Medieval matter TT26, Wk 4

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18/05/2026

08:59

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Around Oxford, Call for Papers, conference, events, Medieval Matters, News, opportunities

Welcome to week 4!

This Thursday sees our first ever Wikipedia Editathon for Medievalists, at 5:00 in the Old Library at St Edmund Hall. Whether you have always wanted to write or improve a Wikipedia article, are looking for a low-pressure way to start writing about your topic, or simply want a productive and enjoyable distraction from exams or papers, this editathon offers a space to do so! Participants are encouraged to bring a topic they would like to work on, and prior experience with Wikipedia editing is not required – beginners are very welcome.

Exciting news! Two of our medievalists – Sumner Braund and Helen Flatley – have just opened a used bookshop in Oxford’s Golden Cross called ‘Barker and Company’, full of medieval books.

Monday

  • Bartlemas 900 Exhibition – weeklong, Bartlemas Chapel (Cowley Road). Exhibition exploring the history and significance of Bartlemas. More info here.
  • French Palaeography Manuscript Reading Group – 10:30, Weston Library. If you are interested in joining the group or would like more information, please email the convenor Laure Miolo.
  • Medieval History Seminar: – 5:00, All Souls College. Teresa Witcombe (Wadham College, Oxford) will be speaking in ‘The spoils of war: Andalusi captives in medieval Castile’.
  • Italian Research Seminar – 5:15, Taylorian, Room 2. Ambrogio Camozzi Pistoja (Harvard) will be speaking on ‘towards a Criminal History of Medieval Satire: Boccaccio, Decameron 5.10 (Sodomy, Apuleius, Forgery)’

Tuesday

  • Latin Palaeography Special Session – 2pm, Weston Library. Angela Cossu (Grenoble/ Richard Sharpe Memorial Visiting Fellow, Bodleian Libraries) will show and speak about “Medieval Latin florilegia: palaeography, mise en page and mise en texte” Those who are interested can email the convenor Laure Miolo.
  • Medieval Church and Culture Seminar– Tea & coffee from 5pm; papers begin at 5.15pm, Harris Manchester College. Henry Merrifield (Corpus) will be speaking on ‘Adoption or Rejection:  assessing Anglo-Saxon attitudes to ancient Rome’; Rhys Schwan (Trinity) will be speaking on ‘Revisiting the Regnal Chronology of the Kingdom of Northumbria in the 9th Century’
  • The Oxford Society for the Caucasus and Central Asia (TOSCCA) Seminar Series – 5:00, Lecture Room 4, New College. Dilnoza Duturaeva (University of York/ONGC) will be speaking on ‘Animal Power in the Highlands: Qarakhanid Hybrid Camels to China.’

Wednesday

  • Methods in Arabic and Islamic Studies Class – 10:30, LMH Library.
  • ‘AI and the Future of Everyday Heritage’ Heritage Pathway Programme – 11:00, Humanities Centre. Speaker: Dr Dominique Bouchard, Heritage and Engagement Director, Leeds Castle Clara Saliba, AI and Data Insights Analyst, Blenheim Place. More details and booking here.
  • Medieval German Graduate Seminar on Thomasin von Zerklaere – 11:15, Oriel College. If you are interested to be added to the teams group for updates and access to the sources, please contact Henrike Lähnemann.
  • Oxford Seminar in the History of Alchemy and Chemistry – 3:00, Maison Française d’Oxford. Session 2 — Spiritual Foundations of Alchemy. Chair: Ellen Hausner (Oxford). Speakers: Mark Edwards (Oxford) on ‘Ancient Alchemy as Philosophy’; Charles Burnett (Warburg Institute) on ‘Alchemy as Divinatio’.
  • Old Norse Reading Group – 4:00, Merton College, Americas Room. This term we are reading Völsunga saga. If you are interested in joining the group, please contact one of the group convenors via email Brooklyn Arnot or Zeynep Kirca. 
  • The Medieval Latin Documentary Palaeography Reading Group – 4:00, online. To join and/or to find out more about this and the possibility of some hands-on experience of cataloguing such documents to develop further your research skills, please contact  Michael Stansfield.
  • Late Antique and Byzantine Seminar – 5:00, Late Antique and Byzantine Seminar, Ioannou Centre. Apolline Gay (Brussels and Oxford) will be speaking on ‘They Also Tell the Story: The Role of Biblical Female Figures in Images from Byzantine and Early Islamic Egypt‘.
  • Medieval English Research Seminar – 5:15, Medieval English Research Seminar – 5:15. Annie Englund (U of Oxford) will be speaking on ‘Ghosts, roasts, and the speaking dead: grappling with the popularity of the Old English Soul and Body’; Corinne Clark (U of Oxford) will be speaking on ‘The Reading bee: honey and venom in Walter Map’s De Nugis Curialium’.
  • Centre for Manuscript and Text Cultures: Provenance Unknown – 5:15, Memorial Room, The Queen’s College. Roberta Mazza (University of Bologna) will be speaking on ‘Beyond Provenance: Publishing Papyri and Other Manuscripts from Egypt in 2026’.

Thursday

  • Middle English Reading Group (MERG) – 11:00, Lincoln College, Beckington Room. All are welcome as we finish Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Bring any edition of the original text! There will be tea and biscuits. For more information or to be added to the mailing list, please email Rebecca Menmuir. 
  • Medieval Women’s Writing Research Seminar- 4:00, Somerville College. Poetry and Song, including extracts from the works of Kassia of Constantinople, Florencia Pinar and Gwerful Mechain.
  • Wikipedia Editathon for Medievalists – 5:00, Old Library at St Edmund Hall. More info here.
  • The Khalili Research Centre Seminar – 5:15, KRC Lecture Room. Stephane Pradines (The Aga Khan University) will be speaking on ‘Islamic Archaeology in Egypt: Sixteen Years of Rescue Excavations in Cairo’.
  • Bede Reading Group (or, ‘Bede-ing Group’) – 6:00, Blackfriars. To sign up, email Maura McKeon. Don’t stop Bede-lieving.

Friday

  • Medievalist Coffee Morning – 10:30, Visiting Scholars Centre (Weston Library). All welcome, coffee and insight into special collections provided.
  • Older Scots Reading Group – 3:00, Schwarzman room 30.401. No intensive preparation required. All are welcome and there are usually snacks. This week the theme is Orpheus and Eurydice. Contact megan.bushnell@ling-phil.ox.ac.uk for further details.
  • Oxford Medieval Manuscript Group: Tour of the Magdalen College Old Library – 3:00, Magdalen College, Porter’s Lodge. Booking required.
  • Medieval Latin Reading Group – 5:30, Christ Church. This term, we will be reading the Cosmographia of Bernardus Silvestris in the original. For more information, please contact Clara Bykvist or Monty Powell. 

Opportunities (see Medieval Studies booklet for full details)