[1]

From: ALICIA MIGUÉLEZ CAVERO <amiguelezfcsh.unl.pt>
Date: Jul 18, 2016
Subject: The Western Iberian Kingdoms after 1143

Kalamazoo, Western Michigan University
Deadline: Sep 5, 2016

The Western Iberian Kingdoms after 1143

Organizers: Maria Dolores Teijeira (Instituto de Estudios Medievales,
Universidad de León) and Alicia
Miguélez (Instituto de Estudos Medievais, Universidade Nova de Lisboa)

The year 1143 was decisive for the birth of what is today considered the
oldest nation-state of the Western
world: Portugal. On October 5, 1143 King Alfonso VII of León and Castile
and his cousin Afonso Henriques
signed the so-called Treaty of Zamora - under the auspices of the papal
envoy Cardinal Guido de Vico -
meant the recognition of the title of King for Afonso Henriques by Alfonso
VII of León. Three months later,
on December 13, the Portuguese King addressed the letter Clavis Regni to
Rome asking to become vassal of the pope, a process that would only finish
in 1179, when Pope Alexander III officially recognised Afonso Henriques as
the first King of Portugal through the bull Manifestis Probatum.
The new-born kingdom would keep its independence during the entire medieval
period, despite the several
attempts of its neighbouring territories to reincorporate it. The
establishment of territorial borders and
political frontiers between Portugal and the surrounding Western Iberian
territories –which politically
evolved until becoming the united kingdom of León and Castile in 1230- did
obviously not imply the
isolation of these territories, which shared similar needs and aims, a
common enemy in the south and the
same religious and cultural background. Rather, Portugal, Galicia, León
and Castile show an intense cluster of political, economical, social and
cultural exchanges and relationships which might led to reconsider the
concepts of frontiers and borders in medieval times, as well as to advance
knowledge in the role played by these territories in both the Iberian and
European contexts during the Middle Ages.

The Instituto de Estudios Medievales of the University of León and the
Instituto de Estudos Medievais of the
Nova University in Lisbon organize two interdisciplinary sessions for
scholars from several disciplines,
those including History, Art History, Archaeology and Literature. These
panels invite 15 minute papers that
focus on one the following issues:

- Diplomatic relations: Alliances, Treaties, Royal marriages and other
political links.
- The circulation of people, models and ideas
- War, Reconquest and Crusade: differences and similarities on the
Reconquest between both kingdoms.
Conflict and war between them
- Exchanges of artists and models among the different territories.
Similarities and differences on artistic
patronage.
- Literary production and courtly life

The deadline for paper proposals is September 5, 2016. Please send the
abstract of your proposed paper (up to 300 words) and your CV to Alicia
Miguélez (amiguelezfcsh.unl.pt).
More info at:
https://wmich.edu/sites/default/files/attachments/u434/2016/medieval-call-for-papers-2017.pdf

__________________________________________________________________________________

[2]
From: Judith Soria <judith.soriayahoo.fr>
Date: Jul 18, 2016
Subject: Body and Soul in Medieval Visual Culture

Kalamazoo, MI, May 11 - 14, 2017
Deadline: Sep 15, 2016

Body and Soul in Medieval Visual Culture

Organizers: Judith Soria (CNRS « Orient et Méditerranée ») and Jennifer
Lyons (Ithaca College)

Medieval theologians and artists wrestled with the dual "natures" of the
human form: the soul, whose indefinite substance is connected with ideas of
the animate, and the body, visible and mortal. Monastic life (supposed to
be essentially spiritual) was organized, according to Byzantine typika and
Western monastic rules, as a way to control the passions and to master the
body by regulating the most pragmatic aspects of daily life so that monks
could focus on tending the soul through prayer. Medieval artists responded
to this tension between the spiritual and the corporeal in various ways in
the visual arts of the Greek East and the Latin West. In Genesis cycles,
for example, the animation of Adam and Eve expressed this duality without
picturing the soul itself, while in representations of the Dormition of the
Virgin, the soul of the Mother of God was typically presented in the form
of an infant or small, pale body. This session seeks papers that explore
the range of ways in which medieval artists responded to the
anthropological duality of body and soul in the visual arts of the
Byzantine and Western medieval worlds.

Please send an abstract of the proposed paper, (300 words), a cv with
current contact information, and a completed Participant Information Form
(available at https://wmich.edu/medievalcongress/submissions) to Judith
Soria (judith.soriayahoo.fr) and Jennifer Lyons (jenniferlyogmail.com) by
September 15, 2016.

Abstracts not accepted for the session will be forwarded to the Congress
administrators for considerations in general sessions.