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 Zoomlink for those joining online: https://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 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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
The Humanities Division Interdisciplinary Master’s Programmes are advertising an Academic Mentor & Communications Officer Joint Position for the MSt in Medieval Studiesand Oxford Medieval Studies (OMS). The deadline for applications is 2 September 2024. For an insight into the duties involved, read the blog post by two previous postholders, Dr Luisa Ostacchini: A Medieval Monologium, and Dr Karl Kinsella Heralding Oxford Medieval Studies.
The role of the Academic Mentor is to support the work of the programme convenors by fostering a group identity for the incoming cohort of students. The Academic Mentor will make an important contribution to the experience of students on this course.
The role of Oxford Medieval Studies (OMS) Communication Officer is to prepare the termly Medieval Booklet, send out a weekly news bulletin, and coordinate graduate students working with OMS.
The position will be offered for one year in the first instance. The holder will be expected to work 64 hours during Michaelmas term and 56 hours during each of Hilary and Trinity terms (for a total of 176 hours over the year). The hours should be divided flexibly between the MSt and OMS portions of the job, with a typical split of two-thirds MSt and one-third OMS. The remuneration offered is at point 7.1 of the casual pay spine; in 2023-24 this was £18.98 per hour.
Duties of the joint position
The role of the Academic Mentor is to:
help foster a sense of group identity and cohesion
contribute to the research mentoring and professional development of the students during the course
establish an informal space for group interaction
This will involve:
directing students towards relevant events and activities and helping them to navigate sources of information, including signposting to relevant learning opportunities and skills development provision
providing information and guidance on academic choice, including programme options and further study
discussing with students their future plans (whether professional or academic) and offering appropriate guidance by directing students towards relevant offices in the University
leading group discussions of academic and professional topics as may be relevant, depending on students’ needs
providing appropriate guidance on drafting research proposals for doctoral applications
coaching students in study skills (e.g., writing)
readiness to serve as ‘a helpful ear’ to students’ academic concerns or anxieties, liaising with the convenors where appropriate and/or where the mentor’s own concerns arise about a student. The mentor will not act as a welfare officer; however, they are advised to consult the convenors or the course administration should welfare issues arise so that students may be directed to the proper sources of support
The role will support the more formal work of the programme convenor to whom the Academic Mentor should report regularly and consult for guidance on offering advice to students (e.g., on University procedures)
The above is meant to act as a broad guidance; it is expected that the role will be flexible and responsive to the needs of individual cohorts.
The role of OMS Communications Officer is to:
Prepare the termly Medieval Booklet for publication two weeks before term starts
Write and circulate a weekly OMS email news bulletin
Coordinate graduate students working with OMS as events and social media officers
Help to administer the medieval.ox.ac.uk blog and the mailing list
Encourage graduate participation in blogging, application to OMS small grants, and so on
Work with the Directors of Oxford Medieval Studies to promote medieval studies
We welcome applications either from postdoctoral candidates, or candidates with relevant experience. Depending on availability and expertise, there might be scope for some collaborative teaching (for which additional payment would be made).
How to apply
Please write a letter of application outlining your suitability for the role, and send it, together with a CV, to interdisciplinary@humanities.ox.ac.uk by 2 September. Please ask two referees to send their references to the same address by the same date. Interviews for shortlisted applicants will take place in late August, and successful applicants will be expected to start from the beginning of Michaelmas term 2024.
by Caitlín Kane, Special Collections Curatorial Assistant New College
Back in February of this year, New College Library, Oxford had the pleasure of showcasing our wonderful collection of seven Books of Hours—beautiful manuscripts that once served as religious texts and treasured family heirlooms. Popular from the 14th century, especially in France, England, and the Netherlands, these were devotional texts that brought monastic routines into the daily lives of laypeople. Each typically included a calendar, the Office of the Virgin, Penitential Psalms, a litany, and the Office of the Dead, often decorated and customised to reflect the owner’s personal devotions. In collaboration with the Medieval Women’s Writing (MWW) Research Group, we hosted a workshop to show off, discuss, and examine these precious books. The event began with a talk by New College’s Special Collections Curatorial Assistant (that’s me!) on the significance of these books in studying lay devotion, particularly among women, and I shared tips on identifying their owners through text and decoration clues. Dr Jess Hodgkinson, New College Library’s Graduate Trainee, followed with a wonderful talk on her discovery of Eadburg in Bodleian Library, MS Selden Supra 30, thanks to innovative 3D recording technology from the ARCHiOx project.
Participants then had the chance to examine the manuscripts up close. A particularly lively discussion arose from an inscription I had found just that week in MS 369, where we debated whether the scribe’s name was ‘Claudius’ or ‘Claudine’.
It was wonderful to see these books being enjoyed, given that many hadn’t been closely studied since their donation in the 1980s. The enthusiasm and insights from everyone involved have been invaluable, prompting further research and discoveries about the lives of their former owners, some of which I will share now.
MS 369: A FRENCH CONNECTION
MS 369 is a late 15th-century French book of hours, possibly Use of Amiens, written in Latin. The last eight folios contain prayers to the Effusions of the Blood of Christ, written in vernacular French, and signed ‘Claudius Taconnet sripsit [sic]’. I had originally thought the name was Claudine or Claudina, but a further inspection of the horned ‘s’ in ‘les’ and ‘jesus’ suggested otherwise. Although there is a record of a Claude Taconnet, a juror for the linen-workers, in Paris in 1586, it’s unclear at this stage if this is our same Claude. The inclusion of these vernacular prayers suggests they were intended for someone less familiar with reading Latin.
New College Library, Oxford, MS 369, f. 9rNew College Library, Oxford, MS 369, f. 146rNew College Library, Oxford, MS 369, f. 128r
MS 369’s decoration is rich with burnished gold, floral borders, and miniatures. The face of St. John in one miniature has been worn away, likely through reverential touching or kissing of the page. This is commonly seen in books of hours, as the laity adopted not only monastic routines and prayers, but also imitated their priests in kissing holy images and books. As was pointed out to me during our showcase, a small figure depicted praying in an illumination of Saint Anne reading to Mary may potentially represent a member of Claude’s family or a woman for whom the book was originally commissioned.
MS 371: HERETIC HUNTERS IN DRENTHE
New College Library, Oxford, MS 371, f. 65rNew College Library, Oxford, MS 371, f. 2r
While preparing for our workshop, I thought Claude’s inscription in MS 369 would be the highlight. But thanks to the work of Prof. Henrike Lähnemann and Dr Friedel Roolfs, I was excited to discover that the inscriptions in MS 371 were even more intriguing. MS 371, a book of hours in the Middle Dutch vernacular, was likely made in a monastery in the Northern Netherlands around 1460-1480. Its calendar features saints linked to the dioceses of Utrecht, such as St Willibrord and St Walburga, and of Münster, including St Blasius and St George. This calendar and the decoration are strikingly similar to those in books of hours produced in the Benedictine double monastery of Selwerd in Groningen. Though the book’s exact origins need further examination, the endleaves record the births of Maria van Selbach and Roelof van Münster’s children from 1530 to 1538:
Item, in the year 1530, on Sunday after Candlemas, on St D.’s day, my daughter Katharina was born, whose godparents were John of Selbach, Marshal, my mother, and the wife of […]. Item, in the aforementioned year ‘31 on the Tuesday after Corpus Christi is my son Rolef born whose godparents were Kuntz von Selbach and the wife of Droste Bernt van Hackfort, my brother Jürgen van Münster. Item, in the aforementioned year ‘33 on the Tuesday after St Peter-in-chains is born my son John whose godparents were Henry van Münster, Bernt van Hackfort and the young lady van Eill to Klarenbeck, called Blankenstein. Item, in the year [15]34, on the 8th day after the birth of the BMV, on a Tuesday morning, my son Dirk was born whose godparents were my mother and Dirk van Baer. Item, in the year [15]36 on the Eve of Corpus Christi my daughter Agnes was born, whose godparents were her brother Roleff and Jutta Smullynck. Item, in the year [15]38 on a Tuesday after St Martin, my son David was born.
New College Library, Oxford, MS 371, f. 137vNew College Library, Oxford, MS 371, back board interior
All the names are clustered around the castle Klarenbeck in the Duchy of Cleves and the now destroyed Duirsum Castle in Loppersum, in the border area between the Netherlands and Germany. Maria van Selbach, born around 1510, grew up in Terborg and later moved to Coevorden with her father Johan van Selbach, the Drost of Drenthe and Castellan of Coevorden, and her mother Jutta Schmullynk. After her marriage to Roelof van Münster, the couple eventually settled in Duirsum Castle, Loppersum, in 1540, which Roelof inherited from his wealthy mother, Bauwe Heemstra. Agnes, one of their daughters, married Johan de Mepsche around 1561, a notorious Groningen heretic hunter and a staunch Catholic supporter of the Spanish monarchy during the Dutch Revolt. Their daughter, Mary de Mepsche, married Johan Kyff van Frens and inherited this treasured book. The manuscript then passed down to her sister’s son Egbert Clant and his wife Beatrix, and eventually to their daughter, Maria Catrina Clant. An additional note in the book traces its journey through the hands of women in the family:
This book is left as inheritance to Lady Agnes van Münster’s daughter Mary de Mepsche, and further to Egbert Clant and Beatrix van Ewssum who gave the same to their daughter Mary Catherine Clant, 4 April 1639.
MS 371 is the first book of hours at New College that we can definitively say was owned by women, though likely not the only one. Other additions by its owners, including the Ten Commandments in the vernacular, and notes on ‘watery’ zodiac signs, along with the worn initials on prayers and an image of Christ, reflect the deep personal devotion of this family over at least four generations. Their religious dedication is also evident from their sizeable donations to several monasteries, including Marienstatt, Keppel, and Ter Apel, where the coat of arms of Agnes van Münster and Johan de Mepsche can be found in a stained glass window.
AND MORE: MS 323 AND MS 310
Although MSS 369 and 371 have been the focus of my study, there are marks of use and ownership in each of New College’s books of hours. MS 323, a 16th-century Flemish manuscript, contains a Spanish inscription beginning ‘Estas horas van Lohesi(?)’ and further inscriptions in English detailing the births of two children, Jane and William Watson, in 1614 and 1615. MS 310, an early 15th-century book of hours, features a Middle English religious lyric and a signature possibly belonging to a ‘Henry Knyght’.
New College Library, Oxford, MS 323, f. 118 vNew College Library, Oxford, MS 310, f. 115r
There is still much to uncover about these manuscripts and their owners, especially the MSS I have mentioned only briefly. If anyone is interested in viewing these manuscripts themselves, please contact New College Library or the Head Librarian (Christopher Skelton-Foord) to arrange an appointment.
If you’d like to read more, my full article on these manuscripts has recently been published online, open access, in New College Notes 21 (2024).
My heartfelt thank you goes out to Marlene Schilling and Kat Smith from MWW, the New College Library team, and TORCH for making this event happen. I’m again deeply grateful to Prof. Henrike Lähnemann and Dr Friedel Roolfs for their incredible work on the transcription and translation of MS 371, and to Rakoen Maertens and New College Archivist Michael Stansfield for their assistance with the MS 323 inscriptions.
Bibliography:
Deschamps, J. and Mulder, H. (1998–2009). Inventaris van de Middelnederlandse handschriften van de Koninklijke Bibliotheek van België (voorlopige uitgave). Brussels: Koninklijke Bibliotheek van België.
The last of the events organised by Living Stones, St Mary the Virgin, Iffley took place on Saturday 8 September, 2.00 – 5.00 Iffley Church Hall OX4 4EG, focussing on how the world changed in the 12th century when Iffley Church was built.
In ‘Encountering the Other: Conflict and connection in 12th-century Europe’, Dr Teresa Witcombe took us on a tour from Oxford to Toledo and back with Daniel of Morley, a scholar whose works are still preserved in the Bodleian Library. This century also saw the first Latin translation of the Qur’an (produced by an Englishman, Robert of Ketton, in the 1140s), and an increasing curiosity about the world beyond the Latin west.
This was followed by a workshop on the spread of secular music with Ian Pittaway; follow him on https://earlymusicmuse.com. Ian presented medieval harp, symphonia, gittern and citole. Playlist:
0:04:14 Sainte Nicholaes godes druð (Godric of Finchale, England, died 1170)
0:08:49 Cuers desirous apaie = A heart that is yearning (Blondel de Nesle, France, c. 1155–1202)
0:17:58 Ce fu en mai = It was in May (Moniot d’Arras, France, fl. c. 1213 – d. 1239)
0:23:00 Danse (Manuscrit du roi, France, c. 1300)
0:27:57 brid one brere = bird on a briar (anonymous, England, c. 1290)
0:34:55 Mirie it is (anonymous, England, c. 1225)
0:43:36 Sumer is icumen in (anonymous, England, c. 1250-60) [with audience participation – listen out for the cuckoo!]
0:49:25 La seconde Estampie Royal – The second Royal Estampie (Manuscrit du roi, France, c. 1300)
0:53:55 untitled estampie (anonymous, England, c. 1270)
1:16:16 Edi beo thu heuene queene (anonymous, England, c. 1265–90)
We hope to continue the theme next year with a focus on the symbolism of the architectural features and carvings around the church. Please get in touch if you are interested in sharing your research! For contact details and this year’s programme see https://livingstonesiffley.org.uk/events
Iffley Church was built in the 1160s. Its lavish design and ornamentation clearly express complex ideas that were topical then but which mystify today’s visitors. Living Stones, the church’s education and heritage programme, is exploring the changing world of the building’s patron and parishioners. This year a series of study days focuses on life and scholarship in the twelfth century.
On 18 May 2024, the opening talks focussed on manuscripts from St Frideswide’s Priory and records of pilgrims to St Frideswide’s shrine with Andrew Dunning and Anne Bailey. On 13 July 2024, Emily Winkler presented interpretations of the past, and Stewart Tiley immersed us in book creation: https://livingstonesiffley.org.uk/past-events/f/building-on-the-past-and-writing-for-the-future
Dr Andrew Dunning, St Frideswide’s Legacy: Literature and Local Care in Twelfth-Century Oxford
The canons of St Frideswide’s Priory relaunched what later became Christ Church Cathedral in the 12th century. The Priory became a locally renowned place of pilgrimage attracting large numbers of women looking for healing for themselves and their families. Surviving miracle stories show the concern that the canons took for local pastoral care, and their efforts to reach equally ‘the rich and the poor, the small with the great’.
Dr Anne E. Bailey, St Frideswide’s Female Pilgrims in the Middle Ages.
Further information on Dr Anne E. Bailey’s work can be found on https://twitter.com/AnneEBailey1and her publications page. More on the Pilgrimage Study Day on 25 June 2024, co-organised be her, with a keynote address by Andrew Dunning and the Pilgrimage walk along St Frideswide’s Way (26-29 June 2024), a guided walk with prayers and reflection to launch the new pilgrimage route between Oxford and Reading. Led by Dr Anne Bailey, Canon Sally Welch, and Revd Dr Zachary Guiliano. Pilgrims were blessed at the beginning of the journey by the Bishop of Oxford.
Header image: The Norman West porch of St Mary the Virgin, Iffley
The new Introduction to Middle High German by Howard Jones and Martin H. Jones (OUP 2024) is a dedicated student edition of The Oxford Guide to Middle High German, designed for taught courses and self-study. It provides an accessible overview of the grammar and lexis of the language suitable for introductory-level students and includes thirty extensively-annotated texts with explanatory notes suitable for use in teaching. It is accompanied by a companion website which gives open access to further online resources for the study of Middle High German.
Introduction to the workshop by Howard Jones and Henrike Lähnemann
The workshop was designed as a test case to show ways of using the ‘Introduction’ within a university setting or for self-study . Participants got access to the online version and worked with it in groups ranging from beginners to experts on aspects of Middle High German. The “Translathon” consisted of a group competition to translate and comment on passages of the Middle High German text ‘Helmbrecht’.
Translatathon with six competing groups, translating lines 984 to 1035, featuring
00:00 Group 1: Nicholas Champness, Nina Cornell, Philip Flacke, Anna Vines 00:38 Group 2: Sharon Baker, Monty Powell, Willa Stonecipher, An Van Camp 01:14 Group 3: Theodore Luketina, Daniel Ruin, Nina Unland, Hestia Jingyan Zhang 02:04 Group 4: Reuben Bignell, Greta Evans, Andreas Groeger 03:01 Group 5: Joshua Booth, Lia Neill, Catriona Robertson 03:49 Group 6: Isabelle Gregory, Wilfred Lamont, William Thurlwell
The workshop took place on Saturday 2 November 2024, 2-6pm, Taylor Institution Library, Room 2, University of Oxford. Participants were students from first-year undergraduate to doctoral level – a range of people, in fact, who wanted to acquire, practise, and improve their knowledge of Middle High German. No previous knowledge of Middle High German was required. Organisers Sarah Bowden, Howard Jones, and Henrike Lähnemann
Friday 8th – Saturday 9th November 2024, Virtual Workshop
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 marriages or confession to Italians, Serbians, Bulgarians, Vlachs and 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 seeks to gather 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.
Potential topics for study include but are not limited to: History, Archaeology, Epistolography, Art History, Ethnic/Identity Studies, Spatial and Topography Studies, Numismatics, Network Studies, Sigillography, Ecclesiastical Studies, Manuscript Studies, Environmental History, Philology and Vernacular Studies. Papers should be twenty minutes long, allowing ten minutes for questions, and shall be delivered in English. Please email abstracts of 300 words to Nathan Websdale by Saturday 17th August 2024.
Header image: Michael I Komnenos Doukas Angelos. Silver Aspron Trachy (3.54 g), ca. 1210. Mint of Arta. Nimbate bust of Christ Emmanuel facing, raising hand in benediction and holding Gospels. Reverse: + MIXAHΛ ΔECΠE, Michael standing facing, holding scepter and akakia; above to right, manus Dei. DOC 1; SB 2227 Extremely rare.
In association with the Oxford Centre for Byzantine Research (OCBR) and Oxford Medieval Studies, sponsored by The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities (TORCH).
Ugo Mondini is a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow at the Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages and the Principal Investigator of the TORCH Network. He works on medieval Greek poetry and language education in the eleventh-century Byzantine Empire.
As we approach our first summer break, it is time to reflect on the initial activities of the TORCH Network Poetry in the Medieval World. The OMS Blog has generously offered us space to share our journey so far, which has taken us through the forms, languages, communities, and geographies of medieval poetry and the challenges its comparative study poses.
Rowing Towards a Theory of Medieval Poetry
Our fortnightly reading group has been the cornerstone of our activities, offering a place and time to explore medieval poetry from various regions and languages and hear each other’s views. We convened in the Humanities building every even week during term time, and we discussed medieval poetry with tea, coffee, and biscuits.
In Hilary 2024, with Ugo Mondini, Marina Bazzani, and Theo Van Lint, we addressed the complexities of Greek and Armenian poetry. In Trinity 2024, Jennifer Guest guided us through the different forms of medieval Japanese poetry. Poems, presented through handouts in their original languages and writings alongside a Romanisation/phonetic transcription and a translation, were read aloud in the original language, translated, explained in depth and in context, and discussed. This has allowed participants to appreciate the complexities, nuances, and beauty of each poem, and of each poetry.
We are delighted to see how dynamic our sessions can be and how they evolve based on participants’ interests and interactions, driven by a shared curiosity and passion for medieval literature as well as by the pursuit of a choral, informed theory of medieval poetry. For instance, we discussed if and how to compare the way in which vernacular and learned poetry emerged and functioned in Greek and Japanese. We also observed the evolution of Armenian poetry, focusing on eleventh-century works. In our discussions, we reflected on the different ways pre-modern audiences may have appreciated poetry as well as on the challenges of translating poetry into modern languages.
Each session attracted a diverse audience, including students, early-career researchers, senior scholars, and administrative staff. We also had the pleasure of welcoming non-Oxonian participants, who happened to be in Oxford and are usually based in Edinburgh, Milan, and London/Tokyo. The average attendance was 4–8 people per session.
This workshop examined medieval poetry books from various origins, exploring their features, functions, and impact on the transmission and appreciation of medieval poetry across different ages and cultures. We explored how poems were stored, organised, and displayed, addressing the broader question of what ideas of medieval poetry and poetry books can be gleaned from these sources.
We took a comparative approach, with speakers focusing on different literary traditions around the Medieval Mediterranean. After the greetings of Sub-Rector Barnaby Taylor and Marc Lauxtermann, the two organisers, Ugo Mondini and Alberto Ravani, shared some opening remarks. Marisa Galvez (Stanford University) discussed books with poems in Romance languages, Niels Gaul (The University of Edinburgh) focused on Greek, Marlé Hammond (SOAS) covered Arabic, and Adriano Russo (École française de Rome) addressed Latin. The discussions were rich and varied, offering deep insights into the transmission and preservation of medieval poetry.
Exploring Manuscripts Nicholas Kontovas led an excellent seminar at the Weston Library, where we could admire magnificent manuscripts of the Romance of Alexander. This seminar delved into the transmission eastwards of the legend of Alexander the Great – both in poetry and prose – through illuminated manuscripts from the Bodleian Libraries. The tickets sold out so quickly that we did not even have time to advertise the event. This stimulated us to organise similar activities in the near future. We thank again Nicholas and the Bodleian Libraries for this opportunity.
The Future of Research Where is the research on medieval poetry going? And how is this direction related to other fields of study? The Doctoral Seminar Projecting Poetry has been an exciting initiative designed to provide a platform for doctoral students working on medieval poetry to present their ongoing research to a diverse audience of fellow students and senior scholars. So far, we have hosted five seminars covering poetic traditions from Greek, Arabic, Middle and Late Medieval English, and Italian; another one is scheduled for September 2024. We continue to welcome submissions from Oxonian, national, and international doctoral students, encouraging explorations of potential intersections between academic disciplines.
Ideas on and of Poetry In HT W9, with Elizabeth Hebbard (Indiana University Bloomington)’s thought-provoking paper on the study of Troubadour melodies, we launched the new series Talks on Medieval Poetry. Through these lectures, we invite international scholars to present theories of poetry and insights from their research, which may have broader implications for the understanding of medieval poetry and literature.
Looking Ahead
After the summer break, there is much more to come. In Michaelmas 2024, our reading group will resume, bringing together Oxonian enthusiasts of medieval poetry to explore new texts and traditions. Our Talks on Medieval Poetry will feature lectures by international scholars – three are already scheduled between December 2024 and April 2025, but no spoilers for now! We anticipate receiving fascinating proposals for the Doctoral Seminars Projecting Poetry. But we are also developing brand new activities in person, online, and in hybrid format, fostering collaborations with other networks and research centres at Oxford and around the globe.
So, stay connected with us through our website, newsletter (blank email to poetrymedievalworld-subscribe@maillist.ox.ac.uk), and social media (X/Twitter: @PoetryMedieval) for updates. If you want to learn more about the network, contact us via email. And if you want to contribute, you are more than welcome: We are open to new ideas and feasible proposals.
For now, enjoy the summer! We look forward to seeing you all in the new academic year.
