medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Apologies if this has already been posted.
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Sun, 19 Feb 2006 13:11:23 +0000
To: Catherine Rider <[log in to unmask]>
From: Sophie Page <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Jean-Claude Schmitt lecture and Neale Colloquium
Dear All,
I attach below details about a free public lecture on 'Images, imagination
and the orders of time' which will be given by Professor Jean-Claude
Schmitt of the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Paris in the
Gustav Tuck lecture theatre, UCL at 5.30pm
on Friday 31st March. I hope that you will be able to attend.
The programme for the accompanying Colloquium 'The Unorthodox Imagination
in Late Medieval Britain' is also described below and in an attachment
(with conference picture)
Please see the UCL website at
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/history/conferences/neale2006/index.htm
for a registration form or contact me for further information.
Many apologies for Cross-posting,
Sophie Page
Neale Lecture and Colloquium 2006
'The Unorthodox Imagination in Late Medieval Britain'
31 March - 1 April 2006
What were the limits and possibilities of the Medieval Universe? The aim of
this colloquium is to examine diverse approaches to the universe,
especially in relation to late medieval Britain, focusing on three
particular areas: Belief and Wonder; Ritual and Deviance; Nature and
Imagination.
Friday 31st March
4.00 p.m. Registration, South Cloisters
4.30 p.m. Tea, South Cloisters
5.30 p.m. Neale Lecture Gustave Tuck Lecture Theatre Professor Jean-Claude
Schmitt (Paris)
Title of paper : Images, imagination and the orders of time
6.30 p.m. Reception, South Cloisters
Saturday 1st April
Comments and all sessions in the Old Refectory, UCL
9.30 a.m. Comments on and general discussion of the Lecture, Robert
Bartlett (St Andrews)
10.30 a.m. Coffee, South Cloisters
11.00 a.m. Session 1: Belief and Wonder, Chair: Miri Rubin
John Arnold (Birkbeck): The materiality of unbelief in late medieval England
Carl Watkins (Cambridge): Fascination and Anxiety in Medieval Wonder Stories
Susan Reynolds Belief or unbelief in the legitimacy of social and political
structures
Issues for discussion may include: The psychological processes of believing
(and wondering and imagining). The variety, flexibility and mutable nature
of belief in categories not open directly to the senses. How the
supernatural (marvels, portents, ghosts etc) are incorporated into
historical writings. The category of 'Marvels of the West. On secular
structures, how far did people in different social classes accept them? Is
there any connection between this and other sorts of belief?
12.30 p.m. Buffet Lunch, South Cloisters
1.30 p.m. Session 2: Ritual and Deviance, Chair: David dAvray
Edina Bozoky (Poitiers): Relics : Imagination and Use for Individual
Protection in the Middle Ages
Frank Klaassen (Saskatchewan): Ritual Magic in Late Medieval Britain
Lea Olsan (University of Louisiana at Monroe): Enchantment in Medieval
Literature
Issues for discussion may include: Tensions in the relationship between
celestial influence, personal spiritual forces, the free will of man and
the omnipotence of God. The structure, goals and creativity of subversive
rituals for controlling the supernatural. Magic techniques as tools for
manipulating the universe. Rituals to induce 'wonder'. The relationship
between magical ritual, orthodox belief and unorthodox imagination, eg the
Christian practitioner of a magical ritual involving powdered basilisk. The
meanings of 'enchantment': enchanted places and people, the use of
enchantments for better or worse, and in relation to moral lessons and
physical trials. Specifically British forms of magic.
2.45-3p.m. Tea break
3pm. Session 3: Nature and Imagination, Chair: Sophie Page
Dr Aleks Pluskowski (Cambridge): Constructing exotic animals and
environments in late Medieval Britain
Dr Brigitte Resl (Goldsmiths): Wild beasts and the margins of imagination
Dr Alixe Bovey (Kent): Feral Saints, Holy Madmen and the Meanings of
Wilderness in Gothic Manuscript Margins
Issues for discussion may include: The relationship of medieval men and
women to their physical environment: perceptions, subversions and
manipulations of the natural order. The interpenetration of the
supernatural with the natural. Wilderness and Civilization. Comparison of
physical and conceptual approaches to fauna and environments. Constructing
exotic animals and environments. The relationship between conceptualising a
distant supernatural and exotic (angel or unicorn) and the use of ritual
and imagination to bring them closer. Images of animals and nature which
subvert texts.
Dr Sophie Page
Lecturer in late Medieval History
Department of History
University College London
Gower Street WC1E 6BT
Phone: 0207 679 3619
Fax: 0207 413 8394
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