International
Courtly Literature Society
Twelfth
International Triennial Congress
‘Mythes
à la cour, mythes pour la cour’
Lausanne/Geneva,
Switzerland,
July 29 – August 4, 2007
MINUTES
OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY, UNIVERSITÉ DE GENÈVE, SATURDAY AUGUST 4, 2007
The meeting was opened at 11am with June Hall McCash
presiding.
– Yasmina
Foehr-Janssens took the podium to thank ICLS members for a memorable
congress, and to thank all the students and staff of Lausanne
and Geneva Universities who had ensured the smooth
running and success of the congress.
– A student of Geneva University
then thanked ICLS members for the collection which had been taken on behalf of
the student helpers at the congress banquet the previous evening.
– The minutes of the 2004 General Assembly
were approved with some corrections suggested. Erik Kooper pointed out
that he had not visited the Scandinavian branch as stated in the minutes, and Jonathan
Boulton offered some minor corrections to the description of his new coat
of arms for the Society (these are set out later in Jonathan’s presentation to
the Society). There were no matters arising.
PRESIDENT’S REPORT:
June Hall McCash gave the president’s report.
–
She began by thanking the
organisers, Jean-Claude Mühlethaler and Yasmina Foehr-Janssens
for a very successful and enjoyable congress. She also thanked their teams at Lausanne and Geneva
Universities, and
especially Barbara Wahlen.
–
She thanked and congratulated Keith
Busby and Chris Kleinhenz on behalf of the Society for their publication
of the selected proceedings of the 11th Triennial Congress which
appeared in December 2006 with D. S. Brewer under the title, Courtly Arts
and the Art of Courtliness.
–
She further thanked Jean Blacker and Chris
Kleinhenz for their tireless and excellent work on Encomia, as well
as welcoming and introducing the new international bibliographical team: Chief
Editor Samuel Rosenberg, and International Bibliographer Salvatore
Calomino (the latter was unable to attend).
–
Three meetings of the Executive
Committee had taken place since 2004, on each occasion at the International
Congress on Medieval Studies at Kalamazoo,
Michigan. She thanked the
international officers for their attendance and the regular contact that had
been maintained in between meetings.
–
June announced the creation of
a new Tunisian branch of the Society, signalling the ICLS’ widening popularity.
–
A German version of the
Constitution and the Society’s statutes was being prepared by Salvatore
Calomino, and would soon appear on the official website.
–
A minute of silence was
observed for ICLS colleagues who had died recently: Emmanuèle Baumgartner,
Charity Cannon Willard, Annegret Fiebig and Elspeth Kennedy.
–
June thanked Erik Kooper,
former president of the Society for his advice during her presidency.
–
Finally, she thanked the
Society for giving her the opportunity to serve as president.
SECRETARY’S
REPORT:
Emma Cayley gave the Secretary’s report.
–
She added her thanks for the
excellent organisation of the congress, as well as thanking the secretaries of
all the national branches for their friendly and frequent communications. Emma
also thanked Wendy Pfeffer, former International Secretary, for all the
help and advice she had given her.
–
She reported that membership
seemed stable and on the increase in many branches, with the German branch in
particular showing signs of rapid growth. She also reported the forthcoming
publication of the German national branch journal, Encomia Deutsch.
Similar projects were coming to fruition elsewhere, and members of the Society
were actively encouraged to keep up these fantastic efforts.
–
Finally she reported the
imminent creation an ICLS e-mail loop which she and Michelle Szkilnik were
in the process of discussing, which would eventually enable members to post
advertisements for conferences, jobs, or publications etc. of interest to ICLS
members.
TREASURER’S REPORT:
Kathy Krause gave the treasurer’s report.
–
Kathy reported that the Society
seemed to be in good financial shape. The figures circulated showed that a
number of branches had not yet paid for Encomia.
–
The case of the Italian branch
was discussed. Twenty volumes of Encomia sent to the Italian branch were
not collected, and so were returned.
–
Finally Kathy thanked all the
national branch treasurers, and the Society for her term of office.
REPORT OF THE
CHIEF EDITOR OF ENCOMIA:
Samuel
Rosenberg gave the Chief Editor’s report
–
Building on the excellent work
of the former bibliographical team, led by Jean Blacker and Chris
Kleinhenz, Encomia was going from strength to strength. Volume 27
came out last spring, less than twelve months after volume 26.
–
Notices for the British, Dutch
and Italian branches were missing from volume 27, but would be included in
volume 28, to appear at the end of 2007 or beginning of 2008.
–
Volume 29/30 (2007/8) would be
a double issue to appear in December 2008, and Volume 31 (2009) would appear in
2009.
–
Samuel then turned to the
shipping of Encomia. 203 copies had been sent individually to members of
the North American branch. All other copies had been sent to national branch
secretaries for distribution as follows:
Belgian Branch:
30
British Branch:
67
Dutch Branch:
30
French Branch:
70
German Branch:
105
Scandinavian
Branch: 4
Swiss Branch:
34
Tunisian
Branch: 4
Italian Branch:
20
–
70 further copies had been sent
out recently, and there was an overage of 90-100 copies. In view of
difficulties with shipping, in future, all copies of Encomia from volume
29 onwards would be sent out directly to individual members.
–
Volume 27 contained an enlarged
section of book reviews: this was to become a permanent feature of Encomia.
Samuel invited members of the Society to submit books for review.
–
The possibility of including
selected advertisements in Encomia had been discussed at Kalamazoo. Samuel invited
members of the Society to submit suggestions.
–
Finally, he thanked the former
Chief Editor, Jean Blacker, and his current colleague, International
Bibliographer Salvatore Calomino for their hard work on Encomia.
Wendy Pfeffer asked about the tax implications of paying for advertisements;
Samuel would look into it.
Erik Kooper asked about plans for CD-Roms; Samuel stated that there were no
plans as such, simply suggestions for inclusion.
Ron Akehurst enquired about publications outside Western Europe; Samuel pointed
out that the ICLS does have bibliographers working on material published
outside Western Europe (Japan
for example). Many non-European members had joined national branches on other
continents.
PRESENTATION
OF REVISED ARMORIAL DESIGN BY JONATHAN BOULTON:
Jonathan
Boulton presented his revised design to the
Society. His design had been approved at the Madison congress, with a couple of suggested
revisions. One of these was Jonathan’s substitution of the Latin word ‘curialitas’
for the letters ‘ICLS’. The new arms combined this verbal change with some
small aesthetic alterations to the original colour scheme of the design.
As the design had
already been approved, it was merely necessary to alert the Society to these
changes.
Samuel
Rosenberg added that the design would be presented
on the cover of future volumes of Encomia.
At this juncture,
June Hall McCash proposed slight modifications to the bylaws printed
below. The proposed changes had been discussed and circulated around the
Executive Committee by e-mail prior to the Congress.
IV. SELECTION OF NATIONAL BRANCH OFFICERS
National
Branches of ICLS are encouraged to develop their own bylaws and terms of
service for branch officers. In doing so, they should satisfy the following
requirements:
(a) That they
elect three or more persons to occupy the posts of president, vice-president,
secretary, treasurer, and bibliographer. These offices may be combined as
desired. Terms should be fixed but renewable.
(b) That the
bibliographer undertake, with or without the assistance of other members of the
branch, to participate fully, along with his/her counterparts in the other
branches, in the bibliographical mission of ENCOMIA.
(c) That the
treaurer ensure that the annual membership dues are sufficient to cover, even
if nothing else, the combined cost of producing a copy of ENCOMIA for each
member and mailing it.
Currently the
Constitution stipulates that all proposals suggesting changes to bylaws of the
Society must be circulated three months in advance of the congress. This
Constitution was drawn up in 1971, before the advent of the internet and e-mail.
Samuel Rosenberg moved to suspend the three-month clause for the
signalling of changes to the Constitution.
Maureen
Boulton seconded this proposal; a vote was taken. Both
the suspension of the three-month clause, and the change in the bylaws were
passed.
PRESENTATION OF PROPOSAL FOR THE VENUE
OF THE 2010 INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS:
Francis Gingras presented Montréal,
Canada, as a possible
venue for the next triennial congress of the ICLS. He had already been working with his team on
the proposal for a year.
–
He pointed out that the venue
was well-situated for ICLS members, and easily accessible with many direct
flights.
–
The équipe was
presented. Four Universities would be involved: UQAM, McGill, Concordia and
Montréal.
–
Suggested congress dates were 26th-30th
July, 2010 (there was a possibility of changing the dates for the previous week
which Francis would investigate).
–
The proposed sites included the
Holiday Inn, and the Bibliothèque nationale.
–
Registration fees would be
$150, or $100 for students.
A vote was taken,
and Montréal was approved unanimously as the next venue for the triennial
congress.
ELECTION OF
NEW OFFICERS:
June Hall
McCash presented the candidates for election to the
Executive Committee of the ICLS, 2007-2010.
President: Michelle
Szkilnik, Université de Paris III: Sorbonne,
France
Vice-President: Keith
Busby, University of Wisconsin, Madison,
US
Secretary: Emma
Cayley, University of Exeter,
UK
Treasurer: Kristin
Burr, St. Joseph’s University, Philadelphia, US
June asked
whether there were any other nominees. There were none. A motion was therefore
made to elect the officers by acclamation. The motion was seconded and passed
unanimously.
Michelle
Szkilnik, the new president, took the podium.
–
She thanked June Hall McCash
for her exemplary leadership of the Society, and thanked the Society for
electing her.
–
There were proposals for a new
Iberian branch which would continue to be worked on.
–
She mentioned the importance of
the bibliography and the constant work it required, and thanked both the
International bibliographical team and the other Executive Officers for their
hard work.
Jean-Claude
Mühlethaler now took the podium with characteristic
brio, and some appropriate verse, to conclude proceedings, to thank the members
of the Society for an extremely entertaining congress, and to invite them to a
convivial ‘apéritif de clôture’.
The meeting was
closed at 12.20pm.
Minutes submitted
by Emma Cayley
International
Secretary.
Addendum:
In September
2007, June Hall McCash was proposed by Michelle Szkilnik as an
Honorary President of the Society in recognition of her exemplary leadership of
the Society from 2004-2007.
The Executive
Committee voted in favour of the proposal, and the matter would be brought
before the Society at the next triennial congress in Montréal for confirmation
of the decision.