I’m pleased to report that my special session, “The Provincial Aristocratic Household in Late-Medieval England,” was approved for the 53rd International Congress on Medieval Studies at Western Michigan University (May 10-13, 2018). Here is the Call for Papers.

The Provincial Aristocratic Household in Late-Medieval England

This interdisciplinary panel explores the rich world of the provincial household in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Although often mocked in the cosmopolitan capital, provincial courts were sites of important social, cultural, and historical innovation and advancement: Yorkshire and the North witnessed early interest in eremitic and vernacular piety; the West Midlands and the Marches fostered the alliterative revival; and in rural Gloucestershire, Lord Berkeley’s Cornish clerk John Trevisa translated one of the great scientific texts of the age. Far from the dark and draughty halls imagined by urbane detractors, the provincial household was frequently a shining example of the wealth, learning, and worldliness found in the furthest reaches of the kingdom. This session invites papers from scholars concerned with any aspect of a particular noble household outside the metropolitan centres. Possible topics include:

• courtly and hall entertainments
• provincial literature and literary representations
• devotion and prayer; the household chapel
• book production, circulation, and collecting
• local (gentry) affinities
• hosting and hospitality
• art and decoration
• food and feasting
• supply, management, and procurement of goods
• building, architecture, and renovation

To offer the breadth that this expansive topic warrants, this paper session will consist of four, 15-minute papers, with 30 minutes reserved for questions and discussion.

Please send proposals (max. 300 words) to bsw.barootes@utoronto.ca by 15 September 2017.