The Early Middle English Society is sponsoring one session and co-sponsoring another, both pertaining to law and literature, for the 46th International Medieval Congress in Kalamazoo, Michigan:
Early Middle English and the Law
We are interested in papers that will address any aspect of the law broadly defined in early Middle English texts. This could include legal language, the influence of the Magna Carta, legal procedure and literary production, outlaws, disputatio, law as a separate language, canon law and religious texts, Lateran IV, royal law and court production, law and historiography, law and hagiography, legal documents, contracts, Jews and the law, law and visual iconography.
Proposals should be sent to Dorothy Kim (dokim@vassar.edu) by September 25th.
The International Lawman’s Brut Society and the Early Middle English Society are accepting proposals for the next International Medieval Congress on “The Law in Early Middle English Literature.” As the first element of Lawman’s name is “Law,” laws and legal proceedings are understandably an important part of the Brut and other major texts of the Early Middle English corpus. This session will allow for a discussion of various ways laws and legal proceedings inform these texts and will promote discussions of the interconnections between the Brut and other texts of the period. Possible topics for presentation could include: pre-Conquest and post-Conquest law, relationship of kings and rulers to the law, landowning and land inheritance sessions, etc. Please direct inquiries and/or submissions by September 15, 2010 to
Kenneth J. Tiller
Professor of English and Chair
Department of Language and Literature
University of Virginia’s College at Wise
Wise, VA 24293
jt9t@uvawise.edu
or
Scott Kleinman
Department of English
California State University, Northridge
18111 Nordhoff St
Northridge, CA 91330-8248
scott.kleinman@csun.edu