Please see below a CfP for an onomastics panel at Leeds IMC in 2026 – all are welcome, from any discipline/medieval period/ geographical focus!

Please see below a CfP for an onomastics panel at Leeds IMC in 2026 – all are welcome, from any discipline/medieval period/ geographical focus!
Dear all,
Weekly emails will stop over the long vac, but it is worth drawing to your attention a number of opportunities that take place before term starts up again. It is never too early to send in events for the booklet and / or the calendar – we will keep posting events on the OMS calendar as soon as you send them in.
Two more things OMS is looking for:
1) We are still seeking information on your publications for the production of an impact document – please send information of any monographs/edited volumes etc with a short blurb to this email address ASAP.
2) The social media officer position is still vacant – we know that Ashley Castelino is a hard act to follow (see his report here) but he is prepared to help whoever is taking over to learn the trade secrets.
Last week saw the premiere of the filmed version of the Oxford Medieval Mystery Play – thank you to all of you who watched along online! The entire collection is available on our Youtube channel here, where each individual play can also be found.
IMC Leeds 2026 has opened its Call for Papers. Following the death of Twitter, it can be hard to circulate CfPs – if you are organising an event for this, please send me information ASAP, and I will try and make sure that these are all circulated as a group. Medievalists Coffee Mornings continue throughout the term break, only stopping in August.
Events
Opportunities
20 and 21 April 2026 in Oxford
Submission Deadline: 15 September 2025.
Borders, Boundaries, and Barriers have become increasingly prominent themes in historical scholarship. Over the last decade, these concepts have been the focus of sustained scholarly interest, drawing especially upon theoretical frameworks and (trans-)national contexts. There is, therefore, a pressing need to examine how these constructs have shaped the lived experiences of historically marginalised groups, as well as how they were perceived, defined, and engaged with by those groups.
This conference seeks to reorient discussions around borders, boundaries, and barriers by foregrounding the experiences and perspectives of marginalised groups and considering how these divisions were perceived fromthe peripheries of societies. Rather than treating these concepts as abstract or solely geopolitical, we will explore the ways in which they have operated — both historically and historiographically — as tools of exclusion and differentiation.
Organised by Natasha Jenman (University of Oxford), Naomi Reiter (QMUL), and Dean A. Irwin (University of Lincoln/OCHJS), the conference will focus on individuals, religious groups, social groups, societal constructions, and natural phenomena. Participants are invited to explore the role played by evolving borders, boundaries, and barriers in the medieval world as part of group identities; and how groups used them to their advantage. Likewise, it will consider the extent to which borders, boundaries and barriers have been imposed upon the medieval world by modern scholars. Possible topics for consideration include, but are not limited to:
This conference adopts a broad chronological and geographical approach with submissions from all
historically-related disciplines being welcome. The conference will take place on 20 and 21 April 2026 in
Oxford. To submit, please send a title, abstract (c. 250 words), and a bio (c. 100 words) to:
bordersboundariesbarriers@gmail.com. Any questions should be directed to the same e-mail address.
The organisers hope to be able to offer a limited number of bursaries for students and those on low income. Please indicate in your proposal whether you would like to be considered for
one of these if this becomes possible.
Image ref: Latin Psalter (13th-15th C), f.9 – BL Add MS 28681,
Another academic year draws to a close: welcome, finally, to Week 8. The full Medieval Studies booklet is available here.
Next Thursday, 19 June, 4:30-6pm, is the official launch date for the “The Oxford Medieval Mystery Plays – the Film”. This is a wonderful chance to come together to celebrate the end of the year, and watch some of the excellent performances that were put on earlier in the term. At 4:45pm, the film will have its youtube premiere. You can tune in from anywhere in the world to comment; find the full schedule of when each play will start, more information, and a teaser here.
NB. If you are leaving us at the end of this year, and you would like to remain a member of this mailing list (and you are most welcome to do so), please register here with your personal email (link always available from our homepage https://medieval.ox.ac.uk/).
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Opportunities (new additions in bold)
Welcome to Week 7: the full Medieval Studies booklet is available here. First, a number of important reminders.
The Centre for Early Medieval Britain and Ireland is hosting an online exhibition of artefacts and manuscripts that explore the lives of early medieval women. To submit an item, or to attend the even, follow this link.
The Medieval History research seminar in Week 8 (16 June) has been moved to the Old Library in All Souls. There will be a drinks reception afterwards, 6.30-7.30pm, in the Great Quad, to mark Julia’s retirement. For catering purposes, people planning to attend should RSVP using this form: https://forms.office.com/e/Mr92xB66jh
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Opportunities (new additions in bold)
When: Tuesday 10th, 3:30-5.
Where: Massey Room, Balliol College
Interested in exploring the lives of medieval women? Recently stumbled upon a text or a bit of material culture that piqued your interest? The Centre for Early Medieval Britain and Ireland will be launching an online exhibition later this spring, designed to complement the British Library’s recent Medieval Women exhibition. While the BL focused primarily on later medieval material, we hope in our exhibition to shed light on the lives of early medieval women.
For us to embark on this project, we need your help!
We are looking for artefacts, objects, manuscript inscriptions or sections, documentary evidence, and any other bits and bobs that might speak to the history and lived experience of early medieval women.
If you have in mind something that you would like to be included in the exhibition, we will be hosting an informal meeting next Tuesday, 10 June at 3:30pm at Balliol (main site—Massey Room) to give everyone an opportunity to present their ideas, with time for general discussion about the exhibition as a whole.
To prepare, please send us a single slide for each object/manuscript (one slide per exhibition piece, up to three) you’d like to propose, with a couple of bullet points telling us about it and its relevance. We’ve attached a sample slide, just so you have an idea of what we’re looking for. No need to do a full write-up on your proposals; we’d just love to get an idea of what interests you.
Please send your slide(s) to Harriet Carter (harriet.carter@lmh.ox.ac.uk) and Sarah Ware (sarah.ware@history.ox.ac.uk) by Monday, 9 June at 6pm.
Even if you don’t have a particular object in mind for the online exhibition, please do come along to our meeting. This will be a laid-back discussion, and all are welcome (undergraduates, graduate students, researchers, instructors, community members, and everyone in between). We hope to see many of you there!
Image Credit: Add MS 33241, f. 1v
Welcome to Week 6: the full Medieval Studies booklet is available here.
Big News! Join us on Thursday 19th June from 4:30 – 6 at the Farmingdon Institute (Harris Manchester College) for the Film Launch of the Medieval Mystery Plays! We are promised ‘liberal quantities of drinks (including the famous Tiddly Pommes apple juice) and nibbles’; full announcement and trailer here….
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Opportunities (new additions in bold)
Welcome to Week 5: the full Medieval Studies booklet is available here.
Thank you to those who have submitted their publications for the OMS impact booklet – please continue to send short blurbs to the Oxford Medieval Studies email address ASAP. Pictures also welcome!
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Welcome to Week 4: the full Medieval Studies booklet is available here.
OMS are working towards producing an ‘Impact Booklet’, emphasising all of the wonderful things that go on throughout the year. At the moment we are searching for publications – if you have published a relevant monograph/ edited volume/ edition during the past year, please drop an email to this address with a short blurb. Also: Applications to be the next Social Media Officer still welcome; contact Henrike Lähnemann for an informal discussion of the role!
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Opportunities (new additions in bold)
Welcome to Week 3: the full Medieval Studies booklet is available here
Deadline for Social Media Officer expanded! Calling Graduate Students. We are looking for a successor for Ashley Castelino; check out Ashley’s report (and the report of his predecessor Llewelyn Hopwood) on what the role entails. Please do send in your application to Lesley Smith and Henrike Lähnemann under medieval@torch.ox.ac.uk by Friday, 16 May 2025, 12noon, with your CV and your ideas how to built on the social media presence in the future.
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Opportunities (new additions in bold)