International Congress on Medieval Studies
May 12-15, 2016 at Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI
Sponsor: International Center of Medieval Art Student Committee
Organizers: Lehti Mairike Keelmann, University of Michigan, and Laura Tillery, University of Pennsylvania

The Hanse, also known as the Hanseatic League, was a trade network of merchants and cities across the Northern and Baltic Seas that flourished in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Due to its geographic reach, the Hanse provided a framework to connect distant towns, peoples, cultures, ideas, and materials together. This session aims to explore the often-overlooked artistic production in the transnational Hanseatic region. Artistic exchange across Hanse trade routes was extensive and wide reaching. Art objects traveled long distances and were produced with great variety to reflect the multi-faceted identities and goals of their patrons.

For this session, we invite papers that address artistic circulation, mobility, exchange, networks, identity, media, and/or patronage in the Hanseatic arena. We welcome both specific case studies as well as papers that interrogate larger questions on ‘Hanseatic art’, Hanse art historical historiography, and the self-fashioning of Hanse merchants or patrons. Along these lines, papers could also explore artistic links between the Hanse and other trade networks or more generally, art and mercantile trade in littoral and riverine towns in Europe, c. 1200-1500.

The Student Committee of the International Center of Medieval Art involves and advocates for all members with student status. As a committee that addresses the concerns of students, we see this session as a forum for discussion and informal mentorship within our field.

To propose a paper, please send an abstract, C.V., and a completed Congress Participant Information Form (http://wmich.edu/medieval/congress/submissions/index.html…) to Lehti Mairike Keelmann (lehtik@umich.edu) and Laura Tillery (tillery@sas.upenn.edu).