In considering the Ars Memoriae, Giordano Bruno (1548-1600) envisioned a universe of many worlds, many dimensions. The  practice of remembering and forgetting had profound political, intellectual, social, religious and cultural consequences in the medieval and early modern world. Frequently, the past served as a legitimising force, helping to justify the actions of the present or to graph future perspectives. It was therefore vehemently contested, habitually revised and amended, or even exploited.  This two-day conference provides an opportunity for scholars to discuss the numerous ways in which memory practices influenced the pre-modern world.

                        Topics may include, but are by no means limited to:

 Memory and the Epic Hero/Heorine             Memory and Romance Legend

Memory, Custom and Community               Material and Artistic Repositories of Memory

The Fallibility of Memory                            Memory, the Law and the State

Memory and Religion                                 Idealised Memory

Amnesia and Other Forms of Forgetting       Memory and Geography

Nostalgia and Commemoration                   The Uses and Abuses of Memory

Individual vs Collective Memories                Death, Memory and the Afterlife

Memory and Music/Musicology                    Memory and Art/Art History

                                              KEYNOTE SPEAKERS:

Professor Brian Cummings, University of York: Shakespeare and the Rites of Memory

Professor Giles Gasper, University of Durham: Memory Unbound: Forgotten Medieval Histories

MEMSA's 16th annual conference will be running as an in-person event, held at the historic Palace Green UNESCO World Heritage Site, Pemberton Rooms in Durham, UK. We particularly welcome applications from Postgraduate and Early Career Researchers from all disciplines engaged in the study of the Medieval and Early Modern Periods. *Selected Papers Will be Published in our Medieval and early Modern (MEMSA) Journal.

 TO APPLY: Please submit a short abstract of no more than 250 words, along with a brief biographical statement to

memsa.committee@durham.ac.uk .  DEADLINE: FRIDAY, APRIL 15, 2022.

                                                     Conference Organisers:

                                             Cherrie Gottsleben & Alex Hibberts