Leeds International Medieval Congress
CALL FOR PAPERS
Boethius and Temporalities
The challenges of time, eternity and transience – and knowing how to understand and face them – are central to the problematics and the creativity of Boethius’s De consolatione philosophiae and the tradition it brought about throughout medieval Europe over several centuries. For the proposed session(s), focusing on the IMC 2026 theme of Temporalities, we warmly invite papers from all disciplinary perspectives on any aspect of temporalities relating to Boethian tradition. Proposals falling outside this theme are also invited.
Please submit an abstract of no more than 200 words and a short biography of no more than 150 words to Ian Johnson irj@st-andrews.ac.uk by 19 September. All proposals should include your name, e-mail address and academic affiliation. Proposals are welcome from researchers at any career stage. Please address any queries to Ian Johnson at the above e-mail address.
Sponsor: International Boethius Society
Organiser: Ian Johnson, University of St Andrews
Kalamazoo 2026
2. Medieval Afterlives of Boethius's Consolatio (Roundtable)
1. Our IBS-sponsored session titled Boethius, Theology, and the Liberal Arts in Late Antiquity (ID: 7437) has been accepted for inclusion at the 61st International Congress on Medieval Studies (May 14 - 16, 2026).
Best known for his De consolatione philosophiae, its transmission, reception, influence, and many vernacular translations, Boethius also contributed significantly to the liberal arts and to the theological debates of his time and later. To consider Boethius "whole" and “in context,” this session seeks papers on any aspect of the Boethian corpus, including his quadrivial works, translations, commentaries, Opuscula sacra, and Latin Consolatio.
2. Our IBS-sponsored roundtable Medieval Afterlives of Boethius's De consolatione philosophiae (A Roundtable) (ID: 7471) has been accepted for inclusion at the 61st International Congress on Medieval Studies (May 14 - 16, 2026).
This roundtable concerns the medieval afterlives of Boethius’s Consolatio, from its translation and transmission to the many texts and images it influenced and inspired. Submissions are invited from scholars working on any topic related to Boethian reception, including translations, the medieval Consolatio tradition more broadly, Boethian philosophy, prosimetric reimaginations, or imagining new allegorical characters. Although most papers will touch upon Latin material, papers addressing reception in relevant vernacular languages are encouraged. Possible topics may include—but are not limited to—literary borrowing, imitation, inheritance, translation, and textual transmission.
