The Royal Heraldry Society of Canada invites proposals for our roundtable, "Beyond the Blazon: Materializing Medieval Heraldry." Coats of arms are defined not by their physical representations but by the words of their blazons. Yet armorial objects, as interactive, material things, played a prominent role in shaping the arts, literature, and popular culture of the Middle Ages. This interdisciplinary session will explore object-based approaches to medieval heraldry, including investigations into the materiality and "lives" of armorial objects and their significance in medieval artistic expressions, literary portrayals, material culture, and historical accounts. 

Potential topics may include but are not limited to:

• rolls of arms
• wax seals and coats of arms on legal documents
• heraldic badges
• fictive heraldry in medieval literature and tournament armor
• armorial objects as surrogates for personal, family, and community identity

We welcome contributions from diverse academic disciplines to foster a multifaceted dialogue, including but not limited to Art History, Conservation, Material Culture Studies, Gender and Sexuality Studies, History, Languages and Literatures, Law, Manuscript Studies, Performance Studies, Religious Studies, and Anthropology. 

Please submit a 300-word abstract and a 50-word description to the ICMS Confex portal by September 15, 2025, along with your name, affiliation, and contact details. Please feel free to reach out to Sarah Ganzel (sganzel@wisc.edu) with any questions. 

Submission link: https://icms.confex.com/icms/2026/prelim.cgi/Session/7234