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International Courtly Literature Society /
Société Internationale de Littérature Courtoise /
Internationale Gesellschaft für höfische Literatur

MINUTES OF GENERAL ASSEMBLY /
Procès verbal DE L’ASSEMBLÉE GÉNÉRALE / Protokoll DER GENERALVERSAMMLUNG

15th International Congress / 15e Congrès International /
15. Internationaler Kongress

Lexington, Kentucky, USA

July 24–29, 2016 / 24-29 juillet 2016 / 24.–29. Juli 2016

I. Welcome and thanks to congress organizers and sponsoring universities / Accueil et remerciements aux organisateurs du congrès et aux universités partenaires / Begrüssung und Danksagung an die Organisatoren und Partner-Universitäten

The International President, Richard Trachsler, called the meeting to order at 4:32 pm. Richard opened the meeting by expressing thanks to the University of Kentucky supporters for a wonderful, rich, and stimulating congress in beautiful Lexington: the Office of Research, the Department of Modern and Classical Languages, Literatures and Cultures, and Gloria Allaire and her on-site team. Richard mentioned the forthcoming publication of the congress proceedings and stated that an email would go out from the organizers to invite submissions.

II. Approval of minutes of 2013 General Assembly (Lisbon, Portugal) / Approbation du procès-verbal de l’Assemblée Générale de 2013 (Lisbonne, Portugal) / Genehmigung des Protokolls der Generalversammlung von 2013 (Lissabon, Portugal)

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A motion was made to approve the minutes from the General Assembly in Lisbon (as published in Encomia 34–35) and seconded. The minutes were unanimously approved.

III. President’s report / Rapport du président / Bericht des Präsidenten, Richard Trachsler

The President thanked the organizer of the Lexington Congress, Gloria Allaire, for the efficient organization of the congress, and thanked all participants for their contributions. Compliments were also offered to Margarida Madureira, Ana Paiva Morais, and Carlos Clamote Carreto on their speedy publication of the proceedings of the previous congress.

He further thanked Logan Whalen for his work as editor of Encomia and as Vice-President, Rebecca Dixon as International Secretary, and Kristin Burr as International Treasurer. He added special thanks for their help in negotiations with publishers concerning the online transformation of Encomia. In absentia, the President also introduced, and thanked Beverly Evans, to be proposed as Editor of Encomia.

The President acknowledged the presence of two founder members of the ICLS, Ron Akehurst and Raymond Cormier. The President observed that the current healthy state of the ICLS is in no small measure due to the tireless energies of the founders.

The President asked for a moment of silence to honor the memory of the members deceased since the Lisbon Congress.

In memoriam

North American Branch:

Moshe Lazar (2013)

Carleton Carroll (2016)

Swiss Branch:

Marc René Jung (2014)

Italian Branch:

Cesare Segre (2014)

Alberto Varvaro (2014)

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British Branch:

Peter T. Ricketts (2013)

John Fox (2015)

David Trotter (2015)

Avril Henry (2016)

Peter Noble (2016)

French Branch:

Pierre Bec (2014)

Iberian Branch:

Martí de Riquer (2014)

Antoni Badia i Margarit (2014)

(Report delivered by Richard Trachsler)

IV. Secretary’s report / Rapport de la secrétaire / Bericht der Generalsekretärin, Rebecca Dixon

The International Secretary, Rebecca Dixon, was absent. The President gave the current number of members of the society. The total of 507 breaks down into the following categories:

USA, 248

UK, 61

Germany, 60

France, 47

Italy, 27

Switzerland, 27

Belgium, 25

Iberia, 9

Hungary, 4

In Lisbon, the number of members was 608. The difference is due to the absence of information regarding 2 of the 11 branches and erosion affecting especially the European branches.

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A motion was made to approve the report and seconded. The report was unanimously approved.

(Report delivered by Richard Trachsler)

V. Treasurer’s report / Rapport de la trésorière / Bericht der Schatzmeisterin, Kristin Burr

The International Treasurer, Kristin Burr, reported that there was one bank account for the society now. She hopes that our press, Garnier, will help keep costs stable. She thanked the national branch treasurers for their work. (See the full report presented by Kristin Burr published in this volume.)

A motion was made to approve the report and seconded. The report was unanimously approved.

(Report delivered by Kristin Burr)

VI. Report from Editor of Encomia / Rapport du rédacteur en chef d’Encomia / Bericht des Herausgebers von Encomia, Logan Whalen

Volume 34–35 of Encomia was published on July 29 last year. This volume not only represents our first volume with the new publisher, Garnier in Paris, France, it is also our first volume to appear in both print and online formats.

I am pleased to report that my dear and longtime friend, Rupert Pickens, is co-editing the next volume with me and I thank him here for his assistance.

Volume 36–37 will be the last volume that I edit. It has been an honor to serve the membership of the ICLS in this position since 2010. I would like to thank publically Sam Rosenberg for the confidence he showed in me when he so kindly approached me in the fall of 2009 about becoming Editor. I appreciate all the help and encouragement he offered as I learned the complex process of putting together the volumes of Encomia. Sam was honest in telling me at the time that one of my duties would be to see the bulletin through the transition to an online format. As it turns out, we also had to make a transition to a new press in a different country.

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There have been many obstacles and bumps along the road during this transitional period, and I will not pretend that they have all been resolved, but all things considered we have entered a new era with our publication and I believe it has a promising future, whatever shape it eventually takes.

Now it is my great pleasure to announce that Beverly Evans has agreed to stand for vote to become the next Editor of Encomia. Beverly is Professor of French and Western Humanities at the State University of New York at Geneseo. She is also Executive Director of Pi Delta Phi, The National French Honor Society, and has been the Chief Bibliographer of the North American Branch of the ICLS for Encomia for many years, before I became Editor in 2010. Professional, punctual, and competent, she has been a pleasure to work with over the years and she has my full vote of confidence and support to become the new Editor of our bibliographical bulletin.

A motion was made to approve the report and seconded. The report was unanimously approved.

(Report delivered by Logan Whalen)

VII. Discussion about the publication of Encomia / Discussion sur la publication d’Encomia / Diskussion der Publikationmodalitäten von Encomia

Richard Trachsler recalled that the contract with Garnier had been signed in 2013 with a duration of three years. In Lisbon, we had agreed to review the situation at the next International Congress. Seeing that only one double issue had been published, the Executive Committee proposed to renew the contract for another three years, to see how things will develop once the initial difficulties have been solved.

A motion was made to approve the proposal of the Executive Committee and seconded. The proposal was unanimously approved.

VIII. Website

Judy Shoaf, who has been in charge of the Web Site and has been doing an amazing job, wishes to stand down with immediate effect. The 30Executive Committee proposed looking for a replacement and making the Web Coordinator a member of the Executive Committee.

A motion was made to approve the proposal of the Executive Committee and seconded. The proposal was unanimously approved.

IX. Presentation of Proposal for 2019 Congress / Présentation de la proposition pour le congrès de 2019 / Vorstellung des Vorschlags für den Kongress von 2019

On behalf of Emma Cayley, Karen Pratt presented the University of Exeter as the proposed site of the next and 16th Triennial Congress of the ICLS. The school has a long history of medieval scholars, a Centre for Medieval Studies, an MA in Medieval Studies, and several medieval treasures in the library. Tom Hinton and Michelle Bolduc are fellow medievalists in French, and there are also medievalists in English and History.

The University of Exeter has a good history of hosting conferences. The school has an efficient conference office and dorm accommodations with ensuite facilities. The University of Exeter is a beautiful campus. The city has 150,000 inhabitants and a famous cathedral. Exeter is 10–15 minutes from the beach and near parks and has local ales, beers, wines, and its famous Devonshire cream tea. Possible excursions could include Tintagel/Boscastle or Avebury/Stonehenge. Exeter is very walkable and is only 2:20 from London-Paddington station. Though the dates had not yet been fixed, they would most likely straddle the second half of July 2019. The floor enthusiastically welcomed Emma’s proposal to hold the next congress at the University of Exeter and thanked her and Karen for the excellent and most lively presentation of what promises to be a most entertaining and successful ICLS congress.

A motion was made to approve the proposal and seconded. The proposal was unanimously approved.

(Proposal submitted by Karen Pratt)

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X. Election of new international officers of the ICLS / Election des nouveaux officiers internationaux de la SILC / Wahl der neuen internationalen Funktionäre der ICLS

President: Logan Whalen

Vice-President: Emma Cayley

International Secretary: Rebecca Dixon

Editor of Encomia: Beverly Evans

Treasurer: Kristin Burr

Richard Trachsler was nominated for Honorary Past President by Logan Whalen and seconded by Leslie Morgan. The nomination was unanimously approved.

XI. Varia

–Creation of a Journal for Courtly Culture

A representative of Edinburgh University Press contacted Richard about the possibility of the ICLS creating a journal. After discussion on the subject, the General Assembly suggested an ad hoc committee to follow up on the matter. Interested members can contact the International President who will set up the committee.

A motion was made to approve the suggestion and seconded. The suggestion was unanimously approved.

–ICLS Awards 2016 (Presented by Gloria Allaire)

2 awards sponsored by the NAB:

$500 travel from outside of the USA – Guillaume Oriol

$500 emerging scholar award, students or untenured faculty – Dennis “Lyle” Dechant

$250 Bayard Award for Equicriticism – Maurizio Mazzoni

Goblet Award for a paper at every ICLS – Stephanie Cain Van D’Elden

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–Attracting new members

Travel grants for younger scholars and maybe also retired scholars. Travel grants and aids for publications. The International Treasurer will make a proposal on how to finance different options to the Executive Committee and the national branch officers. Raymond Cormier approves of this idea, especially in conjunction with the journal. Submission to the potential journal should require membership in ICLS. Chris Callahan notes that the NAB has made a similar offer for Kalamazoo with no takers. Harvey Sharrer asked: “Do students pay reduced dues?” Answer, yes. Bart Besamusca: concerned that limiting submissions to members creates a closed society. Leslie Morgan: committee can discuss this. Sara Sturm Maddox: “Are there other ways to draw new members?” Richard Trachsler has been working with Swiss, Belgian and Italian branches to increase collaboration. Maybe sponsor a graduate conference or graduate program. Raymond Cormier: in the beginning there was a PR brochure.

We need to use website and target schools with big medieval programs. Richard Trachsler: website is key. Chris Callahan: sessions at ICLS conferences dedicated to graduate students with targeted advertising with a small subsidy for these presenters. Don Maddox: consortium tied to Leeds or Kalamazoo to create a package deal. Join a number of societies at a discounted rate. Presidents could talk together about this. Richard Trachsler: idea is good. Wendy Pfeffer: poll the young people.

Natalie Anderson: sponsor a wine reception at Leeds and Kalamazoo. Dan O’Sullivan: person who does website has to expand social media presence; email is passé, social media is everything. Shawn Cooper: create an “outreach officer” to contact others. Gloria did that in Fall 2015. She made a lot of contacts across disciplines. It was very useful. Leslie Zarker Morgan: fund an ICLS reception at the AHA and MLA annual meetings. Elizabeth Toby: libraries and museums often partner with local organizations; contact Folger, Cloisters, Museum of London, etc.

Logan Whalen: create a position of media specialist. Wendy Pfeffer moved to change the Executive Committee to include a media officer, seconded by Jean Blacker, and unanimously approved.

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–Letter of support.

Dan O’Sullivan: on letters of support or dismay over the situation in Turkey. He read a letter circulating online. Dan moved that the letter be circulated among the ICLS membership, Jean Blacker seconded. The vote was 1 opposed, 5 abstentions, the remaining membership present in favor. The suggestion passed by majority.

–Forthcoming proceedings of the Lexington Congress.

Gloria Allaire proposed publishing the proceedings with Boydell and Brewer and including as many papers as possible. Plenaries will be published verbatim. 10 pages approximately with footnotes and bibliographies. Avoid content notes. Illustrations possible, probably black and white. Put URLs in notes. Submission to Julie Human: Julie.human@uky.edu. Deadline October 1. Gloria will move things along as fast as she can. There will be a follow-up email to all participants.

–Official recognition of appreciation.

Gloria Allaire and Julie Human were bought forward to the podium and received a healthy round of applause from the General Assembly. A special thanks to organizers was offered by Leslie Zarker Morgan. Gifts were given to all assistants who worked on the conference. All the assistants received a healthy round of applause. Richard Trachsler passed the baton to Logan Whalen which prompted a round of applause. Susann Samples offered a final thank you to Richard Trachsler which prompted another round of applause.

(Minutes submitted by Wendy Pfeffer
and Leslie Zarker Morgan)

Logan Whalen adjourned the meeting at 5:55.