Midwest Medieval History Conference Program

September 29 to 30, 2017
Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan

Conference Program (PDF version)

Friday, September 29
12:00-1:00 p.m. Special Collections, 3rd floor, Waldo Library: Viewing of WMU's recently acquired Radbertus manuscript with Elizabeth C. Teviotdale, Assistant Director, Medieval Institute

12:00 p.m. Registration Desk opens in Fetzer Center Lobby

All Conference Presentations are in Kirsch Auditorium,
Fetzer Center

1:15 p.m. Welcome
Robert Berkhofer and Jana Schulman, Western Michigan University

1:30-3:00 p.m. Session I: Women in the Middle Ages:
Queens, Saints, and Souls
Chair: Laura Michele Diener, Marshall University

The Trial of Mathilda of Scotland and the Construction
of Anglo-Norman Queenship
Alexandra Locking, University of Chicago

The Submission of God to the Soul in Mechthild of Magdeburg’s The Flowing Light of the Godhead​​
Lisa Millen, South Dakota State University

The Queen and the Swallow: Women and the Christianization
of Islamic Valencia in the Book of Deeds
Emma Snowden, University of Minnesota – Twin Cities

3:30-5:00 p.m. Session II: Monks and Monasteries: Liturgy, Liberty and Colonization
Chair: James Murray, Western Michigan University

Churches as Courts: The Influence of Carolingian Liturgy on Iberian Legal Uses of Space
Adam Matthews, Columbia University

The Confines of the Flesh: The Spiritual Foundation of Personal Liberty in Early Anglo-Saxon Monasticism
William Smoot, Marshall University.

Monastic Colonization in Medieval Wales: The Cistercian Family of Margam and Whitland
Frank Lacopo, Ball State University

Friday dinner on your own
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Saturday, September 30
9-11 a.m. Session III: Bodies, Gender and Masculinities
Chair: Paula Reider, Slippery Rock University

The Intersection of Childlessness and Gender Identity: Richard II and Anne of Bohemia
Kristen Geaman, University of Toledo

Corpulent, Inert, and Unfit for War: The Anglo-Norman Fat Shaming Philip I and Louis the VI
Jim Halverson, Judson University

Medieval Masculinities and the Feminized Church
Lora Walsh, University of Arkansas

Matthew Paris, Mansplaining, and the Modern Historian: How Women Were Erased from the Grand Narrative
Linda Mitchell, University of Missouri, Kansas City

11:15 a.m.-12:15 p.m. Session IV Plenary Address
Introduction: Anise K. Strong, Western Michigan University

Thou Art The Man: King David and Medieval Masculinites
Ruth Mazo Karras, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities

12:15-1:30 p.m. Lunch and Business Meeting
(Fetzer - Rooms 1045-1055)

1:30-3 p.m. Session V: People, Places and Things in the Medieval Landscape
Chair: Matthew Phillips, Concordia University, Nebraska

River Hybrids and Blurred Boundaries
Ellen Arnold, Ohio Wesleyan University

Virgins, Slaves and Swamps: Gender and the Geography of Value in Medieval Portugal
Miriam Shadis, Ohio University

The Templar Chapel of Cressac: Participation of Knights Templar in Chivalric Culture
Elizabeth Lapina, University of Wisconsin - Madison

3-3:30 p.m. Tea/Coffee Break (Fetzer Center Lobby)

3:30-5 p.m. Session VI
Digital Humanities and History: Research and Teaching
Chair: Chris Riedel, Albion College

Sketching a Premonstratensian Landscape in Medieval France: Digital and Feminist Possibilities
Yvonne Seale, State University of New York at Geneseo

Changing Minds: With Manuscripts in Hand, Do Students Get More Medieval?
Steven Stofferahn, Indiana State University

Digital Humanities in the Medieval Classroom: Making Maps, Learning Scripts and Virtual Exhibit Design
Ellen Joyce, Beloit College

7:30 p.m. Conference Banquet
Held at The Wine Loft, 161 West Michigan Avenue, one
block from the Radisson Hotel.

Conference Ends

In Appreciation: The 56th Midwest Medieval History Conference is co-hosted by the Department of History and the Medieval Institute of Western Michigan University. It has been generously supported by the Burnham MacMillan Endowment Fund of the Department of History, the Medieval Institute, and the Visiting Scholars and Artists Program of the Office of Faculty Development.