Dear Readers,

We are pleased to introduce our spring 2014 issue on the theme, “Enemies in the Middle Ages.”

This issue features articles by Candace A. Reilly and Petya Ivanova. In her article, Candace A. Reilly examines a demon who appears in the York Minster St. William window, situating the demon within a previously unexplored context. Reilly describes the way that an Ethiopian, disguised as a demon, is shown as an Other, an enemy, in St. William’s vita and connects this miracle story with the much-discussed window. In our second article, Petya Ivanova’s reading of Le Bone Florence of Rome destabilizes archetypal readings of different types of bodies in medieval texts. Ivanova illustrates how the author of Le Bone Florence of Rome engages in narrative play in order to set up and then surpass traditional figurations of the body in medieval romance.

For the first time, we have a Conference Proceedings Section, which grew out of our Kalamazoo sponsored session on the theme. In May, Hortulus sponsored a panel at Kalamazoo for the second time, on the theme “Of Whom Shall I Be Afraid: Enemies in Middle Ages.” This section includes short contributions from Daniel F. Melleno and Edward Mead Bowen, two of the four presenters in our session, as well as a special response from Emerson Storm Fillman Richards, who organized the panel and without whom this section would not have been possible.

We are also happy to share two book reviews in this issue. Sean Tandy reviews Noel Harold Kaylor and Philip Edward Phillips’s A Companion to Boethius in the Middle Ages. Victoria Shirley reviews a book particularly fitting for our Enemies theme, Neil Cartlidge’s Heroes and Anti-Heroes in Medieval Romance. Please also remember to visit our rolling reviews section on our website regularly to read the latest book reviews, thanks to the hard work of Reviews Editor Paul A. Brazinski.

We have some exciting job opportunities and events coming up in the following year. We are currently accepting applications for junior co-editor, Kalamazoo organizer, and a new position—assistant reviews editor. We will sponsor our third panel at Kalamazoo in 2015, which will correspond to the theme for the fall 2015 issue (“Pilgrimage, Travel, and Exploration”). Look for the Call for Papers for Kalamazoo 2015 soon. The fall 2014 themed issue will focus on “Emotions and Affect,” and the Call for Papers is available now. Submissions are due in August, and more details can be found at www.hortulus-journal.com.

Jenny C. Bledsoe
Hortulus co-editor