If you’re going to the 2014 International Congress on Medieval Studies, you should come make some friends at the Hortulus sponsored session on the theme of Enemies.

Presided by Sebastian Rider-Bezerra (Yale University), “Of Whom Shall I Be Afraid: Enemies in the Middle Ages” will feature four papers showing four interdisciplinary aspects of enmity, ranging from the individual as enemy, to ‘geography’ as enemy, to the community as enemy of the individual and vice versa, and a group’s reputation as its own enemy.

The papers and presenters are:

• Edward Mead Bowen (Aberystwyth University): “(Former) Enemies at the Gate: Insinuations of Betrayal in Pa gur yv y porthaur”
• Josephine Livingstone (New York University): “‘Into that viel countreye’: Figuring ethnic enmity with Gog and Magog in Kyng Alisaunder“
• Antonella Scorpo (University of Lincoln): “‘Ni e yo amigo, ni enemigo’: Enmity, Trust and Betrayal in Thirteenth-Century Iberia”
• Daniel Melleno (U.C. Berkeley):  “Franks and Scandinavians – Good Neighbors/Bad Neighbors”

We hope to see you there, and please feel free to let us know if you’re coming. We will have more details about Hortulus’ involvement in events at Kalamazoo as we draw closer to the time of the Congress.

Emerson Storm Fillman Richards
Indiana University