International Medieval Congress 2023 - Review by Sofya Nikiforova

In July 2023 I participated in the International Medieval Congress held at the University of Leeds. Not only I was looking forward to attending multiple sessions and listening to fellow researchers’ reports, but also, I was giving a paper myself. The latter was a constant source of anxiety, because it was my first report in such a big conference, with some of the UHI academic staff and my potential PhD supervisors coming to hear me. However, once I arrived in Leeds, my stress was completely gone due to the amazing atmosphere of the IMC and the people I met there.

My IMC experience started with a medieval embroidery workshop led by Tanya Bentham, who is an expert in textiles, especially embroidery. There was a group of young women attending, and we shared four hours of pure happiness, embroidering together, discussing the medieval techniques of stitching, and listening to Tanya’s hilarious life stories. We also shared a lunch during which we exchanged contacts. Afterwards, I spent some time with the girls from the workshop, and we attended the medieval crafts fair together. It was amazing to meet these people, because we all share an interest in medieval textiles.

I spent the first evening of the IMC with Dr Rachel Stone, who was the chair of the session I was supposed to present my paper in, and Dr Benjamin Wheaton, another speaker of our session. We had a lovely gathering, talking about the content of our session, which was called ‘Acting Like a (Noble) Lady: Lives, Literacy, and Literary Agency’. Moreover, both Rachel and Benjamin helped me to overcome my anxiety, giving me tips and convincing me that everything would run smoothly.

The morning after I came to the conference room in a good mood and met Michael Hanaghan there, who was the last speaker of the session. Michael was presenting a paper about noblewomen and their reading in 5th-century Europe; Benjamin’s focus was on Venantius Fortunatus’ 'De Virginitate', while I was giving a presentation about the literary agency of queen Joan of Burgundy (1293-1349). Our papers were evidently very different in terms of the content, but we all shared an interest in medieval literary cultures, women’s experiences, and the topic of agency. Because of this the Q&A session after we gave our presentations was very interesting; we had separate questions for each of us, but we still interacted in terms of connecting the topics of literacy, agency, and noblewomen’s experiences. Answering the questions was challenging, but I managed to remain focused and to the point, and later got compliments from the audience for responding accurately and confidently. I enjoyed giving my presentation, because the listeners were respectful and interested in what I have to say, and because my topic fascinated and continues to fascinate me.

I attended numerous other sessions of the IMC, spent some wonderful time talking to my UHI lecturer, Dr Lucy Dean, and met my future PhD co-supervisors – Prof Amy Livingstone from the University of Lincoln and Prof Katherine Lewis from the University of Huddersfield. It was truly amazing to meet all these people in person, to discuss my current and future projects with them, and to see them attending the session I was speaking in. This is what IMC is all about – meeting great people who teach you, work with you, whose books you read, or whom you dream of working with. You get the chance to go listen to different presentations on topics which interest you, to participate in workshops, to attend markets dedicated to medieval crafts, and to see amazing performances. I was particularly impressed by the performance of Peter Bull, who played different medieval musical instruments, and by the storytelling of Daisy Black, who presented her feminist, queer and vibrant take on a medieval Mappa Mundi, narrating tales about sea, islands, saints, and monsters.

The four days I spent at the IMC were interesting, stimulating, and fun. I brought home vintage editions of Christine de Pizan and John Lydgate, which I found at the book fair, some IMC souvenirs, a medieval jug I bought at the crafts fair, and plenty of good memories and new friends. I am definitely going to come back to Leeds in 2024, hopefully with a new paper about medieval queens. I can’t wait to see all the people I met there, and to feel the atmosphere of the IMC again!