Marie-Madelaine Fontaine (1940-2024)

Marie-Madelaine Fontaine was one of the ten original Fellows of CESH. She was the leading specialist of the history of the body in the sixteenth century. A true European scholar she could communicate in French, Italian, and Spanish, and their early modern versions and dialects – and, of course, the lingua franca of that time: Latin.

After her preparation in the Classics (1960) she was accepted in the highly selective and prestigious Ecole Normale Supérieure (Sèvres), where she specialized in French Literature of the Renaissance. Her first university appointment was that of a university assistant at the University of Rouen (1969) where she also went through the following steps in her career. She found her place when she presented a paper on the history of the body in Tours in 1979. She became one of the editors of the voluminous proceedings and from then on, she learned more and more about the body expressions and techniques in the renaissance. She presented her first paper at a sport history paper together with Guy Bonhomme on the history of swimming in the renaissance at HISPA in Lisbon in 1981. In 1982 she was appointed Maitresse de conférences at the Sorbonne where she stayed for eighteen years.

She did not shy back from the tedious small but important work, which is the basis for what we normal sports historians tend to do. The Dictionnaire des littératures françaises has 79 new pieces by her, more than by the formal editors. She published many annotated editions of renaissance books. She enjoyed using her skills on problems others did not dare to touch. One such example was the reconstruction of the life of Pietro del Monte (1457-1509), a condottiere whose troop of mercenaries fought in various Italian states, in France, Spain, and Portugal for the highest bidder without any ideological preference. A third generation condottiere he came from a noble family which included Dukes and Popes. As in each country del Monte had transformed his name into the local language, and the sources are also in different languages, he was difficult to follow. Marie-Madelaine even found the unpublished Manual by which he trained his multinational team of mercenaries. Del Monte faced a problem like that of a modern first division football coach who must make sure the team functions even if the players cannot communicate with each other as they speak a multitude of different languages. Del Monte taught them his system: in Latin, so each mercenary knew what was expected from him. He died on the battlefield as he always fulfilled his contracts one hundred percent. When there was an ideological discussion about the gymnastica bellica of the renaissance in Germany and I asked her what she thought about it, she wrote a piece for us in Germany showing that there is a fundus of renaissance literature on the gymnastica bellica for which you better have the necessary language skills.

After her years at the Sorbonne and her Thèse d’Etat she finally received her full professorship at the University of Lille III in 2000 where she taught for another eleven years. Her doctoral students loved her as she had more time than many and helped them with their problems. She organized many conferences on various aspects of the body and edited the resulting books. This included laughter in the renaissance, but she enjoyed also to laugh with her students who sang renaissance songs at the occasion of the book presentation. At the occasion of her sixty-fifth birthday, she was honoured by an international Festschrift by her colleagues and friends (Textes au corps: Promenades et musardines sur les terres de Marie-Madeleine Fontaine).

On 15 January 2024, this grande dame of renaissance studies of the body passed away in Paris. The College of Fellows of CESH will always remember this truly European scholar.

Arnd Krüger

#SPOontheSpot: Debates about Archives and Sports / Archives on Sportswomen, 6 nov 2024

The ICA’s Section on Sport Archives (SPO) is excited to continue its #SPOontheSpot series, a collection of online debates that explore the intersection of archives and sports. In this session, we’ll be focusing on the representation of women athletes in sport archives. 

Whether you’ve joined us in the past or are new to this series, we invite you to participate in the fifth session of #SPOontheSpot: Debates on Archives and Sport, which will take place on Wednesday, 6 November 2024. Our special guest from the Research Network on the History of Women and Sport (RIHMUD) will share insights into the critical role of women in the historical and social development of sports. 

https://www.ica.org/event/spoonthespot-debates-about-archives-and-sports-women-athletes-in-sport-archives

CFP, Les récits des rencontres sportives France-Italie / Scrittura letteraria e mediatica dello sport, 2/04/2025 Clemont-Ferrand (FR)

Please see the attached call for papers for a workshop on French and Italian sports writting due to take place at the University of Clemont-Ferrand on 2 April 2025.

CESH 2024 General Assembly, 5/06/2024, Paris (France)

The 2024 General Assembly of CESH will be held on 5 June 2024, 4:30PM at University of Paris Nanterre, Alice Milliat Building, Amphitheatre S1 (ground floor).

Please remember to pay your membership fee before the GA. The Agenda can be downloaded below.

We are looking forward to meeting you.

The Directing Council of CESH

2024 CESH Congress programme now published!

Please find below the preliminary programme for the 2024 CESH Congress in Paris, 4-6 June 2024.

Our 2024 keynotes are:

Dominique Connan (University of Paris Nanterre), ‘An « imagined global bourgeoisie »: golf and the thwarted respectability of Kenyan elites, from independence to the presidency of Mwai Kibaki’

Chris Young (University of Cambridge), ‘Rethinking Jesse Owens: Berlin 1936 and the German Media Landscape’

Florence Carpentier (University of Rouen Normandy), ‘Alice Milliat and the Women’s World Games’ [title to be confirmed]

We are very much looking forward to meeting you and discussing international sports history. Have a save journey and see you in Paris.

International Joint Seminar in Sports History – Olympism (April – July 2024)

The 2024 Olympic Games are an opportunity for the Willibald Gebhardt Institute (WGI) in Münster (Germany) to organise a seminar on the Olympic Games. The WGI is an institute affiliated to the Institute of Sports Science at the University of Münster and an official Olympic Studies Centre (OSC).

The seminar is being organised in cooperation with the following partners: Junior Professor Dr Helga Leineweber (Department of Education and Culture at the Institute of Sports Science at the University of Münster), Professor Dr Annette Hofmann (University of Education in Ludwigsburg, Vice-President of ICSPE, Vice-President of the German Gymnastics Federation (DTB) and Deputy Chairwoman of the German Olympic Academy), European Committee for Sports History (CESH), Professor Dr Daphné Bolz (University of Rouen Normandy, CETAPS UR 3832), President of the European Committee for Sports History CESH).

The lectures begin on 8 April and end on 8 July 2024, from 4.15pm to 6pm. Participation is possible via Zoom or in person in seminar room Ho 101 of the Institute of Sport Science at the University of Münster.

Use the following link to access the programme and the language of the papers, and to register: https://new.express.adobe.com/webpage/6wgYa4jvrEMPe

A presentation in English is available here: https://new.express.adobe.com/webpage/TVu5nvIeoj9y2

Best wishes,

Prof. i.R. Dr. Michael Krüger (Institut für Sportwissenschaft der Universität Münster, Germany)