CFP: The Second Birgitta Conference
Stockholm, 6-8 October, 2011
Three years ago, the symposium Saint Birgitta, Syon and Vadstena was arranged in Stockholm. Twenty papers from this meeting were published by the Academy of Letters (Vitterhetsakademien) in 2010. Bringing together a large number of people interested in Birgittine academic research, this first meeting partly focused on the new Syon Abbey excavations, the history and literary achievements in the English monastery. The results from the large Swedish Vadstena text project formed a second theme.
Inspired by many positive comments and at the same time following our original plans of a series of meetings, we have now decided to arrange The Second Birgitta Conference. This conference will take place during three days in October 2011: Thursday 6 Oct. (afternoon) – Saturday 8 Oct. (morning). In addition to the program, some examples of Birgittine material in the National Archives will be displayed and presented.
As in 2007, this second conference will be arranged by the Birgitta Foundation (Birgittastiftelsen). The meeting is sponsored by the Centre for Medieval Studies at Stockholm University, the Academy of Letters and the National Archives. The conference is open to everyone interested in Birgittine scholarship: Saint Birgitta herself, her texts and thoughts or the Birgittine Order and its cultural imprints. We want to reach scholars within various fields, such as history, philology, archaeology, art history, theology and church history.
Two of the themes of this conference will be Birgittine art and Birgittines in Europe. A third theme, Birgittine vernacular texts, is connected to a project recently initiated by the Centre for Medieval Studies, Stockholm, aiming at a new edition of the Old Swedish version of the Revelations. We now invite active scholars to send in a proposal for a paper. For practical reasons, the number of speakers will be limited. We will give priority to scholars presenting new research within the conference themes and to those who did not give papers at the first conference. We offer to pay travel and accommodation costs for speakers.
If you want to present a paper at the conference, please send in your suggested title and a short abstract to our conference mail address birgittaconference@gmail.com not later than 31 December 2010.
Mia Åkestam
Roger Andersson
Claes Gejrot
Sara Risberg
The Syon Abbey Society 