Christa Canitz, editor of Florilegium (vol. 22-33)

The Canadian Society of Medievalists / Société canadienne des médiévistes owes a sincere debt of gratitude to the outgoing editor, Professor Christa Canitz (University of New Brunswick), for her many years of dedication to the Society’s flagship journal.

Christa Canitz, a specialist of Middle English and Middle Scots poetry, joined editor Carol J. Harvey (University of Winnipeg) as co-editor of the journal for vol. 21 (2004). She moved on to become the main editor of the next volume in 2005 and has retained this position until now. Christa Canitz’s leadership steered the journal through a number of important transitions. She secured regular funding from SSHRC to support the journal’s crucial move to the digital age, along the way making the articles of past volumes, which had been distributed only in print, available digitally in Open Access. The change has, predictably, led to a dramatic increase in readership. She raised the profile of Florilegium when she successfully negotiated a place for the journal on the digital platform Project Muse, which further enhanced the journal’s international visibility. Most notably, she recently initiated and oversaw the journal’s move to University of Toronto Press, which took effect with volume 31.

Under Christa Canitz’s editorship, scholars working in both of Canada’s official languages were encouraged to look to Florilegium as a competitive and sought-after venue to publish their research; to that end, she created the post of co-editor responsible for French-language submissions, held in turn by Carol Harvey and, now, Sébastien Rossignol. Christa Canitz worked tirelessly to expand membership of Florilegium’s editorial board to reflect the journal’s remit more robustly. Over her years as editor, she dramatically increased its circulation (and consequently its income stream), all the while meticulously carrying out her duties as a critical but careful editor.

As the main publication of the CSM/SCM, Florilegium celebrates medieval studies in Canada and serves as a forum to discuss current issues of international scholarly research. The journal now regularly publishes stand-alone themed issues, as well as a broad and still increasing variety of research by scholars within and well beyond Canada. During Christa Canitz’s tenure as journal editor, special volumes were numerous. These include special issues in honour of notable Canadian medievalists: Sheila Delany, with a series of articles that Canitz herself co-edited (vol. 23,1 — 2006); Brian Merrilees (vol. 24 — 2007); and Margaret Wade Labarge, again co-edited by Canitz (vol. 28 — 2011). Other issues, most co-edited by Canitz, were dedicated to themes of current research in medieval studies — with strong input from international scholars — such as the volume on the Dictionary of Old English Project (vol. 26 — 2009); that on “Medieval Translation — Theory and Practice” (vol. 31 — 2014); and the volumes “Rethinking Philology — Twenty-Five Years after the New Philology” (vol. 32 — 2015) and “Medieval Manuscripts in Canada” (vol. 33 — 2016). In addition, Christa Canitz supervised the inclusion of special “in-focus” sections on themes such as Scottish studies (in memory of Joanne S. Norman, vol. 25 — 2008) and “Exegesis and the Arts” (vol. 30 — 2013).

That Florilegium enjoys its reputation as a highly respected academic journal is a reflection of Christa Canitz’s dedication to the editor’s position and to CSM/SCM membership more broadly. We thank her warmly on behalf of the Society.