Author: Deanna Forsman

The Material World of the Early Middle Ages

on by Deanna Forsman

Call for Papers

Pacific University, Forest Grove, Oregon
October 7–9, 2016

Keynote Speakers:SEMA-2016-Call for Papers
Paul Edward Dutton (Simon Fraser University)
Robin Fleming (Boston College)
Thomas F. X. Noble (University of Notre Dame, Emeritus)

Scholars have long relied upon material evidence in order to understand the early Middle Ages. With the “material turn” of recent years in Medieval Studies, we invite early medievalists of all disciplines and specialization to a conference meant to examine, question, and build upon recent work on materiality. We seek to explore the whole world of the early Middle Ages by including papers that discuss the ways in which early medieval people experienced, altered, and were transformed by the material. By “material,” we include objects, artworks, buildings, texts, and other tangible items that survived as well as the “materials” discussed in texts or found in the natural world that we know existed but have been lost to time, decay, and change. We welcome a range of papers that will investigate this “world” expansively from a variety of vantage points such as the natural world, the materiality of the human body, the built environment, society, religion, and the imagination.

Please send an abstract of 250 words and a CV to Valerie Garver (vgarver@niu.edu) or Lynda Coon (llcoon@uark.edu) via email attachment. On your abstract please provide name, institution, and the title of your proposal.

Abstracts are due June 1, 2016.

Publication of Medieval Dublin XV

on by Deanna Forsman

Medieval Dublin XV
Seán Duffy, editor

Medieval Dublin XV

This volume contains reports on a number of important archaeological excavations in the Dublin area in recent years, including: Claire Walsh’s discovery of the remains of Hiberno-Norse and Anglo-Norman houses at Back Lane; Paul Duffy’s excavations at Baldoyle that produced evidence from the Viking Age onwards; and Edmond O’Donovan’s discovery of a large early Christian cemetery at Mount Gamble in Swords. To accompany his detailed report on the latter the volume includes an important study of the ecclesiastical and political history of the Swords area written by the late Ailbhe MacShamhráin. Also of note: Craig Lyons analyses the emergence of Dublin in the late tenth and early eleventh century as a more distinctively Irish sub-kingdom; Catherine Swift sheds new light on the famous account of Brian Boru and the battle of Clontarf called Cogadh Gaedhel re Gallaibh; Daniel Brown has a fascinating account of what happened in 1223 when Hugh de Lacy, the dispossessed earl of Ulster, raised a rebel army and marched on Dublin; Bernard Meehan describes the recent acquisition by the Trinity College Library of a hitherto unknown manuscript compiled in St Mary’s Abbey in the city in the early fourteenth century; Brian Coleman presents the first fruits of his meticulous study of the elite of Dublin city and county in the later Middle Ages; Dianne Hall examines everyday violence in the medieval city and environs; and, to mark the 700th anniversary of the Scottish invasion of Ireland by Edward Bruce in 1315, we include a hitherto-unpublished essay by the late Professor James Lydon on the Scottish threat to capture Dublin.

Contributors: Daniel J.F. Brown (QUB), Brian Coleman (TCD), Paul Duffy (Grassroots Archaeology), Dianne Hall (Victoria U, Melbourne), James Lydon† (TCD), Craig Lyons (TCD), Ailbhe MacShamhráin† (ind.), Bernard Meehan (TCD), Edmond O’Donovan (archaeologist), Catherine Swift (MIC, U Limerick), Claire Walsh (Archaeological Projects Ltd).

Seán Duffy is professor of medieval history, Trinity College Dublin, and chairman of the Friends of Medieval Dublin.

AVAILABLE 4 March 2016. 320pp; illustrations.
Paperback. ISBN 978-1-84682-567-5  [Retail: €24.95/$39.95]   /   Hardback. ISBN 978-1-84682-566-8    [Retail: €50./$65]

For more information, including a full list of contents, see: http://www.fourcourtspress.ie/books/2016/medieval-dublin-xv/

ACIS 2016

on by Deanna Forsman

The University of Notre Dame will be hosting ACIS (the American Conference for Irish Studies: http://acis.nd.edu/cfp/) from March 30th to April 3rd, 2016, with the theme, ‘The Worlding of Irish Studies’. Given Notre Dame’s investment in medieval studies and the success of the interlinked series of ‘Cultures of the North Sea’ panels at last year’s Medieval Academy, a series of linked medieval panels at ACIS under the broad umbrella of ‘Medieval Ireland in its Transnational Contexts’ is being organized by Amy Mulligan (Assistant Professor of Irish Language and Literature, Keough-Naughton Institute for Irish Studies) and Lindy Brady (A.W. Mellon Junior Faculty Fellow, Medieval Institute). Really, what this means is that we’re planning a medieval ‘conference within a conference’ and would like to feature as many medievalist voices at ACIS as possible.

We are therefore seeking abstracts for papers on any aspect of medieval Irish studies. Some topics which we already know will be represented include panels on Hiberno-Latin textual culture, saints, gender and emotion, origin legends, place-lore and landscape, ecocritical approaches, specific texts (Táin, Buile Shuibhne, Acallam, Cogadh Gael re Gallaib, etc.) material culture, Viking Age Ireland, law, and medieval Anglo-Irish literature. We welcome abstracts for papers on these and other topics with the goal of making ACIS a productive conference for medievalists working on and around Ireland.

The deadline for submitting paper proposals of 250 words or less is November 15. Paper or panel proposals can be submitted directly to ACIS (http://acis.nd.edu/cfp/), but we also encourage you to contact us directly with questions, queries, or abstracts, as we may be able to facilitate the placement of individual papers in pre-organized sessions. Please be in touch (amullig2@nd.edu and lbrady3@nd.edu) with any questions, and we hope to see you at Notre Dame this spring!

Church & Settlement Conference Details

on by Deanna Forsman

Originally posted Jan 26, 2015, 6:52 AM by ASIMS America-Ireland [ updated Jan 26, 2015, 7:21 AM ]

Please find attached the programme for the upcoming thematic conference on Church and Settlement in Ireland: Landscape, Life, Legacy. Abstracts of the papers are available at www.irishsettlement.ie

The conference has been organised by the GSIHS in association with the American Society of Irish Medieval Studies. It will take place in All Hallows College, Drumcondra, Dublin from Friday 27 February to Sunday 1 March.

Full conference Registration costs €80 (€50 for students). Single day registration is available for €30.

You may register for the conference online by credit card using PayPal by clicking on the following link: http://irishsettlement.ie/conferences/annual/register-gsihs-conference/

Registration may also be paid by sending a cheque to the treasurer – Dr David Fleming, Department of History, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland.

Hotel standard B&B accommodation at All Hallows can be booked at the rate of €50 per night. Email hello@purcellhouse.ie Phone +353-1 852 0754.

For conference attendees who are arriving in Ireland a little earlier, a field trip to the Boyne River Valley is being organised for Thursday 26 February. Led by field experts Dr. Matthew Stout and Dr. Geraldine Stout, the tour will take in prominent medieval sites in the region: Bective Abbey, Slane, Mellifont and Monasterboice. A courtesy minibus is being provided, departing from All Hallows College at 9am, Thursday 26 February, arriving back by 6pm. There will be no fee, but people will need to book their place in advance. Please send an e-mail to Dr James Lyttleton at jilyttleton@hotmail.com no later than Thursday 12 February.