L'Agenda des Médiévistes

Viseu | Portugal
13th – 19th September 2021

RURALIA is an international association for the archaeology of medieval settlement and rural life. It provides a European-wide platform for the scientific exchange on current problems in rural archaeology in order to strengthen comparative and interdisciplinary studies. The conference covers the period from the Early Medieval to the Early Modern periods. The conference language is English.

RURALIA XIV will take place in Viseu, a city located in the central-north of Portugal. The theme will be: Household goods in the Medieval and Early Modern countryside.

In addition to the papers, one day and half excursion and an optional two-day study trip to Beira Alta and Douro regions will be offered.

The conference is jointly organized by Catarina Tente, Sara Prata, Piers Dixon, Mark Gardiner and Claudia Theune, with the support of the Viseu Municipality, Direção Geral do Património Cultural, Direção Regional de Cultura do Centro, Direção Regional de Turismo do Centro, and Institute of Medieval Studies of the NOVA University.

Household goods in the European Medieval and Early Modern Countryside

Although household goods are a well established topic in Medieval and Modern archaeology, more recent research is overcoming simple typological and technological aspects and pointing to broader, more encompassing approaches. This is particularly the case of newly-introduced analytical methodologies and theoretical perspectives. The material culture studies act as base to understand people, groups and societies.

By analyzing house structures and its contents, much can be learned about artefactual assemblages (ceramic, metal, wood, basketry…), goods’ production and consumption strategies, other economic activities, structures of social organization and relations among household members. Thus, the understanding of past societies and cultures relies heavily in the study of their household goods. In this context, the aim of the Ruralia XIV Conference is to emphasize the significance of household archaeology to the study of the European countryside in Medieval and Modern times under a cross- cultural approach, with attention also paid to written and pictorial sources and data obtained in interdisciplinary analyses.

Detailed analysis of single contexts, small parts of sites, faunal, botanical and soil studies enables us to reconstruct common peoples’ activities and interactions within their homes. House functions can be detected by means of specific installations but also by inventories and location of goods, evidence for particular activities inside − such as cooking and eating, storage, weaving, refuse disposal, resting, etc. − or by a comprehensive overview of outdoor surroundings. All this is evidence of functional purposes but it can also tell us about the rank and wealth of their owners, their daily lives, household compositions, family concepts and even gender statuses. Structural analysis can give evidence about spheres of interaction and patterned behaviours within a house.

We are seeking papers that address some of the archaeological questions outlined above. Sessions may be focused on particular topics on household goods (not agricultural and not typological classifications). Papers which incorporate interdisciplinary approaches are particularly welcomed, namely those combining archaeological, ethno-archaeological, sociological, historical, chemical, faunal, botanic, geo-archaeological evidence or documentary analysis.

Papers should address some of the following questions:
How was the house organized?
What activities took place in the house?
How and what products were cooked and consumed in the house?
Can we identify family organization and its members using household goods?
What economic and social relations can be express by the household goods?
What relation was established between the interior of the house and the outdoors? What role was played by the house within the community’s social organization? What can household goods tell us about social statuses and wealth of their owners? Can we identify interaction between households and communities?

Can we identify local, regional, trans-regional or even global exchange?

Please fill out the separate Abstract Form if you wish to give a paper or poster at the conference.

Abstracts must be submitted by 15th January 2021.

Paper proposals are subject to review by the organizing committee. Applicants will be informed of decisions by 5th February 2021.

Appel à contribution au format PDF : ici

Talon réponse : ici

The 8th ARDS annual colloquium, which celebrates new research in the field of renaissance and medieval sculpture will focus on alabaster as a material for European sculpture from the 14th until the 17th century.

Much research has been carried out on this subject over the past few decades in several European countries, both in universities and in laboratories, and in particular on the occasion of restorations carried out in museums and historic monuments. New analysis methods have improved our knowledge of the origin of alabaster and the quarries exploited during this period, supply and trade circuits – often long distance – have been brought to light, restorations have enabled to specify the implementation of the material. The results have been the subject of seminars, study days and major publications.

In order to present the general public with a summary of the current state of our knowledge, M Leuven and the Musée du Louvre have decided to jointly organize an international exhibition on this theme in 2022, showing how and why alabaster was used for sculpture in Western Europe during the late Middle Ages, Renaissance and Baroque period. This exhibition will bring together high-quality sculptures, small-format objects with monumental achievements, from the Louvre and M’s collections, as well as from numerous public and private collections. About a year before the exhibition, the Paris colloquium aims to bring together specialists in this material, whether they are geologists, restorers, historians or art historians. The scientific committee of the conference invites researchers to submit papers on:

The conference committee consists of Sophie Jugie (Musée du Louvre), Peter Carpreau (M Leuven/Ards), Marjan Debaene (M Leuven/Ards), Pierre Yves le Pogam (Musée du Louvre)

Would you like to submit a paper for this conference?

Your proposal can be of an art-historical, historical as well as historiographical, technical or scientific in nature. Multidisciplinarity is encouraged. Case studies as well as papers providing a broader view and/or of a more reflective nature are welcomed. Priority will be given to speakers presenting new research findings and contributions relevant to the specific conference theme. Submissions that are not selected for presentation in plenum, can still be taken into consideration for a (digital) poster presentation. The organisation will publish acta colloquia in postprint after the conference.

How to submit your proposal?

Practical info

Organising committee : Sophie Jugie (Paris, Louvre Museum, Sculptures Department), Isabelle Haquet (Louvre Museum, Auditorium), Peter Carpreau (M Leuven / ARDS), Marjan Debaene (M Leuven / ARDS), Anne Liefsoens (M Leuven / ARDS)

Scientific committee: Peter Carpreau (M Leuven / ARDS), Marjan Debaene (M Leuven / ARDS), Sophie Jugie (Paris, Louvre Museum), Pierre-Yves Le Pogam (Paris, Louvre Museum), Lise Leroux (Paris, Historical Monuments Research Laboratory), Aleksandra Lipinska (Munich, Ludwig-Maximilians- University, Wolfram Klopmann (Orleans, Bureau of Geological and Mining Research), Carmen Morte Garcia (Zaragoza, University of Zaragoza), Kim Woods (London, Open University UK).

Questions or more information? Please contact Marjan Debaene via info@ards.be

Disclaimer: Should there arise problems or new restrictions regarding travel to Paris due to a possible new wave of COVID-19, the conference will be held online via webinar presentations (and if so unfortunately without the in situ visits).
Therefore the final program will only be compiled and communicated in the spring of 2021.

Source : Medieval Art Research

On January 13–15, 2022, the Index of Medieval Art (Princeton University), the Pierpont Morgan Library & Museum (New York), and the Department of Art and Archaeology at Princeton University will host a conference to accompany the exhibition, “Imperial Splendor: The Art of the Book in the Holy Roman Empire, 800–1500,” presented at the Morgan Library from October 15, 2021 to January 23, 2022. The conference will include two days of papers as well as a study day at the Morgan Library. For each paper, 30 minutes of speaking time, followed by 15 minutes of discussion, will be allotted. In addition to a viewing of the exhibition, the study day will include an opportunity to view other, unexhibited materials in the Morgan’s collections.

Despite its scope, the exhibition cannot comprehend all the relevant material in American collections. Nor can the accompanying book treat all the exhibited items in depth. With this in mind, we solicit proposals for papers. Pending the usual peer-review process, the contributions will be published.

Paper proposals, no more than one page in length, should fall into one of the following categories or address one of the following topics:

– in-depth monographic discussion of a single manuscript in an American collection, whether or not it is included in the exhibition. Please contact Joshua O’Driscoll (jodriscoll@themorgan.org) for a list of objects that will be discussed in the book accompanying the exhibition (many but not all of which will be exhibited) and a list of all relevant materials in the Morgan Library’s collections. More information on many of these manuscripts, also those in other American collections, can be found at Digital Scriptorium: https://digital-scriptorium.org/.

– thematic treatment of one of a number of broader issues relevant to the exhibition’s concerns; these include but are by no means limited to the following:

Proposals should be submitted to Prof. Jeffrey F. Hamburger, Harvard University (jhamburg@fas.harvard.edu) by February 1, 2021. A response indicating whether or not any given proposal has been accepted will be forthcoming by April 1, 2021. Finalized abstracts, which will be circulated to all participants, would then be due by August 1, 2021. The organizers will do their best to accommodate all relevant proposals within the confines of the program, the scope and format of which will be determined by the funding available and the current public health situation. In the event that an in-person meeting is feasible, speakers’ costs for travel and accommodation in Princeton and New York will be covered. Colleagues submitting proposals are asked to indicate their interest in presenting a paper by video call, should travel not be possible.

Source : Medieval Art Research