things, material history
• History of commerce, trades and industry
• Geo-politics

 

Submit your proposals at cemsconference@ceu.edu by 10. 04. 2023.

Limited funding is available for travel and accommodation

 Please see the attached call for submissions for vol. 14, issue 2 of the St. Nersess Theological Review.

The next issue invites submissions of original research articles relevant to Armenian theology and the Armenian Church in the “long eighth century,” the period of Armenian history between the Arab conquest and the reemergence of independent Armenian kingdoms in the ninth century. Articles with an interest in ecumenical relations between the Armenian, Syriac, and Byzantine churches are very welcome. 

Further inquiries can be directed to Dr. Christopher Sheklian, Editor of SNTR, at sntr@stnersess.edu. The submission deadline is June 1, 20

 Another fascinating conference of note:

https://www.afterconstantine.com/post/easter-in-late-antiquity-and-the-middle-ages-abstract-booklet

The After Constantine Journal, Medievalists.net, and the Orthodox Academy of Crete are inviting you to attend the conference Easter in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, which will take place on Zoom and YouTube on April 1st, 2023.

This conference will examine how Easter was celebrated and viewed from Late Antiquity throughout the medieval period. Every year this would be a high point of the Christian life, and late antique and medieval people were keenly interested in many aspects of this event.

 

CFP International Conference: Emerging Historical Perspectives on Christian-Muslim Interactions in and around the Mediterranean (c. 630–1614)

by James Wilson

 

CFP International Conference: Emerging Historical Perspectives on Christian-Muslim Interactions in and around the Mediterranean (c. 630–1614)

 

Konstanz, 21–23 March 2024 (hybrid format)

 

Conference organisers: Hossameldin Ali, Eric Böhme, Alejandro Peláez Martín, James Wilson (University of Konstanz)

 

From the beginning of the Arab-Islamic expansion in the early seventh century, Muslim and Christian communities interacted daily for sustained periods in several different geographical areas, from Iberia to Sicily, southern Italy and the Near East. In the last three decades, a new wave of revisionist and interdisciplinary methodologies, ranging from gender and global history to medievalism and the history of emotions, have broadened our epistemological horizons, creating innovative avenues of enquiry that provide new ways of thinking about the historical roots of Christian-Muslim relations. However, despite recent methodological advances and the various ways in which they enhance our understanding of the pre-modern Mediterranean (c. 630–1614), few conferences have attempted to apply these new approaches in a trans-Mediterranean context. By exploring the complex and much-studied topic of Christian-Muslim relations through the changing lens of methodologies, this conference aims to foster an interdisciplinary debate that, through comparison and collaboration between scholars from different fields, bridges rigid geographical and temporal frameworks. Early career scholars and all others interested in participating are thus invited to help demonstrate the historical value of new or nuanced methodologies by applying them to specific case studies (to be presented in c. 20–25 min papers). The conference has three main themes:

• Innovative approaches to the source material
• Revised, new, experimental methodologies
• Macro-historical perspectives

 

1. Select list of possible methodologies

i) Sources

Material culture	The study of space, place and cartography
Vernacular literature, poetry, liturgy, songs & music	Climate change and environmental history
Bilingual manuscripts and codicology (Judeo-Arabic, Aljamiado, Coptic, Syriac etc.)	Human body/medical history
Legal traditions

 

ii) Methodologies

Gender history	Manuscript studies, codicology
Medievalism, post-colonial studies, translation studies	Legal frameworks (charters, laws, treaties, court cases etc.)
Questioning the value of ‘eye-witness’ testimonies	Historiographical approaches and the role of authorial ‘agency’
Digital humanities (large scale analysis of text)	Emotions
Ceremonial interactions and rituals	Trade and economic history
Prosopography

 

iii) Macro-historical perspectives

Comparative approaches – across regions or temporalities	Legal sources & theories
Network analysis	Micro-historical Quellenkritik
Diplomacy and international relations	Frontier theory
Transregional / Mediterranean / Global history

 

1. Potential topics for discussion

Please apply one or more of the above approaches to one or more of the topics outlined below. Any other combinations of approaches and topics are highly welcomed as well.

 

Q1 – Christian-Muslim relations during periods of transition or crisis

• To what extent are periods of transition or crisis discernible in the source materials and how might they have influenced Christian-Muslim ties?
• Did some crises / transitions increase or reduce tensions more than others? Were they a cause for renewed attention to historical episodes of conflict or oppression?
• Were there standardised practices or mechanisms for negotiating periods of crisis/transition, or did these alterations produce new modes of communication or collaboration?
• What were the linguistic, cultural and ceremonial practicalities of cross-cultural contact following periods of rupture? Did written material need to be translated, or provided in multiple languages, who translated it and how?

 

Q2 – Christian-Muslim relations during periods of stability

• Did periods of sustained contact facilitate new forms of communication, trade, settlement or political and military cooperation?
• Did behaviour around sites of devotional significance and shared sacred spaces change as a result to sustained periods of Christian-Muslim cohabitation? How did this compare to sites of strategic importance?
• Did periods of stability necessitate multi-cultural courts and shared mechanisms of legitimisation or diplomacy?
• Why was emphasis placed on translating scientific, medical and philosophical knowledge at the expense of historical writings? What does this suggest about the nature of Muslim-Christian contact in the Mediterranean? Was there any regional variation in this seemingly trans Mediterranean trend?

 

Q3 – The variation or preservation of political, legal, ceremonial or cultural norms in different geographical, topographical or temporal contexts

• Were there variations in attitudes towards Christian-Muslim interactions in rural and urban communities?
• What were the similarities and differences between Christians living under Muslim rule and Muslims living under Christian rule for sustained periods? Were any differences linked to local factors?
• How aware were communities of the customs of Christian-Muslim interactions in other geographical regions in the Mediterranean? How was this knowledge acquired?

 

1. Further details about the conference

The conference will take place at the University of Konstanz from 21–23 March 2024. The organisers plan to cover the full accommodation and travel costs (EU and UK) of all active participants. However, this is dependent upon securing sufficient funding. A publication of the conference proceedings is envisaged as well. Scholars interested in participating actively as speakers are invited to submit an abstract (about 250–500 words) as well as a short bio (about 150–250 words) to emerging-historical-perspectives@uni-konstanz.de by 31 March, 2023. Any inquiries about the conference and the modalities of participation can also be directed to this address.

 

Call for Participants-GSA Seminar: Premodern Representations of Race (800–1700) and their Reception in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries [sponsored by the Medieval and Early Modern German Studies Network] (GSA Conference, Oct. 2023, Montreal)

by Annegret Oehme

The past decade has seen an expanding turn to Critical Race Studies within medieval studies, highlighting the importance of the concept through the context of what has been traditionally considered a time “before race.” While German Studies has not produced a similarly broad body of scholarship as French and English Studies, there has been sustained interest in critical race studies. This interest has led to a more prominent positioning of applying and revising the findings of CRS to our field (see the recent special issue of the German Quarterly on Black German Studies). It is essential to examine this discourse's long history and roots. In the seminar, we will look at representations of race in premodern primary sources. The reception of this material and its impact on the formation of German studies in the 18th and 19th centuries are of further importance. We hope this seminar can foster a dialogue beyond the GSA by bringing together scholars working on the topic in various disciplines to establish an interdisciplinary network spanning literature, history, religion, art history, and more.

Format: Each participant will draft a 1000–1200-word discussion paper focusing on a specific case /question (papers due August 15th), which will then be pre-circulated together with two scholarly articles.

Please submit an abstract (500 words max) and a short biography (300 words max) through the GSA OpenWater platform by March 2, 2023. Please note that all participants must be members of the GSA at the time of submission. Please contact Tina Boyer (boyertm@wfu.edu) and Annegret Oehme (oehme@uw.edu) with any questions about this seminar.

 

CFP: Politische Lyrik in Europa vom 12. bis zum 15. Jahrhundert (Universität Freiburg, Schweiz)

by Cornelia Herberichs

Freiburger Colloquium 2023

Mediävistisches Institut, Universität Freiburg (Schweiz)

vom 06.–08. September 2023

 

Politische Lyrik in Europa vom 12. bis zum 15. Jahrhundert

Zu Beginn des zweiten Buches von ,De vulgari eloquentia‘ behandelt Dante die Frage, welche Themen es verdienen, von den besten Dichtern in der ehrwürdigen Volkssprache behandelt zu werden, und nennt als die drei wichtigsten (magnalia): salus videlicet, venus et virtus (II ii 8),  was meint: Waffentauglichkeit (armorum probitas), Leidenschaft der Liebe (amoris accensio) und Rechtschaffenheit des Willens (directio voluntatis). Diese Themenaufzählung – Waffenkampf-, Liebes- sowie moralisch-didaktische Dichtung – schliesst also unter anderem die Gattung der politischen Lyrik aus, obgleich diese in Dantes Heimatland Italien durchaus sehr verbreitet war und gepflegt wurde. Der Grund für diese Aussparung mag wohl darin liegen, dass in den Augen des florentinischen Poeten politische Dichtung eine hybride Gattung darstellt, sei es, weil in ihr sowohl moralische als auch gesellschaftliche sowie militärische Themen zusammenfliessen, sei es, weil politische Lyrik zuweilen in der Form fiktiver oder allegorisch verbrämter Liebeslieder daherkommt und damit als eine Variante oder Untergattung der erotischen Lyrik zu klassifizieren ist. Für Dante müssen die magnalia von den besten Dichtern jeweils in ihrer reinen Form oder aber anhand von Themen behandelt werden, die sich direkt und unmittelbar aus ihnen ableiten (Dve II iv 9); in die politische Dichtung hingegen bricht eine Dimension des Unvorhersehbaren und Zufälligen ein. Insofern sich letztere zumeist auf bestimmte historische Ereignisse bezieht, ist sie parteiisch und verfolgt – indem sie ermahnend, persuasiv, propagierend oder diffamierend ist – pragmatische Ziele.  

Obwohl die in ,De vulgari eloquentia‘ angestellten Reflexionen zu den magnalia sich nur bedingt anderen literarischen Traditionen als der italienischen Lyrik zuordnen lassen, vermögen sie dennoch, das Feld der politischen Dichtung insgesamt einzugrenzen und zu charakterisieren. Auf dieser Grundlage und um komparatistische Diskussionen anzustossen, will das Freiburger Colloquium europäische Traditionen politischer Dichtung erforschen und lädt Expertinnen und Experten ein, die sich mit lyrischen Traditionen verschiedener mittelalterlicher Literaturen und geographischer Räume (zwischen Island und dem Kaukasus) befassen. Im Fokus steht der Zeitraum zwischen dem 12. und der ersten Hälfte des 15. Jahrhunderts. Neben den Volkssprachen werden auch die ,heiligen‘ und/oder ,imperialen‘ Sprachen (Latein, Griechisch, Arabisch, Hebräisch) berücksichtigt.

Mögliche Fragestellungen sind: Welchen Stellenwert hat die politische Lyrik innerhalb einer spezifischen literarischen Tradition oder im Rahmen verwandter Traditionen? Welche formalen Merkmale besitzt sie (metrische Formen, Mise en texte, Mise en page)? Wer sind die Autorinnen und Autoren und welches Publikum adressieren die Texte? Um welche historischen Ereignisse herum entsteht politische Lyrik? Unter welchen Bedingungen wurde sie überliefert? Steht sie in einem Dialog mit bildlichen Medien? Sind sprachübergreifende und/oder transnationale Themen und Debatten erkennbar? Unter welchen Bedingungen lässt sich von politischer Propaganda in Versen sprechen? – Das Freiburger Colloquium sucht Antworten auf diese und weitere Fragen mit dem Ziel, Grundlagen zu erarbeiten sowie erste Umrisse zu skizzieren im Hinblick auf ein Gesamtbild der europäischen politischen Lyrik im hohen und späten Mittelalter.

Das Mediävistische Institut der Universität Freiburg (Schweiz) organisiert im Rhythmus von zwei Jahren interdisziplinäre Kolloquien, anlässlich derer sich Spezialistinnen und Spezialisten verschiedener Fachbereiche versammeln, um sich über ein bestimmtes mediävistisches Forschungsgebiet auszutauschen. Vorgesehen ist die Teilnahme von ca. 12–15 Forschenden, welche nach Möglichkeit die verschiedenen Fachbereiche der Mediävistik vertreten (die Sprach- und Literaturwissenschaften: Romanistik, Germanistik, Anglistik, Nordistik, Slavistik; Geschichte, Philosophie, Kunstgeschichte, Theologie). Die Vorträge können in Französisch, Deutsch, Englisch oder Italienisch gehalten werden. Für jeden Beitrag ist ein Zeitfenster von 45 Minuten vorgesehen (Vortrag von ca. 30 Minuten sowie Diskussion). Wie bei den Freiburger Colloquien des Mediävistischen Instituts üblich, werden die Ergebnisse der Veranstaltung in der institutseigenen Buchreihe „Scrinium Friburgense“ veröffentlicht, die beim Reichert Verlag in Wiesbaden erscheint.

Unkosten für Reise, Unterkunft und Verpflegung werden übernommen.

Vortragsangebote mit einem etwa einseitigen Exposé werden bis zum 05. März 2023 erbeten an:
 

Prof. Dr. Paolo Borsa

Lehrstuhl für italienische Literatur und Philologie

Universität Freiburg

paolo.borsa@unifr.ch

oder

Mediävistisches Institut / Institut d’études médiévales

Universität Freiburg / Université de Fribourg

iem@unifr.ch

Die Organisator:innen werden auf Grundlage der eingegangenen Exposés ein Tagungsprogramm erstellen und den Einsenderinnen und Einsendern zeitnah Rückmeldung geben.

Die Organisator:innen:

Prof. Dr. Paolo Borsa (Letteratura e filologia italiane)

Prof. Dr. Hugo O. Bizzarri (Filología hispánica)

Prof. Dr. Elisabeth Dutton (English Philology)

Prof. Dr. Cornelia Herberichs (Germanistische Mediävistik)

Prof. Dr. Marion Uhlig (Langues et littératures françaises du Moyen Âge)

Dr. Martin Rohde (Geschäftsführer des Mediävistischen Instituts)

 

Aktuelle Informationen finden Sie unter: https://www.unifr.ch/mediaevum/de/veranstaltungen/freiburger-kolloquien/