CALL FOR PAPERS: Truth and Truthiness: Belief, Authenticity, Rhetoric, and Spin in the Middle Ages & Renaissance

Truth and Truthiness: Belief, Authenticity, Rhetoric, and Spin in the Middle Ages and Renaissance

December 1, 2018
The 26th Biennial Conference of the Medieval and Renaissance Studies Program of Barnard College

Plenary Speakers: Lorna Hutson (University of Oxford), Dyan Elliott (Northwestern University)

The capacity of language both to communicate truth and to manipulate perceptions of it was as vexed a problem for the Middle Ages and Renaissance as it is today. From Augustine to Erasmus, enthusiasm for the study of rhetoric was accompanied by profound concern about its capacity to mask the difference between authenticity and deceit, revelation and heresy, truth and truthiness. Even the claim of authenticity or transparency could become, some thinkers argued, a deliberate form of manipulation or “spin.”

In our current era when public figures aim to create effects of immediacy and authenticity, this conference looks at the history of debates about rhetoric and, more generally, about the presentation of transparency and truthfulness. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, this conference considers the role of the verbal arts in the history of literature, law, politics, theology, and historiography, but also broadens the scope of rhetoric to include such topics as the rhetoric of the visual arts and the language of the new science to produce effects of objective access to “things themselves.”

Please submit an abstract of 250–300 words and a 2-page CV by April 30, 2018 to Rachel Eisendrath

CALL FOR PAPERS: Administrative accountability in the later Middle Ages: Records, procedures, and their societal impact

Bucharest, 16-17 November 2018

The emergence of new types of financial records, the creation of institutional procedures, and the birth of a bureaucratic corps in a society in which accountability had been largely social and moral represent key developments in the history of the later Middle Ages. The colloquium will explore the multifaceted reality of administrative accountability in Western Europe, c. 1200-1450. Because the renewed interest in the subject makes methodological exchanges all the more timely, the colloquium will provide a venue for testing new approaches to the sources. Special attention will be given to underexplored archival documents, such as the castellany accounts (computi) of late-medieval Savoy, and to topics that have hitherto received less attention, such as the social impact of institutional consolidation. Comparisons with better-known texts, such as the English pipe rolls, are also encouraged.

The colloquium is organised in the frame of the European Research Council Starting Grant no. 638436, ‘Record-keeping, fiscal reform, and the rise of institutional accountability in late-medieval Savoy: a source-oriented approach’ (University of Bucharest)

Proposals for 30-minute papers are invited on topics including:

• the institutional dialogue between the central and local administration
• the impact of administrative and fiscal reform on local communities
• accounting practices and the auditing of financial records
• the cultural underpinnings of medieval accountability
• prosopography: background and career of administrators, from auditing clerks to castellans
• methodological advances, from manuscript studies to sociological frameworks
• the transfer of administrative models across medieval Europe

The colloquium papers, which will collected in an edited volume published with an international academic press, should reflect original, unpublished research. The authors will be given the opportunity to revise their contributions for publication.

Papers can be presented in English or French; if delivered in French, it is the author’s responsibility to have the paper translated into English for publication.

For inquiries, contact Ionut Epurescu-Pascovici or Roberto Biolzi

Proposals of circa 300 words, outlining the source material, methodology, and anticipated findings, should be emailed to Ionut Epurescu-Pascovici by 30 March 2018.

The organisers will provide three nights hotel accommodation and help defray travel expenses.

https://irhunibuc.wordpress.com/medieval-accountability/

Project Description:

This project focuses on an unjustly neglected corpus of sources, the fiscal accounts (computi) of the castellanies, or basic administrative units, of late-medieval Savoy. It deploys a holistic model of analysis that can fully capitalize on the unusually detailed computi in order to illuminate some of the key developments in late-medieval history, from administrative and fiscal reforms and the progress of institutional accountability to the socioeconomic decline and recovery from the late-thirteenth to the late-fourteenth century. More broadly, research into these topics aims to contribute to our understanding of the late-medieval origins of European modernity.

The advances of pragmatic literacy, record-keeping, and auditing practices are analysed with the aid of social scientific theories of practice. By comparing the Savoyard computi with their sources of inspiration, notably the Anglo-Norman pipe rolls, the project aims to highlight the creative adaptation of imported administrative models, thereby contributing to our knowledge of institutional transfers in European history. The project proposes an inclusive frame of analysis in which the computi are read against the evidence from enfeoffment charters, castellany surveys (extente), and the records of direct taxation (subsidia).

The project focuses on a sample of castellanies from the heartland of the Savoyard principality, analysed by the Principal Investigator. Two postdoctoral researchers will study the records of a few other castellanies from outside the bailiwick of Savoy as test cases for the Principal Investigator’s analysis.

Middle Ages in the Modern World (MAMO) 2015

Following the success of MAMO 2013, held at St Andrews last year, we are proud to announce that a follow-up conference will be held from Monday 29 June to Thursday 2 July 2015 at the University of Lincoln. It will also be held in conjunction with Lincoln’s celebrations of the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta, where Lincoln’s own copy of the Magna Carta will have returned and be back proudly on display in the castle.

As the title suggests, MAMO aims to explore the continued return to, and relevance of, the Middle Ages in the modern world, and why the period continues to attract audiences and scholars. Particularly, its interdisciplinary focus is designed to explore a range of areas, from popular culture to public history, from science to advertising, and even legal frameworks and political rhetoric. Given the popularity of medievalism as a growing discipline, and given the fantastic reception of the last conference, we are expecting a wide audience from a range of fields and disciplines including History, Literature, Film & Television, Video Games, Performing Arts, Drama, Languages, Museum Curation and more besides.

Specific themes include, but are by no means limited to:

• The reception of the Middle Ages in the arts, music, film, politics & popular culture 
• The significance and relevance of Magna Carta to the modern world 
• Medievalism and Orientalism 
• Translating and interpreting medieval texts 
• Re-enactment and revival 
• Fantasy and the Middle Ages 
• Eco-Medievalism and postmodern approaches to medieval studies 
• The Middle Ages in Film, Television, Comic Books and Graphic Novels 
• Medievalism and video games 
• Science and the Middle Ages 
• The Middle Ages and documentary programming 

In this first round we welcome both proposals for complete panels as well as individual proposals for papers. There’s also a PDF version for download, so please do spread the word to your networks; click here for the Call for Papers poster.

For individual papers, abstracts of 250-300 words should be sent to themamoconference@gmail.com, by 15 September 2014.

We will be keeping all of the details and information up to date through the Facebook group, through the Twitter hashtag #MAMO2015 or on our conference website, located at www.themamo.org. Details of keynotes will be released shortly, and later in the year we will post further information on accommodation, registration and other details. For specific enquiries or details about the conference themes and logistics please contact Andrew Elliott directly on aelliott@lincoln.ac.uk.

Panel proposals should include abstracts, names and contact details of presenters and a short (c. 200 word) description of the panel itself with the organiser’s contact details; these should be sent by Sunday 31 August 2014.

CALL FOR PAPERS: Middle Ages in the Modern World (MAMO) 2015

Following the success of MAMO 2013, held at St Andrews last year, we are proud to announce that a follow-up conference will be held from Monday 29 June to Thursday 2 July 2015 at the University of Lincoln. It will also be held in conjunction with Lincoln’s celebrations of the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta, where Lincoln’s own copy of the Magna Carta will have returned and be back proudly on display in the castle.

As the title suggests, MAMO aims to explore the continued return to, and relevance of, the Middle Ages in the modern world, and why the period continues to attract audiences and scholars. Particularly, its interdisciplinary focus is designed to explore a range of areas, from popular culture to public history, from science to advertising, and even legal frameworks and political rhetoric. Given the popularity of medievalism as a growing discipline, and given the fantastic reception of the last conference, we are expecting a wide audience from a range of fields and disciplines including History, Literature, Film & Television, Video Games, Performing Arts, Drama, Languages, Museum Curation and more besides.

Specific themes include, but are by no means limited to:

• The reception of the Middle Ages in the arts, music, film, politics & popular culture
• The significance and relevance of Magna Carta to the modern world
• Medievalism and Orientalism
• Translating and interpreting medieval texts
• Re-enactment and revival
• Fantasy and the Middle Ages
• Eco-Medievalism and postmodern approaches to medieval studies
• The Middle Ages in Film, Television, Comic Books and Graphic Novels
• Medievalism and video games
• Science and the Middle Ages
• The Middle Ages and documentary programming

In this first round we welcome both proposals for complete panels as well as individual proposals for papers. There’s also a PDF version for download, so please do spread the word to your networks; click here for the Call for Papers poster.

For individual papers, abstracts of 250-300 words should be sent to themamoconference@gmail.com, by 15 September 2014.

We will be keeping all of the details and information up to date through the Facebook group, through the Twitter hashtag #MAMO2015 or on our conference website, located at www.themamo.org. Details of keynotes will be released shortly, and later in the year we will post further information on accommodation, registration and other details. For specific enquiries or details about the conference themes and logistics please contact Andrew Elliott directly on aelliott@lincoln.ac.uk.

Panel proposals should include abstracts, names and contact details of presenters and a short (c. 200 word) description of the panel itself with the organiser’s contact details; these should be sent by Sunday 31 August 2014.

The Sliding Scale of Sleep in The Middle Ages

STS Seminar Series 2011-12
Department of Science and Technology Studies University College London

All seminars take place at 5.00pm
Venue: Galton Lecture Theatre, 1-19 Torrington Place http://www.ucl.ac.uk/locations/ucl-maps

Monday 12 December
Bill MacLehose
(STS, UCL)

This talk is part of a larger project on medieval concepts of sleep and the relations between body and mind. Instead of the single, solid divide between sleeping and waking which Aristotle had advocated, medical writers tended to envision a spectrum of states that blurred the categories not only of sleep and wakefulness but also of reason and irrationality and of physiological health and pathology. Medieval theorists created a typology of states that moved between and beyond such basic binary divisions. In the process, sleep became a category of increased moral and medical concern from the twelfth century onward.

This talk examines a variety of diseases or pathological states, such as sleepwalking, lethargy, insomnia, and others, in order to explore medieval understandings of the connections between mental and physical functioning.

Dr. Chiara Ambrosio

Teaching Fellow in Philosophy of Science Department of Science and Technology Studies University College London Gower Street London WC1E 6BT

Tel. (+44) 02076790166
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/sts/staff/ambrosio
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/sts/
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/basc/

The Bible in English from the Early Middle Ages to 1611

A one-day colloquium to mark the 400th anniversary of the publication of the King James Bible, 12 November 2011 Canterbury Cathedral Lodge.

This colloquium will explore English translations of the Bible from the Early Middle Ages up to the publication of the King James Version in 1611. The day includes a series of lectures, a private view of the Cathedral’s exhibition of Bibles in English from Tyndale to King James Version, and morning and afternoon refreshments. The speakers are Dr Alixe Bovey, Dr Helen Gittos, Dr Sarah James, Professor John Thompson, and Dr Ryan Perry, and the day will culminate in Professor Stephen Prickett’s keynote address on the King James Version. 

All are welcome. Advance registration is strongly encouraged. £15, with reduced rates for Friends of the Centre for Medieval and Early Modern Studies (MEMS); seniors and unwaged (£10); and students (£5).

To register, please contact Claire Taylor at the Centre for Medieval and Early Modern Studies at the University of Kent: c.l.taylor@kent.ac.uk.

To see the programme and to find out more about becoming a Friend of MEMS, visit our website: www.kent.ac.uk/mems.