Ronald Lvovski, University of York (Toronto) was award the 2019 Leonard Boyle Dissertation Prize for his 2018 York University (Toronto) dissertation, Building Context: the Church of San Julián de los Prados and Medieval Architecture in the Kingdom of Asturias (718-910). According to the chair of the Boyle Prize Committee, Prof. Michael Treschow (UBC-Okanagan):

Ronald Lvovski’s dissertation investigates “the date, patronage and style of the church of San Julián de los Prados within a broad medieval context.” His close architectural reading of this structure leads him to what he calls an unexpected conclusion: “that the church in question was indeed built by Alfonso II between 812 and 842, yet it is an altogether different building than the one dedicated to SS Julián and Basilissa in the chronicles.” His reading is based on a very detailed exploration of the broader context of this church, “both within the Iberian Peninsula and beyond its medieval borders.” By broader context, he means religious, cultural, and political trends. For although this dissertation is primarily a study of architecture, Lvovski’s work is informed by post-colonialist and acculturation methodology.  The buildings that Lvovski analyzes are, as one of his reviewers explained, consequential: “they are among our most important witnesses to the practice of architecture in Western Europe in the period between Antiquity and the Romanesque revival of the 11th century,” and adds that Lvovski’s work has enormous “potential for making an important new contribution to international scholarship.” Lvovski’s wide-ranging and thoroughly researched analysis offers a comprehensive overview of early medieval Iberian cultural evolution.

Our annual dissertation prize is awarded to a deserving doctoral thesis in any field of medieval studies submitted by a Canadian or someone resident in Canada. The prize honours the memory of the late Fr. Boyle (1923-1999), fellow of the Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies (Toronto). More information on the Boyle Dissertation Prize can be found in the Prizes section of the CSM website.

La Société Canadienne des Médiévistes est heureuse d’annoncer le gagnant du prix de thèse Leonard Boyle, récompensant une thèse de qualité exceptionnelle en études médiévales (tous champs confondus), rédigée par un canadien, une canadienne ou une personne résidant au Canada.

Congratulations to James Grier, who was awarded his second Labarge Prize this year for his Ademarus Cabannensis, Monachus et Musicus (Brepols, 2018). The prize committee, chaired by Michael Kightly (University of Louisiana at Lafayette), was particularly impressed with the depth of the book’s research and the strength of its methodology. As one reviewer described it, “this book is an intensive paleographical study of the musical hand of Ademar de Chabannes, a monk of St. Martial de Limoges and a significant figure in medieval music. Perhaps the greatest strength of Grier’s book is the overall quality of the scholarship and its thoroughness … It is an exquisite example of rigorous paleographic research, articulated clearly and argued convincingly.” Our book prize honours the memory of the Society’s first president. For more information on our prize and a list of past winners, please visit the Prizes section of the CSM website.

Congratulations to Nora Thorburn, winner of the 2019 Student Presentation Prize for her paper,  “Pro myrrae troclidite: The influence of material medica substitution lists in medical recipes in the ninth century,” presented at our 2019 Annual Meeting in Vancouver. Nora Thorburn is a student of Nicholas Everett at the University of Toronto's Centre for Medieval Studies. 

Dear All: I am happy to announce that the SMFS Book Committee is accepting submissions for the 2020 First Book of Feminist Scholarship on the Middle Ages. We are soliciting submissions of first monographs in any area of medieval studies. Nominated books should represent the best first monographs of feminist medieval scholarship published AND with a copyright date in 2018 or 2019.

The prize (an award of $500), will be announced in the spring, and formally awarded at the SMFS reception at the Kalamazoo International Medieval Congress in May of 2018. Self-nominations are acceptable; presses may nominate more than one title.

Please arrange for TWO copies (preferably paper copies) of each nominated book to be sent to SMFS President, Dr. Linda Mitchell, at the address below, along with a letter of application that summarizes the book’s merits and its contribution to feminist scholarship. The deadline for nominations and receipt of books to be considered is Friday, 18 October 2019.  Please note that if your book is copyrighted for 2020, you should wait for the next iteration of this contest, in two years.

Please send all submissions (remember: two copies!) to:

Dr. Linda Mitchell

7559 Walnut Street

Kansas City, MO 64114

USA

If you have an e-book version of your book available to send, please make sure that it can be duplicated so that everyone on the committee is able to read the book, and that it is not owner- or password-protected.  Please also remember that sending proofs of a book that is as yet unpublished might be a violation of copyright law, so if that is what you have available, you must check with the publisher to make sure that the use of the proofs for the purposes of the prize contest is acceptable to them. Please also note that the SMFS Advisory Board’s Book Committee has limited numbers of members with fluency in (modern) languages other than English, so if you are interested in submitting a monograph in a language other than English please do send a query BEFORE sending the book so that we can see if we have members available to read and assess it.

Thank you for your consideration,

Linda E. Mitchell, PhD

Martha Jane Phillips Starr Missouri Distinguished Professor of Women’s and Gender Studies

Professor of History

Past Chair, UMKC Faculty Senate

President, Society for Medieval Feminist Scholarship

Cockefair Hall 223A

mitchellli@umkc.edu

816-235-5728 ext. 5

Each year the Canadian Journal of History/Annales canadiennes d’histoire offers the Linda F. Dietz Prize — $500 and publication of the winning article. The Linda F. Dietz prize is awarded to the best submission written in either French or English by a Canadian graduate student. The article must incorporate original research and meet the scholarly standards of the CJH/ACH. There are no chronological or geographical limits on the content; we welcome submissions from all fields of historical study. Submissions are assessed by the editor to evaluate eligibility prior to double-blind peer review.

Deadline: August 15
http://www.utpjournals.press/journals/cjh/essay-competition
email: cjh@usask.ca

Chaque année, la revue Canadian Journal of History/Annales canadiennes d’histoire décerne le prix Linda F. Dietz : 500$ et la publication de l’article choisi. Le prix Linda F. Dietz est attribué au meilleur article écrit en français ou en anglais par un étudiant canadien ou une étudiante canadienne dans un programme de maîtrise ou de doctorat. L'article doit incorporer de la recherche originale qui satisfait aux normes savantes du CJH/ACH. Le contenu des articles ne sera limité ni chronologiquement, ni géographiquement. Nous invitons des soumissions portant sur tous les domaines de l'histoire. Avant d'être jugés en double aveugle par un comité des pairs, les articles seront évalués par le rédacteur pour vérifier leur admissibilité.

Date limite: 15 août
http://www.utpjournals.press/journals/cjh/essay-competition
courriel: cjh@usask.ca

Canadian Journal of History/Annales canadiennes d’histoire
Find us online: https://www.utpjournals.press/loi/cjh
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Viking Days at the Danish Canadian Museum, 17- 18 August 2019, 10:00am to 5:00 PM daily, near Dickson, Alberta (90 minutes from Calgary).

https://thedanishcanadianmuseum.com/visit-uscurrent-and-upcoming-events/

Vikings: Beyond the Legend. April 18 - October 20, 2019. Exhibition at the Royal Alberta Museum, Edmonton. https://royalalbertamuseum.ca/visit/galleries/feature-gallery/index.cfm

Dear Members,

A notice recently went out from the CSM/SCM that yearly membership fees are now due (as of June 15, 2019) for the academic year 2019-20. This notice may have gone to your spam folder, so please do check!

Best,

Andrew Klein

CSM Webmaster

Statement from the President of the Canadian Society of Medievalists 

In response to the experience of a colleague from Acadia University and a member of the Black Canadian Studies Association (BCSA) at the recent meetings of Congress held at UBC, the Canadian Society of Medievalists publicly states our support for colleagues in the BCSA. As medievalists, we are aware of the long history of violence towards and oppression of minority groups. We held a roundtable on racism at Congress to discuss racism both within the field of medieval studies and within the academy and society as a whole, along with the steps we can take to begin to address it. We are working towards, and hereby renew our commitment to, greater diversity and equity in medieval studies and within Canadian academia as a whole.

Déclaration du président de la Société canadienne des Médiévistes

En réponse à l’expérience d’un collègue de l’Université d’Acadia et d’un membre de l’Association d’études canadiennes noires (BCSA) lors des récentes réunions au Congrès qui s’est tenu à l’UBC, la Société canadienne des Médiévistes voudrait indiquer publiquement notre soutien aux collègues du BCSA. En tant que médiévistes, nous sommes conscients de la longue histoire de violence envers et d’oppression des minorités. Nous avons organisé une table ronde sur le racisme au Congrès pour discuter le racisme dans le domaine des études médiévales, tant au sein de l’académie et les mesures que nous pouvons prendre pour commencer à le résoudre. Nous le travaillons vers et renouvellera notre engagement pour une plus grande diversité et équité en études médiévales et au sein du milieu universitaire canadien dans son ensemble.

Canadian Medievalists,

Dalhousie University's Department of English has funding available to make offers to one or two more MA candidates. You can find out about our program here: https://www.dal.ca/faculty/arts/english/programs/graduate.html. If you have promising medieval undergraduates (GPA 3.7 in English or higher), please encourage them to apply to Pamela Decker, gradengl@dal.ca.

If you want to find out more about our program, faculty, Dalhousie, or Nova Scotia, please feel free to contact Dr. Kathleen Cawsey (kathy.cawsey@dal.ca).