International students discuss medieval workings at Queen's

Students from across the world are arriving in Belfast this week to discuss issues relating to medieval friendship.

Students of medieval friendship and friendship networks are gathering at Queen's University for the four-day international conference on medieval friendship, hosted by the Institute of Byzantine Studies.

The conference is being run by the AHRB Centre for Byzantine Cultural History at Queen's and is the second in a series of Medieval Friendship conferences inaugurated at King's College London in 1996.

Conference organiser Professor Margaret Mullett Director of the Institute of Byzantine Studies said she was delighted to bring this prestigious event to Northern Ireland.

"This week's conference will examine networks in action, friendship in art and literature, and cultural manifestations of friendship, and will bring together young medievalists at Queen's with their counterparts across Europe and beyond, from Washington DC to St Petersburg," she said.

Taking place from 24-27 August, the Belfast meeting is also serving to launch five years of collaboration on a British Academy project on medieval friendship networks. This collaborative project will bring together young scholars from all the Scandinavian countries, the USA, France, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Italy and Cyprus.

It will compare the workings of friendship in medieval Scandinavia, western medieval Europe and Byzantium, and will concentrate on methodological issues.

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