Current and Past Programming

Current Programming

Click here to see a complete list of our Spring 23 Lecture Series. 

Check out our new google calendar to see an up-to-date listing of all our events. Search "Center for Premodern Studies."

Past Lectures

To see a complete list of current and past lectures, visit the "Lectures" page of our updated CPS website

Decameron in the Time of Coronavirus

Inspired by the tales from Giovanni Boccaccio's 14th-century Decameron, this project highlighted texts that dialogue with our current Pandemic. Check out our medieval studies YouTube channel, where members of the Medieval Studies community posted videos on texts for us to discuss in the comments. Check out the first video in the series in the series from Michelle Hamilton, our Trustee for Medieval Studies, as she introduces us to the concept as well has her pick, Salman Rushdie's Haroun and the Sea of Stories. 

Past Special Events

2019: Premodern Food Cultures Conference

This conference brings together scholars of the premodern world and local Twin Cities food and beverage producers to explore the long and varied histories of issues such as sustainability, international trade, and food inequality, as well as community notions about who, what, where and how people should and do eat. While modern scientific research has revolutionized methods of food production and forms of consumption, culture is and has been central in the ways in which we choose what and how to eat and drink, and with whom. The talks and events in this conference are designed to help us see how culture—in the form of ethics, family and communal identity, archives and memory, or trade and migration—not only shaped the premodern food landscape, but continues to do so in the local Twin Cities food scene.

2018: Vagantes at UMN

For more, see the Vagantes at UMN page. 

2016: Game of Thrones Event

Medieval Studies hosted an evening event exploring aspects of the show, with trivia, food and beverages inspired by the show. With Medieval Studies experts, Ruth Karras discussed the female characters and women in the Middle Ages; Mary Franklin Brown talked about the books the show is based on; and Amanda Taylor discussed and demonstrated arms and weapons in the Middle Ages and in the show. For more details see our Game of Thrones event page.

2009: The “Religion and Law in the Global Middle Ages"

A conference for scholars, lawyers, and teachers that covered religion in medieval law codes, legal procedures, and everyday life.

2006: "A Hands-on Workshop on the Medieval Bookmark"

A workshop that offered the chance to learn and practice the historic methods of the scribe and printer from Charlemagne’s early medieval court to Gutenberg’s later medieval printing shop (in collaboration with the Institute of Advanced Study).

2006: "A Hands-on Workshop for Sewers: A Day in a Fifteenth-Century Tailor's Shop"

A workshop in which participants created a full set of clothing (in collaboration with the Institute of Advanced Study).