Publication – Rupert de Deutz, « Commentary on the Song of Songs », trad. Carol Neel

The Benedictine abbot Rupert of Deutz (d. 1129) was among the most prolific, innovative, and influential of medieval theologians. Well-positioned in time and space to respond to the unfolding of the twelfth-century reform of European religious life, he actively engaged with proponents of the lay piety movement and the new religious orders as an apologist for monastic tradition. The bulk of Rupert’s surviving writings, however, addresses biblical and liturgical texts. His inventive Commentary on the Song of Songs offers a window into both his ecclesiastical context and his own role in the formation of the cult of the Virgin. Here, the Benedictine represents the famously obscure Song of Songs as the love-story of God the Father and the Virgin Mother of His Son, the first fully Marian interpretation of the ancient biblical canticle.

Rupert’s  Commentary on the Song of Songs, presented here in full English translation, projects his voice to modern communities of learning and inspiration far beyond the medieval studies and theological audiences to whom he has already been well known.  With facing Latin, it will now be accessible to those interested in biblical interpretation, the history and theory of gender, and Christian spritual tradition.

This volume is based on the authoritative critical edition of Rupert’s commentary by Raban Haake, O.S.B., published as CCCM 26 in 1974. Its introduction reviews the vibrant scholarship on Rupert and the tradition of Song commentary published in the intervening decades, most importantly by John Van Engen, E. Ann Matter, and Rachel Fulton Brown.

Carol Neel, Professor of History at Colorado College, is a historian of medieval monastic life specializing in the Order of Prémontré, founded in the early twelfth century and criticized by Rupert in his advocacy of traditional Benedictinism. Among Neel’s published works are several translations from medieval Latin including Dhuoda’s Liber manualis (ninth century) and Anselm of Havelberg’s Anticimenon (twelfth century).

Abbreviations

Introduction
Rupert and the Twelfth Century
Rupert in Liège and Beyond
The Song Commentary Tradition
Rupert as Commentator
Rupert, Reading, and Spirituality
Rupert and his Struggle with Scripture
Manuscript Tradition
Translation Conventions

Text and Translation

Select Bibliography of Works Pertaining to Rupert’s Song Commentary

Informations pratiques :

Rupert de Deutz, Commentary on the Song of Songs, trad. Carol Neel, Turnhout, Brepols, 2026 ; 1 vol., 389 p. (Brepols Library of Christian Sources, 20). ISBN : 978-2-503-62392-4. Prix : € 75,00.

Source : Brepols

Publié dans Publications | Commentaires fermés sur Publication – Rupert de Deutz, « Commentary on the Song of Songs », trad. Carol Neel

Appel à contribution – Performing Communities: Regular Canons Between History, Art, and Liturgy (11th–15th Centuries)

Regular canons played a central, yet still insufficiently recognised, role in the religious and institutional history of the Latin Middle Ages. They did not constitute a homogeneous body, but a constellation of communities, networks, and congregations, from the Mortarians and Portuensians to the canons of the Great St Bernard, the Premonstratensians, and the later Congregations of the Lateran Canons and Windesheim, united by the common life but distinguished by their customs, institutional structures, pastoral vocations, and patterns of settlement.

In connection with “Communities,” the special thematic focus of the 2027 International Medieval Congress, these sessions will explore how communities of regular canons constructed, negotiated, performed, and transmitted their identities between the eleventh and fifteenth centuries. Particular attention will be paid to the circulation of rules, ordines, customs, individuals, liturgical practices, architectural models, and works of art across networks of affiliation extending beyond individual foundations.

Bringing together history, liturgical studies, anthropology, art history, and musicology, the sessions will examine canonical life in its historical, social, and material dimensions. They will consider institutions and relationships with wider society alongside the liturgical, spatial, architectural, and artistic forms through which canonical communities organised themselves and made their identities visible.

Proposals may address Italy or any other area of the medieval West between the eleventh and fifteenth centuries. Comparative studies and contributions combining documentary, normative, and liturgical sources with the analysis of buildings, spaces, and works of art will be especially welcome.

Proposals addressing the following themes will be particularly welcome:

  • Rules, customs, statutes, and their role in defining communal affiliation;
  • Identities, differences, relationships, and processes of reform within canonical networks and congregations;
  • Relationships with ecclesiastical and political institutions and with urban and territorial communities;
  • Pastoral care, hospitality, charitable provision, and relationships with lay society;
  • Liturgy, spatial organisation, and the articulation of the common life as instruments of communal identity;
  • Architecture and art as means of constructing affiliation, distinction, and memory;
  • Patronage, artistic production, and the circulation of individuals, texts, works of art, models, and practices;
  • Communities of female canons and comparisons between different forms of canonical life.

Please send an abstract of no more than 250 words, together with a short CV and the information requested by the IMC, by 14 September 2026, to Cristina Andenna (cristina.andenna@uni-saarland.de) and Fabio Massaccesi (fabio.massaccesi3@unibo.it).

Source : Medieval Art Research

Publié dans Appel à contributions | Commentaires fermés sur Appel à contribution – Performing Communities: Regular Canons Between History, Art, and Liturgy (11th–15th Centuries)

Publication – Elizabeth Hasseler, « Royal Sanctity and the Making of History in High Medieval Scandinavia »

In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, writers working in Latin and vernacular genres, from the chronicle and saints’ lives to the saga, crafted expansive histories of Norway, Denmark, and Sweden. At the centre of their narratives were royal saints, holy kings, princes, and jarls, whose missionary activities and violent deaths had earned them venerated posthumous reputations. For writers such as Theodoricus, Saxo Grammaticus, and Snorri Sturluson, the royal saint in his duality was a powerful historical signifier, embodying both the creation of the young Scandinavian kingdoms and its conversion to Latin Christianity.

The concept of royal sanctity in high medieval Nordic history writing is the focus of this book. It shows how the differing roles and social positions of rulers and princes such as St Olaf of Norway, St Knut of Denmark, and St Magnus of Orkney – viking and war-leader; ruler and missionary; husband, friend, lord, and martyr – offered writers to address a wide range of historical issues. And by exploring important themes such as masculinity, violence, and justice, this book shows how Nordic historians used royal saints to craft canonical and long-lived myths about the building of monarchical and Christian states in medieval Scandinavia.

ELIZABETH HASSELER is an advisor at the University of Washington. She was formerly Assistant Professor of History at Texas A&M University-San Antonio.

Table des matières :

Acknowledgments
List of Abbreviations
Introduction
1 Royal Sanctification in Medieval Scandinavia
2 The Making of Northern History
3 Missionary Kings and the Violence of Conversion
4 Royal Martyrdom and the Constitution of Christian Society
5 Law, Justice, and the Holy King
6 The Masculinities of the Scandinavian Royal Saint
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index

Informations pratiques :

Elizabeth Hasseler, Royal Sanctity and the Making of History in High Medieval Scandinavia, York, York Medieval Press, 2026 ; 1 vol., 258 p. (Writing History in the Middle Ages, 13). ISBN : 978-1-91404-936-1. Prix : USD 130,00.

Source : Boydell and Brewer

Publié dans Publications | Commentaires fermés sur Publication – Elizabeth Hasseler, « Royal Sanctity and the Making of History in High Medieval Scandinavia »

Appel à contribution – CLAUSTRUM: Art, Iconography and Spirituality in Medieval Franciscan Convents

October 23rd and 24th, 2026. Sá da Bandeira Theatre, Santarém, Portugal

The Art History Institute at NOVA FCSH, in partnership with the Municipality of Santarém and the Diocesan Museum of Santarém, is pleased to announce the Call for Papers for the International Conference Claustrum: Medieval Art, Iconography and Spirituality in Franciscan Convents, to be held in a hybrid format on 23–24 October 2026.

The conference is organised within the framework of the IHA seed-project Claustrum. Convent of St Francis, which examines the cloister of the Franciscan Convent of Santarém as an experimental research laboratory, bringing together different scholarly disciplines to investigate the construction, decoration and lived experience of one of the oldest medieval Franciscan convents in Portugal.

Held during the eighth centenary of the death of St Francis, this conference aims to provide an interdisciplinary forum for discussion, bringing together Art History, History, Spirituality, Ecology (Environmental History and Ecotheology), Epigraphy and Heraldry, with a chronological focus spanning the 13th to the 15th centuries. Its purpose is to explore how Franciscan thought and religious practice shaped medieval European visual culture, while also laying the historical foundations for a sensitivity towards, and respect for, the natural world that continues to resonate today.

Researchers, established scholars and doctoral candidates working in these fields are invited to submit proposals addressing one of the following thematic strands:

Theme 1: Medieval Art History and Iconography

  • Artistic representations of St Francis and the Franciscan Order.
  • Architecture, urbanism and the built heritage of Franciscan convents.
  • Manuscript illumination, painting, sculpture and the decorative arts within the Franciscan tradition.

Theme 2: Medieval Spirituality, History and Written Sources

  • The study of written sources, chronicles, hagiographies and theological texts.
  • The expansion of the Order of Friars Minor throughout medieval Europe, and the dynamics of patronage and artistic commissions within Franciscan convents.
  • Franciscan mysticism, poverty and theology from the thirteenth to the fifteenth centuries, and their relationship to the artistic culture of the Order’s convents.

Theme 3: St Francis and Ecology: Historical, Artistic and Philosophical Perspectives

  • The Canticle of the Creatures and the emergence of a new understanding of the natural world.
  • The representation of nature and the natural world in medieval Franciscan iconography and its dissemination.
  • Environmental History, Ecotheology, and the continuing relevance of Franciscan thought in the face of contemporary environmental and climate challenges.

Submission Guidelines

Proposals should be submitted in Word or PDF format by email to claustrum2026@gmail.com and must include the following:

1. Anonymous Cover Page

  • Title of the paper (clear and concise);
  • Abstract (maximum 300 words);
  • Up to five keywords;
  • Indication of the thematic strand under which the proposal is submitted.

2. Author Information (submitted as a separate document)

  • Full name(s) of the author(s);
  • Institutional affiliation (University and/or Research Centre);
  • Short biographical note (maximum 100 words);
  • Contact / e-mail address.

Official Languages: Portuguese, Spanish and English.

Presentation Format: Each paper will be allocated 20 minutes for presentation.

Key Dates

  • Deadline for abstract submission: 4 September 2026
  • Notification of acceptance: 12 September 2026
  • Publication of the provisional programme: 25 September 2026
  • Conference dates: 23–24 October 2026

Review Process

All submitted abstracts will undergo peer review by members of the Scientific and Organising Committee:

  • Carla Varela Fernandes (IHA – NOVA FCSH / IN2PAST)
  • João Luís Fontes (IEM – NOVA FCSH)
  • Luís Urbano Afonso (ARTIS – FLUL)
  • Paulo Almeida Fernandes (IHA – NOVA FCSH / IN2PAST)
  • Pedro Almeida Flor (UAb, IHA – NOVA FCSH / IN2PAST)

Contact Information

For further information, please contact the Organising Committee at claustrum2026@gmail.com or visit our website https://claustrum.godaddysites.com

Source : Medieval Art Research

Publié dans Appel à contributions | Commentaires fermés sur Appel à contribution – CLAUSTRUM: Art, Iconography and Spirituality in Medieval Franciscan Convents

Journée d’étude – Esprits et savoirs divinatoires au Moyen Âge (Orient-Occident)

La journée d’étude du jeudi 12 novembre 2026 au campus Condorcet, «Esprits et savoirs divinatoires au Moyen Âge», est la troisième du cycle d’ateliers «La divination du manuscrit à l’imprimé : une histoire des textes de divination et pronostication» organisé par le Pôle Sciences du Quadrivium de l’IRHT et le laboratoire POLEN (POuvoirs, LEttres, Normes) de l’Université d’Orléans.

La journée d’étude se donne pour objectif d’explorer les usages des esprits (anges, djinns, démons, âmes des défunts, etc.) dans les pratiques divinatoires des sociétés médiévales, en mettant l’accent sur leurs articulations conceptuelles, textuelles et pratiques. La divination se définit comme l’«art de deviner, de découvrir ce qui est ignoré ou caché en sortant des voies ordinaires de la connaissance par le recours à des procédés occultes, à des pratiques magiques». Cicéron divisait les pratiques divinatoires en deux catégories : la divination intuitive et la divination inductive, catégories encore utilisées. En revanche, le recours à des entités spirituelles pour obtenir des informations ou des révélations qui concernent des événements passés, présents ou futurs (identifier un voleur, établir un diagnostic, connaître l’issue d’un conflit, etc.) se trouve être in fine une pratique magique réalisée à des fins divinatoires. L’esprit, bon, mauvais ou neutre, sollicité humblement ou à l’inverse contraint, peut se manifester sous forme d’une inspiration, d’une illumination, d’une voix, d’une apparition en songe ou à l’état de veille, voire par la possession d’un intermédiaire qui pourra être interrogé.

En islam, le terme de kihāna, que l’on traduit par divination, est souvent défini comme une divination de l’époque antéislamique où le prêtre-devin (kāhin) est inspiré par un djinn ou un démon. La tradition islamique explique ainsi que ces esprits écoutent à la dérobée aux portes du ciel pour obtenir des informations. Ils s’en font chasser à coups d’étoiles filantes et transmettent aux prêtres-devins certaines de ces informations, mêlées à des mensonges et choses fausses. La révélation de Muḥammad aurait aboli la kihāna. Cependant, la littérature arabe recèle de nombreuses interactions avec les djinns se manifestant sous forme de voix immatérielles, d’animaux ou d’apparitions sous forme humaine ou démoniaque où ils peuvent parfois communiquer des informations. Il existe également parmi les pratiques magiques des conjurations (ʿazīma), rituels complexes visant à faire se manifester un djinn sous la forme d’une apparition ou la possession d’un individu qui se révèle par une crise d’épilepsie (ṣarʿ, surnommée parfois «la maladie du devin»).

Quant aux mondes chrétien et juif, ils ne sont pas non plus avares de textes, de pratiques et de rituels visant à solliciter les anges, les esprits, les démons, à des fins divinatoires ou prophétiques. C’est le cas par exemple dans la tradition de l’Ars notoria, très diffusée dans la chrétienté latine à compter du XIIIe siècle, où les anges peuvent être sollicités pour obtenir des révélations sur l’avenir en marge d’un rituel qui vise principalement l’illumination intellectuelle et la maîtrise parfaite des savoirs. Dans d’autres traditions, il convient parfois d’user d’artefacts particuliers (miroir, épée, cristal, etc.) permettant aux esprits de se manifester, le cas échéant en recourant au service d’un enfant medium capable de «voir», quand il ne s’agit pas d’enclore un démon ou un esprit dans un objet portatif pour être en mesure de l’interroger à l’envi.

Cette journée d’étude visera par conséquent, par un certain nombre d’études de cas, à explorer les diverses formes par lesquels le monde spirituel est sollicité rituellement au Moyen Âge pour en obtenir des oracles, entre Orient et Occident, entre textes, pratiques et représentations, entre orthodoxie et hétérodoxie.

Source : IRHT

Publié dans Colloque | Commentaires fermés sur Journée d’étude – Esprits et savoirs divinatoires au Moyen Âge (Orient-Occident)

Appel à contribution – Multilingualism in the Global Middle Ages: Creating Communities through Inclusion and Exclusion

Call for Papers for a series of Sessions at the International Medieval Congress in Leeds 2027 (Special Strand: Communities)

An English chronicler writes that the French king seeks to eradicate the Flemish language in the city of Damme; Georgian and Armenian are implemented as liturgical languages in the Orthodox Church; Buddhist texts are translated into multiple languages; Arabic-Latin treaties reveal substantial differences between the two languages to appeal to their respective communities. While geographically and chronologically disparate, these cases have one thing in common: they occur in settings characterised by a multitude of languages, and this multilingualism is used to shape communities. The Middle Ages were an inherently multilingual period that was both spatially and socially characterised by a diversity of languages that entailed a wide range of cross-linguistic and cross-dialectal contacts. This diversity of languages is evident in a wide variety of sources, from charters to cookbooks, from graffiti to saints’ lives, from scientific treatises to chronicles, and many others.

Yet not all languages held the same status in their respective societies. This status was not fixed and could fluctuate according to social, political, and religious circumstances. While some languages were outlawed, others could be elevated to the status of sacred. Others became the language of power, of legal practice, or of knowledge. Medieval multilingualism was therefore constantly negotiated. In this context, the choice of a language was used to define, create, and exclude communities.

Such processes of language negotiation are at the core of the proposed sessions. By bringing together papers from different linguistic, political, and legal contexts in the Global Middle Ages, these sessions aim to explore the ways in which language contributed to the creation of communities through legal status, narrative constructions, and political decisions by secular and religious authorities, together with their socio-economic ramifications.

If you want to participate, please send a short abstract by 7 September 2026 to Robert.friedrich@lmu.de. Submissions may address one or more of the following topics; further relevant topics are also welcome.

– Language and Power
How was language used as an instrument of power, for example through limiting participation by restricting the language permitted, for example during court procedures?
Were there dedicated ‘language politics’, for example in post-conquest settings?
How did the choice of language reflect power dynamics, or was it used explicitly to appear as part of a certain community?

– Language and Religion
How did the languages of liturgy, preaching, and theology shape communities of the faithful and the development of religious traditions?

– Narratives of linguistic communities
How do narrative sources use mentions and discussions of language and linguistic differences to create or dismiss communities?
How are these narratives connected to the construction of identities centred on language?
How were speakers of certain languages stereotyped, revered, or mocked in narrative sources?
Did diaspora groups use language narratives to shape their identity?

– Communities of Language Learning
How does language learning material reflect linguistic communities and their need to learn a specific language?
Who produced language manuals and glossaries, and in what contexts?
What does this tell us about the sociolinguistic structure of this particular society?

– Translation and Knowledge
How did translations or translation movements allow for the creation of new communities of knowledge?
How did the choice of language for a text included or excluded certain actors from access to knowledge and participation in the scientific community?

Kontakt : robert.friedrich@lmu.de

Source : H-Soz-Kult

Publié dans Appel à contributions | Commentaires fermés sur Appel à contribution – Multilingualism in the Global Middle Ages: Creating Communities through Inclusion and Exclusion

Appel à contribution – Communities of Bodily Care in the Middle Ages

Call for proposals for “Communities of Bodily Care in the Middle Ages,” a series of sessions at the International Medieval Congress in Leeds, 5–8 July 2027.

Rosalie Gabay Bernheim (London/Jerusalem) and Kerstin Mayerhofer (Vienna) invite proposals for “Communities of Bodily Care in the Middle Ages,” a series of sessions at the International Medieval Congress in Leeds, 5–8 July 2027.

The sessions will examine bodily care as a collective practice through which medieval communities defined responsibility, belonging, and exclusion. We welcome papers on the social networks surrounding illness, injury, pregnancy, childbirth, disability, ageing, and death, as well as on the circulation of medical and embodied knowledge. Contributions may also consider how care was shaped by gender, religion, status, kinship, or professional authority, and how practices intended to sustain vulnerable bodies could also entail discipline, coercion, surveillance, or control. Comparative, interdisciplinary, and theoretically informed approaches are particularly encouraged, including work on under-represented regions, traditions, languages, and communities.

If you are interested in participating in our session(s), please submit a title, an abstract of up to 250 words, a short biography, and your preference for presenting in person or online to mayerhk2[at]univie.ac.at or rosalie.bernheim[at]gmail.com by 15 September 2026.

Kontakt

Dr Kerstin Mayerhofer
(no pronouns)

Post-doctoral assistant
Department of Jewish Studies
University of Vienna
Spitalgasse 2, Court 7.3
1090 Vienna

Source : H-Soz-Kult

Publié dans Appel à contributions | Commentaires fermés sur Appel à contribution – Communities of Bodily Care in the Middle Ages

Séminaire – Initiation à l’édition critique des textes latins

Le séminaire d’édition critique, organisé par Dominique Poirel (section latine), aura lieu du lundi 18 au vendredi 22 janvier 2027 (10h-17h) exclusivement en ligne (sur inscription).

Ce séminaire est ouvert à tous les étudiants et chercheurs désireux d’acquérir les méthodes de l’édition critique, à partir d’un exemple bref mais suivi ensemble du début à la fin : collation des témoins, stemma codicum, établissement du texte et des apparats.

Date des séances :
18/01/2027 – 10:00
19/01/2027 – 10:00
20/01/2027 – 10:00
21/01/2027 – 10:00
22/01/2027 – 10:00

Source : IRHT

Publié dans Séminaire | Commentaires fermés sur Séminaire – Initiation à l’édition critique des textes latins

Exposition – The Making of a Medieval Manuscript

Books were written, decorated, and bound entirely by hand during the pre-modern era in Europe. This exhibition explores the four stages of making medieval books, from preparing animal skin to make parchment, to the methods and materials used for the subsequent phases of writing, painting, and binding. A selection of manuscripts from the Museum’s collection elucidates these steps and the techniques used.

This exhibition is presented in English and Spanish. Esta exposición se muestra en inglés y en español.

Informations pratiques :

Aug 4, 2026–Mar 14, 2027

Getty Center

Museum West Pavilion, Lower Level

Source : Getty

Publié dans Exposition | Commentaires fermés sur Exposition – The Making of a Medieval Manuscript

Publication – Danny Grabe, « Ärzte, Glasbläser, Sklavenhändler? Berufe von Juden und ihre Funktionen zwischen Topos und Wirklichkeit in den christlichen Quellen des Frühmittelalters (506–1096) »

Given an almost complete lack of sources written by Jews themselves in the European early Middle Ages, Ärzte, Glasbläser, Sklavenhändler? inquires into the professions of Jews as depicted in the contemporary Christian sources. Danny Grabe examines in substantial detail which professions and economic activities are documented in the sources, whether these professions and the associated individuals really existed, and what functions they fulfil in their respective texts. Based on an exceptionally broad corpus of Latin, Greek, and Hebrew sources, the book covers Europe from Byzantium to England. The result is a comprehensive insight into the professions of Jews, oscillating between literary fiction and real phenomena.

Angesichts eines nahezu vollständigen Fehlens von Texten aus genuin jüdischer Feder im europäischen Frühmittelalter, untersucht Ärzte, Glasbläser, Sklavenhändler? die Berufe von Juden, wie sie in den zeitgenössischen christlichen Quellen dargestellt werden. Danny Grabe analysiert detailliert, welche Berufe und wirtschaftlichen Aktivitäten in den Quellen vorkommen, ob diese Berufe und die damit verbundenen Personen tatsächlich existierten und welche Funktionen sie in den jeweiligen Texten erfüllen. Die Arbeit stützt sich auf ein außergewöhnlich breites Corpus lateinischer, griechischer und hebräischer Quellen, das neben dem westlichen Europa auch das Byzantinische Reich umfasst. Auf diese Weise entsteht ein Gesamtbild der jüdischen Berufswelt, das sich stets im Spannungsfeld zwischen literarischer Fiktion und realen Phänomenen bewegt.

Table des matières : ici

Danny Grabe is a research assistant at the University of Jena, where he studied history and English studies. He has published articles on the economic and social history of medieval Jews, as well as on early medieval slavery.

Informations pratiques :

Danny Grabe, Ärzte, Glasbläser, Sklavenhändler? Berufe von Juden und ihre Funktionen zwischen Topos und Wirklichkeit in den christlichen Quellen des Frühmittelalters (506–1096), Leyde–Brill, Brill, 2026 ; 1 vol., XVI–544 p. (Studies in Medieval and Reformation Traditions, 254). ISBN : 978-90-04-76274-9. prix : € 168,00.

Source : Brill

Publié dans Publications | Commentaires fermés sur Publication – Danny Grabe, « Ärzte, Glasbläser, Sklavenhändler? Berufe von Juden und ihre Funktionen zwischen Topos und Wirklichkeit in den christlichen Quellen des Frühmittelalters (506–1096) »