[Header Image: Livre des merveilles du monde. BNF MS français 2810, f. 80r]
This past weekend, the University of Iowa played host to a conference in honour of my doctoral advisor, Constance Berman, on the occasion of her retirement. I was one of the organisers, and we were thrilled to have so many people from across the US come to Iowa City and join us in sending Connie off to the next stage of her life and work.
The scope of the papers presented reflected the extraordinary scope of Connie’s academic interests over the course of her career: the power of women as lords and as queens; grappling with established historiographies which have dismissed women as historically irrelevant or which have tried to confine women to particular categories; the role of women and gender in the Cistercian Order; and women’s command of property and patronage. Many of the speakers prefaced their papers with tributes to how Connie had helped to inspire their work throughout the years. Given Connie’s commitment to supporting women’s history and female graduate students, it was only fitting that the symposium was held in the Senate Chambers of the Old Capitol—the place where in 1847 the state’s general assembly voted to establish the University of Iowa, the first public university in the United States to admit men and women on an equal basis.
The first session was introduced by Robert Bork, who paid tribute to Connie as a colleague and friend over many years.
Prof Rob Bork kicks off #ConnieCon, introducing 1st session on women, power & authority in medieval Europe #UIowa pic.twitter.com/hheRmNESBZ
— Yvonne Seale (@yvonneseale) May 20, 2016
The speakers for this session, on “Women, Power and Authority in Medieval Europe” were Andrew Steck (University of Iowa), Wendy Pfeffer (University of Louisville) and Michael E. Moore (University of Iowa).
The 1st speaker is @HawkeyeSteck who explores the psalter of Blanche of Castile & sacral queenship #ConnieCon pic.twitter.com/9jUmsQZcv9
— Yvonne Seale (@yvonneseale) May 20, 2016
.@HawkeyeSteck discusses crowned fig of Ecclesia in this psalter leaf. Bibl. de l'Arsenal Ms 1186, f24r #ConnieCon pic.twitter.com/1RzBhz4NU5
— Yvonne Seale (@yvonneseale) May 20, 2016
Our second speaker, Wendy Pfeffer (@uofl) explores life of 14thC s. French noblewoman Beatritz d'Armagnac #ConnieCon pic.twitter.com/E1Ox8MLLKG
— Yvonne Seale (@yvonneseale) May 20, 2016
Pfeffer: Béatritz d'Armagnac's marriages took her across geographical & linguistic communities—Occitan, French, Italian #ConnieCon
— Yvonne Seale (@yvonneseale) May 20, 2016
Michael Moore starts talk on Rosamund & Alboin of the Lombards with NSFW warning—audience says "ooh". #ConnieCon pic.twitter.com/YfUoFwsCT1
— Yvonne Seale (@yvonneseale) May 20, 2016
Moore reads out Peter the Deacon's description of Lombard hairdos. Pause as audience imagines this. #ConnieCon pic.twitter.com/km2tcmg1xu
— Yvonne Seale (@yvonneseale) May 20, 2016
MICHEAL E. MOORE HAS BEEN CITED ON TWITTER! You have done the world a service @yvonneseale !
— travis neel (@TravisENeel) May 20, 2016
The Q&A looks into possibility of modern hipsters adopting hairstyles like Suebian knot, à la Osterby Man #ConnieCon pic.twitter.com/1OotA68MOw
— Yvonne Seale (@yvonneseale) May 20, 2016
Following the first session, attendees moved down the hill from the Old Capitol to the University of Iowa Special Collections, which greeted us with a display of some of its finest medieval manuscript holdings.
#ConnieCon attendees check out the #medieval manuscript holdings of @UISpecColl pic.twitter.com/RNrsM2GDf2
— Yvonne Seale (@yvonneseale) May 20, 2016
Michaela Hoenicke-Moore, a colleague of Connie’s for many years in the Department of History, delivered a moving tribute to Connie’s scholarship and her contributions as a colleague.
Prof. @mhoenickemoore gives a wonderful valedictory speech in honor of Connie & her career #ConnieCon #UIowa pic.twitter.com/rYuV6p4ggS
— Yvonne Seale (@yvonneseale) May 20, 2016
Connie than delivered the symposium’s keynote speech, reflecting on both her own career and on the history of medieval women’s studies as a whole.
Connie Berman gives her retirement talk on "Medieval Women: Past, Present, & Future." #ConnieCon #medievaltwitter pic.twitter.com/VnCTItRwds
— Yvonne Seale (@yvonneseale) May 20, 2016
Connie's talk acknowledges #medievalist foremothers: Catherine Boyd, Sylvia Thrupp, JoAnn McNamara (1/2) #ConnieCon pic.twitter.com/ddspbsghf4
— Yvonne Seale (@yvonneseale) May 20, 2016
Also Eileen Power, Suzanne Wemple, Marjorie Chibnall—the foundation of our field (2/2) #ConnieCon pic.twitter.com/SmU0PH4Ezd
— Yvonne Seale (@yvonneseale) May 20, 2016
The second day of the symposium began with a session on “New Approaches to the Studies of Medieval Religious Women.” The chair was Raymond Mentzer (University of Iowa). The speakers were Erika Lindgren (Wartburg College), Amy Livingstone (Wittenberg University), and Jennifer Kolpacoff Deane (University of Minnesota-Morris).
Erika Lindgren kicks off Saturday's #ConnieCon with plans towards history of British religious women in 100 objects. pic.twitter.com/pdVgKypITd
— Yvonne Seale (@yvonneseale) May 21, 2016
Lindgren explores how #nuntastic women of Iona inhabited physical space in cloister, settlement, island. #ConnieCon pic.twitter.com/QT14Yo5Pcw
— Yvonne Seale (@yvonneseale) May 21, 2016
Lindgren discusses this piece of 14thC embroidery signed by nun Joan of Beverly: https://t.co/KlNswQTpuA #ConnieCon pic.twitter.com/Ej0jXbEa87
— Yvonne Seale (@yvonneseale) May 21, 2016
any idea which convent she was from?
— Dr. Elizabeth Lehfeldt (@school_tales) May 21, 2016
Erika thinks she might have been from the infamous Watton—a Joan of Beverly shows up in a 14th taxation record from the house
— Yvonne Seale (@yvonneseale) May 21, 2016
Amy Livingstone dismantles 19thC historian's assertion that nuns of St-Avit fundamentally "unimportant" #ConnieCon pic.twitter.com/alFXmUxWYP
— Yvonne Seale (@yvonneseale) May 21, 2016
Jennifer Kolpacoff Deane digs into the complex historiography of beguines & stranglehold of term "order" #ConnieCon pic.twitter.com/MFCmfWo3k8
— Yvonne Seale (@yvonneseale) May 21, 2016
Panel of Livingstone, Lindgren, & Kolpacoff Deane discuss common threads in their #nuntastic papers. #ConnieCon pic.twitter.com/QmnQA5XLu6
— Yvonne Seale (@yvonneseale) May 21, 2016
The morning’s second session was “Women, Gender, and the Cistercian Order.” Chaired by Chris Africa (University of Iowa), the speakers were Miriam Shadis (Ohio University), Erin Jordan (Old Dominion University) and Maeve Callan (Simpson College).
Miriam Shadis begins the next session of #ConnieCon with a look at the earliest Cistercian women in Portugal. pic.twitter.com/fFtuPfBQeS
— Yvonne Seale (@yvonneseale) May 21, 2016
Shadis discusses monastery of Lorvão which produced this Apocalypse (1189). AN Torre do Tombo 44 f172v. #ConnieCon pic.twitter.com/1NWslVuqIl
— Yvonne Seale (@yvonneseale) May 21, 2016
Erin Jordan explores how Cistercian nuns shaped the physical landscape in #medieval Flanders. #ConnieCon #nuntastic pic.twitter.com/CmdYlEeHxB
— Yvonne Seale (@yvonneseale) May 21, 2016
Maeve Callan looks at issues of gender & ethnicity & the Cistercians in medieval Ireland. #ConnieCon pic.twitter.com/uHkGAnYzXA
— Yvonne Seale (@yvonneseale) May 21, 2016
Some Irish Cistercians thought Mellifont's architecture too "Frenchified." #ConnieCon Img: https://t.co/hU4G2GPdx1 pic.twitter.com/056bdZ1Bwc
— Yvonne Seale (@yvonneseale) May 21, 2016
The final panel of papers was “Social Networks, Virtual Worlds.” Chaired by Jonathan Wilcox (University of Iowa), the speakers were Dauna Kiser (University of Iowa), Charlotte Cartwright (Christopher Newport University), and Rebecca Church (Macalester College).
After a pause for lunch, #ConnieCon reconvenes with Dauna Kiser building virtual worlds to teach #medieval history. pic.twitter.com/Bv8zEvfUPc
— Yvonne Seale (@yvonneseale) May 21, 2016
Charlotte Cartwright talks about Emmeline of Arques & Emma of Ivry in relation to St-Amand de Rouen #ConnieCon pic.twitter.com/lGALdJu63W
— Yvonne Seale (@yvonneseale) May 21, 2016
Cartwright discusses foundation of nunnery of St-Amand of Rouen #ConnieCon Source: https://t.co/wvqDpTUjRS pic.twitter.com/6F2b5nSF0r
— Yvonne Seale (@yvonneseale) May 21, 2016
For the last paper, Becky Church (@Macalester) recounts 3 tales of familial conflict from medieval France #ConnieCon pic.twitter.com/7TJCLa3aww
— Yvonne Seale (@yvonneseale) May 21, 2016
Panel of Kiser, Cartwright and Church during Q&A session discuss women and social networks #ConnieCon pic.twitter.com/Xfsk9FyVuJ
— Yvonne Seale (@yvonneseale) May 21, 2016
The final event of the symposium was a roundtable entitled “Why Medieval Women Matter.” The panel was made up of specialists on the history of women in the Classical World, early modern Europe, and modern Britain and North America. They responded to the symposium’s papers, drawing similarities across the fields, and spurring conversation about new directions for women’s history. The participants were Marcia Lindgren (University of Iowa), Susan Stanfield (University of Texas-El Paso), Kathy Wilson (University of Iowa), Kathleen Kamerick (University of Iowa), and Katherine Massoth (University of Louisville).
#ConnieCon concludes with roundtable where classicists & (early) modernists discuss "Why Medieval Women Matter" pic.twitter.com/dZ43M9ch8P
— Yvonne Seale (@yvonneseale) May 21, 2016
And that's a wrap. #conniecon out for 2016. On to conniepalooza…….next stop! pic.twitter.com/dPOzqji6P5
— Heather Wacha (@hgwacha) May 22, 2016
You can find more photos on Flickr.