After another challenging year globally, we are excited to bring our readers Volume 8 of Ceræ: An Australasian Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies. This volume contains two non-themed articles, two varias, and six book reviews. We are extremely proud of the work of the authors, the editorial committee, our book reviewers, the peer reviewers, and everyone involved in the creation of this issue.
Volume 8 marks our second publication as a fully independent peer-reviewed journal and we are more grateful than ever for the ability to provide entirely open-access, peer-reviewed research on Medieval and Early Modern subjects.
Deciding to offer a non-themed volume has resulted in a truly impressive variety of scholarship in both articles of the issue: Chrysovalantis Kyriacou’s article explores how the appropriation and re-interpretation of Byzantine culture was used as a means for inter-faith contact and communication in seventeenth-century Cyprus, while Albrecht Classen focuses on depictions of Persia in Middle High German literature and explores how these representations highlight an openness towards non-European cultures in the High and Late Middle Ages.
Our varia are equally as broad in scope, with Raissa R. Bombini re-evaluating the use of gemstones – focusing on the emerald – within medieval medical recipes and Luiz Guerra presenting the Brazilian research network and study group GEHM.
We’d also like to extend our sincere gratitude to Gwendolyne Knight, who, as editor, has expertly guided the journal through its recent changes. Volume 8 marks Gwendolyne’s last volume as editor, and we are all extremely thankful for the dedication she has shown over these last two years. This also means we wish to extend a warm welcome to Matt Firth, who is stepping into the role of editor for Volume 9. Matt has been part of the Ceræ team since Volume 6, and we are all excited to see him thrive in this new position.
All articles, varia, and book reviews for Volume 8 are available as individual PDFs, and the volume in its entirety is available as well, at the Volume 8 page here:
https://ceraejournal.com/volume-8-2021/
If you wish to submit your own research to Ceræ, we accept submissions all year round (though themed submissions for Volume 9 have now closed), and the editorial committee would be more than happy to discuss your proposal.
We hope you enjoy Volume 8 as much as we do!
Featured Image: Giacomo Borlone de Burchis, The Triumph of Death, 15th century, fresco, Oratorio dei Disciplini, Clusone, Italy.