From fencing to theatrical productions to custom- fit suits of armor, Longwood University’s Seventh Annual Undergraduate Medieval Conference brought the medieval period to life on Friday, April 5 and Saturday, April 6.
Dr. Larissa Tracy, associate professor of medieval literature, and Dr. Steven Isaac, associate professor of history, coordinated the event, titled “Meeting in the Middle: Where the Wild Things Are?” this year for the seventh consecutive year.
The sponsors of the 2013 conference were the Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs, the Cook-Cole College of Arts & Sciences, the Department of English & Modern Languages, the Department of History, Philosophy & Political Science, The History Club and Lambda Iota Tau.
Dr. Charles Ross, dean of the Cook-Cole College of Arts & Sciences, said at the opening session of the conference that the event “brings out some of the best things we do here in undergraduate research and interdisciplinary work.”
Ross added that students, faculty and staff from 12 universities and colleges, spanning in distance fromNewYorktoFlorida,participatedinthe conference.
Ross said that among the topics of the papers students presented, were history, art history, literature, religion, sports, textual analysis, gender studies and contemporary pop culture.
The first session of the conference, which Isaac chaired, was titled “Things Are Not as They Seem.” The papers read during this session were “The Holy Lance at Antioch: Relics and Propaganda in the First Crusade” by Kristen Finchum, “Death and Taxes: New Certainties after the Plague” by Clinton C. James and “The Price of Poetry” by Lindsay Graybill, all Longwood students.
James, a junior history secondary education major, began writing his paper on the black plague last semester for a course he took with Isaac, and since then, he was able to “work the paper through an evolution to the point where I could say, ‘This is what I really like, I’m happy with this.’”
James added, “I think that’s something distinctly unique and special about Longwood that it gives undergraduates this opportunity to take the skills that they’ve learned within the classroom and pursue something that they are interested in.”
The next session, “Wild Men of the North,” was chaired by Dr. Mary Valante of Appalachian State University. The session featured “Alfred theGreat’sInnovativeDefenseofWessex”by Kasey Dye, “Immigrants as Host Organisms for Norwegian Rule in Iceland” by Ian Karamarkovich and “National Identity and Religious Motifs in Snorri Sturluson’s Edda" by Emily Davidson, all three students representing Longwood.
Mary Prevo of Hampden-Sydney College chaired the next session, “Taming the Wild,” which included the papers “The Archaeology of a Medieval Village:
Willingham, Cambridgeshire” by Allison Whitlock of Notre Dame University, “Where the Wild Things Are: Seeing Ireland from Your House” by Holli Mahala of Radford University and “Location of the Wild Things: The Hereford Map” by Marissa Clark of Radford University.
The Friday sessions concluded, allowing for a welcome reception and banquet, as well as the weekend’s first plenary address. Dr. Luc Bourgeois spoke on the topic of “The Introduction of Chess into the West.”
Saturday began with Tracy as chair of the “Wild Men” session. The papers presented were “Violent Times, Vehement People and Vicious Beasts” by
Kenna Crane of Radford University, “Nature, Nurture, and Gender in the ‘Roman de Silence’” by Faith Holley of Wofford College, "Wizards and Jedi: A Comparative Analysis between Merlin and Mentors in ‘Star Wars’” by Daniel Catalano of Molloy College and “Dead King Walking” by Caitlin Breen of Molloy College.
“Wild Women,” a session chaired by Dr. Susanne Hafner of Fordham University, included “Brynhild: Wild Woman or Agent of Fate?” by Katy Lewis of Longwood, “More than a Sight of God: Medieval Female Visionaries" by Caitlin Mans of Flagler College and “The Female Relationship in ‘Le Roman de Silence’” by Molly Brady of Wofford College.
The second plenary address of the conference was held that afternoon. Dr. Lorraine Stock of the University of Houston spoke on the topic of “Medieval Forms of Wildness and Their Modern Avatars: Wild People, Green Men, Sheela na Gigs.”
Dr. Natalie Grinnell of Wofford College chaired the next session, “Defining the Wild.” The student presentations were “Maximian and the Pallium” by Nicholas Monahan of the University of Virginia, “Codicological Research on the Venerable Bede’s ‘De Natura Rerum’” by Amy Gembara of Fordham University and “After the Schism: Lingering Religious Hostility in NYPL MS Spencer 103” by Edward Zukowski of Fordham University.
The final session of the conference featured Brittany Carol Alsup of Murray State University with her paper “Meeting Middle English in the Middle: The ‘York Crucifixion’ at Longwood, Spring 2012.”
Tom Leoni of the Order of the Seven Hearts Historical Swordsmanship School then gave a presentation on medieval martial arts and weapons. A fencing demonstration followed, the first rule of which, said Leoni, is, “Don’t get stabbed.”
The conference closed with “Herod the Great: Slaughter of the Innocents,” Murray State University’s theatrical adaptation of the play. The students and their instructor, Bernard Lewis, were available to answer questions concerning their version of the play after the show.
At the end of the night, Stock presented the first Abels-Johnson Award for Excellence to one individual out of the four who submitted their papers in advance. The award is named for the conference’s first plenary address speakers from 2007.
According to Tracy, the award was brand new this year, as Isaac and Tracy “decided that we needed to honor both the students and the first scholars who were willing to support us.”
Stock announced that the award was based on the factors of presentation, reaction to feedback, project type and originality of the argument. Longwood’s own Ian Karamarkovich received the award for his presentation on “Immigrants as Host Organisms for Norwegian Rule in Iceland.”
