L'Agenda des Médiévistes

W­arfare in traditional cultures had much in common with religion. In this respect, medieval Christianity was not very different from pagan beliefs. Its acceptance did not lead to the “secularization” of military activity, but rather caused a significant transformation for the indigenous culture of war, influenced by ecclesiastical customs derived from Roman, Biblical, and liturgical traditions. A key role in this transformation was played by ritual, as from its origins, Christianization meant that one set of rites was exchanged for another. But pragmatically, in its basic sense, the difference was hardly noticeable, as the new rites were to serve the same need – to secure communication with the divine and obtain supernatural support. Such a perspective indicates the need for in-depth, comparative investigation, all the more fascinating that the Christian idea of war, being itself a carrier of unorthodox notions, did not result in complete eradication of older traditions, but rather merged with them. It also gives an opportunity to abandon one of the still widely shared misconceptions that in the Middle Ages, the connection between religion and warfare found its “full” and “proper” shape only with the advent of crusading ideology.

The issue of war rituals in East Central and Northern Europe, in contrast to ancient Greco-Roman, Middle Eastern, Byzantine and western Latin cultures, is underexplored, and hitherto debates usually did not go beyond the regional scholarly circles. The aim of this project, therefore, is to fill this gap with an edited volume that will provide a wide international discussion on this issue.

Proposals for articles on the role and nature of war rituals in both practice and representation (in any of its forms) from across the span of the medieval period are welcome, as are contributions that deal with varying regions of Central, East Central, Eastern and Northern Europe. Comparative and interdisciplinary pieces as those dealing with individual ritual practices are especially welcome. This means those proposals aimed for holistic presentation of broad spectrum of rituals practiced within an individual political community should be avoided.

Potential subjects include, but are not limited to:

• Pagan war rituals’ persistence. Christian rites in pagan societies. Christianization of war rituals;
• Religious preparation for combat. Rituals of profectio bellica type and purification rituals. Votive offerings, grants to the churches, pledges to secure victory, acts of piety, humilatio;
• Priestly service during military operations. Prayers, blessings, preaching and harangues. Exhorting warriors to deeds of valor. Confession while serving in the field. Holy Masses and communal prayers. Holy Communion and the viaticum;
• Holy artifacts taken to the field of battles. Effigies of gods, relics of saints, icons and war banners. True Cross and holy spears. Using magic, divination, and sorcery;
• Postwar rituals of return and social reintegration. Purification of warriors, captives, and booty;
• Ritual thanksgiving for victory. Triumphal adventus. Grants offered to divine for support. Trophy monuments. Holy places as memorials of victories. Religious landscapes of warfare;
• Symbolic response to military failure. Lamentation and penance. Rituals of surrender;
• Public religious rites on the “home front”. Liturgy of war. War in liturgical sources;
• Dealing with the dead warriors. Preservation and religious commemoration of the battlefield;
• Religious song as ritual before, during, and after the combat. Calling for supernatural aid through prayer, invocation, singing, and music. Expressing emotions as ritual act.

To submit a proposal please send an abstract of 200-300 words, with about 150 words biographical information to Radosław Kotecki: radoslaw_kotecki@ukw.edu.pl (for inquiries, please email at the same address). The deadline for the submission of abstracts is December 31, 2019; for the first draft of the article, the deadline is October 30, 2020. The final articles are due by January 10, 2021. An outcome of the project will be a workshop held in Bydgoszcz, which will serve the discussion over drafts of accepted contributions.

Editors: Dr. Radosław Kotecki (Kazimierz Wielki University); Prof. Jacek Maciejewski (Kazimierz Wielki University); Dr. Gregory Leighton (Cardiff University)

David Jacoby, one of the leading historians of Byzantium, passed away in October 2018. Prof. Jacoby was a member of the international board of the Mediterranean Historical Review, and contributed to it in various ways. His research in the fields of trade, economy and society, revealed not only the Mediterranean aspects of these Byzantine activities, but also the importance that Byzantine history holds for the study of the Mediterranean.

We regret this loss very much. To commemorate his lifelong achievements in the field of Mediterranean history, the MHR intends to publish a special issue dedicated to the theme “Byzantium between East and West”. We invite scholars to propose articles addressing this theme in view of the special position of Byzantium between the Levant, Eastern Europe and the Latin West. Byzantium boasts a history of over 12 centuries, maybe more than any other Mediterranean civilization. We wish to address the unique position it held, both geographically and chronologically, in the history of the region.

Papers may deal with any aspect of the subject in history, art history or archaeology, in any timeframe (narrow or wide) and in local, global or entangled perspective. All papers will be peer-reviewed following the Journal’s normal evaluation process.

Deadline for submission of articles : 31 March 2020.

Source : SHMESP

A group of doctoral students of the first and second year of the PhD course in Literature, Art and History in Medieval and Modern Europe proposes the organisation of the third International Graduate Conference, which is reserved for PhD students and young researchers and will be held at the Scuola Normale Superiore on 7-8 November 2019. This year, the conference aims to investigate the tradition and recovery of classical and late antique authors in the Middle Ages and early Modernity in their multiple artistic and literary forms (imitatio, reformulation, exegesis, critical reflection on literary genres, etc.).

To this end, we welcome proposals for papers relating to the following areas:

The classics in Romance philology and literature of the 12th century

1.1) Circulation and transmission of the Latin classics in the Middle Ages.
1.2) The use of the classics in the scholastic education of the first vernacular authors and in the medieval poets of the French area, trait d’union between old and new literary forms.
1.3) Evolution of genres and literary forms from Antiquity to the Middle Ages.
1.4) Critical reflection about Ars poetica.

The classical myths between the Middle Ages and the early Renaissance

2.1) Ovid’s images.
2.2) Recovery and reworking of the classics in the late antique and early medieval mythographic production, in particular in Fulgentius’ Mythologiae and in the three Mythographi Vaticani.
2.3) Allegorical and moral exegesis in commentaries on Ovid’s Metamorphoses (12th-14th centuries).

The classics in the Italian literature of the Middle Ages and in commentaries to Dante

3.1) The dialogue with Antiquity in Italian literature and art of the 13th-14th centuries: imitation and rewriting of classical sources;
re-use of images and metaphors taken from the Antiquity.
3.2) The relationship between the mythographic and allegorical tradition and the Dante’s revival of classical myths.
3.3) Commenting with the classics: the use of classical sources in ancient commentaries and illustrations to Dante’s Comedy.

Ancient and Islamic philosophy, vernacular literatures

4.1) Ancient philosophy and its Arabic mediation in Romance literature, between continuity and variations.
4.2) The translation of philosophical texts and their relationships with vernacular literatures.
4.3) The concepts of « philosopher » and « philosophy » in Romance literature.
4.4) The re-elaboration of ancient material in the formation of new concepts such as interiority, artistic « creation » and geographic-mythical representations.

The conference will include the participation, as keynote speakers, of four internationally renowned scholars who have dealt with the themes proposed here, and whose research interests reflect the fourfold articulation of our program:

– Claudia Villa (University of Bergamo – Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa), a medieval and humanist philologist specialised in the study of classical authors’ circulation in the Middle Ages and vernacular culture;
– Claudia Cieri Via (Sapienza University of Rome), an art historian and scholar of iconography and iconology, whose research has focussed on the fortune of Ovid’s Metamorphoses between the 15th and 16th centuries;
– Marco Petoletti (Catholic University of the Sacred Heart of Milan), who is author of numerous essays about medieval epigraphy, ancient commentaries on Dante’s Comedy, Latin literature of the 14th century, with particular reference to Dante, Petrarca and Boccaccio;
– Paolo Falzone (Sapienza University of Rome), who dedicated a large part of his scientific production to the intertwinement of philosophy, theology and politics in Dante’s works.

Proposals (in Italian or English) accompanied by a title, an abstract (of a maximum length of 4000 characters) and a curriculum vitae et studiorum (maximum 3000 characters) must be sent in two separate files to the address aereperennius@sns.it.

Each paper should be no longer than twenty minutes.

Requests to participate must be sent by 30 June 2019 and will be submitted to the selection of the organising committee which will communicate the acceptance of the proposals by e-mail by 20 July 2019.

The contributions will then be subjected to a rigorous peer-review process in view of the publication of the proceedings. Participation in the Conference is free. The organisation will not provide for the reimbursement of travel and accommodation expenses, but it will provide information on available accommodation.

Thursday 7 – Friday 8 November 2019, Pisa, Scuola Normale Superiore.

The organising committee :
Susanna Barsotti
Arianna Brunori
Ilaria Ottria
Paola Tricomi
Marina Zanobi

Source : Blog de l’ApAhAu