The inaugural ADAM workshop (Addressing Difficult Aspects of the Medieval) 

The inaugural ADAM (Addressing Difficult Aspects of the Medieval) workshop took place from the 23rd–24th September 2024 at St. John’s College, University of Oxford. 

The programme on Monday 23rd began with a 90-minute discussion of the ‘Möndull-Ingibjörg’ episode from Göngu-Hrólfs saga. The committee selected this episode as it contains references to sexual assault, physical disability, and race. 

We distributed the text in an English translation several weeks before the workshop. In the session we discussed: the ‘sanitisation’ of sexual violence and racial insensitivity through translation; the difficulty in mapping contemporary understandings of rape, race, and disability onto the past; the scholar’s positionality in their approach to these topics. The conversation soon moved beyond the text to consider these issues in academia at large. Positionality was particularly controversial, with delegates discussing their discomfort in studying topics without lived experience – ‘am I the right person to be speaking about this?’ – and the potential advantages and disadvantages to foregrounding one’s own experience in academic work. The conversation led us to consider how research grounded in lived experience might complement that which is not, and how scholars of different positionalities might collaborate.

This opening discussion was followed by two paper sessions, the first of which was on ‘Facing the public: What do people want from history?’ and the second on ‘Ethnic identities: interrogating nationhood and colonialism’. Among the papers, we heard considerations of: the risk of harassment faced by women scholars; museological representations of slavery; racial erasure in the interpretation of a Middle English lyric; and the miscategorisation of the ‘Ruthanian’ language along contemporary national lines.

These sessions were followed by a keynote presentation from Professor Corinne Saunders (University of Durham). Professor Saunders gave an instructive account of her movement from her doctoral thesis, to her seminal monograph on ‘Rape and Ravishment’; an academic path she did not anticipate as a postgraduate. She was aware of the pressure upon scholars who ‘fall into’ the study of topics such as these to equip themselves both academically and psychologically. She also noted that a project can become more ‘difficult’ due to external factors, such as when COVID-19 and the murder of George Floyd coincided with the final stage of a project on ‘breathlessness’.

The following day began with a group tour with the Uncomfortable Oxford social enterprise. In our scheduled discussion afterwards, delegates were especially taken by the tour’s engagement with the history of antisemitism in the city and the location of a number of University landmarks atop significant Jewish sites. We discussed the University’s reticence when addressing difficult histories and the insufficiency of the ‘plaque response’, whereby a commemorative plaque is erected in a way that might be easily overlooked or dismissed. Delegates debated the best way to supplement such a response so that these aspects of institutional history sit alongside prevailing, comfortable narratives.

Two sessions followed under the banner of ‘Sexual interactions’, the first considering ‘Power structures and interpersonal relationships’ and the second ‘Violence, affect, and audience’. Dividing this topic into two allowed delegates to engage with medieval representations of sexual material that frustrate contemporary categories.  We heard papers on the study of: conjugal violence in court reports of 15th-century Freising; how best to teach the phenomenon of the ‘raping hero’; and ‘compassion fatigue’ in scholars dealing with artistic representations of Lucretia’s rape by Tarquinius.

The workshop concluded with a panel on ‘Redefinitions: Moving beyond structures’, which dovetailed with our recurrent discussions of terminology and the lack of overlap between contemporary language and historical concepts. Papers were presented on the inadequacy of contemporary disability theory in appraising medieval medical text, and the applicability of queer theory to the interpretation of cross-dressing in a monastic context. The workshop concluded with an hour-long discussion, in which we restated our need to wrangle with contemporary language and its misalignment with the categories of the past, as well as to continuously re-evaluate ‘best practice’ in addressing these difficult topics, both in the classroom and in scholarship.

We canvassed for anonymous feedback from our delegates following the workshop and the response has been uniformly positive, with comments emphasising the value of the workshop environment for rigorous and respectful debate. Our delegates have offered a number of suggestions for the network’s development and we now look towards implementing a mailing list and website to provide resources for scholars, organising an edited collection of papers from the workshop, and arranging an open conference at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf. We have also been invited to collaborate with Corinne Saunders in her work at The Affective Experience Lab, University of Durham.

We are most grateful to OMS for the financial support.

Adam Kelly (University of Oxford), Grace O’Duffy (University of Oxford), Elliot Worrall (Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf)

‘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

The Oxford Medieval Manuscripts Group

By Mathilde Mioche

The Oxford Medieval Manuscripts Group (OMMG) is a collective of eight postgraduate students and early-career researchers who bonded in Oxford over their passion for medieval manuscripts. We host a seminar series through which we hope to gather a community of emerging scholars, from the University of Oxford and beyond, around the study of medieval books and the art of illumination.

Starting in Hilary Term 2024, OMMG seminars will take place twice monthly on Friday afternoons. We will discuss the most exciting recent research; share our own projects and ideas in a supportive environment; learn from lectures and tutorials given by experienced colleagues; and examine medieval manuscripts together during library visits.

By promoting exchange between scholars with diverse specialisms and different levels of experience, OMMG aims to turn the study of medieval books and illuminations into a more collaborative pursuit. We know that working with manuscripts is often a solitary business, where knowledge is acquired over silent and cautious one-on-one meetings with a delicate object. We want to share the wonder we experience before the material, visual and textual complexity of illuminated codices, as well as the interrogations or frustrations we have as we encounter obstacles in our research. The OMMG seminar series will provide manuscript enthusiasts with a stimulating platform for learning practical and analytical skills from peers as well as experts. We would love you to join us!

To subscribe to our mailing list, participate in library visits, propose a presentation of your research for work-in-progress meetings, or submit any queries, please write to: Elena Lichmanova.

Programme for MT 2024 (Fridays, 5pm, Merton College)

Week 1 (18 Oct, 3pm, Weston Library)  Andrew Honey | Bodleian Library: Cataloguing Medieval Bookbindings at the Bodleian: Manuscripts from Reading Abbey as a case study. Limited places, write to the email below by 16/10/2024 

Week 3                       Work in Progress Meeting Hawkins Room
1 November               
We are still accepting applications. If you would like to present your work in progress and receive our feedback, write to the email above by 28/10/2024

Week 4                       Reading Group: Audience and the Senses
8 November               K. Rudy, ‘Introduction’, Touching Parchment: How Medieval
ONLINE                       Users Rubbed, Handled, and Kissed Their Manuscripts (vol. 2, 2024)
Write to the email    E. Duffy, ‘Ch. 1. A Book for Lay People’, Marking the Hours: 
above to join             English People and Their Prayers, 1240-1570 (2008)

Week 5                       The New College Library Visit
15 November            Study and Discussion of Illuminated Manuscripts
                                   
Limited places, write to the email above by 8/11/2024

Week 7                       Eleanor Jackson | British Library
29 November            Medieval Women in Their Own Words: 
Mure Room                Curating the British Library Exhibition 

Week 9                       Bonus: Casual trip to see the ‘Medieval Women in Their 
14 December             Own Words’ exhibition at the British Library together
Saturday noon           
Write to the email above to join

About Us

Irina Boeru is a third-year DPhil student with a background in Medieval and Modern Languages and Medieval Studies. Her research analyses travel narratives in French and Latin illuminated manuscripts, specifically chronicles of the fifteenth-century conquest of the Canary Islands.

Fergus Bovill graduated with a BA in History of Art from the University of York. He is currently pursuing an MSt in Medieval Studies, with a dissertation on the assemblage of medieval manuscript cuttings into albums by nineteenth-century bibliophiles and connoisseurs.

Charly Driscoll completed an MSc in Book History and Material Culture at the University of Edinburgh and is now studying for a DPhil in Medieval English. Her project investigates how the material features of medieval manuscripts reveal their individual histories.

Elena Lichmanova is a third-year DPhil student with a background in History of Art and Medieval Studies. Her research examines the origins and early history of marginalia in medieval manuscripts, focusing on illuminated English Psalters of the thirteenth century.

Mathilde Mioche completed an MSt in History of Art and Visual Culture with a dissertation on illuminated Insular Gospels. She is currently preparing a doctoral project on the formal and medial mutations of the Dance of Death since its emergence in the fifteenth century.

Ana de Oliveira Dias is a historian of early medieval visual and intellectual culture with a specialisation in manuscript studies. She received a PhD in Medieval History from Durham University in 2019 and is now a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the project Crafting Documents, c. 500—c. 800 CE at the University of Oxford.

Celeste Pan is a third-year DPhil student with a background in English and Medieval Studies. Her research considers the production of illuminated Hebrew manuscripts in medieval northern Europe, specifically a group of liturgical Bibles from the Rheno-Mosan region.

Klara Zhao is a first-year MPhil student in Egyptology preparing a dissertation inspired by Umberto Eco’s Infinity of Lists. She developed a special interest in medieval French poetry during her BA in French and Linguistics, which she continues to nurture.

Image: Saint Augustine teaching. Paris, Bibl. Mazarine, MS 616, fol. 1r.

Palaeography Offers in Michaelmas 24

There are a number of palaeography offers available for anybody interested in Oxford happening in Michaelmas 2024, coordinated by Dr Laure Miolo, Lyell Career Development Fellow in Latin Palaeography and Dilts Fellow at Lincoln College, historian of late medieval Europe, specialising in manuscript studies and history of early libraries with a special focus on scientific books and practices. Contact her for  any of the below under laure.miolo@history.ox.ac.uk.

Header Image: Lincoln College/EL/OAS/D1

  1. French Palaeography Manuscript Reading Group, Mo 10.30-12
  2. Exploring Medieval Oxford through Lincoln & Magdalen Archives, Fr 2-3pm
  3. Latin Palaeography Manuscript Reading Group, Tue 2-3.30pm

1. French Palaeography Manuscript Reading Group

This group is open to anyone with an interest in Old French, Middle French and Anglo-Norman manuscripts. We study and read manuscripts from the 12th century to the 16th century with a special focus on palaeography. We meet every Monday between 10.30am-12pm in the Weston Library. 

If you are interested in joining the group or would like more information, please write to Laure Miolo.

Oxford, St John’s College MS 164, fol. 1r

2. Exploring Medieval Oxford through Lincoln & Magdalen Archives

Every Friday 2-3pm from week 2, Seminar Room 1, EPA Centre, Museum Road, OX1 3PX

Following the focus on medieval documents from Lincoln College last year, the seminar will now also include documents from Magdalen College in collaboration with Richard Allen (Magdalen College’s archivist). Both Colleges holds an outstanding collection of archives predating the Colleges’ respective foundations. A part of those documents relates to several parishes of Oxford, such as All Saints, St Michael’s at the Northgate and others. 

This weekly one-hour seminar aims to investigate these unpublished documents, mostly deeds, dating back to the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, that bear witness to everyday life in Oxford at the time. Anyone interested in analysing primary sources and conducting a comprehensive examination of the documents are welcome to attend. Working in pairs on a self-selected source, the research will entail the examination of the record’s external characteristics (such as writing surface, layout, marks of use) as well as transcription, translation, and identification of locations and individuals mentioned in the records to establish a context. Special importance will be given to the seals attached to these documents. 

As well as collaborating on unpublished sources, attendees will gain experience in digitisation of sources and publish their analysis online. Students will prepare their item for exhibition, and a one-day workshop on these sources will be held in Trinity Term. Those who are interested can contact the convenor, Laure Miolo

3. Latin Palaeography Manuscript Reading Group

(advanced beginner, intermediate and advanced levels)

For those wishing to develop, deepen or maintain their skills in Latin palaeography, we meet every Tuesday between 2pm and 3.30pm in the Weston Library (Horton Room or Visiting Scholars Centre). We explore a wide range of medieval manuscripts and documents from the 9th to the 15th centuries. The session includes analysis of different scripts, abbreviations and codicological features. Practice is the key to developing palaeographical skills and becoming more comfortable with different scripts, including the more cursive and abbreviated ones. The aim of this group is to teach the basic elements of each script and abbreviation in order to help in the direct reading and analysis of the manuscripts. Those who are interested can contact the convenor, Laure Miolo

Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Laud Misc. 562, fol. 1r

Crafting the Book: A One-Day Workshop

Date: Friday, 22 November 2024

‘Crafting the Book’ is a one-day workshop aimed at current Oxford University students with an academic interest in the history of the book and material culture of medieval manuscripts and early printed texts, including their production, decoration, and provenance through signs of ownership. They will engage with historic materials and develop a deeper understanding of contemporary artistic and reader practices through taking part in hands-on activities with craft methods.

Lunchtime Lecture: Sir Victor Blank Lecture Theatre at the Weston Library, 1-2pm (BOOK HERE)

Talks by expert speakers Sara Charles and Eleanor Baker with focus on their wide-ranging research on medieval illumination, calligraphy, and early printing techniques. Sara is currently a PhD student at the Institute of English Studies studying manuscript production in the Latin Christian world, and has a forthcoming trade history book, The Medieval Scriptorium: Making Books in the Middle Ages (Reaktion Books, August 2024). Eleanor is currently the English Subject Lead for the University of Oxford’s Astrophoria Foundation Year, with a forthcoming trade history book, Book Curses (Bodleian Publishing, November 2024). The lunchtime lecture is free to attend.

Practical Workshops: Bodleian Bibliographical Press (FULLY BOOKED – contact the organiser to be added to the waiting list)

Workshop 1: Calligraphy Workshop led by Sara Charles taking place at 2.15pm on Friday, 22 November 2024 in the Bibliographic Press room located in the Old Bodleian Library. Sara is leading a practical session on making and writing with iron gall ink as well as painting on parchment.

Workshop 2: Letterpress Workshop led by Eleanor Baker taking place at 4pm on Friday, 22 November 2024 in the Bibliographic Press room located in the Old Bodleian Library. Eleanor is leading a practical session on crafting book curses with early printing techniques.

There is a £6 registration fee to attend each workshop or £12 for both (please bring cash or contact organiser) and each workshop will last roughly 1.5 hours.

Please contact event organiser Alison Ray (St Peter’s College Archivist) with any questions.

‘Crafting the Book’ is generously supported by the Oxford Medieval Studies Small Grant Scheme.

Medieval Visual Culture Seminar

St Catherine’s College, Oxford, Arumugam Building 1.2
Thursdays 5 pm. All welcome

Thursday, November 7, 5-6:30 pm
Elena Lichmanova, DPhil student, University of Oxford “Religious Storytelling and the Rise of Marginalia”

Thursday, November 21, 5-6:30 pm
Alixe Bovey, Professor and Dean, Deputy Director, & Head of Research, The Courtauld Institute of Art “Visual Storytelling in 14th-century London: Subtexts, Pretexts, Contexts”

Thursday, December 5, 5-6:30 pm
Ben Tilghman, Associate Professor of Art History, Washington College (Maryland, USA) & Visiting Research Fellow, University of Edinburgh “What Art Does When It’s Doing Nothing: Stillness, Perdurance, and Agency in Medieval Art”

Questions? Contact Nancy Thebaut, Associate Professor, History of Art & Fellow, St Catherine’s College

Header image: Smithfield Decretals, Toulouse (?), c. 1300; London, c. 1340. London, British Library, Royal 10 E IV, fol. 4v. Image courtesy of Alixe Bovey

Nancy Thebaut is Associate Professor of the History of Art & Tutorial Fellow, St Catherine’s College. She writes for the Medieval Booklet:

Hello! I’m delighted to be joining the Oxford Medieval Studies community. I grew up in Florida and earned my postgrad degrees at the Courtauld, Ecole du Louvre, and University of Chicago (PhD). I have been living for the past few years in upstate New York, where I was Assistant Professor at Skidmore College, and I just completed a year-long sabbatical at the center for medieval studies (CESCM) at the University of Poitiers. My research and teaching cover a wide range of time and object-types, but I am especially interested in manuscript illuminations and ivory relief carvings.

Detail of the cover of Paris BnF Latin 9390, 9th c., Metz

I’m currently at work on two projects. The first is an exhibition that I am co-curating with Melanie Holcomb at The Cloisters (Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY) on love, sex, and gender in the late Middle Ages and that will open in October 2025. The second is a book, entitled Lessons in Looking: Difficult Images of Christ, ca. 850-1050. It considers a selection of narrative images in liturgical manuscripts from northern Europe that depict moments at which seeing Christ is at stake, often at moments when his body is partially obscured or visually absent. In both projects, I’m invested in the agency of images, or how they actively shape how we look, think, and understand ourselves in relation to others.

I’ll be teaching a variety of medieval art history courses, in which I look forward to centering Oxford’s incredible medieval collections and sites.  I’ll also be convening the Medieval Visual Culture Seminar. We have an exciting line-up for the 2024-2025 academic year, and I hope you’ll attend!

The Barmakids – The Bridge between Islamic and Indic Worlds

Tuesday, 24 Sept, 11am  in the MBI El Jaber Auditorium, Corpus Christi College, Merton Street, Oxford

You are cordially invited to the 2nd Reza Hosseini Memorial Lecture Series delivered, in hybrid format, by William Dalrymple. Please register here to receive the Zoom link for those joining onlinehttps://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-barmakids-a-bridge-between-islamic-and-indic-worlds-tickets-1012691907757. The opening statements will be offered by Profs Matthew Weait, Director of Continuing Education, and Arezou Azad, Director of the Invisible East Programme.

There will also be a workshop on Friday, 27 Sept. Limited seating, reservation required

The Speaker

William Dalrymple, All Souls Visiting Fellow 2023-2024, is the author of the Wolfson Prize-winning “White Mughals”, “The Last Mughal”, which won the Duff Cooper Prize, and the Hemingway and Kapucinski Prize-winning “Return of a King”. “The Anarchy” was short listed for the Duke of Wellington medal, the Tata Book of the Year and the Historical Writers Association Award, was a Finalist for the Cundill Prize for History and won the 2020 Arthur Ross Medal from the US Council on Foreign Relations.

William Dalrymple is the author of the Wolfson Prize-winning White MughalsThe Last Mughal, which won the Duff Cooper Prize, and the Hemingway and Kapucinski Prize-winning “Return of a King”. “The Anarchy” was short listed for the Duke of Wellington medal, the Tata Book of the Year and the Historical Writers Association Award, was a Finalist for the Cundill Prize for History and won the 2020 Arthur Ross Medal from the US Council on Foreign Relations.

The Reza Hosseini Memorial Lecture Series

The series connects individual stories to larger questions on the history and contemporary issues of the Middle East. The series aims to recognise and promote, in particular, microhistories, oral and documentary history, and fieldwork analysis. The series honours the life and work of Reza Hosseini (1960-2003) who last served as Humanitarian Officer in Iraq. The series was launched on the 20th anniversary of the attack on the United Nations Headquarters in Baghdad on 19 August 2003 which killed Reza and 21 colleagues.

This is a hybrid event. Please register here.

Come Collect!

An invitation from the Bodleian Libraries team: How do we relax? A lot of us like collecting things and enjoying our collections. They might be books, they might be records, they might be photographs… they can be anything!

Thursday 26 September, 6–8pm | Blackwell Hall, Weston Library

As a library, the Bodleian has enjoyed collecting for over 400 years and we want to foster that joy in others. Join us 6–8pm on Thursday 26 September in Blackwell Hall at the Weston Library to have a drink and celebrate collecting.

By all means just hang out with fellow collectors, but we encourage you to:

  • bring a treasured book, document, or vinyl record for an expert opinion
  • bring an old camera, or a photo or slide we may be able to scan
  • bring ephemera we might add to our collection (posters, flyers, event tickets… especially if they’re homemade).

You can also enjoy:

  • printing a memento on our historic press
  • having a go at making a mini zine
  • viewing some of the Bodleian’s special collections
  • meeting members of the student Bibliophile society and seeing what they collect
  • learning about how you can get more involved with the Bodleian.

Sign up here: https://forms.office.com/e/n63FFwAZCD – we look forward to seeing you soon! 

This is open to all university members, please spread the word.

Amelia Wray (she/her), Administrator, Special Collections, The Weston Library | Bodleian Libraries, Broad Street, Oxford, OX1 3BG, E: amelia.wray@bodleian.ox.ac.uk

Dutch Rhetoricians’ Play: Man’s Desire and Fleeting Beauty

On Sunday 29 September 2024 (6pm and 8pm) the Chapel of New College, Oxford, offers the rare opportunity to see Man’s Desire and Fleeting Beauty, a short Dutch comedy. 

The play was written for a dramatic competition in Gouda in 1546 by a Leiden Chamber of Rhetoric, and this performance may only be the second time the play has ever been staged. You are all invited to come and find out whether Man’s Desire can win Fleeting Beauty’s affections and what role Fashion and Custom play in this amorous quest. 

The play is co-produced by Charlotte Steenbrugge (University of Sheffield) and Elisabeth Dutton (Université de Fribourg). Admission is free.

Sheep Liver Divination for US Election

Explanation of the result of the inspection of a sheep liver in the Old Library of St Edmund Hall. Dr Selena Wisnom (Leicester) researches ancient Mesopotamian divination, and asks the question: Will Donald Trump win the 2024 US election?

You can watch the inspection in this video:

Inspection of the sheep’s liver in the kitchen of The Queen’s College, Oxford
Explanation of the results in the Old Library of St Edmund Hall, Oxford

and you can watch the alternative Babylonian reading in this video:

Alternative reading of the result

Disclaimer: the extispicy is for entertainment and research purposes only!

Dr Wisnom held a Junior Research Fellowship in Manuscripts and Text Cultures at The Queen’s College, Oxford from 2016-2020 and is currently Lecturer in the Heritage of the Middle East at the University of Leicester.