Conference Archive

2013: The twelfth annual Vagantes conference was held at the University of Wisconsin–Madison on March 21–23, 2013. The conference featured twenty–nine speakers from seventeen universities. The first keynote lecture, "Romanesque Sculpture, the Senses, and Religious Experience," was delivered by Professor Thomas Dale, UW-Madison, Department of Art History. The second keynote, "The Disfigurements of Desire in Chaucer's Religious Tales," was delivered by Professor Elizabeth Scala of the University of Texas, Department of English. The conference also included a roundtable discussion on Pedagogy and the Middle Ages co–sponsored by the Consortium for the Teaching of the Middle Ages. Participants and organizers attended a dinner at The Great Dane in downtown Madison and a closing banquet in the Northwoods Room at the Wisconsin Union South.

2012: The eleventh annual Vagantes conference was held at Indiana University, Bloomington, on 29–31 March. The conference featured thirty-four speakers from twenty-one universities. The first keynote lecture, "On the Instrumental: The Arma Christi and Premodern Poetics," was delivered by Dr. Shannon Gayk, Indiana University, Department of English. The second keynote, "Bodies of Record: Documentary Culture in Anglo-Saxion Hagiography," was delivered by Dr. Jordan L. Zweck of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Department of English. The Early Music Institute performed a program of songs under the title "Cantus Vagans: Wandering Song."

2011: The tenth annual Vagantes conference was held at the University of Pittsburgh March 3–5, 2011, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Presentations by representatives of 14 universities took place in the gothic-style Cathedral of Learning, along with keynote speeches by Bruce Venarde, Professor of History at the University of Pittsburgh, and Rosemarie McGerr, Professor of Comparative Literature at Indiana University. Participants and organizers attended a dinner at Pittsburgh's Fuel and Fuddle and a closing banquet in the cloister of Pitt's Frick Fine Arts Building, which is modeled after a Renaissance villa.

2010: The ninth annual Vagantes conference was held at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on 11–13 March. The conference featured twenty-four speakers organized into eight panels and included participants from eighteen universities. The welcome reception was held in O'Niell's Irish Pub while the panels and the banquet were held in the Student Union Ballroom. Two keynote lectures were given in the Santa Ana room in the Student Union Building; the first, "Antiquaries, Anglicans, and Anglo–Saxonists: Redeeming the Middle Ages in Early Modern England" by Dr. Timothy Graham, Director of UNM's Institute for Medieval Studies, and the second, "Jewish History, Medieval Persecution, and Shifting Ethical Paradigms in Modern Scholarship," by Dr. Hannah Johnson of the University of Pittsburgh, Department of English. Cantores Festivi provided musical entertainment at the banquet.

2009: The eighth annual Vagantes conference was held at Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida, March 5–7. Twenty institutions were represented in the program. The keynote speakers were Richard Emmerson and Helen Damico. The welcome reception was held at The Waterworks and the banquet was held on campus in the Werkmeister Reading Room. Musical entertainment was provided by the members of Uncloistered.

2008: The seventh annual Vagantes conference was held at The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio from February 28–March 2. In addition to the panels and presentations, the conference also saw a Welcome Reception at Surly Girls Saloon, a selection of medieval music by Early Interval during the Faculty Reception at the Faculty Club, and, of course, the traditional banquet, held at the Blackwell Hotel.

2007: The sixth annual Vagantes conference was held at the Water Tower Campus of Loyola University Chicago, March 1–3, 2007. Panels and receptions were held in Rubloff Auditorium, 25 E. Pearson, and the Beane Ballroom, Lewis Towers. The final banquet was held in Kasbeer Hall, 25 E. Pearson.

2006: The fifth annual Vagantes conference was held at the University of California, Berkeley, March 2–5, 2006. Panels were held in the Geballe Room, Stephens Hall and in the Maude Fife Room, Wheeler Hall. Tours of several Berkeley resources, including the manuscripts in the Morrison Room of the Doe Library, were offered. The final banquet was held at the Mediterranean restaurant Pomegranate.

2005: The fourth annual Vagantes conference was held at University of Notre Dame, March 3–5, 2005. Panels were held in the Medieval Institute Reading Room and in McKenna Hall Auditorium. There was a tour of the Snite Museum of Art and the final banquet was held in the Oak Room of the South Dining Hall.

2004: The third annual Vagantes conference was held at the Cornell University, March 11–14, 2004 in the Barnes Hall. Tours of unique Cornell resources, such as the Laboratory of Dendrochronology and the Old Norse and Dante Collections, were offered. The final banquet was held at Rogue's Harbor Inn in Lansing.

2003: The second annual Vagantes conference was held at the University of Toronto, March 20–23, 2003 in the Chapel of Victoria College. Four tours and five talks on resources available at the University of Toronto for medievalists were given. The final banquet was held in a Chinese restaurant in Chinatown.

2002: The first annual Vagantes conference was held at Harvard University, March 7–10, 2002 in Dudley House in Lehman Hall. Highlights included tours offered of the Houghton Library, the Fogg Museum and the Sackler Museum. The final banquet was held in an Indian restaurant off of Harvard Square.