The sixth annual Conference for Medieval Studies, a graduate student conference sponsored by Comitatus, the Purdue Medieval Studies student organization, was held at Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana from February 15-16, 2008. The theme for this year’s conference was "Authority, Authorship, and Audience in the Middle Ages."

Eve Salisbury, Associate Professor of English at Western Michigan University was the plenary speaker for this year’s conference.

Friday, February 15
5:00-6:30 Session 1 (Moderator: Crystal Kirgiss)
Lynne Miles-Morillo, Purdue University, "The Hêliand and His hugi: Towards an
Old Saxon Theory of Mind"
Daniel Brielmaier, University of Toronto, "Authority and Mediation in the
Acallam na Senórach"
Richard Sévère, Purdue University, "Re-Writing Friendship: The Fear of
Homoeroticism in Late Medieval Literature"

7:30 Reception

Saturday, February 16
8:30-9:15 Coffee and light breakfast

9:15-10:15 Session 3 (Moderator: Case Tompkins)
William Hager, California State University – Long Beach, "Removal from the
Court: The Displacement of Chevrefoil from the Tristan Legend"
Arthur J. Russell, Western Michigan University, "Learning to Read Again: Sir Cleges and the Quest for Orthodox Readers"

10:30-11:30 Session 4 (Moderator: Jack Baker)
Diana M. Cervone, Indiana University – Bloomington, "Shaping Authorship through the Mise en Page of Christine de Pizan's Epistre Othea Manuscripts: The Importance of Blank Spaces"
Andrew B. Grubb, University of Connecticut, "Buildings as Authors? The Case of
English Round Churches"

11:30-1:00 Lunch break

1:00-2:00 Plenary Address
Eve Salisbury, Associate Professor of English at Western Michigan University, "Anonymity, Attribution, and the Nearly Known: Medieval Authorship Revisited"

2:15-3:30 Session 5 (Moderator: Kristin Leaman)
Karen Knudson, Purdue University, "Sparring with Solomon: The Figure and Texts
of King Solomon in the Canterbury Tales"
Jenny Lee, Northwestern University, "Ovid's Fama and Auctorite in Chaucer's The
House of Fame"
Karen Robinson, Purdue University, "The Betrayal of Readers in the Legend of
Good Women"

3:45-5:00 Session 6 (Moderator: Frank Tobienne)
Jill Hebert, Western Michigan University, "Authority on Ambiguity: Morgan le
Fay as Author"
Catherine Merritt, Auburn University – Montgomery, "The Arthurian Enchantresses
through Time: The Influence of Authorship and Audience"

Information about our prior conferences can be found below:
5th Annual Conference (February 2007)
4th Annual Conference (February 2006)
3rd Annual Conference (February 2005)
2nd Annual Conference (March 2004)
1st Annual Conference (February 2003)