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We are pleased to announce that the fourth biennial conference of the Society for the Medieval Mediterranean will take place at the University of Lincoln from Monday 13th July to Wednesday 15th July 2015.The theme of the conference is “Law, Custom and Ritual in the Medieval Mediterranean” and the keynotes will be delivered by Professor Maribel Fierro (CSIC, Madrid: "Obedience to the ruler in the Medieval Islamic West: legal and historical perspectives") and Dr Andrew Marsham (University of Edinburgh: “Rituals of accession in early Islam: a comparative perspective”).We welcome both individual papers and panel proposals (please, fill in this form).Those who are interested in presenting at the conference might consider the following sub-themes when putting together their abstracts (but are by no means limited to them):Roman, Canon and municipal law in the medieval MediterraneanLawyers: their identities, status and practiceDisputes, dispute settlementLegal agreements (e.g. charters, treaties)Law codes and codificationManuscripts of law codes, charters, etc.Legal training in the medieval MediterraneanRitual sites and ritual objectsLaw, treaties and rituals in visual and material cultureTrading and other contractual agreementsOath-making and oath-breakingOutlaws, criminals and rebelsScribal practices and legal record-keepingWe are also interested in papers that propose to take a more openly theoretical look at law, ritual and custom in our period, digital humanities approaches to the topic, and would also consider proposals that discuss the (contemporary) teaching of law, ritual and custom in the medieval Mediterranean.Abstract: We invite 200-300 word abstracts for individual 20 minute papers relating to the conference theme. Participants are also encouraged to submit proposals for sessions of 3 papers – in this case, the session proposer should collate the three abstracts and submit them together, indicating clearly in a covering letter/ email the rationale behind the planned session. Please, fill in this form.Deadline: Abstracts for individual papers and proposals for sessions should be emailed to the conference email address smmconference2015@gmail.com by the end of the day on Saturday 18th October 2014.Postgraduate student bursaries: We will offer up to 10 bursaries for MA and PhD students who are interested in presenting at the Conference. The bursaries, which will cover the Conference fees, will be assigned to those proposals which best fit the theme of the Conference. If you would like to apply for a bursary, please specify in your emails that you are PhD students in need of assistance.Publication: Presenters will be invited to submit their papers for publication in the Society’s journal, Al Masaq: Journal of the Medieval Mediterranean , published by Taylor and Francis. Previous conferences have resulted in the publication of special issues of the journal as well as individual articles.Queries: Specific questions about the conference can be directed to the conference organisers, Dr Antonella Liuzzo Scorpo and Dr Jamie Wood at the conference email address smmconference2015@gmail.com.Download a PDF of this call for papers.