The Medieval Studies Workshop at the University of Chicago is sponsoring two sessions at Kalamazoo this year. We are currently accepting paper abstracts from students and faculty. If you are interested in presenting at one of these sessions, please send your abstract to tedstam@uchicago.edu by WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 15. Requests for further information may also be directed to tedstam@uchicago.edu. Please find descriptions of the sessions below.

1.) Images of Medieval Kingship

This session will explore different approaches to the depiction of kings and kingship in the Middle Ages. The figures of kings appeared in a range of European contexts, both visual and textual, including legal documents, chronicles, architecture, seals, and a wide range of works of art. Representations of kings and kingship still have much to tell us about the cultural and social priorities of medieval Europe. This session hopes to examine textual and visual representations of kings from a range of contexts, asking what these historical sources might tell us about medieval notions of kingship. We invite papers that take up the question of how particular representations define kingship, of how they relate to historical ideals and realities, of how the representation of the medieval king may have changed over time, and/or how representations of kings and kingship interacted with other contemporary notions of rulership.

2.) Devotion and Reform in the Middle Ages

This session is geared towards scholars interested in the relationship between devotion and reform. Medieval reform movements invariably involved changes in devotional practices as the men and women associated with them tried to revivify Christian religious life. Although reformers generally sought a return to earlier traditions, these movements often resulted in devotional innovation as older notions of religiosity were confronted with new ideas of what it meant to live as a pious Christian. In this session, we hope to explore how the pursuit of reform produced changes in devotional practice and, in turn, how the practice of devotion inflected, and even reinflected reformist ideals and ambitions. We welcome papers that explore the intersection of devotion and reform in the Middle Ages, including but not limited to developments in prayer and liturgy, reading and meditative practices, the visual arts, music, and literary production, considered from a variety of disciplinary perspectives.

Thank you,

Torsten Edstam
Graduate Coordinator, Medieval Studies Workshop