UPDATE: We've extended the deadline for submissions to: January 21st, 2013

CALL FOR PAPERS

Canadian Society of Medievalists Annual Meeting

June 2-4, 2013

Congress 2013

University of Victoria,

Victoria, BC

The special theme for this year’s Congress is “@the edge”, but papers for the CSM Annual Meeting can address any topic on medieval studies. Proposals for complete sessions are also invited. Papers may be delivered in either English or French, and bilingual sessions are particularly welcome.

Proposals should include a one-page abstract and a one-page curriculum vitae. Papers should be no more than 20 minutes reading time.

Please submit proposals by 14 January 2013 to:

Professor John Osborne,

President, CSM

Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences,

Carleton University,

Ottawa, ON

Canada K1S 5B6

Or by E-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

APPEL À COMMUNICATIONS

Rencontre de la Société Canadienne des Médiévistes 2013

le 2, 3, et 4 juin 2013

Congrès 2013

à l’Université de Victoria,

Victoria, C-B

Le thème officiel du Congrès 2013 est “@la fine pointe”, mais il est toujours possible de soumettre à la Société des propositions de communication sur d’autres sujets pertinants aux études médiévales, notamment à caractère pluridisciplinaire, ainsi que des séances completes.  Les communications peuvent être présentées en français ou en anglais, et les séances bilingues sont particulièrement encouragées. Les propositions devront comprendre un résumé et un curriculum vitae, d’une page chacun; le temps de presentation devra se limiter à vingt minutes.

prière de faire parvenir vos propositions avant le 14 janvier 2013 à:

Professor John Osborne,

President, CSM

Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences,

Carleton University,

Ottawa, ON

Canada  K1S 5B6

ou par courriel: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

The CSM executive committee is pleased to announce that the 2012 prize for the best student paper delivered at our annual meeting has been awarded to Jenny Weston (University of Leiden), for her paper entitled “Books on the Move: the Exchange of Manuscripts between Monasteries in the Long Twelfth Century”. Congratulations, Jenny!

Abstract:

With the Norman Conquest of England in 1066, a new intellectual causeway was established between England and the European continent: books began to move freely through a complex network of lending, borrowing, and copying—organized and facilitated by Benedictine communities on either side of the channel. By the twelfth century, English and Norman libraries began to thrive, including those at Christ Church, Rochester Cathedral, Bec, Fécamp, and St-Évroul. This extensive library network depended on various forms of cooperation and a mutual desire to expand and enhance each community’s knowledge base.

The present paper examines this system of book (and intellectual) exchange between English and Norman Benedictine monasteries in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. It analyzes the various requests to borrow books (and demands to return missing ones), petitions for new copies of the latest texts to be made, as well as the expansion of library collections in both England and Normandy. By following how books were exchanged and shared across the channel, we can better understand how certain trends in learning, reading, and writing developed and spread between these two adjacent cultures. Were both English and Norman monks interested in the same texts? Did they pursue similar intellectual goals or did each community nurture special interest in certain types of books and certain kinds of learning? Although English and Norman monastic communities may have been brought together through conquest, this paper demonstrates that it was their shared passion for learning and their willingness to be part of an intellectual partnership of book exchange that ultimately united them.

Save the date: the next CSM annual meeting will take place on June 2-4, 2013, in Victoria, BC