Where? Exeter College Chapel
When? 27 February 2025, 7pm
A musical interpretation of the Tale of Beren and Lúthien.
Stuart Lee, Readings.
Owen Chan, Organ
Free Admission
Tolkien and the Organ
Author: Henrike Lähnemann
Professor of Medieval German Literature and Linguistics at the Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages, Fellow at St Edmund Hall, and Co-Director of Oxford Medieval Studies.
CfP: SELIM 35
The 35th International Conference of the Spanish Society for Medieval English Language and Literature (SELIM 35) will be hosted by the Department of English at the University of Málaga, 24th-26th September 2025. There is a long-standing link of SELIM to Oxford since offer Bruce Mitchell Award for early-career scholars which honours the memory of Dr Bruce Michell (1920–2010), a distinguished scholar of Old English, his long-enduring contribution to the field of medieval English language and literature and active involvement with the Society’s activities and journal in their early decades.
As in previous SELIM conferences, SELIM 35 will have four thematic panels accepting proposals on any topic related to any aspect of linguistic and literary research on Old and Middle English:
| Panel | Panel coordinator | Contact |
| Old English Literature and Culture | Francisco Rozano-García | frozg@unileon.es |
| Old English Language and Linguistics | Esaúl Ruiz Narbona | ernarbona@us.es |
| Middle English Literature and Culture | Andoni Cossio Garrido | andoni.cossio@ehu.eus |
| Middle English Language and Linguistics | Marta Pacheco Franco | martapacheco@uma.es |
Scholars interested in offering 20-minute presentations (followed by a 10-minute discussion) must send a 300-word abstract (excluding references) in electronic format (please use this MSWord template) to the panel coordinator before 30 March 2025. Acceptance of proposals will be confirmed by 15 April 2025. References should comply with the latest APA format (7th edition). Should you have any doubts regarding panel adscription, please send your proposal to the Organising Committee at selim35@uma.es.
Important dates
Proposal submission: 30 March 2025
Notification of acceptance: 15 April 2025
Registration (early bird): 16 April – 15 June 2025
Registration (regular): 16 June – 12 September 2025
Conference dates: 24 – 26 September 2025
For further information please contact the organizing committee at selim35@uma.es.
The Epiphanytide Mysteries
A performance of a medieval mystery play cycle, with a reconstruction of the no longer extant wedding at Cana episode. Directed by Philipp Quinn and Elliott Clark.
When: Saturday, 25 January 2025, 2pm
Where: Pusey House, Oxford
Philipp writes: We at Pusey House welcome all and sundry to join us as we continue our Epiphanytide celebrations with carefully selected mystery plays. The event is not ticketed. The runtime should be roughly an hour. We very much look forward to seeing you there!
Pusey House put on mystery plays for the first time in 2023. In that first performance, we sought to portray the Bible’s broad “narrative,” with the Creation, the Fall, the Passion, and the Final Judgement as our highlights. This time, in connection with the Epiphany Season, we’ve chosen to emphasize the Magi, Jesus’ baptism, and the Wedding at Cana. In prioritizing that theme, we’ve had to be more eclectic in our sources this year. Whereas our first performance was based largely on the York cycle, our current plays are drawn from both the Chester and York cycles. Our plays also an original, the Wedding at Cana, since the Wedding is not found in the Chester cycle and has not survived (apart from a line-and-a-half fragment) in the York cycle.
Epiros: The Other Western Rome, Workshop 8th-9th November 2024
On Friday 8th and Saturday 9th November, the online workshop Epiros: The Other Western Rome was held, platforming twenty-one papers from sixteen universities. As the second phase of a new international project, the workshop investigated the Byzantine successor-state of Epiros (1204–1444). Formed from the Fourth Crusade, this Balkan state existed as an alternative narrative and third Byzantine-Roman context, encompassing a vast variety of peoples of the former empire.
Originally envisioned as a one-day workshop, the programme was expanded to two days to accommodate so many excellent submissions. As a result, we were able to offer panels on, The ‘Post-Komnenian System’, ‘Epiros and Bulgaria’, ‘Epiros and its other Neighbours’, ‘Network Analysis,’ ‘Hybrid Material Culture,’ and more. The workshop’s convenors are hugely grateful for the participation of speakers and attendees, as well as the support of both The Oxford Centre Research Centre in the Humanities (TORCH) and the Oxford Centre for Byzantine Research (OCBR).
An edited volume of papers is planned, and a selection of images below.
Medieval Afterlives Season Workshop
Date: Tuesday 21 January, 13.00-14.00, with lunch provided from 12.30
Location: Colin Matthews Room, Radcliffe Humanities (and online via MS Teams)
As part of the preparations for annual ‘Cultural Seasons’ in the new Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities, this is an invitation to brainstorm ideas for a Cultural Programme Season on Medieval Afterlives. From Oxford Medieval Studies, Prof. Marion Turner (English), Prof. Henrike Lähnemann (MML), Prof. Nancy Thebaut (History), and Prof. Elizabeth Eva Leach (Music) are already collaborating with the Cultural Programme on possible opportunities for the season and John Fulljames, Director of Oxford University’s Humanities Cultural Programme, is keen now to extend an invitation to others to join the conversation to explore and test the potential for the season and bring together researchers who could be involved in shaping and delivering it.
The focus of the season will be on contemporary creativity, while also centring Oxford’s extraordinary medieval resources where appropriate – our manuscripts, instruments, objects, architecture, and spaces. This season might engage with novelists, poets, musicians, graphic artists, puppeteers, playwrights, actors, composers, designers, children’s book writers, textile workers, cartoonists, computer game programmers, AI technology, and more.
We would like the season to be ambitious and international while also engaging grass-roots, local communities, especially schools and young people. It will be wide-ranging, inclusive, accessible, innovative, and fun. We also want to be open about the dark side of medieval appropriations in recent years, especially by the far right (see the previous TORCH OMS workshop on Medieval Studies and the Far Right), and to examine and counter these narratives. While we want to bring in high-profile writers and artists, we also want to celebrate the creativity of everyone, including students. The season would be likely to take place circa 2028.
One overarching question might be whether this kind of contemporary creativity is an end in itself, or a gateway to the medieval past. Please come along to this initial group meeting for all interested parties, which will be structured around the question: What has medieval research to do with contemporary creativity?
If you have something you would like to share or discuss in advance, please feel free to reach out to the researchers who are already involved or the Cultural Programme via Justine Shaw. Please RSVP to: Cultural Programmes with ‘Medieval Afterlives Workshop’ (culturalprogramme@humanities.ox.ac.uk) in the subject line by 7 January 2025.
Image: ‘Serenade to Chaucer’, a pop-up version of Chaucer’s ‘Miller’s Tale’ by Paul Johnson, runner-up of the Redesigning the Medieval Book competition by the Bodleian Library.
Medieval Mystery Cycle 2025 Update
We are advertising for a Head of Performance and announcing a speed dating / workshop meeting!
1. Medieval Mystery Plays Meeting of the Minds Workshop
Friday 29 November 2024 (Week 7), 5–6.30pm, at St Edmund Hall, Doctorow Hall
Join this speed dating workshop for matching up actors, directors, musicians, texts, and props for the upcoming Medieval Mystery Cycle on 26 April 2025! Whether you are interested but still unsure how to put together a play, which play to choose, or how to act, all are welcome! The focus of the workshop will be on how to produce a medieval play script in an accessible version (of up to 20 minutes), but there will also be an opportunity to match actors and directors and to discuss any other practical questions you might have on site at St Edmund Hall – and to enjoy tea and cake!
Meanwhile, we’re still looking for groups to join the Medieval Mystery Cycle: have a look at the original blog post!
Let us know if you’re interested in joining by emailing Henrike Lähnemann and Lesley Smith, the Co-Directors. Also contact us if you are a graduate student or postdoc interested in this opportunity:
2. Head of Performance sought for Medieval Mystery Plays
Are you interested in pulling the strings for a successful run of the 2025 performance of the Medieval Mystery Plays? We are looking for an enthusiastic, creative and, above all, well-organised graduate student or postdoc to
- liaise with the directors, volunteers, and groups taking part
- plan the logistics of the performance
- run the operations on the actual performance date
- coordinate the publicity
- write and / or edit the programme
- facilitate the documentation
- head the stewarding team
There will be a reward of £300 plus the opportunity of networking closely across the medievalist and performance people of Oxford and beyond. Please apply by Monday, 25 November 2025, with a short statement of interest and your CV by emailing Henrike Lähnemann and Lesley Smith, the Co-Directors.
Book at Lunchtime: The Life of Nuns
Wednesday 13 November, 12.30pm lunch. 1pm-2pm discussion. Book your place here. Join Henrike Lähnemann, Lyndal Roper, and Nancy Thebaut to discuss The Life of Nuns: Love, Politics, and Religion in Medieval German Convents by Henrike Lähnemann and Eva Schlotheuber, open access available via Cambridge: Open Book Publishers as html, pdf, and audiobook: https://www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.11647/obp.0397
For a 20% discout on paper copies, use the code LONHL_24
Reading this remarkable volume left me with the distinct impression that medieval monasticism was far earthier, and less subject to the kind of dualistic tensions we tend to associate with asceticism, perhaps because the life of nuns was at that time a social norm, something wholly reflective of its period, rather than a counter-cultural choice or radical defiance of other orthodoxies. These tough yet pious women, while silenced by time and neglected by research, undoubtedly had and were aware of their status and influence within the broader human and divine scheme of things (Catherine Coldstream, author of Cloistered: My Years as a Nun)
From Henrike Lähnemann’s Medingen Manuscripts Blog a short account of the genesis of the book:
Love, Politics, and Religion in Medieval German Convents
It all started with a mistake: ‘Der Spiegel’, a widely read news magazine in Germany, ran a double-spread article on the big research project which Eva Schlotheuber and I direct, the edition of 1.200 letters from the Benedictine convent Lüne in North Germany. In the interview for it, we had talked about how important education by the nuns was for the ‘Lehrkinder’, children educated at the convent. The girls would come into the community, aged 7 to 9, and then get a thorough grounding in a wide range of discipline such as music, as pictured in the scene from a text book from Kloster Ebstorf.
Der Spiegel’ turned our phrase of ‘Lehrkinder’ into ‘die Kinder der Nonnen’ (the children of the nuns) – hinting at sex and scandal behind convent walls (in 2/2020 ‘So colourful was the life of nuns in the Middle Ages’).
This sparked further media interest and the Ullstein publishing house approached us because it had piqued their interest. When we explained that the attention-grabbing headline about “the nuns had children” was based on a misunderstanding, they were slightly disappointed – but then offered us the opportunity to set the record straight. And, arguably, what we could offer was much more exciting: the colourful and detailed accounts of lively, intellectual, strategic, argumentative, powerful women, shaping religion and politics of their times, looking after the girls (despite or even because they were their spiritual and not biological daughters!), negotiating business deals, writing, painting, composing and influencing the way we live today through their books, songs, and art.
‘The Life of Nuns’ tries to capture the richness of the life of these medieval nuns by incorporating as much primary source material as possible. Each of the big topics – such as Education, Music, and yes: Love and Friendship – starts with an account taken from the diary of a nun who lived at the end of the 15th century in the convent St Crucis in Braunschweig. The anonymous author covers the high feasts – celebrating the entry of new nuns, welcoming illustrious visitors – and the everyday mundane events – lice, Lebkuchen (gingerbread), laundry. And we end every of our chapters with the presentation of a significant art work from the convents: the impressive wall paintings done in the 14th century by “three nuns all called Gertrud” in Wienhausen, the largest medieval world map in Ebstorf (30 goatskins sewn together), tapestries, statues, stained glass, the oldest spectacles in the world (fallen through the floorboard cracks in the nuns’ choir) – an embarrassment of riches from a world that few people even know existed. That is particularly true for an Anglophone audience since so much of the evidence is lost due mainly to the dissolution of the monasteries but also a repurposing of surviving architecture and treasures. Compare Kloster Wienhausen and Godstow Abbey: in Wienhausen we have got the full set of monastic buildings, cloisters, huge grain stores, cells, corridors, imposing Gothic nuns choir and more – and everything that furnished it: stained glass, wall paintings, sculptures, down to the different set of dresses for the statues.
In Godstow, on the other hand, we can sense the dimensions of its former power by looking at the impressively long surrounding wall of enclosure and glimpse some of its stylish beauty from the ruined chapel at the back – the rest is only possible to reconstruct from scant archival evidence. Looking at the German counterparts, who shapeshifted through the Reformation, transforming into Protestant female communities who still look after the rich tapestry of medieval life, offers the chance to rectify this in part – and encounter the Life of Nuns at their fullest, mystical, worldly, polyphonous and very much relevant still today.
Read here more about reactions to the book.
‘Epiros: The Other Western Rome’ Virtual Workshop, Friday 8th – Saturday 9th November 2024. Registration and Programme.
This workshop was made possible through the generous support of the Oxford Centre for Byzantine Research (OCBR) and The Oxford Centre for Research in the Humanities (Torch).
For close to two and a half centuries, the state of Epiros represented a crucial node for an alternative socio-political network of the Balkans. Founded by the illegitimate son of the union of three imperial Byzantine dynasties, at its largest extent Epiros assumed the title of ‘Empire of the Romans’ and campaigned to the very walls of Constantinople. Defeated but not destroyed in 1230, Epiros persisted in its autonomy through the strength of its ties. Bound by either marriage or confession to Italians, Serbians, Bulgarians, Vlachs, Albanians, and more, Epiros continued to exist as an alternate, moved Byzantium that understood its reunification of the former provinces of the Byzantine Balkans to be a retaking and preservation of ‘the West’, a term with which it also self-identified. Transitioning in the fourteenth century to Albanian and later Italian rule, Epiros’ role as a centre of multi-ethnic exchange and independence created a legacy that exists today.
This workshop gathers leading research across multiple fields to discuss the places and peoples which were either part of or engaged with this Epirote Western Rome. Following two successful panels at Kalamazoo and Leeds International Medieval Congresses, supported by the Oxford Centre for Byzantine Research, this hybrid workshop calls upon scholars to present from multiple specialisms. One of the reasons Epiros and its neighbours in the period of the Principality, Empire, and Despotate have remained so poorly studied has been the reliance upon century-old editions and a reluctance to publish in translation. Therefore, we envision not only a proceedings volume from this workshop but additionally the creation of a ‘sourcebook’ for Epirote Western Rome and its surrounding states which presents both papers and the key materials for its study in English translation with critical edition as necessary.
Registration: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZElduCsrjojHNIUxUlJ-geTXPVBuiBkzywn
All timings are in the UK’s Timezone (GMT)
DAY 1 Friday, 8th November 2024
Opening address
9:00 – 9:20
Welcome from Nathan D.C. Websdale and Evan Zarkadas
Session 1 Overview: Epirote Studies
9:30 – 11:00
9:30-10:00 EFSTRATIA SYGKELLOU (Ioannina)
Medieval Epiros: Scientific Studies and Activities in Greece: An Overview
Break – 15 min
10:00-10:30 EVAN ZARKADAS (Independent)
The New Ioannites: The Influx of the Constantinopolitan Refugees in Epiros after 1204 and their Impact on Ioannina
10:30-11:00 BRENDAN OSSWALD (Tübingen)
Late Medieval Epiros: A Spatial Analysis
Session 2
The Dytikoi I: The (Post) ‘Komnenian System’
11:15 – 12:45
11:15-11.45 MICHAEL ANGOLD (Edinburgh)
The Petraliphas in Exile
11:45-12:15 NATHAN D.C. WEBSDALE (Oxford)
In Defence of Epiros: Michael Angelos and Theodore Komnenos Doukas as Traitors, Heirs, and Moses
12:15-12:45 JOHN KEE (Dumbarton Oaks)
Michael Choniates’ Letters to Epiros: John Apokaukos, Theodore Komnenos Doukas, and the end of Byzantine Aegean Greece
Break – 75 min
Session 3 The Dytikoi II: Network Analysis
14:00 – 15:30
14:00-14:30 CHRISTOS TSATSOULIS (N.H.R.F., Athens)
Towards an Edition of a Prosopographical Lexicon for Byzantine Epiros (4th-15th c.): the “Anonymoi” in Epirote Society
14:30-15:00 KATERINA KORRE (Patras)
The Vasilachi case: Observations on the Population Patterns Through the “Archontes” of the Late Medeival Epiros
15:00-15:30 ROBIN SHIELDS (Independent)
Epiros as a Breadbasket? The Extraordinary Barges Agreement of 1436 and the Wider Cereal Trade Between the Tocco Despotate and Ragusa in the mid-15th century
Session 4 The Hybrid Material Culture of Epirote Rome
15:45 – 16:45
15:45-16:10 ANDREA BABUIN (Ioannina)
The Military Element in Late Medieval Epiros through Literary, Historical and Artistic Sources of the Period
16:10-16:40 ALLISON GRENDA (Ann Arbor, Michigan)
Memory, Futurity, and Subversion in Arta’s Despotic Landscape: The Case of the Church of the Parigoritissa
DAY 2 Saturday, 9th November 2024
Session 5
09:00 – 11:00
A Roman ‘Empire’ of the Balkans I: Epiros and Bulgaria
09:00-09:30 FRANCESCO DALL’AGLIO (Bulgarian Academy)
Not Just Klokotnitsa: Relations Between Epiros and Bulgaria between 1207 and 1241
09:30-10:00 KALIN YORDANOV (Bulgarian Academy)
“Totum ducatum di Finepople et quisque eum tenet”: A Key to Solving Theodore Komnenos’ Mysterious Diversion Towards Klokotnitza at the March on Constantinople in 1230?
10:00-10:30 ILIA CURTO PELLE (Princeton)
Circulation Patterns of Epirote-Thessalonican Coinage in the 13th Century
10:30-11:00 SAMUEL E.L. COWELL (Vienna)
Reevaluating the Epirote Coinage of Michael II Komnenos Doukas
Break – 30 min
Session 6
A Roman ‘Empire’ of the Balkans II: Epiros amidst its Neighbours
11:30 – 13:30
11:30-12:00 JACK DOOLEY (Royal Holloway, London)
The Orsini Family in the Aragonese Chronicle of Morea
12:00-12:30 AGON RREZJA (Zagreb)
Albanians Between the Despotate of Epiros and the Latin West in the 13th-14th Centuries
12:30-13:00 GREGORY MANOPOULOS (D.U.Th., Komotini)
Rediscovering history in early 17th century Epiros: The 14th century “Χρυσόβουλον τῆς ὑπεραγίας Θεοτόκου τῆς Πωγωϊαννῆς”
13:00-13:30 GEORGE TEREZAKIS (Tübingen)
The Transformation of Late Byzantine Epiros to Early Ottoman Sanjak of Yanya (Ioannina) (12th-16th c.): Continuity and Change
Session 7
Reassessing Social Life in the Dossier of John Apokaukos, Metropolitan of Naufpaktos (1200–1232)
14:30 – 16:00
14:30-15:00 NICK CHURIK (Princeton)
Everyday Violence in Apokaukos
15:00-15:30 IOANNIS SMARNAKIS (Aegean)
Episcopal Power and Urban Communities in the Early Despotate of Epiros
15:30-16:00 ALEKSANDAR JOVANOVIC (Fraser Valley)
Contract-Loving Communities: Imperial Bureaucratic Practices in the Provincial Society of John Apokaukos
16:00 – 16:15 Closing Remarks
Call for Podcast Proposals
The Multicultural Middle Ages Podcast Series (see the website here // Twitter: @Podcast_MMA_MAA) welcomes proposals for single episodes to be featured in its fourth season. After three successful seasons, The Multicultural Middle Ages (MMA) will return for its fourth in 2025. Sponsored by the Medieval Academy of America, MMA is an anthology-style podcast that welcomes the global turn in Medieval Studies. This podcast series is a platform from which to continue ongoing conversations and generate new and exciting avenues of inquiry related to the Middle Ages that emphasize its diversity. We seek to highlight thoughtful reflections on culturally responsible approaches to the study of the Middle Ages. This is a space from which to speak to fellow medievalists and, more importantly, the wider public to inform our audience about the multicultural reality of the medieval period and the plurality of voices that comprise the fields of medieval studies. We invite proposals from individuals and collaborators of all ranks and disciplines, including graduate students, for single podcast episodes aimed at fellow medievalists and the wider public.
Possible topics include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Innovative methodological and disciplinary approaches to the Middle Ages
- The future of Medieval Studies
- Research on the multicultural, multiracial, and multiethnic Middle Ages
- Discussions of recent scholarship
- Archival discoveries
- Academic activism and responses to misappropriations of the Middle Ages
- Pedagogical approaches
- Medievalisms
- Medieval culture in contemporary political discourse
Cultural heritage and approaches to curating exhibitions of the Middle Ages
Possible formats may include narrative expositions, interviews, textual analysis, visual analysis, oral performances, and panel discussions. No previous experience with podcasting is required. The Graduate Student Committee of the MAA has hosted several podcasting workshops, which are now available on the MAA YouTube channel. If accepted, an MMA team member will support you through the episode development process and post-production. If you would like our technical assistance to realize your episode, such as facilitating an interview, helping record the episode, or taking care of the audio editing, please make a note of it in your proposal. Your application should include a brief description (500 words) of your proposed episode, noting the following: the chosen topic and its relevance; the plan for adapting the topic to a podcast medium (we encourage 40-50 min. episodes, but also welcome proposals for shorter or longer episodes); and the episode format (interview, narrative, etc.) with an overview of its structure a description of the support you’ll need (if any) from the MMA production team. This information is not binding but will help the committee assess the potential of the project. Please include the name and CV of each author. Submit your proposals and any questions to mmapodcast1@gmail.com and to Loren Lee (lel7qsf@virginia.edu) by October 11, 2024.
The Multicultural Middle Ages Podcast Series Production Team, Will Beattie | wbeattie@nd.edu, Jonathan Correa Reyes | jonatcr@clemson.edu, Loren Lee | lel7qsf@virginia.edu, Reed O’Mara | rao44@case.edu, Logan Quigley | quigleylogan@gmail.com, Website: https://multiculturalmiddleages.com/, X: @Podcast_MMA_MAA, Instagram: @MulticulturalMiddleAgesPod
Introduction to Archival Research
From Domesday Book to the Leveson Enquiry, our historical records offer students a myriad of untapped research opportunities across a wide range of time periods and disciplines. With so many options, however, getting started in the archives can be a daunting prospect. Many students have questions which they are too afraid to ask. How will I know where to go? What do I need to bring with me? How do I find records for my research? How do I order documents? Do I need to use gloves? How can I be sure I’m not wasting my time?
To demystify the research process The National Archives has developed a programme of Archival Skills Training, providing students with the key skills and knowledge needed to undertake academic research using the archives.
This introduction day will explain how to get started with archival research, the importance of knowing the history and structure of a collection to navigate the records, and how to make the most of your time on site.
We will be running this one-day on-site training session on October 1 (BOOK HERE) and December 3 (BOOK HERE), with more sessions in the new year.
Thank you, and we look forward to welcoming you to The National Archives!
All the best,
Kath
Dr Kathryn Maude Team Leader, Medieval Specialists
T: 02083925369 | W: nationalarchives.gov.uk
Twitter: @krmaude @UkNatArchives |Pronouns: she/her
The National Archives, Kew, Richmond, TW9 4DU
header image: A page of Domesday Book for Oxford, cf. the National Archives guide to the Domesday Book