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| A MESSAGE FROM THE DIRECTOR Getting from Great to Greater: New Fellows, (Possible) New Supporters, and New Manuscripts
Back in January I exhorted us all to embrace the task of making this great thing (the Medieval Institute) even greater. Over the last week or so, I’ve been pleasantly lingering over signs that this process is, in fact, well underway. On the last day of May, Neil Chase sent out our call for all medieval faculty at ND to apply or reapply for status as MI fellows. I was frankly concerned that the response would be tepid, knowing well how hard it is to get the professorial class’s attention once the scholarly pleasures of summer have begun. I need not have worried. We received twenty applications in the first week, and more are coming in. The first ingredient of success is a committed faculty, and we clearly have that.
Then on the mornings of June 2nd and 3rd we held an open house in the Reading Room during Alumni Reunion Weekend (many thanks to Megan J. Hall, Julia Schneider, and Linda Major for making this possible). We really had no idea if anyone would show up. Yet on Saturday morning alone at least fifty alumni came by to learn about medieval studies at ND. They were captivated by our beautiful facsimiles and deeply impressed by the MI’s long record of scholarly excellence. To achieve our goals, we need to develop partnerships with a much broader range of supporters. As I watched them reverently turn the pages of our Book-of-Kells and Muhammad’s-Night-Journey facsimiles, I began to feel confident that those supporters are out there, waiting for us to draw them in.
Just a few days later David Gura invited me down to the Rare Book Room to see the past year's new manuscript acquisitions:- a late-medieval copy of Lucan with abundant reader’s notes on nearly every leaf
- a thirteenth-century Franciscan pocket codex containing preaching aids and related texts, all laid out in a handsome scholastic format
- two late-medieval Greek manuscripts, one used for teaching Italian humanists the Attic tongue, the other containing works of Pseudo-Dionysius
- a number of leaves of liturgical text in Visigothic script
- a single leaf of a palimpsest with under-text still to be deciphered.
These are stunning resources for research and teaching, and there are more on the way. New Fellows, new supporters, new manuscripts: great to greater.
If you haven’t sent in your application for fellow status, please do so, and consider applying for funding through our new faculty/grad-student working group program. All best wishes for the summer! Tom Burman
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INSTITUTE HIGHLIGHTS
We have also hosted numerous fellows and visitors this year, including our Mellon Fellow Laura Veneskey, who held her colloquium in April on her manuscript in progress, Earthly Icons: Between Matter & Figuration in Early Byzantine Art. Joining her as respondents were Charles Barber (Princeton), Holger Klein (Columbia), and Aden Kumler (Chicago).
On May 20th, the Medieval Institute graduated 14 students in its annual all-Latin ceremony in Alumni Hall Chapel. The Institute congratulates all of these fine scholars on their hard work and achievements and wishes them every success.
Keep up with the news on our news feed and Twitter (@MedievalND). You can also subscribe to keep up-to-date!
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| THIS SUMMER AT THE INSTITUTE Don Federico Gallo of the Biblioteca Ambrosiana is offering a course in Diplomatics while Dr. David Gura is teaching our annual summer Medieval Latin course. There's still time to register! Classes begin June 22nd. The Institute welcomes as usual a number of summer research visitors, including Miguel Brugarolas Brufau (Universidad de Navarra), Danielle Joyner (Southern Methodist), José Domínguez Valdés (Universidad de los Andes), and Julia Warnes (University of Toronto).
Read more about events hosted by the Institute and by medieval affiliates on our Upcoming Events page. To stay current on the latest events, subscribe to our events feed.
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| LOOKING FORWARD TO FALL
Joining us in the coming academic year will be another Mellon Fellow as well as a new Byzantine Postdoctoral Fellow, both to be announced shortly. Among our visiting scholars will be Christopher Miller (Notre Dame) and Andrea Riedl (Universität Wien). Be sure to come out in October for our annual Conway Lectures, featuring Susan Rankin, Professor of Medieval Music at the University of Cambridge. She will deliver three lectures and lead a sacred music workshop.
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| EXTERNAL OPPORTUNITIES Visit our web site Bulletin Board for a robust list of the fellowship and job announcements, calls for papers and submissions, upcoming conferences, and general academic notices that we receive. The board is updated frequently, so check back often!
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