Louvain-la-Neuve, 27-29 November 2024

The objective of this interdisciplinary conference is to examine the receptions in early modern Europe of the medieval spiritual currents of the Low Countries and the Rhineland, encompassing all their facets (theology, mysticism, pastoral, devotion). In the context of the Reformation and under the leadership of Peter Blomevenna, Johannes Lanspergius and Laurentius Surius, the Charterhouse of Cologne played a significant role in translating and publishing mystical and ascetic texts by Jan van Ruusbroec, Henry Suso, Johannes Tauler, Dionysius the Carthusian, and the Evangelical Pearl (Chaix 1981, Hoenen 2008, Fournier 2018, Wehrli-Johns 2018). On the other hand, the implicit influence of authors from the Devotio Moderna, such as Geert Grote, Florens Radewijns, Gerard Zerbolt van Zutphen, Thomas a Kempis, Wessel Gansfort, and Jan Mombaer, on early modern spiritualities, including those of Erasmus and Ignatius of Loyola, is widely acknowledged (Watrigant 1897, Bataillon 1937, O’Reilly 2021). Several currents in the early modern period testify to these legacies and demonstrate their reciprocal interactions. The circle of Richard Beaucousin, comprising of François de Sales, Barbe Acarie, and Pierre de Bérulle in seventeenth-century France (Bremond 1916-1936, Orcibal 1959, Cognet 1968), along with the collections of Maximilian Van der Sandt and Pierre Poiret, which were distributed across Europe (Dekoninck-Guiderdoni 2019), are just a few instances.

By distinguishing between “explicit reception” and “implicit reception” (Falque- Guiderdoni 2022), this conference aims to address the historical processes of this transmission. Existing studies have researched individual authors (Duval 1966, Gueullette 2012, Schepers et al. 2021, Schepers 2022), but a broader perspective on

this matter is still lacking. The objective is also to go beyond the dichotomy between the medieval and early modern periods (Ferrer et al. 2019-2021), which remains prevalent in studies of intellectual and cultural history, while emphasising the specificities of the period under consideration that impact the circulation of doctrines, texts, images, and practices, within and across countries and religious orders. We welcome submissions including, but not limited to, the following themes and disciplines:

• Legacies: Doctrinal and Intellectual History
• Circulations: History of Literature and the Arts (discourses, figures, images, quotations, literary themes and genres)
• Networks: Editorial History (translation, publication and distribution of texts, from manuscript to print), Institutional and Social History (actors and actresses)

The conference will take place from 27 to 29 November 2024 at UCLouvain (Louvain- la-Neuve, Belgium). Proposals (max. 500 words), together with a short CV (max. 1 page), should be sent by 29 February 2024 to norihiromorimoto@gmail.com and thor- oona.pignarre@uclouvain.be. Papers, in French and English, should be no longer than 25 minutes. A selection of papers from these presentations will result in a publication.

Organisation committee:

• Ingrid Falque (FNRS-UCLouvain)
• Agnès Guiderdoni (UCLouvain)
• Norihiro Morimoto (University Rennes II)
• Thor-Oona Pignarre-Altermatt (University of Lille-UCLouvain) • François Trémolières (University Rennes II)

Scientific committee:

• Xavier Hermand (University of Namur)
• Racha Kirakosian (University of Freiburg-im-Breisgau ) • Mariel Mazzocco (University of Geneva)
• Kees Schepers (University on Antwerp)