16th International Congress
of the International Courtly Literature Society

University of Exeter

Exeter, Devonshire

(England)

Summer 2019

16e Congrès de la Société Internationale de Littérature Courtoise

Université d’Exeter

Exeter, Devonshire

(Angleterre)

Été 2019

16. Kongress der Internationalen Gesellschaft für höfische Literatur

Universität von Exeter

Exeter, Devonshire

(England)

Sommer 2019

Organised by Emma Cayley, University of Exeter

Organisé par Emma Cayley, Université d’Exeter

Organisiert von Emma Cayley, Universität von Exeter

International Courtly Literature Society

Agenda for the General Assembly
16th International Congress
Exeter, UK
July 22–27, 2019

NOTE: The Minutes of this meeting were not available at the time of publication of this volume.

Thanks to the University of Exeter for hosting the 16th Triennial Congress of the International Courtly Literature Society.

Thank you to Brian and Mike for their technical assistance.

Thank you to the congress organizer and Vice-President of the ICLS, Emma Cayley. A special thanks also to her team: Michelle Bolduc, Tom Hinton, Coline Blaizeau, and Edward Milla, who worked hard to make this conference a success.

Thanks to the British Branch for their very generous support.

Thank you to all the Plenary Speakers.

Thank you to Beverly Evans for editing Encomia.

Finally, a very special thank you to all the conference participants who enriched our understanding of all things courtly through their inspiring papers and roundtable discussions.

II. Approval of minutes of 2016 General Assembly (published in Encomia 36–37)

I would like to express my deep appreciation to all the ICLS officers with whom I have had the privilege to serve since I was elected Vice-President in 2013 and President in 2016: Richard Trachsler, Immediate 19Past President, Emma Cayley, Vice-President, Rebecca Dixon, Secretary, and my longtime dear friend, Kristin Burr, Treasurer.

During the General Assembly of the Lexington conference, the membership unanimously approved the Executive Committee to find a web coordinator and media specialist and to make that person an ex-officio member of the Executive Committee. I would like to thank Tamara Bentley Caudill of Jacksonville University for kindly accepting to serve in this position. She has already been very active and has greatly increased the visibility of the society as she will explain in her report.

Minute of silence for Members who passed since the Lexington Conference.

Creation of a Journal for Courtly Culture. The members present at the General Assembly in Lexington unanimously approved the creation of an ad hoc committee to investigate this issue. Someone volunteered to lead and organize the committee. After repeated correspondence with this person over the course of the last three years in which he or she confirmed their intention to organize the committee, no concrete action was ever taken. Therefore, we need to resolve this issue.

Note 1: I reimbursed Dr. Beverly Evans, the editor of Encomia, for shipping two books to reviewers.

Volume 38-39 of Encomia was published in fall 2018. This was the second volume to be published by Garnier, in Paris, France, and it appeared in both online and print formats. I received the entries from some branches for Volume 40-42 earlier this summer and hope to forward the final manuscript to the press by the end of September 2019, thus bringing Encomia up to date. It would be remiss of me not to thank Logan Whalen formally for the support and advice he offered upon my assuming the responsibilities of Editor, as well as for his generous service to the International Courtly Literature Society, in several capacities, over many years. He did an excellent job of guiding me through the complex process of compiling Encomia and also handled the transition to publishing with Garnier in an efficient fashion that was a great help.

The remainder of my report will address the history of our publication, its current state, and my recommendation concerning its future. When Encomia began in the 1970s, online searching and delivery of information was in its infancy. Hard-copy bibliographic bulletins were a common research tool. Contributors from the early years of Encomia will remember poring over documents in a library carrel, puzzling over relevant keywords to list, and mailing entries to branch coordinators 21on paper forms. The main components of the publication were entries that included descriptive commentary, an address list of members, reports from Triennial Congresses, occasional reviews, and so forth. Few contributors probably imagined that Encomia would eventually be published in electronic form.

Over the past couple of decades, as we all realize, scholarship has adopted new modes of information collection, organization, and dissemination. Bibliographic bulletins, although not without value, have likely seen their day. With this in mind, I would respectfully request that two important matters regarding Encomia be given immediate attention: a) the challenges connected with compiling each volume, and b) the ongoing utility of the publication in today’s internet environment. As concerns the mechanics of the compilation process, the ICLS membership should be aware that it has been very difficult to adhere to a timely publication schedule because of late submission of entries by branches. The severity of this problem has varied according to who the branch coordinator has been at a given moment and to how much commitment contributors have shown to meeting submission deadlines. A related problem has been the increased difficulty of inducing people to serve as contributors and coordinators in the first place, possibly because such service, despite its importance, may not carry much weight when it comes to tenure and promotion decisions. In an effort to render the task of canvassing publications less time-consuming, the requirement that commentary be included was recently softened.

Whatever the reasons behind the current state of affairs, the last two double volumes of Encomia, covering four years,had to be forwarded to Garnier without submissions from all branches, as the Editor could no longer delay. In fact, after Volume 38-39 (years 2014-2015) appeared last fall,I received a message from Garnier underscoring that we had fallen rather far behind in relation to the calendar year and requesting that I rectify the situation as soon as possible. In short, I am not sure what might be done to guarantee timely submission of contributions from all branches and, perhaps more importantly, to encourage new contributors to join our bibliographic endeavor.

As for the matter of Encomia’s ongoing utility as a research tool, I would like to return to what was discussed at the 15th Triennial Congress in Lexington. At that time, it was proposed that a committee 22be established to explore the possibility of producing a journal. An ICLS member accepted the responsibility of setting up such a committee, but no progress report has been received to date. Given the evolution of internet resources and the difficulties with compiling Encomia that I have outlined, I would like to recommend strongly that we move in the direction of establishing a journal and discontinuing the publication of a bibliographic bulletin. I would be more than happy to serve on an exploratory committee that was investigating that possibility.

Thank you.

IX. Election of new international officers of the ICLS

Vacancies:

President: Nomination of Emma Cayley (the VP traditionally succeeds as President)

Vice-President:

Secretary: Rebecca Dixon

Treasurer:

Ex-Officio Members of the Executive Committee who serve without term

Editor of Encomia: Beverly Evans

Media Specialist: Tamara Bentley Caudill

X. Varia (Unfinished and New Business)

Update on the Lexington proceedings

Exeter proceedings

Encomia

ADJOURN