The world’s largest gathering of medieval scholars starts Thursday, with close to 3,000 people and more than 550 presentations over 3 1/2 well-orchestrated days.
You might expect it to take place in a city with cobblestone streets, historic buildings and a monument that makes reference to the plague.
Nope. Try Kalamazoo, a southwestern Michigan city settled in 1829 and surrounded in spring by freshly plowed corn fields.
The 51st International Congress on Medieval Studies is a big deal. Those attending run a gamut from established scholars to newbies whose interest in the Middle Ages grew from watching “Game of Thrones” or “Vikings,” and just about everyone in between.
“It grew out of the idea that everybody and anybody should have the option to investigate medieval studies,” said Jana K. Schulman, director of Western Michigan University’s Medieval Institute.
Its founders, history prof John Sommerfeldt and English professor John McNally, hosted the first conference in March 1962. It had 200 participants by 1966 and became annual in 1970, growing in part because it took big tent approach and encouraged students and young scholars to present at time when many conferences didn’t.
“We have a lot of people who just come to learn about something, even if they don’t know quite what that is when they get here,” she said.
The medieval period covers roughly 1,000 years, from about 500 to 1500, Schulman said. Historically, it wasn’t considered quite as interesting as the classical period that preceded it, when Greece and Rome flourished, or the Renaissance that followed.
It was marked by famine, plague, war and depopulation of cities. Most modern movies, TV shows and books depict it as dark, cold and grubby. Yet the period was rich in music and art, all kinds of politics and majestic castles and cathedrals that stand today.
One of Schulman’s key interests is how old Icelandic laws are incorporated into the Icelandic sagas, narrative tales from the ninth through the 11th centuries.
“I realized there was so much to explore,” she said. “A lot of people, whether they’re enthusiasts or training to be academics, have something about that period that continues to draw them.”
Conference choices are a mind-boggling array of round tables, paper presentations and even performances of medieval music and poetry.
There are sessions devoted to “Beowulf,” the old English epic poem of revenge; to medieval sex; early Irish saints; the 14th century economy; and the Crusades.
There’s a look at period humor, with papers such as “Sweeping Hrothgar’s Floor: Fletwerod, Forswaban and the Function(s) of Humor in Old English Poetry,” courtesy of Max Stevenson of the University of California at Berkeley.
Other sessions look at weapons and armor, including a presentation by Ontario blacksmith Darrell Markewitz on “Reconstituting an Icelandic Bloomery Iron Furnace,” and another titled “Experiments into Hardening Processes for Leather Armor,” by Mila Little of the Canadian Dark Ages Recreation Company.
One session, called “The Reel Middle Ages,” looks at depictions of the period on screen in movies such as Ridley Scott’s “Kingdom of Heaven,” a “Robin Hood” produced by the British Broadcasting and director Guy Ritchie’s upcoming film “The Knights of the Round Table,” which delves into the King Arthur legend yet again.
There are sessions that look at the medieval influence on authors J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis and on current video games.
There’s practical advice, such as a session on working with manuscript fragments, and hands-on sessions, such as learning to play chess by medieval rules.
The chance to rub elbows with others who have the same interests is important, said Larry Swain, an assistant professor of English at Bemidji State University in Minnesota.
He’s one of just two professors at Bemidji State interested in medieval studies and is involved with a fairly new group dubbed “The Lone Medievalist,” which brings together scholars who may be the only medievalist on their campus or in their community.
“It recharges you and lets you know you’re not alone,” he said. “It’s a real adrenaline shot in the arm. You always leave there very excited about the field and you can’t wait to work on things.”
Swain started attending the conference about 20 years ago, when he was working with computers and thinking about going to graduate school.
“Everybody welcomed me with open arms,” he said. “It’s very convivial. That’s why people want to come back from all over the world every year.”
Contact Kathleen Lavey at (517) 377-1251 or klavey@lsj.com.
How to go
The 51st International Congress on Medieval Studies
Through Sunday at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo
Walk-in registrations are accepted; learn more at wmich.edu/medievalcongress