CFP: New Perspectives on Gerald of Wales: Texts and Contexts

Gerald of Wales is the topic for an interdisciplinary congress at Harvard in from 10.04.2014 – 11.04.2013

Gerald of Wales, also known as Giraldus Cambrensis or Gerald de Barri, is one of the most widely referenced authors of the twelfth century, and an important source of information for life in the insular medieval world. Much of his work, however, remains understudied, with scholarly focus usually limited to his works on Ireland and Wales, while his religious and other writings remain almost untouched.

Recent scholarship on the complete manuscripts of his works by Catherine Rooney at the University of Cambridge, however, as well as recent studies on his ethnographic writings and the vernacular transmission of his work, has opened up new possibilities and renewed interest in his life and writings, including several forthcoming new editions.

This conference seeks to bring together scholars of Gerald of Wales from around the world, considering this remarkable writer in his own right, both in the context of the twelfth century and throughout the later Middle Ages, stimulating new dialogue and allowing a platform for new work in the future.

This conference invites papers on any aspect of Gerald’s writing, especially welcoming new approaches to his religious writings; the transmission of his work in manuscript, including the construction of stemma; his relationship to other writers of the twelfth century, whether scholastic, historical or otherwise; his relationship with the Angevins; and the legacy of his reception in vernacular languages.

The conference will be hosted by Harvard University’s Department of Celtic Languages and Literatures and the Standing Committee on Medieval Studies.

We are pleased to announce that our plenary addresses will be given by Robert Bartlett (University of St Andrews) and Huw Pryce (Bangor University).

Robert Bartlett is the author of the seminal work Gerald of Wales, 1146-1223 (1983). He is also very well-known for The Making of Europe: Conquest, Colonization and Cultural Change, 950-1350 (1993) as well as his extensive research on medieval cults of saints and English history from the conquest to the fourteenth century. His most recent works include a survey of Christian saints’ cults Why Can the Dead Do Such Great Things? Saints and Worshippers from the Martyrs to the Reformation (2013)  and the Wiles Lectures, The Natural and the Supernatural in the Middle Ages (2008). He can also be seen on the recent BBC documentary The Plantagenets (2014).

Huw Pryce has published widely on the history and historiography of medieval Wales. His works on Gerald of Wales include the seminal articles ‘Gerald’s journey through Wales’, ‘In search of a medieval society: Deheubarth in the writings of Gerald of Wales’ and ‘A cross-border career: Giraldus Cambrensis between Wales and England’. His recent books, The Acts of Welsh Rulers 1120-1283 (2005) and J. E. Lloyd and the Creation of Welsh History: Renewing a Nation’s Past (2011), have been very well-received. He is co-editor of Boydell & Brewer’s monograph series Studies in Celtic History as well as the Welsh History Review

Potential presenters should submit an abstract of no more than 250 words to harvardgerald@gmail.com by 31 October 2014. Presentations should be no more than 20 minutes in length.

Read more at the website of the conference New Perspectives on Gerald of Wales: Texts and Contexts

READ MORE:

Gerald of Wales: A Voice in the Middle Ages
By Robert Bartlett
Tempus 2006
ISBN-10: 0752440314 ISBN-13: 978-0752440316

The Manuscripts of the Works of Gerald of Wales.
A palaeographical study of the manuscripts of the works of Gerald of Wales (c. 1146-1223)
By Catherine Margaret Rooney (Thesis). Full text available
Cambridge 2005

The Journey Through Wales and the Description of Wales (Classics) by Gerald of Wales,
By Betty Radice and Lewis Thorpe (Eds.)
Penguin Classics 1978
ISBN-10: 0140443398
ISBN-13: 978-0140443394

The History and Topography of Ireland (Penguin Classics)
by Gerald of Wales (Author),
John O’Meara (Translator, Introduction)
Penguin Classics 1983
ISBN-10: 0140444238
ISBN-13: 978-0140444230

The Autobiography of Gerald of Wales
by H. E. Butler (Editor, Translator)
Boydell and Brewer 2005
ISBN-10: 1843831481
ISBN-13: 978-1843831488