2024: The twenty-third annual Vagantes conference was held at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois from March 21–23, 2024. The conference had nine panels with twenty-six papers given by students from both national and international institutions. The opening keynote, “Teaching matters: Mercantile Mischief and Popular Pedagogy in Premodern England” was given by Dr. Susie Philips (Department of English, Northwestern University). The concluding keynote, “Ghostly Manslaughter: Scandal and Literary Production in the Later Middle Ages, was presented by Dr. H. M. Cushman (Department of English and Comparative Literature, UNC Chapel Hill). The first day of the conference featured a fabulous performance by the Newberry Consort entitled “The Vints Hans Lied: Yiddish Song in the Seventeenth-Century Frankfurter Judengasse.” Other events included a tour of the conservation lab at the main campus library, a theatrical workshop on Hildegard’s OrdoVirtutum and a visit to the Chicago Art Institute. This year’s conference concluded with a closing banquet at Reza’s Restaurant. Program
2023: The twenty-second annual Vagantes conference was held at Harvard University, March 16–18, 2023. The conference had sixteen panels with forty-six student speakers from twenty-seven national and international institutions. Professor Anna Wilson (Department of English, Harvard University) presented the opening keynote address, ” Chaucer, Fanfiction, and the Aesthetics of incompleteness.” The closing keynote, “Vrouwen lop: Of Hermaphrodites and Pregnant Ladies” was given by Professor Barbara Newman (Northwestern University). Along with these talks, the conference featured a hands-on workshop covering how to make medieval pilgrim badges, hosted at the Harvard Art Museum Materials Lab by sculptor and educator Marjee Levine, and a workshop teaching fifteenth-century book binding, hosted by Kate Rich and Katherine Gray of the Harvard Libraries Collections Care Department. In addition, there was a tour of the Houghton Library’s manuscript collection, a session on building skills in public scholarship, and a meet-up at the Harvard Art Museum. Attendees were also treated to a contemplative poetry reading session and a wonderful concert by the vocal ensemble Blue Heron, entitled “A French Songbook c. 1350-1470.” The event concluded with a closing banquet at the Hong Kong Restaurant. Program
2022: The twenty-first annual Vagantes conference was held at Case Western Reserve University and the Cleveland Museum of Art, March 24–26, 2022. The conference had twenty-seven student speakers from seventeen national and international institutions. Professor Elina Gertsman (Professor of Art History, Case Western Reserve University) presented the opening keynote address, “‘The Breath of Every Living Thing’: Zoocephali in the Hammelburg Mahzor and the Limits of Alterity.” The final keynote lecture titled “Searching for Magdalena (or, Why a Medievalist is Reading Saidiya Hartman and Other Notes from the Archive)” was given by Professor Daniel Smail (Professor of History, Harvard University). The conference provided a professional development workshop with Profs. Gertsman, Smail, and David Rothenberg (Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Music, Case Western Reserve University), a HoloLens demonstration with the sixth century Red Monastery Church in Upper Egypt, a close-looking session of medieval and early modern fragments within Special Collections at Kelvin Smith Library, and a fantastic performance of medieval music by the CWRU Historical Performance Practice Collegium. There were also several guided tours of the Cleveland Museum of Art’s medieval collections, given by students of CWRU’s Art History Department. The three-day event concluded with a final banquet in the Tinkham Veale University Center Ballroom. Program
2021: The twentieth annual Vagantes conference was held virtually by the University of Wisconsin–Madison, March 18–20, 2021. The conference featured twenty-nine student speakers from nineteen national and international institutions. Professor Cord Whitaker (Associate Professor of English, Wellesley College) provided the opening keynote lecture titled “‘The Shade of Trees Their Ancestors Left’: Medieval Blackness, African American Medievalism, and the Resistance of the Far Right.” The second keynote lecture, titled “Depicting the Holy War on Wall Paintings in England and France in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries” was delivered by Professor Elizabeth Lapina (Associate Professor of History, UW–Madison). The final keynote address was presented by Professor David Rothenberg (Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Music, Case Western Reserve University) and titled “What Did Sadness Sound Like in Late Medieval Music?” Several virtual workshops were hosted during the duration of the three-day conference, including “Late Medieval Textiles in the Helen Louise Allen Textile Collection” by Claire Kilgore (Ph.D. Student, UW–Madison) and Tania Kolarik (Ph.D. Candidate, UW–Madison), “Trippin’ Into the Medieval Future: History, Controversy, and A Way Forward” by Prof. Cord Whitaker, “Manuscript Illuminations: Fragments and Provenance” by Maria Saffiotti Dale (Curator of Paintings, Sculpture, and Decorative Arts, Chazen Museum of Art), and “Medieval Artistry: Egg Tempera Painting” by Abby Armstrong-Check (Ph.D. Student, UW–Madison. There were also three pre-recorded workshops covering the UW–Madison Special Collections of Memorial Library, Ebling Library, and Works on Paper at the Chazen Museum of Art. All conference participants were provided Vagantes swag bags with materials to participate in the workshops, along with tea, coffee, and snacks. The virtual conference concluded with the Closing Reception Mentorship Roundtable. Program
2020: The nineteenth annual Vagantes conference was scheduled to take place March 19–21, 2020 at the University of Connecticut. The conference was cancelled due to COVID–19.
2019: The eighteenth annual Vagantes conference was held at the University of Toronto on March 20–23, 2019. The conference featured twenty-nine student presenters from twenty-two institutions from across Canada, the U.S.A., and the U.K. The first keynote lecture, “Captivated by the Mediterranean: Early Modern Spain and the Political Economy of Ransom,” was given by Professor Daniel Hershenzon, University of Connecticut. Professor Alexandra Gillespie from the University of Toronto delivered the final keynote lecture titled “The Printer and the Pardoner.” The first day of the conference featured an optional Manuscript Workshop held at the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library. Additionally, a professionalization panel, comprised of Dr. Elisa Brilli, Dr. Kara Gaston, and Dr. Shami Ghosh, discussed postdocs, academic publishing, and the academic job market. The four-day event concluded with a closing banquet in the Hart House Music Room. Program
2018: The seventeenth annual Vagantes conference was held at the University of Minnesota on March 22–24, 2018. The conference featured thirty-eight student speakers from twenty-four national and international Institutions. Professor Michelle Hamilton from the University of Minnesota delivered the first keynote lecture titled “Mapping Race in Medieval Iberia.” The second keynote address, titled “The Place of Medieval History in Today’s Academia,” was presented by Dr. Jonathan Lyon from the University of Chicago. The final keynote lecture, delivered by Dr. David Townsend from the University of Toronto engaged with the topic “Desire and Reticence in the Devotional Works of Aelred of Rievaulx.” Conference participants also listened to a presentation by Dr. Matthew Heintzelman about the Hill Museum and Manuscript Library. The three-day event concluded with a closing banquet and general meeting. Program
2017: The sixteenth annual Vagantes conference was held at the University of Notre Dame on March 9–11, 2017. The conference featured twenty-five student speakers from seventeen institutions. Professor Mary Franklin-Brown from the University of Minnesota delivered the first keynote lecture titled “Playing Politics in the Lyrics of Richard Lionheart and Bertran de Born.” The closing keynote address, titled “When Glossing Intrudes on Allegory: Arnulf of Orléans and Ovid’s Metamorphoses,” was presented by Dr. David T. Gura from the University of Notre Dame. Participants at the conference received a tour of the Medieval Institute at Notre Dame, and also had the opportunity to participate in a roundtable discussion on “Teaching Intersectionality: Medieval Studies and the Modern World.” The three-day event concluded with a banquet and final remarks at Morris Inn. The conference was, once again, a great success! Program
2016: The fifteenth annual Vagantes conference was held at Rice University on February 18–20, 2016. The conference featured twenty-seven student speakers from nineteen universities. The first keynote lecture, “Walking and Talking Place with St. Patrick: Ireland’s National, Natural Pilgrimage” was given by Professor Amy Mulligan, University of Notre Dame, Keough-Naughton Institute for Irish Studies. Professor Diane Wolfthal, Rice University, Department of Art History, gave the closing keynote address entitled: “Images of Servants: The Late Medieval Aristocratic Ideal and its Alternatives.” Participants examined medieval works of art from the Rice Collections with a conservator from the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and also went on the road to the Menil Collection, where they heard an extraordinary lecture by Dr. Annemarie Weyl Carr, University Distinguished Professor of Art History Emerita at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, entitled: “Pursuing the Life of Icons.” After her presentation, Dr. Carr and the conference participants viewed the Byzantine icons together. In addition to research, Vagantes participants also learned about the science behind learning and teaching the Middle Ages during a luncheon with Dr. Josh Eyler, Director of the Rice Center for Teaching Excellence. The conference concluded with a closing banquet catered by Goode Company Barbeque under a huge live oak tree in the Lee & Joe Jamail Courtyard on the campus of Rice University. Program
2015: The fourteenth annual Vagantes conference was held at the University of Florida on February 19–21, 2015. The conference featured twenty-nine speakers from twenty-two universities. The first keynote lecture, “Architectural Counterpoint: Juxtaposition and Opposition as a Visual Strategy in the Late Middle Ages,” was given by Professor Linda Elaine Neagley, Rice University, Department of Art History. Professor Nina Caputo, University of Florida, History, gave the second keynote entitled “Graphic Differences: Sources, Historical Narrative, and New Media.” Conference participants also explored a special exhibit entitled “The Beast in the Book: Animals and Jewish, Christian, and Islamic Illustrations from the Middle Ages” curated by Dr. Rebecca Jefferson, Head of the Isser and Rae Price Library of Judaica. The conference also featured a roundtable sponsored by TEAMS: The Consortium for the Teaching of the Middle Ages. Participants and organizers attended a closing banquet at The Hippodrome Theatre. Program
2014: The thirteenth annual Vagantes conference was held at The University of Texas at Austin on March 20–22, 2014. The conference featured twenty-nine speakers from sixteen universities. The first keynote lecture, “Thinking Through Byzantine Things,” was given by Professor Glenn Peers, UT, Department of Art and Art History. Professor Bonnie Effros, University of Florida, History, gave the second keynote entitled “Why Medievalists Should Know Something about the 19th Century.” The conference also included exhibitions at the Harry Ransom Center and a tour of the Blanton Museum of Art. Participants and organizers attended a closing banquet in the Eastwoods Room at the Texas Union. Program
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. Program
2012: The eleventh annual Vagantes conference was held at Indiana University, Bloomington, on March 29–31, 2012. 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.” Program
2011: The tenth annual Vagantes conference was held at the University of Pittsburgh March 3–5, 2011, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Presentations by representatives of fourteen 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. Program
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. Program
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 Girl 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. Program
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. Program
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. Program
2005: The fourth annual Vagantes conference was held at the 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. Program
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. Program
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. Program
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. Program