Parergon Editor's Foreword

This is the fourth in a new series of guest-edited issues of Parergon. It brings together articles by scholars working in religious and secular history and literature on the theme of 'space and place'. The articles have been commissioned by the guest editor, Megan Cassidy-Welch of Melbourne University, who has patiently and good-humouredly shepherded the authors through the completion and revision of their articles.

Thanks are due to the expert readers who reported independently and anonymously to Parergon on the original submissions. Thanks are also due to Megan McKinley whose meticulous copyediting and promptness in keeping to deadlines have enabled us to publish the issue on schedule. I wish also to thank Toby Burrows and Lesley O'Brien for their care with the reviews section, and Andrew Lynch for his advice at all stages.

As a supplement to the themed collection of essays, we publish an article by the esteemed New Zealand scholar, Glynnis Cropp, on Medieval and Renaissance French studies in the New Zealand universities. This follows Conal Condren's 'Notes towards a pre-history' of ANZAMEMS in the last issue, and will, we hope, stimulate further articles on the history of Medieval and Early Modern Studies in Australia and New Zealand.