When? – 11 am – 4 pm, Monday 23rd May Where? – New College’s Lecture Room 4
As part of New College Library’s series of subject-themed exhibitions, on Monday, 23 May we shall have on display for you rare books and manuscripts from the library’s fabulous collections relating to Botany and Zoology.
This exhibition is the latest in a series, instituted in 2018 by the library, that has so far featured Classics, Geometry and Astronomy, Modern Languages, and New College Women Writers. And it marks our return to subject-themed exhibitions since the start of the pandemic.
For this display, we are providing you with a rare opportunity to see, among many other treasures: a 13th-century manuscript of Pliny’s Historia naturalis; the first known description of plants from the Americas (1542) by Leonhart Fuchs (after whom the fuchsia is named); the best-known English herbal, by John Gerard (1633); the first published book by New College fellow Robert Sharrock, on growing vegetables (1660); a first edition of Robert Hooke’s spectacular Micrographia (1665); and a printed natural history of Oxfordshire, with the first known published illustration of a dinosaur bone (1677).
From 11 am till 4 pm on Monday in New College’s Lecture Room 4, we shall be exhibiting for you—with explanatory captions—some of our Botany and Zoology treasures.
On 11 April, the research team working on the Leverhulme-funded project ‘The Literary heritage of Anglo-Dutch relations, 1050-1600’ holds an informal workshop / reading group in the Weston Library at the Bodleian, 14:00-16:00.
The format are three papers by Laura Cleaver (School of Advanced Studies, University of London: ‘Illuminated Manuscripts and the Shaping of English and Flemish Identities’; Thea Summerfield, University of Utrecht, ‘Lodewijk van Velthem on Edward I’), and David Murray (University of Utrecht, ‘The Circulation of Lyrics between England and the Low Countries’).
If you are interested to join the workshop please contact Ad Putter, A.D.Putter@bristol.ac.uk
Date: Monday 11 April 2022 Time: 5.15–6.15pm Location: Lecture Theatre, Weston Library & online Speaker: Professor Kathleen Kennedy, British Academy Global Professor, University of Bristol The event is free but booking for in-person tickets is required. Click here to register for the event
The Masters of the Dark Eyes in England and the invention of the Tudor court artist
This lecture re-examines the corpus of the Masters of the Dark Eyes in England and argues that their work played a part in the developing role of the King’s Painter. In the Netherlands, the Masters of the Dark Eyes were premier decorators of luxurious books of hours. Their English patrons recast the Masters as courtly, Renaissance painters. Moreover, in England the Masters were sometimes primarily miniaturists, and other times valued instead for their border and initial art. Unrecognized before now, the Masters in England completed some commissions without any illustrations at all. Finally, the Masters of the Dark Eyes in England sometimes also partnered with English artists, a direct collaboration illuminating the topic at the heart of the North Sea Crossings: Anglo-Dutch Books and the Adventures of Reynard the Fox exhibition. In proving that Dutch artists could adapt to the wide-ranging artistic needs of the early Tudor court, the Masters of the Dark Eyes in England paved the way for more formal employment of the better-known Horenbout and Holbein.
The lecture will be followed by a drinks reception 6.15-7.15pm for those attending in-person. Attendees will be able to access the North Sea Crossingsexhibition throughout the public event.
Ages of Politics, Philosophy and Economics: From Ancient Rome and Medieval Europe to the Modern Day
Leading academics reflect on aspects of politics, philosophy or economics at different times in history. Can the lessons of the past help us move towards a better future?
Date: Saturday 2nd April, 2022 Location: The Pontigny Room, St Edmund Hall, Queens Lane Oxford OX1 4AR. Time: Lectures start at 9-30am, with a coffee break at 11am and lunch from 1pm to 2pm. The final lecture will end by 3-30pm. To reserve a free place, please visit agesofppe.eventbrite.co.uk or just come along on the day.
Dr Andrew Sillett is a Lecturer in Latin Literature and Roman History in the Department of Classics and St Hilda’s College at the University of Oxford. His chief interests in the ancient world are the life and times of Marcus Tullius Cicero. His lecture will be a very timely ‘Idiot’s Guide to Toppling a Dictator’
Dr Emily A. Winkler is a Fellow by Special Election at St Edmund Hall, University of Oxford, working on historical writing and the literary, political, and intellectual culture of the high Middle Ages, with interests in the British Isles, the Anglo-Norman world, and the North Sea zone. She also works on the social and material culture of the Norman Mediterranean world, especially Sicily and southern Italy.
Professor Bill Durodie is Professor and Chair of International Relations in the Department of Politics, Languages & International Studies at the University of Bath, where his research interests include Risk, Resilience, Radicalization, Fear, Security, Science and Society. Bill held posts in Canada and Singapore, as well as at the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom and in the War Studies Group of King’s College London before joining the University of Bath in 2014.
For twenty years, the Lyell benefaction has offered a career development fellowship that has enabled scholars to study subjects that have included the History of the Book, bibliography and palaeography. Now, these nine Lyell Fellows come together for the first time to reflect on developments in their respective fields and present their current research.
Register now for what promises to be a lively, engaging and thought-provoking conference!
Date: Monday 25th April 2022
Venue: The Weston Lecture theatre (Oxford) and also streamed live
Time: 11am-6pm (BST)
Programme for “The Book at the Bodleian”
11am-11.15am
Richard Ovenden: Welcome
Session 1
11.15am-11.40am
Niels Gaul: “Reconstructing Transmission in the Absence of Manuscript Evidence: The Case of Classicising Learning in (Early) Ninth-century Byzantium”
11.40am-12.05pm
Georgi Parpulov: “Revolutions in the History of Greek Handwriting”
12.05pm-12.30pm
David Rundle: “The Library of Humfrey, Duke of Gloucester: The State of Our Ignorance”
Qs: 12.30pm-12.45pm
12.45pm-2pm: Lunch
Session 2
2pm-2.25pm
Cristina Dondi: “The European Printing Revolution”
2.25pm-2.50pm
Irene Ceccherini: “Italian Palaeography Through the Lenses of the Canonici Collection in the Bodleian Library”
2.50pm-3.15pm
Barbara Bombi: “Papal Letters, Canonical Collections and Diplomatic”
Qs: 3.15pm-3.30pm
3.30pm-4pm: Coffee break
Session 3
4pm-4.25pm
Jason McElligott: “Book Theft as a Methodology for the History of Reading”
4.25pm-4.50pm
Giles Bergel: “Book History and the Digital Turn”
4.50pm-5.15pm
Stewart J. Brookes: “Intelligently Artificial and Palaeographically Digital”
When? – Thursday, 11 November 2021 at 5:15 pm (BTS)
Where? – T.S. Eliot Theatre, Merton College
This event will also be streamed via ZOOM; for the link please contact sarah.cusk@lincoln.ox.ac.uk
Syon Abbey is well known for its extensive libraries and its close relationships with London printers and late-medieval nobility. Julia King argues that the Syon Abbesses played a much more active role in the development of Syon’s social and bibliographical networks than has been previously allowed, telling a story of women’s agency and leadership at England’s only Birgittine monastery.
Where? – Weston Library, Blackwell Hall (public foyer)
Members of the Oxford Scribes and printers from the Bodleian Bibliographical Press race to produce a page of text. Settle the 500-year-old question – which is faster?
Meeting 7-8:30pm on Thursdays of even weeks of term. Session 1: Thursday 6th May, Week 2 Session 2: Thursday 20th May, Week 4. Session 3: Thursday 3rd June, Week 6. Session 4: Thursday 17th June, Week 8. We are an informal group who come together to discuss secondary readings about a variety of themes related to medieval trade across the globe. In previous meetings we have discussed readings covering topics such as Muslim merchant communities in China, Eastern Mediterranean slavery, and network theory approaches. Each session, a group member will present for 5-10 minutes on a pre-suggested reading followed by a large group discussion. Suggested reading in preparation for each session is sent out at least a week before the group meeting. Anyone interested in any element of medieval trade and its study are welcome to join. To be added to the team and have access to the materials and meetings please email Annabel Hancock at annabel.hancock@history.ox.ac.uk
Medieval Latin Reading Group Mondays, 13:00–14:00, Microsoft Teams Improve your Latin, learn palaeographical skills, and engage first-hand with medieval texts by reading reproductions of manuscripts together. We will learn to read and translate directly from medieval books, moving in a roughly chronological sequence during the year. All welcome; meetings will take place weekly during term. Submit your email address (https://web.maillist.ox.ac.uk/ox/subscribe/medieval-latin-ms-reading) to receive notices. Organisers: Jacob Currie; Andrew Dunning; Matthew Holford.
Pre-Modern Conversations
Fridays of even weeks, 11am–noon, Microsoft Teams Convenors: Lena Vosding, Lewis Webb, Godelinde Perk
‘The Evangelist St. Matthew writing, with his symbol the angel’, MS 10 E 3, f. 18r (Museum Meermanno-Westreenianum, The Hague).
Nervous about an upcoming presentation? Struggling to improve your article’s argument or structure? In need of constructive peer feedback on a book chapter, or simply encouragement? Join our friendly, interdisciplinary group of early career pre-modernists, offering an informal, supportive environment for helping each other revise, refine, and finally complete that work in progress. The group convenes in weeks 2, 4, 6, and 8 on Teams to discuss a work in progress. The format for these one-hour sessions alternates between a presentation to the entire group (for conference contributions) and a discussion of a pre-circulated written text. WIP contributors are expected to provide a cover letter outlining the desired areas for improvement to facilitate discussion. The final twenty minutes of each meeting are dedicated to discussing more general topics related to writing, editing and publishing. All ECR pre-modernists from any Faculty are welcome. We particularly invite WIPs with an interdisciplinary and/or gender focus. You are also very welcome to participate without contributing a paper. If interested, please submit an abstract (up to 300 words) of your WIP, accompanied by a short biography to lena.vosding@mod-langs.ox.ac.uk by Friday 30 April to be added to the PMC Teams channel and receive updates on the programme as well as meeting invitations. First meeting: week 2, Friday 7 May, 11am–noon, Teams.
Anglo-Norman Reading Group
The Anglo-Norman Reading Group will continue to meet on Zoom during Trinity Term on Fridays of ODD weeks (30 April, 14, 28 May, and 11 June) from 5-6:30pm. We will be reading the Anglo-Norman Fabliaux. Please contact Jane Bliss (jane.bliss@lmh.oxon.org) or Stephanie Hathaway (stephanie.hathaway@mod-langs.ox.ac.uk).
Oxford University Numismatic Society All talks will be held online over MS Teams at 5pm GMT. Links will be distributed beforehand by means of the OUNS mailing list: to subscribe and receive meeting links and further updates, please email the Secretary at daniel.etches@new.ox.ac.uk.
4th May (Week 2) at 5pm: Dr. John Talbot (University of Oxford): “Icenian and Durotrigan Coinage – Using A Study of Coinage to Learn about Late Iron Age Society” 18th May (Week 4) at 5pm: Prof. Fleur Kemmers (Goethe-Universität Frankfurt): “Making Money in Republican Rome: A Numismatic Perspective on Rome’s Expansion”. 1st June (Week 6) at 5pm: Dr. Maria Vrij (The Barber Institute of Fine Arts / University of Birmingham): “‘How Do You Solve A Problem Like Mezezios?’ – Understanding and Unpicking the Imagery of the Emperors Mezezios (668-669) and Constantine IV (668-685)”. 15th June (Week 8) at 5pm: Dr. Julien Olivier (Bibliothèque nationale de France): TBC.
Germanic Reading Group
This term we’re planning four meetings of the Germanic Reading Group, loosely connected by the theme of alliterative verse. The sessions will take place on Mondays from 4:00 to 5:00 pm by Zoom, as follows: Monday, 26 April (1st week). Old English, led by Rafael Pascual Monday, 10 May (3rd week). Old High German, led by Howard Jones Monday, 24 May (5th week). Old Norse, led by Eugenia Vorobeva Monday, 7 June (7th week). Old Saxon, led by Nelson Goering We’ll go through a short text, translating and discussing points of linguistic interest, under the guidance of the leader of each session. To be added to the list, contact howard.Jones@sbs.ox.ac.uk
Taylor Editions and the Centre for the Study of the Book present: Digital Editions Live – Launching the Oxford History of the Book Projects 2021
The series presents projects which have been developed by Master students in the Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages as part of their ‘Method Option’ Palaeography, History of the Book, Digital Humanities, https://historyofthebook.mml.ox.ac.uk/.
Launches will feature new digital editions on https://editions.mml.ox.ac.uk/, the Taylor Editions website, and a live showing of manuscripts and books. The sessions take place every Wednesday during the Oxford Trinity Term, 28 April to 16 June 2021. Everybody is welcome to attend the sessions which will be held via Teams and recorded. Join the meeting here After term, there will be a workshop in conjunction with Dark Archives to reflect on the methodology of editing, presenting – and teaching History of the Book on 25 June. For further information, contact Henrike Lähnemann <henrike.laehnemann@mod-langs.ox.ac.uk>
1) 28 April 2021 Introduction and Animals in French Manuscripts
Henrike Lähnemann, Emma Huber, Andrew Dunning: Introduction to Digital Editions Live
Sebastian Dows-Miller: Re-awakening Merton’s Beasts (Merton College, MS. 249)
2) 5 May 2021 Travelling Manuscript
Eva Neufeind, Agnes Hilger, Mary Boyle, and Aysha Strachan: Arnold von Harff (MS. Bodley 972)
3) 12 May 2021 Early Printed Holdings in Taylorian and Bodleian
Alexandra Hertlein & Dennis Pulina: Jacob Locher Panegyricus (Inc. e. G7.1497.2./Douce 73)
Sam Griffiths and Christian Tofte: Marginalia in Plutarch’s Vidas Paralelas (1491)
4) 19 May 2021 Indigenous Languages: Tupi and Welsh
Mary Newman: The oldest Tupi manuscript (MS. Bodley 617)
Lois Williams: Cân o Senn iw Hên Feistr TOBACCO (1718), NLW. North PRINT W.s. 156
5) 26 May 2021 Illustrated Italian Manuscripts
Katie Bastiman and Holly Abrahamson: Dante Ante-Purgatorio (MS. Canon.Ital. 108)
Giuseppe Nanfitò: Boccaccio, Filocolo (MS. Canon. Ital. 85)
6) 2 June 2021 Collective Editing and Linked Data
Josephine Bewerunge, Molly Ford, Sam Heywood, Caroline Lehnert, Molly Lewis, Marlene Schilling: A collective edition of a German devotional miscellany (MS. Germ. e. 5)
Danielle Apodaca: Le Roman de Flamenca DH project across editions and translations
7) 9 June 2021 Illuminated French Manuscript
Carrie Heusinkveld: Reconsidering the Metamorphoses by Clément Marot (MS. Douce 117)
Javaria Abbasi: Pedro de Medina’s Libro de cosmographia (1538), (MS. Canon. Ital. 243)
8) 16 June 2021 Special Book Launch: 500 Years Passional Christi und Antichristi
Edmund Wareham presents the newest book in the Reformation Pamphlet series
