Critical editions continue to be the primary reference works for scholars of the Middle Ages from various backgrounds. Recent debates in medieval manuscript studies and the growth of the digital community are opening new perspectives for edited and unedited medieval written sources. However, the dialogue between traditional and digital philology has not yet reached its full potential. Editors of medieval sources have been considered as cultural brokers of medieval studies but they are naturally not alone in the process of knowledge transmission. Their work is greatly influenced by curators of manuscript collections, while the recipients of the editions, especially the digital ones, also shape the knowledge transfer.

The 15th century in Europe, for example, is considered to be a period of reform impulses that various authors and communities spread through various channels. Authorship attribution and theories of the text, whose precision or even value was challenged in Minnis’s magisterial contribution (Minnis 1984), has gained a new meaning also through advances of modern textual scholarship (e.g. Partridge – Kwakkel 2012). Late medieval textual exchanges, including the reform ones, are still a research topic with great potential and dynamic development (Hobbins 2009).

We invite medievalists to discuss the challenges faced not only by editors, but also by recipients of critical editions in the 21st century. Some of these challenges are emerging with new digital technologies (Driscoll – Pierazzo 2016), others, such as the problem of authorship, have always been linked to scholarly editing.

The conference intends to explore more general themes reflecting editorial practices, techniques and approaches. We invite papers reconsidering a variety of editorial issues, including, but not limited to:

• readers and recipients of critical editions
• theory and practice: the need for general standards applicable to critical editions (philological vs. historical approaches)
• under-represented authors, challenges to the concept of single-author models, multiple authorship
• textual dynamics in “entangled” texts
• literary output of the Czech Reformation and its opponents
• textual responses to reform impulses (especially among religious orders)
• digital methods for analysing literary texts
• digital, print-digital and hybrid editions: expectations, challenges, outcomes
• curating digital editions
• open access policy and its impact on scholarly editing

Proposals for 20-minute papers in English should not exceed 300 words. The conference will be accompanied by a poster session (proposals of max. 200 words). We especially encourage presentations of ongoing editorial projects by early career scholars. All submissions should be sent to brnoconference2022@phil.muni.cz by August 15, 2022.

Conference organizers: Petra Mutlová, Libor Švanda, Lucie Mazalová, Zuzana Čermáková Lukšová

References:
Minnis, Alastair J. Medieval Theory of Authorship. Scholastic Literary Attitudes in the Later Middle Ages. London: Scolar Press, 1984.
Partridge, Stephen B. – Kwakkel, Erik (ed.). Author, Reader, Book. Medieval Authorship in Theory and Practice. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2012.
Hobbins, Daniel. Authorship and Publicity Before Print. Jean Gerson and the Transformation of Late Medieval Learning. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2009.
Driscoll, Matthew J. – Pierazzo, Elena (ed.). Digital Scholarly Editing: Theories and Practices. Cambridge: Open Book Publishers, 2016.