Blog

Krasis is a unique, museum-based, interdisciplinary teaching and learning programme, which began life at the Ashmolean in 2017, devised by classicist (and historian of ancient Boeotia) Dr Sam Gartland and Teaching Curator Dr Jim Harris. In 2018, the programme won a University of Oxford Humanities Division Teaching Excellence Award. Hilary term 2025 was its 22nd… Read more: Krasis: Object-centred symposia at the Ashmolean

Week 5 rolls around – stave off the blues with an extensive course of medieval events. The full booklet, as always, can be found here. Events Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Opportunities

The Centre for Manuscript and Text Cultures’ Hilary Term ‘Work-in-Progress’ colloquium – Tuesday 18th February (5.15-6.45pm, the Memorial Room at Queen’s)  The CMTC is delighted to be hosting the following speakers:  Dr Riccardo Montalto (Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II): From manuscripts to history: The reconstruction of the Greek manuscript library of Achilles Statius (1524-1581) Achilles… Read more: CMTC presents — “Work in Progress” Colloquium

Welcome to Week 4. Please find below the events and opportunities for this week: the full booklet, as always, can be found here. A reminder: the deadline for the OMS Small Grants scheme is this friday – don’t miss out! Events Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday For your Calendar Opportunities

Friday 21 March 2025 11am–5pm The Bodleian Libraries have recently acquired a previously unknown manuscript from the library of Humfrey Duke of Gloucester. First written and illuminated in Paris towards the end of the 13th century, the manuscript is an early example of the translation of the New Testament into French. Owned by Jean le… Read more: From Jean le Bon to Good Duke Humfrey: a new manuscript witness to Anglo-French cultural exchange

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

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… Read more: CfP: SELIM 35

The sun is out (for how long remains unclear), and third week is upon us. Please find below the events and opportunities for this week: the full booklet, as always, can be found here. Let me draw your particular attention to Brepols’ upcoming webinar introducing their International Medieval Bibliography (12th Feb at 4pm, see below).… Read more: Medieval Matters H25, Week 3

Welcome to Week 2. As always, we have an impressive set of medieval events for you to enjoy this week. A brief outline is provided below, but the full booklet can be found here. There is still time to sign up for the Medieval Mystery Plays on 26 April – just contact Antonia Anstatt and Sarah Ware. Of… Read more: Medieval Matters HT25, Week 2

October 24 – 25, 2025Binghamton UniversityBinghamton, NYSUBMISSION DEADLINE: APRIL 15, 2025 Queer, trans, intersex, non-binary, genderfluid, and gender-nonconforming people and sourcesare abundant in the premodern textual, artistic, and artifactual record, and studies of gender andsexuality in the medieval period are flourishing as never before. Yet, work on the LGBTQIA+Middle Ages remains limited—especially in our classrooms… Read more: CFP: ‘Always Here: Non-Binary Gender, Trans Identities, and Queerness in the Global Middle Ages (c. 250–1650’

Welcome back to a new term. I hope you’ve all had a chance to look through the OMS termly booklet, the most recent version in full colour glory can be found here. We’ve had a number of important updates since the booklet was last circulated, so do have a look back through. New additions include:… Read more: Medieval Matters HT25, Wk1

Members of the OMS community are invited to participate in The Great Viking Survey. The University of Oslo has recently launched the Great Viking Survey, a wide-ranging study to explore how people across the world perceive and engage with the vikings as history and heritage, and to map the many ways in which contemporary media and… Read more: The Great Viking Survey

When: Monday 24 March 2025Where: St Hugh’s College Images of the Sorrowful Virgin, whether in the form of Michelangelo’s Pietà, or Mary at the foot of the Cross on the Isenheim altarpiece are ubiquitous in medieval and early modern culture. Liturgically this was explored through the Stabat Mater, while vernacular writers found in the Marian lament… Read more: CfP: The Sorrowful Virgin

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, 2pmWhere: Pusey House, Oxford Philipp writes: We at Pusey House welcome all and sundry to join us as we continue our Epiphanytide celebrations… Read more: The Epiphanytide Mysteries

The Oxford/Groningen 2025 Old Frisian Summer School (OFSS25) will take place in Groningen (Netherlands), 7th-11th July. This will be a fun way to learn Old Frisian in a week, to view original Old Frisian manuscripts and to see the world heritage landscape of old Frisian ‘terps’ or dwelling mounds. OFSS25 : Old Frisian : A… Read more: Old Frisian Summer School 2025

Postgraduate Research Forum (hybrid), 2nd April 2025 This forum seeks to provide a supportive environment in which postgraduates can share ideas and get helpful feedback. Proposals are welcomed for 20-minute papers that explore the nuanced relationships between ‘Outsiders’ and ‘Insiders’ during the medieval period, which may include, but are not limited to: Defining Boundaries: Power… Read more: Call for Papers: ‘Outsiders – Insiders’ (University of Reading)

The TORCH Oxford Medieval Studies Programme invites applications for small grants to support conferences, workshops, and other forms of collaborative research activity organised by researchers at postgraduate (whether MSt or DPhil) or early-career level from across the Humanities Division at the University of Oxford. The scheme has a rolling deadline. Closing date for applications: Friday of Week 4 each term for activities taking… Read more: OMS Small Grants Now Open!

Jocelyn Wogan-Browne on Cultural Politics and Social History, c. 1100-c. 1500 Thursdays at 5pm, Weeks 1-6 Hilary, Examination Schools French played a major, though not the only role, in the pervasive multilingualism of British history and culture.  As Britain’s only medieval ‘global’ vernacular, it was also important to a wide range of people for their… Read more: French in Medieval Britain: The James Ford Lectures 2025

Our very own Henrike Lähnemann has recently appeared on the podcast Gone Medieval, discussing her new book ‘The Life of Nuns: Love, Politics, and Religion in Medieval German Convents‘: “The often forgotten world of medieval nuns holds many secrets about the lives of ordinary people of the age, their daily routines, education, and societal roles.… Read more: Gone Medieval: Lives of Medieval Nuns

Is this your first term in Oxford or have you been here for years? Are you visiting? Or perhaps planning on applying for our Medieval Studies programme? Philip Flacke completed an internship in Oxford in Trinity 2024, and he’s prepared an important list of 10 rules for Oxford you’d regret not knowing: Learn more about… Read more: 10 Rules for Oxford You’d Regret Not Knowing

Mary Catherine O’Connor Once upon a time a scholar stepped onto a ship with a saga in hand; it sounds like the recipe for a bad joke, or a half-forgotten tale scribbled in the margins of manuscript come down from the Middle Ages. But this is how a modern-day saga starts, my saga of teaching… Read more: A Ship, A Saga, and a Scholar

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… Read more: Epiros: The Other Western Rome, Workshop 8th-9th November 2024

Date: Tuesday 21 January, 13.00-14.00, with lunch provided from 12.30Location: 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… Read more: Medieval Afterlives Season Workshop

Week 8 is finally upon us, and a final round of events. As always, a PDF version of the booklet can be found here. Keep an eye on your inboxes over the vac – I will be sending out an email asking for contributions to next term’s booklet. Recruitment for the Medieval Mystery Cycle on 26… Read more: Medieval Matters MT24, Week 8

On 22 November, the ‘Crafting the Book’ Workshop was organised by Alison Ray (St Peter’s College) with talks and practical activities led by Sara Charles (University of London) and Eleanor Baker (Balliol College). Attended by university students, researchers, as well as library and archives staff, the workshop engaged with the history of the book and… Read more: Crafting the Book: A One-Day Workshop Report

A small piece of stone, a snippet of fabric, a tiny lock of hair. All of these materials would be just as at home within a hollow late medieval pendant, as in a sentimental locket made weeks ago. What is it about these things, detritus in any other context, that makes them more precious than their gold or jewelled containers?

Much like Bob Dylan, we have all spent the last week Blowin’ in the Wind: here are this week’s medieval events to help you through. As always, a PDF version of the booklet can be found here. A reminder that this Friday – 5pm at St Edmund Hall – there will be an event for those… Read more: Medieval Matter MT24, Week 7