Hortulus: The Online Graduate Journal of Medieval Studies is a refereed, peer-reviewed, and born-digital journal devoted to the culture, literature, history, and society of the medieval past. Published semi-annually, the journal collects exceptional examples of work by graduate students on a number of themes, disciplines, subjects, and periods of medieval studies. We also welcome book reviews of monographs published or re-released in the past five years that are of interest to medievalists. For the spring issue we are highly interested in reviews of books which fall under any topic related to medieval studies.

Our upcoming issue will be published in the spring/summer of 2017, and is an open issue with no theme. We particularly encourage the submission of proposals that take a strongly theoretical and/or interdisciplinary approach, and that examine new and previously unconsidered aspects of these subjects within medieval studies. Articles may be from any discipline: history, art history, archaeology, literature, linguistics, music, theology, etc. Work from every interpretive angle is encouraged. Most importantly, we seek engaging, original work that contributes to our collective understanding of the medieval era.

Contributions should be in English and roughly 6,000 – 12,000 words, including all documentation and citational apparatus; book reviews are typically between 500-1,000 words but cannot exceed 2,000. Please contact [email protected] for more information on submitting a book review. All notes must be endnotes, and a bibliography must be included; submission guidelines can be found here. Contributions may be submitted to [email protected] and are due March 1, 2017. If you are interested in submitting a paper but feel you would need additional time, please send a query email and details about an expected time-scale for your submission. Queries about submissions or the journal more generally can also be sent to this address.

Hortulus is currently hiring four assistant editors for the Spring 2017 and Fall 2017 issues. Head over to the job description if you are interested in joining the team!

The deadline for our Fall 2016 issue Gendered Spaces has been extended to October 14.

Hortulus is taking applications for a Junior Reviews Editor position! Applications close October 14, 2016. For more details, visit our Job Openings page.

Karma Lochrie’s Nowhere in the Middle Ages is available for review. If you are interested in reviewing this book (as before, you’ll receive a free copy for a mere 500-1000 word review), or another book, please email our Reviews Editor, Paul, at [email protected]. Thank you, the Hortulus team.

More information about Nowhere in the Middle Ages can be found here.

Nicole Nolan Sidhu’s Indecent Exposure: gender, politics, and obscene comedy in Middle English Literature is available for review. If you are interested in reviewing this book (and receiving a free copy for a mere 500-1000 word review), or another book, please email our Reviews Editor, Paul, at [email protected]. Thank you, the Hortulus team.

More information about Indecent Exposure can be found at: http://www.upenn.edu/pennpress/book/15522.html

Deadline Extended!

Hortulus: The Online Graduate Journal of Medieval Studies is a refereed, peer-reviewed, and born-digital journal devoted to the culture, literature, history, and society of the medieval past. Published semi-annually, the journal collects exceptional examples of work by graduate students on a number of themes, disciplines, subjects, and periods of medieval studies. We also welcome book reviews of monographs published or re-released in the past five years that are of interest to medievalists. For the Fall issue we are highly interested in reviews of books which fall under the current special topic.

The concept of gendered spaces—areas in which particular genders and types of gender expression are considered welcome or appropriate while other gender types are unwelcome or inappropriate—is a key element in the study of human geography. Gendering spaces is one way in which social systems maintain the organization of gender, and can preserve and dictate the accepted norms of gendered behavior, as well as relationships and hierarchies between men and women. Studying gendered spaces—environments, landscapes, and other places that have been designated specifically for “men” or for “women,” as well as the “public-private” divide often defined  with men in public and women in private spaces, for example—can provide us with important knowledge of the ways in which the spaces we inhabit reinforce our cultural positions from a gendered perspective; for instance, how such spaces serve to segregate or to unify, to reinforce or subvert traditional forms of masculinity and femininity. This understanding, in turn, can shed light on existing power structures and the conflicts and issues that arise between men and women in a given culture.

For our Fall 2016 themed issue we invite proposals that explore the subject of gendered spaces from a medieval vantage point, considering ways in which medieval society powerfully shaped and sought to control ideas of masculinity and femininity through the public and private spaces that were designated for men and women and how those spaces were used. We hope to attract articles offering comparative and multidisciplinary perspectives, and welcome contributions from the fields of history, art history, literary scholarship, archeology, anthropology, or any other discipline that will contribute to our thinking about gender in the medieval period. Potential topics for papers include the role of gender in medieval households, religious institutions, outdoors activities, (symbolic) landscapes, law, architecture, medicine, childcare, educational institutions, and literary spaces.

Contributions should be in English and roughly 6,000–12,000 words, including all documentation and citational apparatus; book reviews are typically between 500-1,000 words but cannot exceed 2,000. All notes must be endnotes, and a bibliography must be included; submission guidelines can be found here. Contributions may be submitted to [email protected] and are due 14 October 2016. If you are interested in submitting a paper but feel you would need additional time, please send a query email and details about an expected time-scale for your submission. Queries about submissions or the journal more generally can also be sent to this address.

After careful review of the excellent applications we received, we are pleased to welcome Gwendolyne Knight Keimpema as our new Junior Editor. She will start working in this capacity for the Fall issue, with Nadine Kuipers becoming Senior Editor as Melissa Ridley Elmes steps down from the position after two years of commitment to Hortulus.

Gwendolyne holds a M.Sc in Information and Library Studies from the Robert Gordon University, a MA degree in Medieval Studies from Stockholm University, as well as a MA in Archeology from Aberdeen University. She is currently writing her dissertation on the social implications of shapeshifting imagery in early medieval Europe for her PhD project at Stockholm University. Gwendolyne’s multidisciplinary background has allowed her to work both as as an assistant editor for Hortulus for our Fall 2015 issue and copyeditor for the popular science publication Au Magazine at the University of Aberdeen. We look forward to the new ideas and perspectives she will bring to Hortulus.

The Hortulus team would like to express their gratitude to Melissa Ridley Elmes, for her dedication as an editor, her guidance and direction, and her willingness to explore new avenues of digital publishing. We congratulate Melissa with her new appointment as Assistant Professor of English and Medieval Literature at Lindenwood University and wish her all the best for her future pursuits.

We are accepting applications at this time for the Hortulus co-editor position.This is a two-year appointment lasting from 2016-2018; the first year is spent in a junior editorial, training capacity, while the second year comprises senior editorial duties. The deadline for applications is July 1.

Further information can be found here: https://hortulus-journal.com/job-openings/

Hortulus: The Online Graduate Journal of Medieval Studies is a refereed, peer-reviewed, and born-digital journal devoted to the culture, literature, history, and society of the medieval past. Published semi-annually, the journal collects exceptional examples of work by graduate students on a number of themes, disciplines, subjects, and periods of medieval studies. We also welcome book reviews of monographs published or re-released in the past five years that are of interest to medievalists. For the spring issue we are highly interested in reviews of books which fall under the current special topic.

Our upcoming issue will be published in the spring of 2016, and is an open issue with no theme. We particularly encourage the submission of proposals that take a strongly theoretical and/or interdisciplinary approach, and that examine new and previously unconsidered aspects of these subjects within medieval studies. Articles may be from any discipline: history, art history, archaeology, literature, linguistics, music, theology, etc. Work from every interpretive angle is encouraged. Most importantly, we seek engaging, original work that contributes to our collective understanding of the medieval era.

Contributions should be in English and roughly 6,000 – 12,000 words, including all documentation and citational apparatus; book reviews are typically between 500-1,000 words but cannot exceed 2,000. All notes must be endnotes, and a bibliography must be included; submission guidelines can be found here. Contributions may be submitted to [email protected] and are due February 15, 2016. If you are interested in submitting a paper but feel you would need additional time, please send a query email and details about an expected time-scale for your submission. Queries about submissions or the journal more generally can also be sent to this address.