Digital Medievalist: Scéla

Halloween, Samhain, and such

2008-10-30T14:35:00.000-07:00

It's the time of year when I start seeing incredibly daft posts about the antecedents of Halloween, particularly Samain (Samhain, for you moderns). This year, I've created an FAQ about Samain, and what it means. For those of you already in the know, here's a link to a translation by Kuno Meyer of the very odd Echtra Nera, mostly based on Eg. 1782. Echtra Nera is a tale tied closely to Samain, and

Happy Cotton Library Day

2008-10-23T17:24:00.000-07:00

Professor Nokes, over at Unlocked Wordhoard, has announced Happy Cotton Library Day, in celebration of those manuscripts that didn't burn in the fire of 1731, and solicited our responses regarding our favorite Cotton MS. It's a hard question, actually. There are a lot of really important, and really famous ms. in the British Library's Cotton collection. You can see a complete list here, and a

Reichenau MS. Fragements Digitized

2008-10-17T11:36:00.000-07:00

The Benedictine monastery of Reichenau was founded in 724, and by the Carolingian era, was one of the most important scriptoria in Europe, with particularly strong ties to Ireland.Baden State Library in Karlsruhe has released high-quality digital images of 224 fragments (some small pieces, other several folios) from the Reichenau library. The site is here. Notice that "fragment" is used very

Quondam et Futurus: An Arthurian Wiki

2008-09-03T08:28:00.000-07:00

Carl S. Pyrdum of Got Medieval has created Quondam et Futurus, a new Arthurian Wiki. His invitation in part reads:My goal for the site is to create an encyclopedia of Arthurian knowledge accessible enough for the lay, non-academic audience (fanboyspeople included) and detailed enough to be useful for academics, too, a place where you can read about Malory's changes to the story of Pelleas and

Happy birthday Richard Scott Nokes!

2008-08-19T09:11:00.000-07:00

In honor of Professor Nokes' birthday, and given his interest in weasel blogging, I present the following: According to medieval bestiaries, with help from Pliny the Elder and Isidore of Seville, "the weasel conceives through the mouth and gives birth through the ear"—Isidore, after describing this genetic miracle, says it is false, but that didn't stop John Davies from using it in a sonnet.John

Muddles, Anonymity, and Scholars

2008-08-18T20:24:00.000-07:00

I note that the "muddled" site has this to say for itself: In response to a prior restraint order requested by a university close to government, this blog will be shut down. The owners and contributors will do their utmost to resist this form of censorship.Thank you for reading, and for the emails of support.In other words "The lurkers support me in email."Yeah. Right. And I was expecting

Things Medieval, Muddled, and Anonymous

2008-08-14T21:14:00.000-07:00

You know, I'm the first to admit that about 85% of In the Middle sails right over my head— and it's not because I'm uninterested, or completely uninformed about medieval studies and theory. I suspect my estrangement is partly because I'm very literal and philologically minded; partly it's a difference in our approach to texts. I am, however, positive about two things.Whether or not I can follow

Medieval Summer Camp

2008-08-03T19:08:00.000-07:00

“I want you to paint your catapult! I want you to name your catapult! I want you to love your catapult!” instructed John Wineburg, director of the Medieval Survivor Tournament at Adventureland Day Camp.

The Otherworld, White Horses, and Genetics

2008-07-23T17:49:00.000-07:00

She turned about her milk-white steed, And took True Thomas up behind, And aye wheneer her bridle rang, The steed flew swifter than the wind. "Thomas the Rhymer A" Child 37 The horse she rode on was dapple gray, And in her hand she held bells nine; I thought I heard this fair lady say These fair siller bells they should a' be mine. "Thomas the Rhymer B" Child 37 In the first branch or tale

Codex Sinaiticus Project Goes Live July 24, 2008

2008-07-22T17:57:00.000-07:00

The Codex Sinaiticus is one of the most important mss. we have, and the oldest extant New Testament. The fourth century (c. 350) Greek ms. is over 1600 years old and contains the complete Bible in Greek, including the oldest complete copy of the New Testament. The other central "complete" ms. bible is Codex Vaticanus, which varies in several ways from this carefully corrected ms. The Codex

Medieval Congress Kalamazoo 2009 Call for Papers

2008-07-12T08:38:00.000-07:00

The 2009 Medieval Congress at Kalamazoo call for papers is out. The 2009 Congress dates are May 7 through the 10th. The Web page is here.

Medieval Outreach and Social Networking

2008-07-05T18:05:00.001-07:00

I created a group on Ning, a social networking site, as an outreach mechanism for other medievalists interested in outreach and pop culture, and, well, anyone with an interest in the connections between medieval studies and popular culture. Here's the official blurb: We are interested in things medieval. We welcome all interested in medieval cultures, history, languages, arts and a scholarly

About that "Dark Age for Medievalists" thing . . .

2008-05-29T23:18:00.000-07:00

Charlotte Allen has written an exceedingly silly article about this year's Kalamazoo International Conference. Scott Nokes has a list of the various responses here. I want to draw attention to some aspects of the article that I think haven't really received as much attention at they ought.Allen asserts that "One session was entirely devoted to medieval blogs, including a paper comparing the works

They are fairies; he that speaks to them shall die: Speech and Silence in Medieval Fairy Narratives Kalamazoo 2008

2008-05-11T19:36:00.000-07:00

I'm going to be doing a link-post to others who are blogging Kalamazoo, and maybe add some general impressions of my own, in a bit. I've uploaded my paper on medieval fairies, and speech and silence in Sir Orfeo, Thomas of Erceldoune, and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight "'They are fairies; he that speaks to them shall die': Speech and Silence in Medieval Fairy Narratives" here. Mostly I'm smug

Weblogs and the Academy: Professional and Community Outreach through Internet Presence

2008-05-10T12:26:00.000-07:00

I've decided to live-blog a blogging session at the 2008 Medieval Congress at Kalamazoo. I'm not a transcriber, so I'm not in any way doing the presenters the kind of justice their thoughtful papers deserve. The session was organized by Elisabeth Carnell, Western Michigan Univ., and Shana Worthen, University of Arkansas–Little Rock, with Elizabeth Carnell presiding. These are the papers that

Merry Christmas!

2007-12-24T17:24:00.000-08:00

The angel Gabriel from heaven came, his wings as drifted snow, his eyes as flame; "All hail," said he, "thou lowly maiden Mary, most highly favored lady," Gloria! "For know a blessed Mother thou shalt be, all generations laud and honor thee, thy Son shall be Emmanuel, by seers foretold, most highly favored lady," Gloria! Merry Christmas.

Carol Dana Lanham requiescat in pace

2007-11-10T20:38:00.000-08:00

Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine: et lux perpetua luceat eis. Carol, the beloved wife of Richard A. Lanham, died November 5, 2007 of a brain hemorrhage at age 71. Her husband of fifty years was at her side when she died. Carol was born in Englewood, NJ on January 18, 1936, the daughter of Irma P. and David W. Dana. She was educated at Marblehead High School, Marblehead, Massachusetts; and at

Bridget Cleary, Sex, Death, Fairies and Other

2007-10-21T13:32:00.000-07:00

This is the third in a series of posts about fairies as other. I promised, in my first post, to concentrate on fairies as other, particularly in the context of sex and death, because, as MacAllister Stone notes "other is all about sex and death." Last time I looked at the tragic death of Bridget Cleary, burned because her husband Michael thought Bridget was the victim of a fairy abduction. This

Bridget Cleary: Fairy Intrusion in Nineteenth Century Ireland

2007-10-13T18:14:00.000-07:00

Are you a witch?Are you a fairy?Are you the wife Of Michael Cleary?—Children's rhyme from Southern Tipperary, IrelandI promised in my first post on fairies as other to look at a fairy intrusion in nineteenth century Ireland, specifically, the fairy burning of Bridget Cleary.In March of 1895 Bridget Boland Cleary was a trained seamstress, with a good eye for fashion, who owned her own Singer

Medieval Fairies as Other

2007-09-16T22:00:00.001-07:00

MacAllister Stone has been posting a series about the roles of the other in spec fic. You can find Part I Magical Negroes, expendable queers, and other well-worn tropes here, Part II here, and Part III, or, The Magical Other here. Part IV is likely to appear real soon now, but I wanted to pick up on two observations MacAllister makes that particularly intrigued me because they deal with the

Anniversaries

2007-05-31T21:45:00.000-07:00

I created the first version of my Web site, Celtic Studies Resources, on June 1st of 1997. I didn't know any HTML, and the site was a few pages hosted at AOL. You can see what it used to look like, sort of, here. In 1999 Michael bought the digitalmedievalist.com domain for me, and I expanded the site quite a lot. Celtic Studies Resources is ten years old now, and this blog, started in January of

"Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: Tolkien's 'game with rules',

2007-05-17T15:13:00.000-07:00

I've posted my Kalamazoo paper "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: Tolkien's 'game with rules'," here, such as it is. There's a handout, too! Technorati Tags:Gawain, Kalamazoo

Kalamazoo 2007 Schedule

2007-05-07T21:41:00.000-07:00

I'm off. I'll present my paper "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: Tolkien’s “game with rules" on Thursday morning, in the very first session. I'll put the handout and my transcript up here after the fact. I'll be at the medievalist Blogger breakfast on Friday, and participating in the Saturday 3:30 Weblogs and the Academy roundtable, in Sangren 2210. I'm hoping folks might be interested in

Kalamazoo 2007

2007-02-02T15:47:00.000-08:00

The 2007 International Congress on Medieval Studies takes place May 10–13, 2007 in Kalamzoo. And I'm going. I'm presenting a paper and participating in a panel discussion on blogging and pedagogy. You can still register, and the schedule of sessions with paper topics has been posted by the fabulous Elizabeth Carnell. This conference is both genuinely helpful in terms of scholarly information and

Coyote Wild Vol. I issue 1

2007-01-17T00:33:00.000-08:00

I'm very very pleased to announce that the inaugural issue of a new speculative fiction, poetry and essays Web zine, Coyote Wild is available. Some lovely pieces; do take a look. Technorati Tags:Coyotewild