The theme for Volume 13 of Ceræ: An Australasian Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies, as well as for our 3rd annual online Conference, is Fame and Fortune. 

We invite submissions to both the conference and the journal on this theme.

Full details can be found here: 2026 Ceræ Call For Papers – CERÆ: An Australasian Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies

Fame and fortune are slippery things. They can be welcome or ironic, tangible or out of reach. Fame could be the due of the martyred saint; fortune could be a punishment, as when the hapless cleric in the Marian Theophilus legend sells his soul to the Devil. The tulip bubble of the Dutch Golden Age brought a vast amount of wealth that collapsed into an economic infamy that persists to this day. Luck charms, tokens, and other apotropaic magical artifacts are visible in the archaeological record; accusations of undue tampering with fortune by wizards and sorcerers appear in legal texts. Some historical and legendary figures exceed the boundaries of their time, while others wither into dust. The mysterious hand of fortune also shaped the fates of entire historical populations (both human and animal). Early modern financial speculation raised some to great wealthy and others to penury. The ‘discoveries’ of the New World turned societies upside-down in numerous ways. Environmental or climactic shifts could alter the courses of rivers and coastlines, bringing feast or famine, or be harbingers of catastrophe and destruction.

This theme invites the scholar to consider these various twists and turns of history. 

Topics may include, but are not limited to:

• Concepts of luck, fate, and misfortune
• Fortune as a negotiable or managed resource (economic, spiritual, or social)
• Games and gambling, including ludic theory
• Legendary and national heroes; the infamous, the notorious, and the famously forgotten
• Political hegemony – how is “luck” expressed at a societal level
• Economic and financial history
• Environmental and climate history
• Social luck and movement across class divides
• Financial bubbles and speculation (eg, The Dutch tulip bubble or the infamous South Sea bubble)
• Deities and personifications of luck: Fortuna, the Wheel of Fortune.
• Fortune and luck in the material sphere: lucky objects
• Charms, talismans, and prayers
• Theological aspects of free will
• Soothsayers, oracles, and seers
• Magic as a fulcrum for both good and bad luck

There is no geographic or disciplinary limitation for submissions, which can consider any aspect of the medieval or early modern world or its reception.

The fully online conference will be held on 25-26 April, with paper submissions due by 6 March.