The 26th Harlaxton Medieval Symposium, 20th-23rd July 2009

Ritual and Space

The 2009 Harlaxton Medieval Symposium considered Ritual and Space. The theme provoked, as ever, a number of lively multi-disciplinary approaches. Papers ranged in date from the ninth to the late fifteenth centuries; subjects from holy fire and marks to ward off the Evil Eye to polyphonic music, by way of battles and a tournament. Locations moved over Europe and from the Near East to Durham and Exeter. The whole had been coordinated and was tactfully but purposefully moved along by this year's convenor, Dr Frances Andrews.

Though other conferences have interesting papers, excellent leadership, good organisation and an excursion (though not with such packed lunches?), Harlaxton always has a special atmosphere. This is attributable in no small part to the liveliness of the young scholars and enthusiasts whom the Symposium always attracts and encourages. Then there is the setting; the mad, multi-turreted architecture of the Manor itself, its gilded interior with Titans and blackamoors, and grounds with foxes (real) and lions (stone) - where else is 'coffee and tea served in the Gold Room'?

Each year some things are the same - the friendly staff, the essential bookstalls, the conference dinner in the Great Hall - but there is always something new. This year, the latest volume of the Records of Early English Drama, for Lincolnshire, was launched with a reception in the Chapter House of Lincoln Cathedral. There was an evening concert of fourteenth century music, given by the early music ensemble, Le Basile. And, to conclude proceedings, a lively roundtable at which (after cooperative re-positioning of all the chairs in the Long Gallery) almost everyone spoke.

This, the twenty sixth Symposium, was again four days filled with learning, discussion, and questions. Relaxation too; in the evenings, the bar is open, the billiard room is available - and where else this year was croquet played with ('due to circumstances beyond the organisers' control') one ball and three mallets...?

Ann Rycraft
August 2009

Frances Andrews and Jill Caskey	Lucy-Anne Hunt, Andrew Jotischky and Sarah Hamilton
Maurizio Campanelli and Christoph Egger	Jenny Alexander, David Lepine and Philip Morgan
Sible de Blaauw, Frances Andrews and Jan Nauta	Rupert Webber and Nick Holder
Justin Colson, Hannes Kleineke and Clive Burgess	Harlaxton at night

Programme:

Monday, 20th July 2009

2.45-3.15 Frances Andrews (St Andrews Institute for Mediaeval Studies): 'Ritual and Space: the possibilities'

3.15-4.30 Rob Meens (Utrecht): 'Violence and religion. The sacred space around the grave of St Martin of Tours and the practice of sanctuary in the early Middle Ages'
Sarah Hamilton (Exeter): 'A liminibus: ritual excommunication 900-1200
4.30 Tea
5.00-6.15
Catherine Lawless (Limerick): 'Saints, Gender, Space and the City'
Maurizio Campanelli (Rome, La Sapienza): 'Describing Rituals in Rome between the 14th and 15th centuries: chroniclers and antiquarians'
6.45 Dinner
9.00 Bar

Tuesday, 21st July

7.00-8.30 Breakfast
9.00-10.15 Hannes Kleineke (History of Parliament): Civic ritual, space and conflict in 15th Century Exeter
Helen Carrel, York: 'Pleas and petitions in the urban environment: the rituals of town-crown relations in post-Black Death England'
10.15 Coffee
10.45-12.45
Andrew Jotischky (Lancaster): 'Holy Fire and Holy Sepulchre: Ritual and Space in Jerusalem, 9th-14th centuries'
Lucy-Ann Hunt (Manchester): 'Art, place and pilgrimage in the Eastern Mediterranean between the 12th-14th centuries'
1.00 Lunch
2.00-4.00
Sible de Blauuw (Nijmegen), 'The Church Atrium in Rome as a Ritual Space'
Jill Caskey (Toronto): 'The Look of Liturgy: Identity and ars sacra in southern Italy'
Donal Cooper (Warwick): 'Ritual Space and Liturgical Fabric in the Mendicant Churches of late medieval Italy'
4.00 Tea
4.30-5.45
Philip Morgan (Keele): 'Inhabiting the Battlefield in the Middle Ages'
David Ditchburn (Trinity College, Dublin): 'Court, Tournament, Banquet: the marriage of King James II of Scotland and Mary of Guelders in 1449'
6.30 Dinner
Croquet on the lawn (weather permitting)
9.00 Bar

Wednesday July 22

7.00-8.30 Breakfast
09.00–11.00 Jennifer Alexander (Warwick): 'Symbols to Ward off the Evil Eye, or less dramatic readings of ciphers around windows'
Julian Luxford (St Andrews Institute of Mediaeval Studies): 'The Space of the Tomb in Carthusian Consciousness'
Philip Dixon (Council for British Archaeology, Royal Archaeological Institute): 'Ritual and Reinventing the Romans in the early Middle Ages: the case of Lincoln in the 11th century'
11.30 Leave for Lincoln
12.15 Arrive at Lincoln. Lunch, Minster tour led by Philip Dixon, REED Paper by Jim Stokes: 'Staging Wonders in Lincoln Cathedral'
4.30 REED Reception in the Chapter House, Lincoln Cathedral
7.00 Conference Reception
7.30 Conference Dinner (black tie optional)

Thursday 23rd July

7.00-8.30 Breakfast
9.00-10.15 John McKinnell (Durham): 'For the People/By the People: Ritual in Private and Public Spaces in the Durham Sequence of the Sacrament'
Uri Smilansky (Exeter): A Labyrinth of Spaces: Conceptualising French Secular Polyphony in the Late Fourteenth Century
10.15 Coffee
10.45-12.00
Christoph Egger (Vienna): 'Ceremonies in outer space. Do papal ceremonial treatises constitute space(es)?'
Nicholas Rogers (Cambridge): 'The Location and Iconography of Confession in Late Medieval Europe'
12.00-12.45 Round table (all speakers)
1.00 Lunch and depart