17th Annual Symposium
“Visions of the End: Medieval & Renaissance Apocalyptic Cultures”
March 5-7, 2021
The Marco Institute’s 17th annual (virtual) symposium will explore apocalyptic themes. During the course of three days, eleven leading scholars will discuss medieval and Renaissance responses to the Book of Revelation written by John of Patmos and the end-times he predicted. During the virtual sessions, scholars working in the disciplines of art history, history, literary studies, and religious studies will present their current research on the celestial visions and the millennial fears of pre-modern times.
The “Visions of the End” Symposium is hosted by the Marco Institute for Medieval and Renaissance Studies at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Additional support comes from the Samuel H. Kress Foundation and the UT Office of Research SARIF Scholarly Projects Fund.
Program Information:
A PDF of the full program is available here.
Keynote Lecture:
Richard Emmerson
Florida State University
“The Apocalypse of the Duc de Berry and the Apocalyptic Great Schism”
Saturday, March 6 at 4:00 PM
Other Featured Speakers:
- Robert Bast, University of Tennessee, Knoxville
“Prophecy as Policy: Maximilian I as Last World Emperor in Theory and Practice” - Kathryne Beebe, University of North Texas
“Gender of the Apocalypse in the Late-Medieval Pilgrimage Works of Felix Fabri” - Jennifer Feltman, University of Alabama
“Ecclesiology and Typology in the Apocalypse Sculptures of Reims Cathedral” - Mayte Green-Mercado, Rutgers University, Newark
“Prophecy as Diplomacy in the Fifteenth-Century Mediterranean” - Jennifer Jahner, California Institute of Technology
“Apocalypse Unfurled: End-Times Management from Codex to Roll” - Benjamin Saltzman, University of Chicago
“Enigmas Near the End” - Stephen Shoemaker, University of Oregon
“The Apocalypse of Ps.-Shenoute: Imperial Apocalypticism and Early Islamic Jerusalem” - Laura Ackerman Smoller, University of Rochester
“Reading the End in Late Medieval Augsburg: Wolfgang Aytinger’s Commentary on the Revelations of Pseudo-Methodius” - Brett Whalen, University of North Carolina
“The End Times and the Medieval Cosmos” - Roger Wieck, Morgan Library and Museum
“Visions of the Beginning: The Parliament of Heaven”
Registration Information:
The Symposium is free and open to the public.
The 2021 Symposium will be hosted online and will require advance registration. To register click here.
Please email our Program Coordinator, Dr. Katie Hodges-Kluck, at marco@utk.edu, with questions.
About the annual Marco Symposium
The Marco Symposium is held every year in March or April. The Symposium brings leading experts in their field to the University of Tennessee for two days of talks on that year’s theme. A round-table discussion by all the participants concludes the weekend.
The Symposium is Marco’s signature event of the year, and typically attracts members of the larger Knoxville community in addition to students and faculty at UT and scholars from across the region. The theme of the Symposium changes each year. Faculty who are interested in submitting a proposal should contact marco@utk.edu
Guest Parking Information:
Visitor parking is located in the Volunteer Hall Garage (1545 White Ave.). Further details about UT visitor parking are available at the Parking & Transit Services website.
Free street parking is available in the neighborhoods around campus (e.g. Fort Sanders), but cannot be guaranteed. Guests can also get to campus via the free trolley from downtown.
The campus map is available online here.
![]() |
2019 Marco Symposium Death and Dying in Medieval Judaism, Christianity, and Islam |
![]() |
2018 Marco Symposium
Navigating Language in the Early Islamic World
|
![]() |
2017 Marco Symposium
|
![]() |
2016 Marco Symposium Rome: Beyond the Discourse of Renewal |
![]() |
2015 Marco Symposium ‘Cry Havoc!’: War, Diplomacy and Conspiracy in the Middle Ages and Renaissance |
![]() |
2014 Marco Symposium Reconceiving Pre-Modern Spaces |
![]() |
2012 Marco Symposium Grounding the Book: Readers, Writers, and Places in the Pre-Modern World |
![]() |
2011 Marco Symposium Gardens, Real and Imagined |
![]() |
2010 Marco Symposium The Building Blocks of France |
![]() |
2009 Marco Symposium Humanism and Its Economies |
![]() |
2007 Marco Symposium Saints & Citizens: Religion and Politics in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance |
![]() |
2006 Marco Symposium The Book of Travels: Genre, Ethnology, Pilgrimage from 1250-1650
|
![]() |
2005 Marco Symposium Interactions and Images: Cultural Contacts Across Eurasia, 600-1600
|
![]() |
2004 Marco Symposium Spectacle and Public Performance in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance
|
![]() |
2003 Marco Symposium Books and Readers in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance
|
![]() |
2002 Marco Symposium Scripture and Pluralism: The Study of the Bible in the Sectarian Worlds of the Middle Ages and Renaissance
|