International Micrologus Conference
Transcultural Conferences of the UAI

Libros itaque ueterum tibi super hoc negotio perquirenti occurrit taedium uerbositatis Arabicae, implicationis Graecae, paucitas quoque exarationis Latinae. (Witelo, Perspectiva, prol., ed. Baeumker, 1908)

The transmission and circulation of philosophical and scientific texts in the Middle Ages did seldom remain within linguistically homogenous spheres. Transfer often occurred in places and periods where different languages coexisted and interacted. These text traditions can be traced through movements of copies, translations, reworkings, excerpts, glosses, and commentaries that continually reshaped the transmitted material, sometimes involving various languages. The transmission from one linguistic area to another, from one world to another, entailed numerous changes in expressions, concepts, and formats, not only on the level of the text, but also, at a larger scale, in the mentality of the receiving milieus. A change of language often involved a change in cultural, historical, and religious backgrounds. The study of these textual traditions, of their context and impact requires that we approach them as multilingual objects in a permanent state of fluidity.

This conference aims to explore various aspects of multilingualism in medieval text traditions in link with the Latin world, with particular attention to the history of science and philosophy in Greek, Arabic, Latin, Hebrew, and vernacular languages, from the eighth to the fourteenth century.

We invite contributions that examine how texts were transmitted, translated, transformed, abbreviated, expanded, or reinterpreted as they moved across languages and scholarly communities.

Preferred – but not exclusive – topics are:
– The Aristotelian tradition
– Alchemy, and occult sciences in general
– Translations
– Multilingual manuscripts and multilingual traditions
– Medieval reflections on translations

Presentation time should not exceed 25 minutes (excl. discussion). Papers presented at the conference will be published in the Micrologus Library series (SISMEL).

Venue: Louvain-la-Neuve (UCLouvain) and Leuven (KU Leuven)

Dates: 20-22 January 2027

Organisers: Pieter Beullens (KU Leuven) & Sébastien Moureau (UCLouvain)

Deadline for submission: 27 March 2026

Proposals should be sent to Pieter Beullens (pieter.beullens@kuleuven.be) and Sébastien Moureau (sebastien.moureau@uclouvain.be). They should contain a title, an abstract (shorter than 500 words), and name and affiliation.