Month: October 2022

Medieval Matters: Week 4

by

31/10/2022

12:17

Comments Off on Medieval Matters: Week 4

News

,

This week marks the feast of All Saints’ and All Souls’ Day. In more secular celebrations, today is, of course, Halloween. I bring you some festive wisdom for the occasion from Alcuin:

Non te diaboli seducat astutia, non corporalis voluptas evertat
[Do not let the devil’s tricks mislead you, and do not let physical treats destroy you, Ep. 301]

In other words: beware of both tricks and oversweet treats! Don’t worry: we have more treats than tricks this week, and since they are mostly treats of the mind, they even come Alcuin-approved! In particular, check out the blog post by Alison Ray on Medium Ævum Prizes and Grants to discover potential funding and prize-winning opportunities. We also, of course, have the much anticipated OMS / Astor Visiting Lecturer Lecture by Professor Ardis Butterfield, which takes place tonight, Monday 31st at 5.15pm in Lecture Theatre 2, English Faculty. We look forward to seeing many of you there: all are warmly invited to enjoy what is sure to be a fascinating and stimulating lecture and are welcome for drinks afterwards. Professor Butterfield will also be hosting a Manuscripts Masterclass on Tuesday 1st at 2-4pm in the Weston Library Lecture Theatre.
Of course, we have a whole range of other treats this week too – please see below for full details:

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

  • Save the Date: Oxford Medieval Graduate Conference. The Oxford Medieval Graduate Conference will be back on April 20-21, 2023 with the theme of ‘Names and Naming’! The conference will be fully hybrid, in Oxford and online. Keep your eyes peeled for a full Call for Papers in the coming weeks, and make sure you’re following us on Twitter @OxMedGradConf to be the first to see it! For more information, see the blog post here.

EVENTS THIS WEEK:

Monday 31st October:

  • The Byzantine Graduate Seminar takes place at 12.30-2pm online via Zoom. This week’s speaker will be Nuna Terri (Université libre de Bruxelles), Saint Thekla’s popularity in Rough Cilicia. To register, please contact the organiser at james.cogbill@worc.ox.ac.uk.
  • The Medieval Archaeology Seminar takes place at 3pm in the Institute of Archaeology, Lecture Room. This week’s speaker will be Gabor Thomas, ‘Not so much a backwater: New archaeological research on the early medieval Middle Thames‘.
  • The Queer and Trans Medievalisms Reading Group meets at 3pm at Univ College, 12 Merton St Room 2. This week’s theme is Transfemme prayer: Kalonymus ben Kalonymus. All extremely welcome! To join the mailing list and get texts in advance, or if you have any questions, email rowan.wilson@univ.ox.ac.uk.   
  • The Medieval History Seminar takes place at 5pm in the Wharton Room, All Souls College and on Teams (Teams link here). This week’s speaker will be Julia Crick (KCL), ‘Staffing the Conquest: Mobility, Stasis, and Scribal Work in England, 1066-1100‘. The Teams session can be accessed by logging in to Teams with your .ox.ac.uk account and joining the group “Medieval History Research Seminar” (team code rmppucs). If you have any difficulties please email: medhistsem@history.ox.ac.uk 
  • The OMS Lecture / Astor Visting Lecture will take place at 5.15pm, Lecture Theatre 2, English Faculty. The speaker will be Professor Ardis Butterfield, ‘Do we mean lyric or song? Modern lyric theory in history’. All are welcome to attend.
  • The Old English Reading Group takes place at 5.30-7.30pm. Please email grace.oduffy@sjc.ox.ac.uk for more information and to be added to the mailing list.

Tuesday 1st November:

  • There will be no Medieval English Research Seminar this week.
  • Prof. Ardis Butterfield, the Astor Visting Lecturer, will hold a Manuscripts Masterclass at 2-4pm, Weston Library Lecture Theatre. The theme will be ‘Medieval lyric and song manuscripts from Bodleian collections’. All welcome: no need to book, just turn up.
  • GLARE (Greek and Latin Reading Group) takes place at 4-5pm at Harold Wilson Room, Jesus College. Please meet at Jesus College Lodge. This week’s text will be Seneca, Thyestes. All welcome to attend any and all sessions. For more details and specific readings each week, or to be added to the mailing list, email john.colley@jesus.ox.ac.uk or jenyth.evans@seh.ox.ac.uk.  
  • The Medieval Church and Culture Seminar takes place at 5pm at Charles Wellbeloved Room, Harris Manchester College. The theme for this term is ‘Women’. This week’s speaker will be Chimene Bateman (LMH): Christine de Pizan and Saint Christine: the power of women’s speech. Everyone is welcome at this informal and friendly graduate seminar.

Wednesday 2nd November:

  • No Medieval German Graduate Seminar this week.
  • The Codicology and the Material Book Seminar takes place at 1.30-3.30pm, in the Weston Library. Today’s seminar is on Structures of the manuscript book. The seminar is open to all current Oxford students. To attend: email bookcentre@bodleian.ox.ac.uk
  • The Medieval Latin Document Reading Group meets on Teams at 4-5pm. We are currently focusing on medieval documents from New College’s archive as part of the cataloguing work being carried out there, so there will be a variety of hands, dates and types. A document is sent out in advance but homework is not expected. Contact Michael Stansfield (michael.stansfield@new.ox.ac.uk) for further details and the Teams link.
  • The Medieval Misuse discussion group will meet at 5-6pm in The Merze Tate room (history faculty). All welcome!
  • The Late Antique and Byzantine Seminar takes place at 5pm at the Ioannou Centre for Classical and Byzantine Studies, 66 St Giles. This week’s speaker will be Georgi Parpulov (Lincoln College), Middle-Byzantine Evangelist Portraits.

Thursday 3rd November:

  • The Old French Reading Group will meet at St Hilda’s College, 4pm. Please direct any questions about the group to Alice (alice.hawkins@st-hildas.ox.ac.uk) or Irina (irina.boeru@st-hildas.ox.ac.uk).
  • The Celtic Seminar will take place at 5pm on Zoom. This week’s speaker will be Llewelyn Hopwood (Oxford): ‘Beth oedd ‘Cymraeg da’ (1300–1600)?‘. Please contact a.elias@wales.ac.uk for the link.
  • The Oxford Medieval Visual Culture Seminar will take place at 5pm in St Catherine’s College, Arumugam Building. This week’s speakers will be Laura Cleaver and Danielle Magnusson, University of London, The market for medieval illuminated manuscripts and the making of a canon, c. 1900-1925.

Friday 4th November:

  • The Medievalist Coffee Morning takes place at 10:30-11.30am in the Visiting Scholars Centre in the Weston Library (access via the Readers Entrance on Museum Road: straight ahead and up two floors!).
  • The Germanic Reading Group meets at 4pm on Zoom. This week we will be looking at two Old Saxon texts under Will’s guidance. They are the ‘Essener Heberolle’ and the ‘Allerheiligenhomilie’ in the Müllenhoff edition. To receive the materials and be added to the mailing list, please contact howard.jones@sbs.ox.ac.uk.

OPPORTUNITIES:

  • 2023 Medium Ævum Essay Prize: Race your Word-Wyvern to glory! Postgraduates and those recently graduated with a higher degree are invited to submit an essay on a topic that falls within the range of the interests of Medium Ævum in the medieval period (up to c. 1500). The winner of the Essay Prize will receive a cash prize and funding for books and conference attendance. The winning article will also be considered for publication in Medium Ævum, subject to the usual editorial procedures of the journal. Entries must be submitted by Thursday, 2 December 2022 and further details on entry criteria and how to submit are available on our website: https://aevum.space/EssayPrize
  • Conference Funding and Research Travel Bursaries: Planning an event or research trip? The Society for the Study of Medieval Languages and Literature are now open for physical and online conference funding applications, and are particularly interested in providing sponsorship which facilitates wide conference access and participation for unwaged graduate and early-career medievalists. Conference grant applications are generally open to Society members and should be made at least three months ahead of the planned conference date, please find the Society’s guidelines for applicants on our website: https://aevum.space/conferences/funding.

That’s all for our round-up this week. Finally, some more advice from Alcuin:

non tristitia pusillanimem reddat, non laetitia immoderatum efficitat
[Do not let sadness dispirit you, nor immoderate joy overexcite you, Ep. 301]

In other words: do not be too saddened by tricks, nor overly distracted by treats! That said, I think the OMS treats of this week are the exception: even Alcuin surely could not have objected to becoming overexcited by learning! May you have a joyful week full of Medievalist treats.

[A Medievalist is feeling ready for Halloween]
Ashmole Bestiary, Bodleian Library MS. Ashmole 1511, f. 63 r.
Viewable in full at Digital Bodleian

The 2023 Medium Ævum Essay Prize and Grants

by

29/10/2022

08:46

1 Comment on The 2023 Medium Ævum Essay Prize and Grants

News, opportunities

The Society for the Study of Medieval Languages and Literature is delighted to share details of the 2023 Medium Ævum Essay Prize and available grants:

2023 Medium Ævum Essay Prize

Race your Word-Wyvern to glory! Postgraduates and those recently graduated with a higher degree are invited to submit an essay on a topic that falls within the range of the interests of Medium Ævum in the medieval period (up to c. 1500).

The winner of the Essay Prize will receive a cash prize of £500, together with £250 for any books available from Bennett & Kerr Booksellers (including any from the Society’s own catalogue) & £250 of funding towards conference attendance. The winning article will also be considered for publication in Medium Ævum, subject to the usual editorial procedures of the journal. Entries must be submitted by Thursday, 2 December 2022 and further details on entry criteria and how to submit are available on our website: https://aevum.space/EssayPrize

Conference Funding and Research Travel Bursaries

Planning an event or research trip? Apply for the Society’s available conference funding and travel bursaries! We are now open for physical and online conference funding applications, and are particularly interested in providing sponsorship which facilitates wide conference access and participation for unwaged graduate and early-career medievalists. Conference grant applications are generally open to Society members and should be made at least three months ahead of the planned conference date, please find the Society’s guidelines for applicants on our website: https://aevum.space/conferences/funding

The Society’s Research Travel Bursaries are to support relevant research by scholars, at any stage in their career, who are not in receipt of the requisite funding from other sources. The value of all grants is between £300 and £1000. There are two application rounds each year, with the deadlines falling on 1st September and 1st March; applicants will be informed of the Society’s decision within three weeks of the deadline. We also welcome applications for financial support to obtain images of manuscripts from libraries or archives to which the applicant is unable to travel. Details on how to apply may be viewed on our website: https://aevum.space/bursaries

Two men giving out money from a chest, from Bodleian Library, MS Auct. D. 4. 17

Society Membership

Not yet a member of the Society for the Study of Medieval Languages and Literature? Consider subscribing for the low cost of £20 a year, or £10 a year for graduate students. Membership benefits include receipt of the Medium Ævum journal in print and digital formats, and a range of discounts on the Society’s monograph series and events. Take a look and register online our website: https://aevum.space/user/register

Old French Reading Group

by

27/10/2022

11:17

Comments Off on Old French Reading Group

Around Oxford

,

When: Wednesdays at 4 pm. Weeks 4, 6, 8

Where: St Hilda’s College

The Old French Reading Group will meet fortnightly to read aloud and discuss Old French texts together. Readers of Old French of all abilities are invited to attend; the group will provide an opportunity to collaboratively enhance reading proficiency in a relaxed environment (with refreshments provided)!

Our first meeting will take place at St Hilda’s College, 4pm Thursday 3rd November. We hope to see you there.

Please direct any questions about the group to Alice (alice.hawkins@st-hildas.ox.ac.uk) or Irina (irina.boeru@st-hildas.ox.ac.uk).

Header image: La Chanson de Roland, Bodleian Library MS. Digby 23, Part 2, fol. 12r

Poem, Story, and Scape in the work of Kevin Crossley-Holland

by

24/10/2022

11:53

Comments Off on Poem, Story, and Scape in the work of Kevin Crossley-Holland

Around Oxford, events, Uncategorized

, ,

‘Poem, Story, and Scape in the work of Kevin Crossley Holland’: An exhibition in the Old Library of St Edmund Hall

Open to the public on Monday 24 and Friday 28 October from 10:00-16:00

Or by appointment: Library@seh.ox.ac.uk

This exhibition explores the work of Kevin Crossley-Holland, Honorary Fellow and alumnus of St Edmund Hall, prize-winning children’s author, translator, poet, librettist, editor and professor. Kevin engages creatively with language and poetry, place, history and legend. He captivates us by telling stories deeply rooted in past cultures, which he remakes to be compellingly contemporary and relevant. For this exhibition, Kevin has generously loaned items from his private collection to add to material from St Edmund Hall’s Archives and Special Collections; we gratefully acknowledge his help.

Early in his career, Kevin established himself as a poet and as a translator and re-teller of Old and Middle English poetry, romance, and folklore for all ages, and as an enthusiastic collaborator with composers and visual artists. His Arthur trilogy has sold over one million copies worldwide and is available in twenty-six languages; it has inspired young readers to become medievalists and writers themselves. Recent works, such as Norse Tales: Stories from Across the Rainbow Bridge (2020) demonstrate how Northern European myth and legend continue to beguile him.

Kevin is passionate about how history, landscape and poetic language shape and inform one another. This exhibition explores continuities from Kevin’s childhood in how he sees, interprets, and responds to these creative stimuli. It also reveals how meticulously he researches the past to create his imaginary yet historically accurate worlds, and how carefully he crafts his poetry.

The exhibition is based on and inspired by ‘Poem, Story & Scape in the Work of Kevin Crossley-Holland’ which ran at the Stanley and Audrey Burton Gallery at the University of Leeds from 29 March— 20 August 2022, curated by Dr Catherine Batt, Senior Lecturer in Medieval Literature at the University of Leeds. Many thanks to Sarah Prescott and the University of Leeds for their generous help and support in staging this version.

Medieval Matters: Week 3

by

24/10/2022

11:18

Comments Off on Medieval Matters: Week 3

blog, News

,

Welcome to Week 3. Some timely advice from Alcuin for the stormy weather we had this weekend:

Hodie tempestas inminet, sed cras serenitas arridet
[Today a storm hangs over us, but tomorrow pleasant weather will smile upon us, Ep. 173]

I would like to draw particular attention to an especially pleasant event that will be smiling upon us this time next week, when we will be hosting the long-awaited termly OMS lecture / Astor Visiting Lecture by Prof. Ardis Butterfield. The lecture will take place on Monday 31 October, 5.15pm, in Lecture Theatre 2, English Faculty (St Cross Building). For full details, please see our blog post. This said, we are not fairweather Medievalists, and come rain or shine this week, there will be plenty of events and opportunities to enjoy. Please see below for everything happening this week:

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

  • Sign-ups Now Open for the Medieval Mystery Cycle! Just follow this link to propose a play and to join one of the highlights of the Oxford Medieval Studies calendar, which will be held on Saturday 22 April 2023 at St Edmund Hall. For full details on the kinds of play that you can put on and a wealth of inspiration from past years, see our blog post here.
  • OMS Small Grants Now Open: The TORCH Oxford Medieval Studies Programme invites applications for small grants to support conferences, workshops, and other forms of collaborative research activity organised by researchers at postgraduate (whether MSt or DPhil) or early-career level from across the Humanities Division at the University of Oxford. The activity should take place between the beginning of November 2022 and end of March 2023. The closing date for applications is Friday of Week 4 of Michaelmas Term = 4 November). Grants are normally in the region of £100–250. For full details, see our blog post here.
  • Meet your OMS Team 2022/23! Oxford’s medieval studies community continues to get bigger and better every year. This year we have our largest OMS team to date to help keep you informed about Medieval goings on in and around Oxford. To meet the team, please visit our blog post here.

EVENTS THIS WEEK:

Monday 24th October:

  • The Byzantine Graduate Seminar takes place at 12.30-2pm online via Zoom. This week’s speaker will be Joaquin Serrano (University of Edinburgh), The reliquary-cross of Saint Constantine and the military use of holy relics. To register, please contact the organiser at james.cogbill@worc.ox.ac.uk.
  • The Medieval History Seminar takes place at 5pm in the Wharton Room, All Souls College and on Teams (Teams link here). This week’s speaker will be Ildar Garipzanov (Oslo), ‘Early Medieval Minuscule Texts: What, where, and why?‘. The Teams session can be accessed by logging in to Teams with your .ox.ac.uk account and joining the group “Medieval History Research Seminar” (team code rmppucs). If you have any difficulties please email: medhistsem@history.ox.ac.uk 
  • The Old Norse Reading Group meets at 5.30-7.30pm. Please email Ashley Castelino (ashley.castelino@lincoln.ox.ac.uk) to be added to the mailing list.

Tuesday 25th October:

  • The Medieval English Research Seminar takes place at 12.15pm in Lecture Theatre 2, English Faculty. This week’s speakers will be John Colley (Oxford), ‘Skelton and the Commonweal: Greek History in Quattrocento England’ Lucy Fleming  (Oxford), ‘ “A Racket at the Mill”: The Reeve’s Tale for a Century of Young Readers’. The paper will be followed by lunch with the speaker. All welcome.
  • The Governability across the medieval globe Discussion Group meets at 12:30 in the History Faculty. Everyone welcome, staff, students and researchers, of all historical periods. We encourage you to bring lunch along. This session we will be discussing ‘What is governability and how can we study it?’.
  • GLARE (Greek and Latin Reading Group) takes place at 4-5pm at Harold Wilson Room, Jesus College. Please meet at Jesus College Lodge. This week’s text will be Sophocles, Antigone. All welcome to attend any and all sessions. For more details and specific readings each week, or to be added to the mailing list, email john.colley@jesus.ox.ac.uk or jenyth.evans@seh.ox.ac.uk.
  • The Medieval Church and Culture Seminar takes place at 5pm at Charles Wellbeloved Room, Harris Manchester College. The theme for this term is ‘Women’. This week’s speaker will be Philippa Byrne  (Somerville): Making Germans Sicilian in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries. Everyone is welcome at this informal and friendly graduate seminar.

Wednesday 26th October:

  • The Medieval German Graduate Seminar meets for a paper by Luise Morawetz on the ‘Hildebrandslied’ at 11:15am in Somerville College – ask at the Lodge for directions. If you want to be added to the medieval German mailing list, please contact Henrike Lähnemann.
  • The Codicology and the Material Book Seminar takes place at 1.30-3.30pm, in the Weston Library. Today’s seminar is on Paper & Parchment/Inks & Pigment. The seminar is open to all current Oxford students. To attend: email bookcentre@bodleian.ox.ac.uk. Please note that this takes place at 1.30pm, not at 2pm as previously advertised!
  • The Medieval Latin Document Reading Group meets on Teams at 4-5pm. We are currently focusing on medieval documents from New College’s archive as part of the cataloguing work being carried out there, so there will be a variety of hands, dates and types. A document is sent out in advance but homework is not expected. Contact Michael Stansfield (michael.stansfield@new.ox.ac.uk) for further details and the Teams link.
  • The Late Antique and Byzantine Seminar takes place at 5pm at the Ioannou Centre for Classical and Byzantine Studies, 66 St Giles. This week’s speaker will be Ine Jacobs (Oxford), The Byzantine Dark Ages at Stauropolis/Karia (FKA Aphrodisias).

Thursday 27th October:

  • The Seminar in Medieval and Renaissance Music will take place on Zoom at 5pm. This week’s speaker will be Laurie Stras (University of Southampton): Music, musicians, and community at the Florentine convent of San Matteo in Arcetri (1540-1630). If you are planning to attend a seminar this term, please register using this form. For each seminar, those who have registered will receive an email with the Zoom invitation and any further materials a couple of days before the seminar. If you have questions, please just send me an email (matthew.thomson@ucd.ie).
  •  The Launch of The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Medieval Women’s Writing in the Global Middle Ages takes place at 5pm via Zoom. To celebrate the launch of this exciting volume, there will be a round table on Women’s Writing in the Global Middle Ages, featuring Diane Watt (University of Surrey), Ruth Lefevre (Palgrave), Michelle M. Sauer (University of North Dakota), Liz Herbert McAvoy (Swansea University), Ayoush Lazikani (University of Oxford), Kathryn Maude (American University of Beirut), Will Rogers (University of Louisiana at Monroe), and Alexandra Verini (Ashoka University). A Q&A will follow the roundtable. For full details, and to sign up, see the eventbrite page.
  • The Celtic Seminar will take place at 5.15pm via Zoom and The History of the Book Room, English Faculty. This week’s speaker will be Jon Morris (Caerdydd), ‘The interplay between social structures and language variation in Welsh-speaking communities‘. Please contact david.willis@jesus.ox.ac.uk if you need a link.
  • At 9:20pm, the St Edmund Consort will sing Compline at Candlelight in the Norman Crypt under St-Peter-in-the-East, the library church of St Edmund Hall, Queen’s Lane, featuring a hymn written in 1522 by Elisabeth Cruciger.

Friday 28th October:

  • The Medievalist Coffee Morning takes place at 10:30-11.30am in the Visiting Scholars Centre in the Weston Library (access via the Readers Entrance on Museum Road: straight ahead and up two floors!).
  • The Anglo-Norman Reading Group meets at 5-6.30pm at St Hilda’s College, in the Julia Mann Room. The text will be extracts from the Chronicle of Langtoft; pdf will be provided. For access to the text and further information, please email: stephanie.hathaway@mod-langs.ox.ac.uk or jane.bliss@lmh.oxon.org.

Finally, here is some parting wisdom from Alcuin to keep in mind as you venture around town this week:

Non sis harundo agitata, non flos aura tempestatis decidens
[Do not be a reed shaken by the wind, a flower blown down by the storm, Ep. 72]

I interpret this to mean: be careful of your umbrella choice when navigating Oxford in the autumn winds!! In less literal understanding: don’t give up if you hit stormy seas in your research. Wishing you a week of sunny skies both literally and metaphorically.

[Medievalist struggles with an umbrella whilst on the way to the library]
Ashmole Bestiary, Bodleian Library MS. Ashmole 1511, f. 19 r.
Viewable in full at Digital Bodleian

The Medieval Mystery Cycle is back!

by

24/10/2022

08:00

2 Comments on The Medieval Mystery Cycle is back!

Around Oxford, events, opportunities

, ,

The next performance of the Medieval Mystery Plays is held on Saturday 22 April 2023 at St Edmund Hall, 12noon-3:30pm. All welcome! The full programme is available here.

12.00: Extracts from Piers Plowman (Swonken ful harde) Middle English
12.30: The Nativity and Salutation (English Faculty) Middle English
13.00: The Innocents (Les perles innocentes) 16th-century French
—13.30 BREAK—
14.00: The Passion (Sorores Sanctae Hildae) Latin and German
14.30: The Harrowing of Hell (Medieval Germanists) Middle High German
15.00: The Last Judgement (Past and Present Teddy Students) Modern English

Welcome to the third incarnation of the Oxford Medieval Mystery Cycle! As in 2019 and 2022, this highlight of the Oxford medieval calendar offers a variety of plays in different medieval and modern languages, staged at several stations in the beautiful grounds of St Edmund Hall. Cycles of plays retelling stories from the Bible were a popular form of entertainment in the Middle Ages, which we are only too happy to revive for modern audiences. Admission is free and you are welcome to turn up at any time.

Read the original call for participation: Sign-up is now open for the Oxford Medieval Mystery Cycle! Just follow this link to propose a play and to join one of the highlights of the Oxford Medieval Studies calendar, which will be held on Saturday 22 April 2023 at St Edmund Hall.

Following a hugely popular medieval tradition, we are looking for groups to perform a series of short plays retelling stories from the Bible. We are keen to cover a wide variety of (medieval) languages, but you don’t have to be a theatre professional or even a medievalist – all you need is lots of enthusiasm for what is above all a fun and unique experience. In the last years, plays have included:

  • The Creation and Fall
  • The Killing of Abel
  • Noah
  • Abraham
  • The Annunciation and Visitation
  • Shepherds
  • Wise Men
  • Herod the Great
  • John the Baptist
  • Lazarus
  • The Crucifixion
  • The Harrowing of Hell
  • The Resurrection
  • The Last Judgement

Feel free to propose other plays, or even to write your own – as long as the topic is not already taken, so don’t wait too long! You can see which plays have already been proposed here.

We have previously had plays in English, French, German, Spanish, and Italian, but offers for plays in other languages, including Welsh, Dutch, Latin, or Hebrew are also very welcome! Some mystery plays are easily accessible online: this includes plays in Middle English (the York, Towneley, and N-Town plays), Old French (the Seinte Resurreccion), Middle High German (the Innsbrucker Osterspiel), or Old Spanish (the Auto de los Reyes Magos). And don’t worry if you don’t have enough actors or haven’t found a group yet: we can help you put out a call for actors and link you up with other people interested in participating. All you have to do is get in touch.

For inspiration, have a look at the mystery cycles of the last few years! You can even watch recordings of the cycles in 2019 and 2022 on YouTube. (Or, alternatively, you can watch the much more professional recordings of the 1985 National Theatre Mysteries.) A small budget is available for props and costumes.

Watch the 2022 medieval English master’s students rising from the tomb as multiple Lazari!

Timeline:

  • Sign up now by following this link or emailing Michael Angerer, the Medieval Mystery Cycle convenor!
  • We will hold a workshop on how to cut longer plays on Friday of Week 1 in Hilary Term at 3–5pm (20 January 2023) on site at St Edmund Hall. This is open both to fully fledged groups and aspiring directors. [Edit: This workshop has been postponed to Friday of Week 3 at 5–6.30pm (3 February 2023)]
  • We will hold a workshop on voice projection at the end of Hilary Term.
  • You will have the opportunity to rehearse on location at St Edmund Hall during Week 0 of Trinity Term.
  • Dress rehearsals will take place on the morning of Saturday of Week 0 of Trinity Term (22 April 2023).
  • The Mystery Cycle will be performed from 12–5pm on Saturday 22 April 2023, with two half-hour breaks for tea, coffee, and cake.

Cake sale: we are also looking for people to bake cake and help run a charity cake stall on the day – if you’re interested, please get in touch!

The Launch of The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Medieval Women’s Writing in the Global Middle Ages

by

23/10/2022

18:35

Comments Off on The Launch of The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Medieval Women’s Writing in the Global Middle Ages

events

,

A round table on Women’s Writing in the Global Middle Ages.

Organizer and Chair: Diane Watt (University of Surrey).

Speakers: Ruth Lefevre (Palgrave), Michelle M. Sauer (University of North Dakota), Liz Herbert McAvoy (Swansea University), Ayoush Lazikani (University of Oxford), Kathryn Maude (American University of Beirut), Will Rogers (University of Louisiana at Monroe), Alexandra Verini (Ashoka University).
A Q&A will follow the roundtable.

To sign up, visit the eventbrite page.

Your OMS Team for 2022/23

by

23/10/2022

18:26

Comments Off on Your OMS Team for 2022/23

Around Oxford, News

,

The cover image shows the new OMS team united on the roof terrace of the Weston Library with the Sainte Chapelle architectural quotation as backdrop. From left to right: Coral Kim, Luisa Ostacchini, Lesley Smith, Henrike Lähnemann, Ashley Castelino, Michael Angerer, Eugenia Vorobeva

Henrike Lähnemann (Professor of Medieval German Literature and Linguistics) and Lesley Smith (Professor of Medieval Intellectual History) are Co-Directors of the Oxford Medieval Studies Programme at TORCH. They also co-direct, now for the third time, the Medieval Mystery Cycle! Henrike is a German medievalist, currently mainly working on the rich material and textual legacy of the North German convents Medingen and Lüne, including editing 1.800 letters exchanged by the nuns of Lüne between 1480 and 1550. Lesley works on the medieval Bible, as both a physical and intellectual object. This ranges from close technical work with manuscripts of Bibles, biblical commentary, theology and pastoralia, to the exposition of commentary and theology, to investigation of the intellectual milieu of the schools in which the Bible was studied – the people and the products of this early university system, from the twelfth century onwards.  In particular, Lesley explores the two-way link between the manuscript evidence and the intellectual evidence of these early schools – in modern terms, how technology affects what we learn and know, and vice versa.  The study of the Bible has also led them to contribute to the study of medieval Jewish-Christian scholarship and relations.

The new OMS teams presents itself at the Coffee Morning in the Weston Library on 14 October 2022

Dr Luisa Ostacchini: Communications Officer

Luisa is the Communications Officer for Oxford Medieval Studies, and is responsible for the weekly Medieval Matters email/blog posts, the Google calendar, and the termly Medieval Booklet.

Luisa read her BA in English Literature at the University of Warwick. She then studied for a Masters in Medieval English Literature (650–1550) at Wolfson College, Oxford, and remained there for her subsequent DPhil in Old English and Latin Literature. She is now a stipendiary lecturer in Medieval Literature at St John’s and Exeter colleges and teaches Medieval Latin at the English Faculty. She is also a mentor for MSt/ MPhil/ DPhil students in the English Faculty and MSt students on the Humanities interdisciplinary Medieval MSt. Her research interests include the cult of saints, Medieval travel, and the global world in Early Medieval literature.

Michael Angerer: Graduate Convenor (Mystery Cycle)

Michael is a first-year DPhil student in English at Corpus Christi College. His research, funded by the E. K. Chambers Studentship, considers the changing culture of verse translation in England across the Norman Conquest and its impact on vernacular history-writing. He is also more generally interested in translation theory and multilingualism. As graduate convenor for the Medieval Mystery Cycle 2023, he will be coordinating one of the highlights of Oxford’s medieval calendar: the all-day performance of a cycle of short biblical plays, by a variety of groups and in a variety of medieval and modern languages, at St Edmund Hall on 22 April 2023. Please get in touch if you are interested in taking part or if you have any questions – and definitely have a look at the recordings of the plays from 2019 and 2022!

Eugenia Vorobeva: Events Coordinator

Eugenia graduated MSt in Medieval Studies in 2019, and now is a third-year DPhil Student in Old Norse at Jesus College. She is passionate about all things medieval and is joining the OMS team as its Events Coordinator to ensure everything runs smoothly and is on your medieval calendars!

Ashley Castelino: Social Media Officer

Ashley Castelino is a second-year DPhil student at Lincoln College working on supernatural dogs in Old Norse and other medieval literature. He is passionate about anything and everything medieval, and brings this to his role as Social Media Officer for OMS. In this role, he manages all social media accounts for OMS, including Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, all accessible via our Beacons page. Ashley is responsible for spreading the word about all of the wonderful medieval events, lectures, seminars, reading groups and other activities at Oxford, so if you have something you’d like advertised, do get in touch!

Coral Kim: Administrative Assistant

Coral Kim is an MSt English (650-1550) student at Exeter College, who just completed her BA in English (Course II) at Oxford. She enjoys reading about Anglo-Saxon metalwork and inscriptions, with an additional interest in early medieval Cumbrian history following her research internship in the region. She has joined the OMS as support for the team, helping with administrative work and the running of the OMS website.

OMS Lecture: Prof. Ardis Butterfield (Yale), ‘Do We Mean Lyric or Song?’

by

20/10/2022

11:38

3 Comments on OMS Lecture: Prof. Ardis Butterfield (Yale), ‘Do We Mean Lyric or Song?’

Around Oxford, events

, ,

When: Monday 31 October, 5.15pm

Where: Lecture Theatre 2, English Faculty (St Cross Building)

What: Michaelmas Medieval Studies Lecture by Professor Ardis Butterfield (Yale University) as Astor Visiting Lecturer

Ardis Butterfield is Marie Boroff Professor of English and (by courtesy) Professor of French and Music at Yale University. Her many published works investigate medieval literature and music across languages and national boundaries. Her books include Poetry and Music in Medieval France, and The Familiar Enemy: Chaucer, Language and the Nation in the Hundred Years War. She is currently completing a major new edition of medieval English lyrics.

‘Do we mean lyric or song? Modern lyric theory in history‘

 Is ‘lyric’ something that has always existed as a category of poetry or music, or has it been created through a process of study and academic debate from the nineteenth century onwards – a process that Virginia Jackson has called ‘lyricization’? If that’s the case, where does medieval lyric fit in?

This lecture argued that medieval lyric is not on the edge of that debate, but at its centre. It does this by investigating the missing ingredient in many literary discussions of lyrics: their music. Thinking about the music for medieval lyrics (which in so many cases has not survived) can have an impact on modern theoretical discussions of poetry, requiring all of us to rethink our categories and assumptions.

Featured manuscripts (in order of appearance):
Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Rawlinson C. 670, f.148v
British Library, Harley MS 978, f.11v
British Library, Arundel MS 248, f.154r
Oxford, Bodleian Library, Douce 302, f.24r (John Audelay’s book)
Edinburgh, National Library of Scotland, Advocates MS 18.7.21,ff. 116r-121v (John of Grimestone’s preaching book)

Professor Butterfield also gave a manuscripts masterclass in the Weston Library’s Sir Victor Blank Lecture Theatre, 2–4pm on Tuesday 1 November: ‘Manuscripts of medieval lyric and song in the Bodleian Library’

Medieval Matters: Week 2

by

17/10/2022

13:45

Comments Off on Medieval Matters: Week 2

News

, ,

Term is now well underway! Thank you to everyone who organised, gave papers, or attended any of our wonderful events last week. In the words of Alcuin:

‘Totius sapientiae decus et salutaris eruditionis ornatus per vestrae nobilitatis industriam renovari incipit‘
[The glory of all wisdom and the honour of beneficial learning are beginning to be revived by the efforts of your excellence, Ep. 112]

The Oxford Medieval community certainly feels revived and full of life. In fact, we were such a large crowd that the Bodleian ran out of mugs for us to drink from at the Coffee Morning on Friday – a real testament to the phenomenal size of our community! It was lovely to meet so many of you there. Please do continue to join throughout the term for a well-earned break. If you missed the coffee morning, you can see the presentation of manuscripts by Dr Andrew Dunning here on youtube – huge thanks to Andrew and the Bodleian conservation team for all of your hard work on this! You can also meet the team here and put faces to all of our names.

Now, without further ado, please peruse the glorious wisdom and beneficial learning on offer this week:

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

  • Palaeography Self-Help Groups: Students in the history and MML faculties are working together on two palaeography groups, one every week of term, alternating between French and Iberian palaeography. They are both student run, collaborative groups where people can bring something they’re working on to get help from others and work through things together, and improve their skills. We also share resources and course recommendations. If you’d like to be involved please email Clare Burgess at clare.burgess@univ.ox.ac.uk, and state which group (or both!) you’re interested in. Full details on our blog.
  • Save the Date: St John’s Film Club presents two new short films on Love, Hope, Death and Eternity on Wednesday 26th October, 5-6.30pm at St John’s College, the Mark Bedingham Room (located in St John’s Library). The first of these films, Complete Surrender (dir. Louise Nelstrop) will be of particular interest to Medievalists: it follows five celebrated Belgian artists and three religious sisters as they engage with the erotic mysticism of the female medieval mystics Hadewijch and Marguerite Porete. For full details, see our blog.
  • Save the Date: Professor Antje Richter will give a talk on the narrative role of silence in the Buddhist scripture Vimalakīrti-nirdeśa-sūtra at Pembroke College on December 1st, 2022, 14:00-16:00. Please see our blog for more information. 

EVENTS THIS WEEK:

Monday 17th October:

  • The Medieval Archaeology Seminar takes place at 3pm in the Institute of Archaeology, Lecture Room. This week’s speaker will be Claus Kropp, ‘Of droughts, ‘internal climates’ and the mouldboard plough. Experimental Archaeology and the Study of the Early Middle Ages‘.
  • The Queer and Trans Medievalisms Reading Group meets at 3pm at Univ College. This week’s theme is Queer longings for God. All extremely welcome! To join the mailing list and get texts in advance, or if you have any questions, email rowan.wilson@univ.ox.ac.uk.    
  • The Medieval History Seminar takes place at 5pm in the Wharton Room, All Souls College and on Teams (Teams link here). This week’s speaker will be Christian Liddy (Durham), ‘The city and the household: Towards a social history of politics in the late medieval town‘. The Teams session can be accessed by logging in to Teams with your .ox.ac.uk account and joining the group “Medieval History Research Seminar” (team code rmppucs). If you have any difficulties please email: medhistsem@history.ox.ac.uk 
  • The Old English Reading Group takes place at 5.30-7.30pm. Please email grace.oduffy@sjc.ox.ac.uk for more information and to be added to the mailing list.

Tuesday 18th October:

  • The Medieval English Research Seminar takes place at 12.15pm in Lecture Theatre 2, English Faculty. This week’s speaker will be Harriet Soper (Oxford), ‘Twists, Turns, and Jumping the Riverbed: The Life Course in Old English Poetry’. The paper will be followed by lunch with the speaker. All welcome.
  • GLARE (Greek and Latin Reading Group) takes place at 4-5pm at Harold Wilson Room, Jesus College. Please meet at Jesus College Lodge. This week’s text will be Seneca, Thyestes. All welcome to attend any and all sessions. For more details and specific readings each week, or to be added to the mailing list, email john.colley@jesus.ox.ac.uk or jenyth.evans@seh.ox.ac.uk.
  • The Medieval Church and Culture Seminar takes place at 5pm at Charles Wellbeloved Room, Harris Manchester College. The theme for this term is ‘Women’. This week’s speaker will be Emily Winkler (SEH): The Many Griefs of Merlin. Everyone is welcome at this informal and friendly graduate seminar.

Wednesday 19th October:

  • The Medieval German Graduate Seminar meets for a paper by Annette Volfing on Arthurian elements in ‘Dietrichs Flucht’ at 11:15am in Somerville College – ask at the Lodge for directions. If you want to be added to the medieval German mailing list, please contact Henrike Lähnemann.
  • The Early Textual Cultures Seminar will be held at Corpus Christi College Seminar Room at 2–3pm. This week’s speaker will be Katherine S. Beard (Oxford), The Chieftain at Reykholt: Snorri Sturluson’s Impact on Old Norse/Icelandic Studies. To join remotely, please register here.
  • The Medieval Latin Document Reading Group meets on Teams at 4-5pm. We are currently focusing on medieval documents from New College’s archive as part of the cataloguing work being carried out there, so there will be a variety of hands, dates and types. A document is sent out in advance but homework is not expected. Contact Michael Stansfield (michael.stansfield@new.ox.ac.uk) for further details and the Teams link.
  • The Late Antique and Byzantine Seminar takes place at 5pm at the Ioannou Centre for Classical and Byzantine Studies, 66 St Giles. This week’s speaker will be Alberto Ravani (Oxford), “Manuscripts don’t burn”: Composition and story of the text of John Tzetzes’ Homeric Allegories.

Thursday 20th October:

  • The Celtic Seminar will take place at 5pm via Zoom. This week’s speaker will be Elena Parina (Bonn): ”Dysgeidiaeth Cristnoges o ferch’ in Aberystwyth, NLW, Peniarth 403 and its sources‘. Please contact a.elias@wales.ac.uk for the link.
  • The Oxford Medieval Visual Culture Seminar will take place at 5pm in St Catherine’s College, Arumugam Building. This week’s speaker will be Sandy Heslop, University of East Anglia: Reconfiguring the Cloisters Cross: art and crusading in Cnut VI’s Denmark.

Friday 21st October:

  • The Medievalist Coffee Morning takes place at 10:30-11.30am in the Visiting Scholars Centre in the Weston Library (access via the Readers Entrance on Museum Road: straight ahead and up two floors!).

OPPORTUNITIES:

  • Oxford Bibliographical Society Photography Competition: Libraries of Oxford and Oxfordshire. The Oxford Bibliographical Society marks its 100th anniversary with a photography competition celebrating libraries connected with Oxford and Oxfordshire, in 2022. Qualifying entries should depict any library, whether public, private, personal, large or small, static or mobile, old or new. The photographs may show the contents of the library, its architecture, or the library’s users. Categories & Prizes: Adult – first prize £150, second prize £100, third prize £70; Under 18 – first prize £100, second prize £50, third prize £30. For full details click here.

Finally, some wisdom from Alcuin on the importance of teachers:

‘Locus sine doctoribus aut non, aut vix salvus fieri poterit‘
[a place without teachers cannot be safe, or can scarcely be, Ep. 105]

Given the incredible number of teachers we have here at Oxford, I think that by this metric we may be able to claim to be one of the safest places on earth! Wishing you all a week of productive study and comfort in the knowledge that you are surrounded by such a large and wonderful community of Medievalists.

[A hoard of Medievalists are informed that the cups have run out at the coffee morning…]
Ashmole Bestiary, Bodleian Library MS. Ashmole 1511, f. 9 r.
Viewable in full at Digital Bodleian