CALL FOR PAPERS
Twelfth Annual Symposium on Medieval and Renaissance Studies
June 9-11, 2025
Saint Louis University
St. Louis, Missouri, USA
The Annual Symposium on Medieval and Renaissance Studies is a convenient summer venue in North America for scholars to present papers, organize sessions, participate in roundtables, and engage in interdisciplinary discussion. The goal of the Symposium is to promote serious scholarly investigation into all topics and in all disciplines of medieval and Renaissance studies (c. 500-c. 1700).
The plenary speakers for this year’s Twelfth Annual Symposium (June 9-11, 2025) are John Van Engen (University of Notre Dame) and Elissa B. Weaver (University of Chicago).
The Symposium is held on the beautiful midtown St. Louis campus of Saint Louis University. On campus housing options include affordable, air-conditioned apartments as well as a more luxurious hotel. Inexpensive meal options are available, and there is a wealth of restaurants, bars, and cultural venues within easy walking distance of campus.
While attending the Symposium, participants are free to use the Vatican Film Library, the Rare Books Division, and the general collection at Saint Louis University’s Pius XII Memorial Library. These collections offer access to tens of thousands of medieval and early modern manuscripts on microfilm as well as strong holdings in medieval and Renaissance history, literature, languages, manuscript studies, theology, philosophy, and canon law. The Jesuit Archives & Research Center is adjacent to the university and also accessible to Symposium attendees.
We invite proposals for papers, complete sessions, and roundtables. Any topic in the scholarly
investigation of the medieval and early modern world is welcome. This year introduces an organizing, optional theme: “Synthesis and Reconciliation.” Papers are also being solicited on the following topics:
- Reading Ancient History in Medieval and Renaissance Europe
- Creeds, Nicene and Other
- Family Dynamics
- Iceland and Ireland
- Scholasticism
Individual papers should be twenty minutes in length. Scholars may also organize and submit full session proposals of three papers each. Scholars in a session must represent at least two institutions. Scholarly organizations are encouraged to sponsor proposals for complete sessions; organizing at least two sessions in coordination with each other is highly recommended. All papers must be delivered in-person.
Mini-conferences hosted by societies occur in the context of the SMRS (see below, p. 2). Paper submitters are welcome to submit their paper for general consideration at the Symposium or for one of the mini-conferences. All submissions are centralized and are made through the SMRS website.
The submission portal will open on November 1. The portal has buttons for submission to the main SMRS and for each of the mini-conferences. The deadline for all submissions is December 31, 2024. Decisions will be made by the end of January, and the final program will be published in March.
For more information or to submit your proposal, go to: https://www.smrs-slu.org/.
Also see here.
MINI-CONFERENCES
Twelfth Annual Symposium on Medieval and Renaissance Studies
June 9-11, 2025
Saint Louis University St. Louis, Missouri, USA
https://www.smrs-slu.org/
50th St. Louis Conference on Manuscript Studies
As the fiftieth anniversary, this year marks an important occasion to remember and celebrate scholarship of years past and highlight new research in the field. As at previous conferences, papers are welcome in all topics related to research on medieval and Renaissance manuscripts, including codicology, paleography, manuscript illuminations, marginalia, text-editing, and digital humanities tools for studying manuscripts. The overall theme of the Symposium on Medieval and Renaissance Studies in 2025 is “Synthesis and Reconciliation.” Following this theme is welcome but not required. We also welcome sessions honoring the work of previous scholars who have been important in the world of manuscript studies or revisiting themes investigated in earlier papers at the St. Louis Conference on Manuscript Studies. The Lowry J. Daly, SJ Memorial Lecture in Manuscript Studies will be delivered by Adam S. Cohen of the University of Toronto.
International Arthurian Studies Mini-Conference
After a one-year hiatus, the International Arthurian Studies-North American Branch returns to the SMRS in June 2025. The IAS-NAB welcomes individual proposals or proposals for complete sessions on any topic pertaining to Arthurian studies, whether medieval or its modern adaptations. Inquiries may be directed to Professor Evelyn Meyer (evelyn.meyer@slu.edu) & Professor Siân Echard (sian@mail.ubc.ca), incoming President of the IAS-NAB.
South-Central Renaissance Conference
We are pleased to welcome the South-Central Renaissance Conference (SCRC) to the SMRS for the first time. The SCRC welcomes paper proposals in all areas of Renaissance studies. Besides general sessions, it regularly hosts sessions affiliated with the Queen Elizabeth I Society, the Andrew Marvell Society, and the Society for Renaissance Art History. Presenters in this mini-conference must be members of the SCRC and can join at https://southcentralrenaissanceconference.org/.
Each mini-conference will have its own submission button on the submission page of the SMRS website, https://www.smrs-slu.org/. The portal will open November 1. Submissions are due December 31, 2024.
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