The Thirteenth York Manuscripts Conference: Cathedral Libraries and Archives of Britain and Ireland.

Hosted by the Centre for Medieval Studies and the Centre for Renaissance and Early Modern Studies at the University of York. 

Organised by Brian Cummings, Linne Mooney, Bill Sherman and Hanna Vorholt.

3 - 5 July 2014, 

York, UK, The King's Manor

* Call for Papers *

The York Manuscripts Conference has been held biennially or triennially since 1986 and, with about 50 papers, is amongst the largest conferences in Europe dedicated to manuscript studies. The Thirteenth York Manuscripts Conference, to be held from 3-5 July 2014 will have as its topic the Cathedral Libraries and Archives of England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. 

The Cathedral Libraries and Archives of Britain and Ireland comprise some of the most remarkable and least explored collections of medieval and early modern manuscripts. While predictably focused on theological, liturgical, and devotional books, they also contain many medical, scientific, and literary sources, as well as legal and administrative documents. In addition to the many collections that are still in situ, others are now being looked after elsewhere, or have been dispersed. The conference will include papers on medieval and early modern manuscripts which are or were once held by the cathedrals of Britian and Ireland, considering their varied contents, illumination, use, and provenance; paper topics might also explore the formation, development, and dissolution of the libraries themselves; connections between different collections; their location and cataloguing within the cathedrals; or the distinction between cathedral libraries and cathedral archives in a historical perspective. Papers which shed light on lesser known treasures and collections will be especially welcome. We invite papers from researchers in the fields of religion, history, art history, musicology, history of science, literature, codicology, conservation, and other cognate disciplines. Papers delivered at the conference may be considered for inclusion in a volume of selected essays.

The conference is organised in association with the Cathedrals Libraries and Archives Network (CLAN), which seeks to engender, co-ordinate, facilitate and promote research on the Cathedral collections, and to act as an interface between academic communities, church bodies, and the wider public. 

Plenary lectures will be given by Nigel Morgan (Cambridge), Christopher Norton (York), Rodney Thomson (Tasmania), and Magnus Williamson (Newcastle). 

Please send an abstract of no more than 300 words. Deadline for submission of proposals is 1 July 2013.

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