The International Congress on Medieval Studies is an annual academic conference held for scholars specializing in, or with an interest in, medieval studies. It is sponsored by the Medieval Institute at the Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and is held during the first half of May. The Congress is the largest annual gathering in the field, regularly attracting over three thousand registered participants from all over the world.[1][2] The 50th annual conference took place in 2015.
In 1962, the newly established Institute for Medieval Studies at Western Michigan University organized a biennial gathering known as the Conference on Medieval Studies. By 1970, participation had grown significantly and the gathering was made an annual affair. Unusual for the time, the organizers issued calls for papers which were open to all in the field who were interested, including graduate students (see Scope and Participation, below).[3] In the program of the 50th Congress, John Sommerfeldt reminisces about the inception of the humble conference as a place where "bright young scholars could be heard."[4] The torch, as Sommerfeldt puts it, has been carried respectably by subsequent directors of the Medieval Institute of Western Michigan University, with increasing numbers of participants and insightful new approaches to medieval studies. The directors, following John Sommerfeldt, include Otto Gründler, Paul E. Szarmach, James M. Murray, and the newly appointed Jana Schulman.
In 1973, the Institute for Cistercian Studies was established at Western Michigan, and began to hold its annual Cistercian Studies Conference as a sub-set of the International Congress on Medieval Studies.[3]
In 2020, due to rise of COVID-19, the 55th International Congress on Medieval Studies was canceled. The Congress moved to a virtual format for 2021, with both live and prerecorded session and a virtual exhibits hall.[7]
Structure
The Congress is typically held during the first or second week of May, and runs from Thursday morning through Sunday afternoon.[8] Most events are held on the West Campus of Western Michigan University.
The archived schedule of the 42nd International Congress on Medieval studies, held in May 2007, illustrates the structure and events of the Congress as described below.
Sessions
Sessions form the bulk of the activity at the Congress.[9] There are three main types of sessions:
The vast majority of sessions are presentations of research. These sessions typically consist of between two and four presentations given by scholars in the field who present papers or other updates on the findings of their current research. Each of these sessions is organized around a theme under which the constituent presentations fit.
A minority of sessions are organized as roundtable discussions, in which a discussion on a predetermined topic takes place in at least a partially spontaneous manner. Short, prepared presentations are sometimes given as part of the roundtable.
A few sessions are organized as workshops, in which attendees are active participants. These focus on the teaching and practice of new skills.
Many sessions have a sponsoring group, although individuals or the Congress may organize sessions. Many of the sessions are sponsored by academic associations, universities, or publishers, while others are arranged by ad hoc groups which are interested in a particular topic.[10]
Approximately six hundred sessions are held across twelve different time slots during the four days. Each session is scheduled to last ninety minutes.
Plenary Lectures
Two plenary lectures are given during the conference, at the beginning of the day on Friday and Saturday.
Exhibits Hall
The exhibits hall is open during the length of the Congress, and is composed primarily of book publishers selling their latest titles in the field of medieval studies. A minority of the hall also features handcrafts, music, and foodstuffs for sale. In 2007, approximately seventy exhibitors participated.[11]
Meetings
The Congress serves as a rare chance for international societies of medieval specialists to gather in person, and dozens of business meetings are conducted during breaks between sessions. Many groups use the opportunity to plan for their presentations later in the summer at the International Medieval Congress held at Leeds University.
Entertainment and Attractions
The Congress typically features a film festival, screening movies which have a medieval setting or theme. There are also performances of medieval music and theater.[11][12][13]
Some participating organizations sponsor social gatherings in the form of wine hours or open bar receptions.
There are also demonstrations, to foster an understanding of material culture, that vary from year to year. Past demonstrations have included a trebuchet, a longboat, and most recently, a demonstration of blacksmithing.
The annual meeting of medievalists corresponds with the nesting of swans at Goldsworth pond, located at the very heart of the conference. Most years Congress ends before the eggs have hatched, but the 50th Congress was late enough that medievalists got to enjoy watching the cygnets get their sea legs.
Swan nest at Goldsworth Pond.Swans and cygnets at the 50th International Congress on Medieval Studies.
Scope and Participation
The Congress is very broad in scope, being open to all topics related to the medieval period and to participants from any background. This has served to set it apart from other meetings in the field.[13] Topics may range from discussions of mysticism, numismatics, and medieval Latin, to modern medieval-themed video games, the works of J. R. R. Tolkien, and the teaching of medieval studies in the classroom.
Such being the case, participants come from a broad variety of educational backgrounds. Most are professors and graduate students, but a significant minority is composed of architects, monks, undergraduate students, fiction authors, and other independent scholars and enthusiasts. Presenters are not necessarily experts in medieval history; scholars of literature, theater, religion, and art frequently give presentations.[9]
Western Michigan University is a public research university in Kalamazoo, Michigan, United States. It was initially established as Western State Normal School in 1903 by Governor Aaron T. Bliss for the training of teachers. It was renamed Western Michigan University in 1957.
Medieval studies is the academic interdisciplinary study of the Middle Ages. A historian who studies medieval studies is called a medievalist.
An unconference is a participant-driven meeting. The term "unconference" has been applied, or self-applied, to a wide range of gatherings that try to avoid hierarchical aspects of a conventional conference, such as sponsored presentations and top-down organization.
The Western Michigan Broncos football program represents Western Michigan University in the Football Bowl Subdivision of Division I and the Mid-American Conference (MAC). Western Michigan has competed in football since 1906, when they played three games in their inaugural season. In 1927, WMU joined four other schools to form the Michigan Collegiate Conference. Western Michigan then moved to its present conference in 1948. Prior to 1939, Western Michigan's athletic teams were known as the Hilltoppers.
Regular academic conferences in medieval studies include:
The Texas Medieval Association is an organization for medieval studies in Texas.
Charles Patrick Wormald was a British historian born in Neston, Cheshire, son of historian Brian Wormald.
Digital Medievalist is an academic project and community-building organization for those who are interested in the use of computers and computational techniques in the academic field of medieval studies, a sub-field of digital humanities.
The International Medieval Congress (IMC) is an annual academic conference held for scholars specializing in, or with an interest in, the study of the European Middle Ages. It is organised and administered by the Institute for Medieval Studies at the University of Leeds and is held in early July. The Congress is the largest annual conference in any subject in the UK, regularly attracting over 2,500 registered participants, and has been used in some research as a barometer for trends in Medieval Studies generally. In 2020 and 2021 the conference was held online due to restrictions to manage the COVID-19 pandemic. Since 2022, the IMC has been held as hybrid event.
Leslie J. Workman was an independent scholar and founder of academic medievalism.
Karl Heinz Göller (1924–2009) was a noted German medievalist and founder of the Mediävistenverband, the German association for medieval studies.
The Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies (ACMRS) was established in 1981, by the Arizona Board of Regents as a state-wide, tri-university research unit that bridges the intellectual communities at Arizona State University, Northern Arizona University, and the University of Arizona. Located centrally on the campus of Arizona State University, ACMRS is charged with coordinating and stimulating interdisciplinary research about medieval and early modern literature and culture.
The International Society for the Study of Medievalism is an academic organization that exists to promote the interdisciplinary study of the popular and scholarly reception of the Middle Ages in postmedieval times. The Society is based on the work and studies of Leslie J. Workman (1927–2001), who is recognized as formalising the academic study of medievalism in the English-speaking world. Katheen Verduin collaborated with Workman for nearly 20 years to establish the Society and its peer-reviewed journal, Studies in Medievalism (SiM).
The 2006 Western Michigan Broncos football team represented Western Michigan University (WMU) in the 2006 NCAA Division I FBS football season. They finished the season with an 8–5 overall record and a 6–2 record in the Mid-American Conference (MAC). The Broncos' 6–2 record gave them a second place in the MAC West Division. The team was invited to play in the 2007 International Bowl in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and lost to the Cincinnati Bearcats 27–24. The bowl game was WMU's first bowl game since the 1988 California Bowl.
The Society for Medieval Feminist Scholarship (SMFS) is an academic organization which "promotes the study of the Patristic Age, the Middle Ages, and the Early Modern era from the perspective of gender studies, women's studies, and feminist studies". Its development followed the rise of the study of medieval women in the 1970s and 1980s, and sought to increase the number of and sponsor papers about medieval women, and feminist theory driven scholarship, at the largest international medieval studies conferences, International Congress on Medieval Studies in Kalamazoo and Leeds IMC.
Chrysogonus Waddell was an American Roman Catholic convert and theologian. A Trappist monk of the Abbey of Gethsemani, Kentucky, he was an accomplished organist, liturgist, historian, and a scholar of chant and Cistercian liturgy.
John R. Sommerfeldt was an American university professor, medievalist and scholar of Cistercian Studies.
Andre "Drey" Ricks is a former NCAA Division I basketball player for Western Michigan University, and the founder of Rawimpact Clothing Brand & Rawimpact Basketball Training Academy.
Simon Forde is a publisher and medievalist, noted as the former editor of the International Medieval Bibliography and founder of the International Medieval Congress.
The Medieval Institute is a research and teaching institute in the field of medieval studies associated with Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, Michigan. The institute was founded in 1962 and offered the United States's first publicly awarded Master of Arts degree in medieval studies. Presently, the institute organizes the International Congress on Medieval Studies.
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