Category Conferences

“The Anglo-Saxon Death Lists: Crisis and Categorization”David Lennington (Princeton University)The Exeter Book details the various ways of dying. In The Fates of the Apostles, is martyrology and deals with the terminal illness and death of a child. Why do Anglo-Saxons want to list and categorize ways to die?

SESSION 2: Storms Within and Without“Winter Landscape and Season”Paul Langeslag (U of T)This fascinating paper was about Anglo-Saxon seasonal imagery and it’s meaning. The focus was on winter imagery. There has been an argument that Anglo-Saxons were more interested in winter imagery than summer imagery because it reflected on the harsh nature of life during this time.

SESSION 1: Transhistorical Anglo-Saxon England“Vernacular Authority in a Materialized God: Reading the Text of Christ’s Body in Old and Middle English”Camin Melton (Fordham University)This brief paper was a work in progress and focused on Anglo-Saxon piety, mysticism & devotional literature. Anglo-Saxon piety, and devotion in texts existed long before the 11th century.

The University of Pittsburgh hosted the 10th annual Vagantes: Medieval Graduate Student Conference, from March 3-5, 2011.This conference is aimed at allowing medieval student scholars present their research on a wide variety of topics. Vagantes is an annual conference that moves to a new location in North America each year – in this year’s meeting, 23 papers and two keynote addresses will be given.

“Though he bere hem no breed”: Allegory, Altruism, and the Problem of Poverty in Langland’s EnglandBy Ben UtterPaper given at the Vagantes: Medieval Graduate Student Conference, held at the University of Pittsburgh (2011)The paper notes that in 14th century England poverty was rampant, caused by plague, famine and warfare, which led to an increase in the number of poor and beggars that could be seen on the streets of medieval cities.

Vagantes ConferenceBruce Vernarde (Pitt U)“Salvation, Sex, and Subjectivity”In 1980, John Boswell published “Christianity, Social Tolerance and Homosexuality”. It was considered a groundbreaking work in the history of homosexuality. It argued that male/male eroticism was not condemned, but was even celebrated, until the later Middle Ages (around the 13th century).

The Sign of Christ, the Sign of Salvation: an Exalted Cross in a Late Medieval Armenian Gospel BookBy Orsolya MednyánszkyPaper given at the Vagantes: Medieval Graduate Student Conference, held at the University of Pittsburgh (2011)By the later Middle Ages, illuminated gospels became very popular among Armenians, with even lower class families owning their own copy.

VAGANTES CONFERENCE: Session 1: Performance & RitualThe Performance of Separation at Escomb ChurchAshely Lonsdale Cook (University of Wisconsin – Madison)This paper was part of a case study in Ms. Cook’s doctoral thesis which focuses on one of the few intact Anglo-Saxon stone churches. Cook focused on the use of curtains as spacial boundaries and how they affected the worshippers experiences during the liturgy.

The Danes in Medieval Romance: Myth, Memory, IdentityBy Daniel WollenbergPaper given at the Vagantes: Medieval Graduate Student Conference, held at the University of Pittsburgh (2011)Did medieval readers/listeners believe that the information in chivalric romances to contain at least some historical truth?

Vagantes ConferenceSession 2: Reception, Memory & Identity“The Mark of the beast: revisioning the medieval bestiary in the 20th century”Raina Polivka (Indiana University)The medieval period was an era of uncertainty – medieval people gave thought to how they applied their presence to the natural world.

The Role of Historian in the Encomium Emmae ReginaeBy Kristen Tibbs, Marshall UniversityPaper given at the Vagantes: Medieval Graduate Student Conference, held at the University of Pittsburgh (2011)The Enconium Emmae Reginae was commissioned by the 11th century Anglo-Saxon queen Emma (c.985 -1052) and was probably written by a Flemish churchman.

VagantesTo see or not to see in the Middle Ages: Blind Jews in Christian eyesBrooke Falk PermenterSession V: Seeing the OtherThe medieval image of the Jew falling from grace is best seen in the image of the two queens; Ecclesia and Synagoga. Ecclesia looks proud, stands tall and wears a crown upon her head.

Re-Framing the Marginalized: An Examination of Center-Periphery Relations in the Bayeux TapestryBy Lindsey HansenPaper given at the Vagantes: Medieval Graduate Student Conference, held at the University of Pittsburgh (2011)Hansen’s research relates to a long overlooked part of the Bayeux Tapestry – the images that are found in the margin strips above and below the main section of this Anglo-Norman art work.

SESSION 8: Spaces Real and Imagined“Ful blissfully in prison maistrow dure”: Pleasure and imprisonment in the Knight’s TaleSparks, Corey (Indiana University)AbstractArcite departs from Palamon by wishing him enduring pleasure in his imprisonment. Arcite laments his newly-gained freedom as an imprisionment that is far less pleasing than Palamon’s Troubling an easy binary between captivity and freedom in the Knight’s Tale, Chaucer thus imagines imprisonment as a site for productive pleasures.

The 31st Annual Canadian Conference of Medieval Art HistoriansHow To Use a Medieval Pilgrimage Shrine: Pilgrims’ Interaction with Architecture and its FurnishingsBugslag, JimAbstractUnlike many of their contemporary epigones, medieval pilgrims were not principally concerned with getting from point A (their home) to point B (a pilgrimage site).

The 31st Annual Canadian Conference of Medieval Art HistoriansA New Vision of Death: Re-Evaluating Huizinga’s Views on the Late Medieval MacabreKralik, Christine (University of Toronto)AbstractIn The Waning of the Middle Ages, first published in the Netherlands in 1919, Johan Huizinga explored the late medieval art of France and the Netherlands and argued that the Late Middle Ages was a period of violent contrasts, decline and excess.

The Third Annual email protected Graduate Student Conference – Family MattersPanel I: Sisters In Spirit“Family Life and the Garment of Love: St. Francis and Nicholas Bozon’s ‘Lives of St. Agnes’Courtney E. Rydel (University of Pennsylvania)Courtney is a 5th year PhD candidate who’s research focus is on women saints.

Between Tradition and Change: Monastic Reform in Three fifteenth-century German Redactions of the Life of Saint Mary of EgyptPanel 3: Saints as TextsMegan Barrett, Department of Germanic Studies (Indiana University)Summary by Our SiteThe text discussed was a 15th c. German redaction of Mary of Egypt’s life.

The Third Annual Medievalists @ Penn Graduate Student ConferenceUnto Philadelphia: The Multiple Genealogies of the Rosenbach Erasmus Novum Testamentum (1519)Alexander Devine (University of Pennsylvania)Alexander catalogues medieval manuscripts in Baltimore, Maryland.This paper dealt with the dispersal of the medieval library during the Dissolution of the 16th century and the transfer of Erasmus’s book from Basel to Durham Cathedral to York Minster to Philadelphia.

Hālnes and hǽlþ:Anglo-Saxon Bodily WellnessPanel 2: The Body CorruptibleErin E. Sweaney, Department of English (Indiana University)Summary by Our SiteThis paper discussed Anglo-Saxons spiritual and physical health. The paper did not deal with medical technical terms but focused on Anglo-Saxon perceptions and experiences of health and disease.