Call for Papers: Formulas in Medieval Culture Second International Interdisciplinary Conference Nancy – Metz (France), June 7-9, 2012 Languages: English, French, Italian and German Abstract submission deadline: October 1st, 2011 The Conference welcomes speakers from all fields of Medieval Studies, including History, Diplomatics, Art History, Literature, Linguistics, Musicology, Theology and Law. Medieval modes of thinking and representation rely heavily on the expected return of recognizable devices, generating productive tensions between individual expression and collective norms, change and continuity, innovations and rituals. Among the issues raised by formulaic expression is that of reception: does the repeated use of conventional formulas end up depriving them of their original meaning, turning them into pure discursive markers or does it enrich them with the added connotations of multiple contexts? One should also be careful to define the phenomenon precisely: what disti...