Past Activities, Programs, and Exhibitions

As an interdisciplinary field, Medieval and Renaissance Studies faculty regularly incorporate projects that involve the visual and aural realms of human production and experience. The following is a sample of these projects.

Envisioning the Spirit, Inscribing the Voice: Books in Byzantium (East Wing, Gould Library, February 10-April 15, 2025). An exhibition curated by students in History 233: Byzantium and Its Neighbors, 710-1453.

Parchment, gold leaf, various inks and dyes, and months, if not years, of scribal effort in laying out, lining, copying text, rubricating or illuminating letters, and illustrating narratives: the books in this exhibition bear witness to such encounters of materials, ideas, and people centuries ago in the Byzantine world. They are relics of the human spirit, inscriptions of human voices rendered physical in codices and rolls. Through this exhibition, you are able to travel thousands of miles and hundreds of years to this empire centered in Constantinople to experience these witnesses to the intellectual, religious, and artistic sensibilities of a different age.  They are meeting points for scribes, artists, and their readers and viewers.

The exhibition consists of two groups of manuscripts in facsimile. In the first, we see variety and change in the forms, sizes, and styles of illustration and illumination in Byzantine books between the 9th and 15th centuries. In the other, we witness the variety of works produced in one specific period – the 10th and 11th centuries, a period sometimes known as the Macedonian Renaissance – as well as continuities of script and design.

As you study these objects, consider the time and expense that was expended in their production. How do you think these books would have been used? Is there a visual language that you can perceive with its own vocabulary and grammar? Think about the impact of these works in a world where light was precious and fleeting and color was rare.

Imaging the Word in Twelfth-Century Germany (East Wing, Gould Library, October 2023-March 2024). An exhibition in conjunction with HIST 236: The Worlds of Hildegard of Bingen

In the twelfth-century, monks and nuns used rich materials, complex aesthetics, well-furnished imaginations, and high levels of skill to express their devotion to God and to engage readers in vital narratives. Often elaborately adorned, these works were designed to communicate messages about the power, taste, and personal piety of the patron and creators.

Books were also gifts, creating bonds between people and communities or between a person and a saint, the Virgin Mary, or God. The materials in this exhibit are modern facsimiles, or copies of original medieval manuscripts. Originally created between 1100 and 1200, they bear witness to varied and ongoing efforts to render the “Word” –of the Bible, of sacred stories and prayers, or liturgy and music– visible in script and image.

The materials on view in this exhibit were selected and interpreted by Director of Medieval and Renaissance Studies and Professor of History William North, from the holdings of Gould Library’s Special Collections.

Forms of Choice: The Art of Writing in the Middle Ages (May-June 2022). A library exhibition curated by the students of LATN 243: Medieval Latin, taught by Professor William North

When we see objects in glass cases, their stillness can lead us to forget that these works were created through a series of complex and evolving choices and were responses to opportunities and limitations. We should therefore not underestimate their creators’ freedom and imagination. Rather, each aspect of the book– layout, decoration, script, ordering of materials, and content–is the result of millions upon millions of careful decisions at given places and times made by the team of scribes, bookbinders, and illuminators who crafted them and medieval people who used them. Moreover, each choice required a different amount of time, resources, and skill to be realized.

If we recognize the choice at the heart of the art and act of writing, we gain precious insights into how creators translated ideas, values, and goals into physical, visual forms while balancing the costs and confronting the limits of time, materials, and people.  Sometimes, the end result is lavishly decorated, with huge, meticulously designed and colored letters spanning enormous pages. At others, word and image form a harmonious blend, spectacular in their disciplined order and use of color. At still others, words are pushed to the page’s end without margins or illustration.

The texts displayed here bear witness to the countless choices — in layout, material, color, size, content, script, language, and more — that are necessary for producing any work. These objects also testify implicitly to other choices made by readers as they decided what and how to read and where and how to look.

Student curators: Bee Candelaria, Margie Clauss, Alex Harrison, Becca Helmsetter, Aiden Lesnesky, Sam Wege, and Diana Zimmerman.

A View of the Crusades (Gould Library, June 2019)

An exhibit organized by Professor William North in connection with the Alumni College talk, Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream: The Crusades, Apocalyptic Prophecy, and the End of History, presented by Jay Rubenstein ’89, Alvin and Sally Beaman Professor of History at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, on Friday, June 21st, 2019, 8:30 – 9:30 am, in Weitz Center for Creativity cinema.

As legend has it, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon was troubled by the dream of a statue made of four metals and feet of clay, and the Israelite prophet Daniel claimed that his dream foretold the rise and fall of empires and the eventual end of all history. Later voices, however, applied that claim to their own era, particularly in the aftermath of the First Crusade (1096-1099). The conquest of Jerusalem and the possibility of a new Christian empire unleashed a torrent of historical speculation and an apocalyptic vision of a world divided between East and West, Christianity and Islam, that still haunts our own dreams today. — Jay Rubenstein

This exhibit presents a selection of biblical and apocalyptic images in facsimiles of books originally produced in the 9th to the 13th centuries.

Concert: The Rose Ensemble: Music from the Land of Three Faiths (Kracum Performance Hall, February 2019)

Land of Three Faiths: Voices of Ancient Mediterranean Jews, Christians, and Muslims

The result of years of intensive research and training, “Land of Three Faiths” is at once sacred, secular, folk, and classical, embarking on a fascinating exploration of language, spirituality, and cultural exchange. Featuring instruments and musical ideas that blur the lines between Arabic and European, this entertaining and enlightening program is steeped in the rich history of the Abrahamic faiths, achieving a perfect balance of edgy improvisation, exotic vocal styles, and ancient traditions.  

Highlighting the Hispano-Arabic Middle Ages as both an important and devastating chapter of Judaic, Christian, and Islamic history, laments of the Sephardic Jews mingle with Arab-Andalusian dances and Spanish court songs, while rhythmic cantigas, Hebrew cantillation, and Gregorian chant meet the mystical world of Sufi poetry.

The Rose will perform with guest artists Nell Snaidas, soprano, and Zafer Tawil, multi-instrumentalist and vocalist, at this concert as well.

Cultures in Contact in the Medieval Mediterranean: A Poster Session (Weitz Atrium, February 2019)

This poster session presents student research on various aspects of the world of the medieval Mediterranean. It  accompanies the Rose Ensemble’s Concert entitled Music from the Land of Three Faiths and will enrich the appreciation of the diverse peoples and cultures in the medieval Mediterranean.

Things by Season Season’d (Gould Library, April 2017)

A selection from Special Collections chosen by students in Associate Professor Pierre Hecker’s The Merchant of Venice: A Project Course.

Process of Illumination: Word, Image and the Scribal Imagination in the Middle Ages (Gould Library, November 2014-January 2015) An exhibition developed and curated by the students in History 137: Early Medieval Worlds

Thematic in scope and spanning works from several centuries and geographic areas, this exhibition explores the connections between word and image in medieval manuscripts and the complex relationships between the producers and consumers of these texts. Objects from Carleton College’s manuscript facsimile collection serve as narrative elements as viewers find links between the content and imagery of these works. Who created and consumed these texts? How did these texts and their users interact with their societies? How did these texts convey meaning and knowledge in a world of limited literacy? Visitors will be encouraged to think critically about word and image in their own societies, reconsidering personal and public interactions with text and image. The exhibition also involved collaboration with Prairie Creek Community School; several classes worked with Carleton students on related projects and then visited the exhibition. Professor William North and Student Exhibition Assistant Nora Katz (History ’16) guided the project.

“If you give a monk a manuscript.” Constructing Knowledge in the Early Middle Ages (Gould Library Lobby, October 2012-January 2013) An exhibition developed and curated by the students in History 137: Early Medieval Worlds

Carleton students have curated an exhibition on the medieval book, currently on display in the Gould Library. The exhibition, titled “If You Give a Monk a Manuscript: Constructing Knowledge in the Early Medieval Ages,” is on display through January 1.

“If You Give a Monk a Manuscript” explores how knowledge was constructed and disseminated more than one thousand years ago. The exhibition showcases medieval manuscripts written by monks and other scribes from the early middle ages and includes original material prepared by students. The exhibition arose out of a course taught by Carleton College professor of history William North, director of Carleton’s medieval and renaissance studies program, and assisted by Stuart Urback (History ’13), who reviewed the exhibition here. The exhibition project is documented in The Making of “If you give a monk a manuscript”… and two videos dedicated to Special Collections and its curator, Kristi Wermager: A Tour of Special Collections (focused on Carleton’s manuscript facsimile collection) and an Interview with Kristi Wermager.

Cultures in Counterpoint: Music, Image, and Text in Medieval Iberia–Rose Ensemble Residency & Concert (April 2011)

From the end of Roman rule in the fifth century until the Age of Exploration began in the fifteenth, medieval Iberia was a land that saw constant change in its political players and frontiers and a complex and dynamic environment of social, economic, and cultural interaction within but especially between members of the three monotheistic religious traditions that held sway in various parts of the peninsula during this period: Christians, Jews, and Muslims. Often referred to as convivencia, the de facto coexistence of these culturally, linguistically, and religiously diverse populations in the various Iberian polities created occasions for collaboration, active and passive exchange, exploitation, and an ongoing dialogue and debate with a two-fold ‘other.’

Some of these exchanges came in the marketplaces, where religious differences would take second place to commercial or social goals; others came in learned circles where scholars and translators worked across religious boundaries to bring learning from one tradition into another; still others took place at court or in the streets, as individuals and groups from the three religious traditions experienced each others’ aesthetic values, learned of their means to achieve them, and adopted, adapted, or countered them for their own ends.