Scholarly Book Series

Medieval Institute Publications at Western Michigan University publishes the following series of scholarly books:

  • A late seventeenth century manuscript illustration of the Adoration of the Magi in tones of blue, teal, gold, and red. Mary leans over an infant Jesus in the cradle wihle the Magi offer gifts.

    Christianities Before Modernity

    Challenging the perception of Christianity as a unified and European religion before the sixteenth century, this series interrogates the traditional chronological, geographical, social and institutional boundaries of premodern Christianity.

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  • A fragment of a stained glass window in tones of blue and gold depicting an angel robed in white playing a portatif organ.

    Early Drama, Art and Music

    This series publishes studies of the medieval performing and visual arts broadly conceived, on topics including—but not limited to—music; civic and liturgical festivals; plays and dramatic literature; performance objects, architecture and technology; and ritual and homiletics.

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  • A gold belt buckle featuring an embossed head in profile, around which designs in lapis lazuli and red and green glass radiate outward.

    Festschriften, Occasional Papers, and Lectures

    This series publishes occasional volumes in honor of significant scholars of various fields of humanistic study and the premodern past, as well as texts of significant public lectures or lecture series in the same fields.

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  • A seventeenth-century painting of traveling players and musicians entering through a curtain to entertain seated guests at a banquet.

    Late Tudor and Stuart Drama: Gender, Performance and Material Culture

    Engaging in the material vitality of the dramatic text, this series publishes studies on political culture, theatre and performance history, theatrical design, performance spaces, gendering court entertainments, child- and adult-actors, music, dance, audiences in London and on tour and more.

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  • A sixteenth-century painting of a group of well-dressed men and women, seated around a table, playing cards and gambling with gold coins.

    Ludic Cultures, 1100-1700

    This series publishes monographs and essay collections treat medieval and early modern play in all its innumerable eccentricities, conceiving of play as a phenomenon that extends well beyond leisure activities and child's play, finding expression in virtually every facet of cultural production.

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  • A cloister garden, with a fountain, hedges, and a variety of flowering plants growing within a courtyard formed by stone walls with complex Gothic tracery and windows.

    Monastic Life and Venerated Spaces

    This series examines monastic and ascetic movements, monastic institutions, patronage and sites of veneration amid broader religious and cultural traditions from around the world.

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  • The "Monster of Cracow": a humanoid figure with pointed, webbed fingers; a long, curved nose; giant eyebrows; a tail; and animal heads at the knees, elbows, and armpits.

    Monsters, Prodigies and Demons: Medieval and Early Modern Constructions of Alterity

    This series is dedicated to the study of monstrosity and alterity in the medieval and early modern world, and to the investigation of cultural constructions of otherness, abnormality and difference from a wide range of perspectives.

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  • A fourteenth-century carved ivory panel depicting two couples under a tree in a walled garden.

    New Queer Medievalisms

    Exploring new directions in the study of queer, gay, lesbian, transgender, intersex and asexual medieval identities, this series extends the important work of investigating the intersection of queer theory with the study of the Middle Ages.

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  • A twelfth-century ivory carving of a dragon's head with teeth bared.

    The Northern Medieval World: On the Margins of Europe

    Highly interdisciplinary in scope, this series publishes studies that use historical, archaeological, literary and other methodologies to engage with all of medieval Scandinavia, including regions around the world that were part of the Norse universe in the Middle Ages.

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  • The binding of a sixteenth-century printed work, with a hole showing twelfth-century manuscript fragments used inside the binding.

    Premodern Transgressive Literatures

    Taking a decisively political, intersectional and interdisciplinary approach to medieval and early modern literature, this series supports scholarship that transgresses normative bounds along various axes, including the transgression of temporal boundaries that superficially separate the premodern era from our twenty-first century moment.

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  • A fourteenth-century quatrilobed plaque featuring foliate designs made of green, white, red, and blue enamel and gold.

    Research in Medieval and Early Modern Culture

    Research in Medieval and Early Modern Culture (monographs) and Studies in Medieval and Early Modern Culture (essay collections) are sister series originally inspired by themes drawn from the annual International Congress on Medieval Studies at Kalamazoo. These series provide a home for high‐quality humanities research on topics from the late antique, medieval and early modern periods.

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  • A sixth-century brooch in the shape of a bird seen from the side, with a sharply hooked beak and a large red eye, made of silver-gilt and garnets.

    Publications of the Richard Rawlinson Center

    This series of monographs and essay collections presents research on the history, literature and material culture of early medieval England in its wider chronological and geographical context, including its links with the European Continent and the Celtic world, placing particular emphasis on the study of manuscripts.

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  • An empty frame for a portable reliquary icon dating to 1347, made of wood, modeled gesso, verre églomisé, glass cabochons, and relics. Surrounding the empty space within the frame are seventeen relics, still visible. A Latin inscription around the base reads: This work has been made under the year of the Lord CCCXLVII [1347] in the time of the Lord Mini/Cini. The coats of arms of Cinughi and the hospital are visible on the base. Another inscription, LUCAS ME FECIT (Luke made me), is written on both sides.

    Studies in Iconography: Themes and Variations

    Serving as a companion series to the successful journal Studies in Iconography, this series publishes monographs or tightly-conceived essay collections focusing on the visual culture of the period before 1600.

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  • A stained glass window in the shape of a pointed arch, with a red, green, and yellow foliate border and internal panes painted with aconite leaves.

    Studies in Medieval and Early Modern Culture

    Studies in Medieval and Early Modern Culture (essay collections) and Research in Medieval and Early Modern Culture (monographs) are sister series originally inspired by themes drawn from the annual International Congress on Medieval Studies at Kalamazoo. These series provide a home for high‐quality humanities research on topics from the late antique, medieval and early modern periods.

    Learn more

Support the publication of these series

The Medieval Institute Publications Gift Fund helps support the publication of high-quality research in medieval and early modern studies, including the monographs and edited collections in our Scholarly Book Series. Your tax-deductible gift will help us continue to offer texts at affordable prices, support scholars from a variety of backgrounds, build our collection of open access texts, and more.

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