Monthly Archives: August 2022

Call for papers: International Medieval Congress, Leeds, 3-6 July, 2023: Social Agency of Secular Goldsmiths’ Work in the Late Middle Ages

Call for Papers

Wrought for a vast range of mundane practices and contexts, in an abundance of forms, styles, and techniques, European late medieval secular goldsmiths’ work remains an elusive category of artistic production. Perhaps deterred by this overwhelming variety, the study of late medieval secular goldsmiths’ work has been eclipsed by scholarship on liturgical metalware. However, publications by R. W. Lightbown and others, as well as archaeological discoveries such as those of Jewish hoards, have opened a new window onto the world of secular goldsmithery and everyday life, and shed new light on how secular objects circulated and operated outside ecclesiastical environments.
This session seeks to explore the arena of secular goldsmiths’ work in the later Middle Ages and its manifestations in different contexts such as domestic, civic, courtly, juridical, academic, diplomatic, etc. Acknowledging the centrality of secular goldsmiths’ work objects in the rituals of various social frameworks, we wish to explore these objects’ roles in shaping relationships, defining hierarchies, and constructing identities.

Please submit a 250-word abstract for a 20-minute paper, and a short CV, including email and current affiliation as PDF or Word.doc, by 12 September 2022, to the following:
Hila Manor, Hebrew University of Jerusalem; hila.manor@mail.huji.ac.il
Masha Goldin, University of Basel; masha.goldin@unibas.ch

Talk “Mittendrin – Chancen und Potenziale der neuen Welterbestätten des mittelalterlichen Judentums in Deutschland” (German), by Simon Paulus

Events, Talk

25.08.2022, 19:00, Gemeindehaus der Bergkirche, Osnabrück

In the Middle – Opportunities and Potentials of the New World Heritage Sites of Medieval Jewry in Germany
With the applications of the so-called ” ShUM cities” Speyer, Worms and Mainz as well as the Thuringian state capital Erfurt for the recognition of their architectural Jewish heritage as UNESCO World Heritage Sites, public interest in the history and evidence of medieval Jewish life in Germany has also increased significantly. The discussion, mostly conducted in expert circles, about the rank, evaluation and significance of individual sites and architectural evidence has made one thing clear above all: Not only the sites that have now been distinguished are worthy of attention, but also the smaller and often largely unnoticed findings of Jewish life of this era in many other places. The article will discuss the opportunities and potentials that this new attention holds for a new consideration of joint Jewish-Christian history from the perspective of pre-modernity for the present and also for the perception of the historicity of urban space, using some examples – including Osnabrück.

More Info

Research Associate Position, Harvard

Call for Applications

According to its webpage, the “Harvard Divinity School selects five candidates for full-time Research Associate and Visiting Faculty positions in its Women’s Studies in Religion Program. Proposals for book-length research projects using both religion and gender as central categories of analysis are welcomed. They may address women and religion in any time, place, or religious tradition, and may utilize disciplinary and interdisciplinary approaches from across the fields of theology, the humanities, and the social sciences.”

Read more and apply