IMC 2025: Sessions

Paper 534-a:

In contrast to the “print-culture thesis,” which understands the printing press as a divine gift that gave rise to the best things that the Enlightenment had to offer—liberalism, democracy, and commerce, medieval manuscripts and fragments provide evidence of the continuity and influence of manuscript culture that persisted even after the “incunabula” period of printing. Early modern printers like Christophe Plantin often purchased medieval manuscripts and fragments in bulk, both for their textual content and for their material reuse in bookbinding. This presentation will feature a close-reading of title pages from 16th-century books to demonstrate the self-conscious engagement that early modern editors and printers had with medieval manuscripts.

Paper 534-b:

This paper aims to examine the use of learned medieval women in female biographies aimed at women in England in the 19th century to promote and defend the education of women, following the theme “gendered ideals of learning and gender in learning”. We will focus on the representation of Queen Edith of Wessex in Hannah Lawrance’s History of Women, arguing that learned medieval women are put forward in 19th century writings as a means of education for women in the author’s time and to emphasize the positive impact of female education in the past to defend it in the present.