Memory: Creation, Practice and Transmission. Basel, 21st-22nd June 2019.

After an introductory tour around the medieval part of Basel during which the group had to flee from the rain and seek sanctuary in the church of St. Peter (8th century), the graduate conference «Memory: Creation, Practice and Transmission» took place in the lecture hall of the 14th century 'Schönes Haus' without further hitches. It was organised by members of the History Department and the Department for Old Norse Studies.

Twenty graduate speakers from Basel, Zurich, Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, Great Britain and Iceland presented their research and were given a warm welcome by Prof. J. F. M. Hoenen (Prof. of Medieval Philosophy, Basel) who gave an introductory address on the topic of memory in medieval studies. Two keynote speakers, Prof. Dr Kate Heslop (Prof. of Old Norse, Berkeley) and Dr Charlies Rozier (Lecturer in History, Durham) framed the two-day conference.

In the contributions which were held both in English and in German, a variety of possible aspects of remembering and remembrance culture in and of the Middle Ages were addressed: Repeatedly the issue of purposefully created, rewritten and forgotten historical narratives were spoken of, as well as the identity-creating function of collective remembrance. There were also papers reviewing medieval and early modern menmotechniques, the geographical and intertextual memory of medieval literature, as well as the reception and recreation of the Middle Ages from the Reformation to the romantic period. Building on the theoretical frameworks laid out by Aleida and Jan Assmann and using various differing approaches from historical and literary studies, the standard of the conference was high and the participants were given insights into interesting current research projects, with lively discussions proving that there is much more to be said about the subject of memory in the Middle Ages than is possible during even a two-day conference. The interest raised by the topic amongst current graduate researches shows that there is still much to be said and new avenues to be explored.

Balduin Landolt
Nordistik/Germanistik
Universität Basel

English translation by Maria Tranter.