Preface

The Illinois Medieval Association held its thirteenth annual meeting, devoted to the theme of "Social Practice in the Middle Ages," on February 23 and 24, 1996 at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Forty-three papers were presented by scholars from twelve US states, and Professor Paul Strohm of Indiana University delivered a plenary address on "Coronation as Legible Practice." The eleven essays contained in this Volume were selected from those that were read at the conference and subsequently submitted to the proceedings, and in most instances have been revised and expanded for publication.
The 1996 conference received financial support from the University of Illinois at Chicago Institute for the Humanities (Gene W. Ruoff, Director), the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (Sidney B. Simpson, Jr., Dean), and the Department of English (Donald G. Marshall, Head). We especially wish to thank Steven G. Wagner for arranging the book exhibits and Linda Vavra of the Institute for the Humanities for her generous help in organizing the conference.
The annual IMA business meeting was conducted during the February 24 lunch and was chaired by IMA President Nicole Clifton of Northern Illinois University. The slate of officers for 1996-97 proposed by the Executive Committee and approved by the membership at the business meeting are as follows: Thomas N. Hall, University of Illinois at Chicago, President; Peggy McCracken, University of Illinois at Chicago, Vice President; Nicole Clifton, Northern Illinois University, Immediate Past President; David Wagner, Northern Illinois University, Vice President for Development (1993-98); John Simpson, Eastern Illinois University, Counselor (1995-97); Anne Clark Bartlett, DePaul University, Counselor (1996-98); Thomas H. Bestul, University of Illinois at Chicago, Counselor (1996-98); Allen J. Frantzen, Executive Secretary.
The membership accepted the invitation of Allen J. Frantzen to hold the 1997 meeting at the Water Tower Campus of Loyola University Chicago, to be co-sponsored by Loyola University Chicago and the University of Illinois at Chicago. The meeting will be co-chaired by Allen J. Frantzen and Thomas N. Hall and will be devoted to the theme of "Popular Piety: Prayer, Devotion and Cult."
Beginning with Essays in Medieval Studies 10 (1993), the annual proceedings of the IMA have been published in an electronic format. To consult any of the Volumes issued since then, access the site: http://www.luc.edu/publications/medieval.
The editorial committee for the present Volume consisted of Thomas H. Bestul, Thomas N. Hall, and Peggy McCracken. The editors would like to express their thanks to several anonymous readers who assisted us in preparing these essays for publication.