Insular Books: Vernacular Miscellanies in Late Medieval Britain

Thursday, 21 June 2012 - Saturday, 23 June 2012

Venue: The British Academy, 10-11 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5AH

Thursday 21 June 2012, 12.00pm - 6.00pm, followed by a reception
Friday 22 June 2012, 10.00am - 5.30pm
Saturday 23 June 2012, 10.00am - 4.00pm

 The conference will bring a new and multi-disciplinary focus to the late medieval miscellany, a little-investigated and poorly understood type of manuscript.  Typically such manuscripts present a range of contents in prose and verse (literary, historical, devotional, medical, and practical texts) in the various languages of later medieval Britain (Middle English, Anglo-Norman, Middle Welsh, Middle Scots). The discussion will address four main inter-related concerns: how to achieve a definition for the miscellany which distinguishes it from other mixed-content manuscripts (anthologies, collections, composite volumes); how make manuscript miscellanies and their textual contents accessible to modern readers, including scholars, students, archivists, and general readers; how to develop a coherent scholarly methodology for dealing with volumes whose contents are intrinsically multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary; how to understand and represent the complex relationships between manuscript miscellanies.

Convenors:
Dr Raluca Radulescu, Bangor University and Dr Margaret Connolly, University of St Andrews

Speakers include:
Professor Wendy Scase (Birmingham), Professor Ad Putter (Bristol), Dr Ceridwen Lloyd-Morgan (Aberystwyth), Dr William Marx (Trinity St David's), Dr Margaret Connolly (St Andrews), Dr Raluca Radulescu (Bangor), Dr Carol Meale (Bristol), Dr Marianne Ailes (Bristol), Dr Dafydd Johnston (Centre for Advanced Celtic Studies)

Registration:
Please note that there is an attendance fee for this event including lunch and refreshments.
£30 Standard fee
£20 Discounted rate for students, unemployed and retired delegates.

Grants:
A small number of grants have been made available to assist doctoral students, early career researchers and independent scholars (non-salaried) to attend the conference.  Those wishing to apply should do so using the online form by 20 May 2012.

Please click here for a copy of the programme.  Places are strictly limited and registration is essential.  Please click here to register.

(Images: top, Bangor Archives MS 1; bottom, National Library of Wales, Brogyntyn ii. 1.)