Invitation to join the Graduate Centre of Medieval Studies at Reading on Thursday, 16th April 2026, for a postgraduate forum and discussion on understanding medieval life from the perspective of those in Town and those in the Country. Four sessions of 20-minute presentations followed by discussion on each topic area. Hybrid event in person and online – please register with Eventbrite.
10:00 -17:00 (Registration from 9:30; Lunch break 13:00 -14:00)
Session 1: The Impact of the Church on the Rural
- The Templar estates in Gloucestershire, c.1308-1310
- Hyde Abbey’s management of its estates in the localities around Winchester
- The Network of Bishop Birinus: Religious Influence in the Upper Thames Valley
Session 2: The Rurality of Italy
- ¨ The countryside and its changes during the Middle Ages in the Italian Peninsula
- ¨ The emergence of rural communes in the Florentine hinterland
- ¨ Regulating Transhumant Pastoralism in The Liber Augustalis
Session 3: Cities, Towns and Links with Wider Populations
- ¨ Religious Fraternities dedicated to St Christopher in Town and Country
- ¨ From Country to City: the London Artisan and the Art of Assimilation 1300-1520
- ¨ Experiential Anthropogenic(ity): Locational Identities in Chaucer’s Wife of Bath’s Tale
Session 4: The Urban as seen in Manuscripts
- ¨ Architecture: Representing the Urban Cathedral in Late Medieval French Manuscript Tradition
- ¨ The visual representation of the ancient Russian ‘grad’ (city, fortress) in manuscript miniatures
TICKETS FOR BOTH IN PERSON AND ONLINE ATTENDEES AVAILABLE VIA EVENTBRITE: Please search ‘GCMS Eventbrite’ , or use this Eventbrite link