Category: conference

Forgotten Libraries

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21/04/2026

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Around Oxford, conference

Lost, dispersed, and marginalised manuscript collections

Provisional programme – for updates refer to the blog of the Centre for Manuscript and Text Cultures. For more information: clement.salah@queens.ox.ac.uk or shaahin.pishbin@queens.ox.ac.uk

Day 1: Tuesday 16 June: The Making and Unmaking of Libraries

Memorial Room, The Queen’s College, Oxford

9:00 Welcome
9:15–9:30 Shaahin Pishbin & Clément Salah, “Introduction to Forgotten Libraries”
Session 1: Reconstructing Dispersed Libraries
9:30–10:00 Henrike Lähnemann, “Superfluous precious objects: Reconstructing the
manuscript production of the Medingen nuns”
10:00–10:30 Nour Obeid, “Writers’ Libraries as Houses of Trouble: Fragmentation and
Reconstruction in the Arab Region”
10:30–11:00 James White, “The Hyperlinked Manuscript: Reading and Bibliography in
Seventeenth-Century Iran”
11:00–11:30 Coffee Break
Session 2: Endowment, Community, and the Formation of Libraries
11:30–12:00 Judith Olszowy-Schlanger, “Endowment practices and the formation of Jewish
libraries in the Islamicate world”
12:00–12:30 Ronny Vollandt, “Karaite library in Jerusalem”
12:30–14:00 Lunch
Session 3: Displacement, Empire, and Reconfigured Collections
14:00–14:30 Hallie Swanson, “Between Royal Collection and Oriental Repository: The
Forgotten Library of Fort William College”
14:30–15:00 Gulguncha Lalbekova, “Imperial Legacies and Displaced Heritage: The Case
Study of Badakhshani Ismaili Manuscripts in Russian State Archives”
15:00–15:30 Coffee Break
Session 4: Marginalised Traditions and Hidden Repositories
15:30–16:00 Balasubramanyam Chandramohan, “Forgotten Manuscripts: Lost, Dispersed
and Marginalised Manuscripts- a case study of Tamil and Telugu Palm leaf
Manuscripts”
16:00–16:30 Udaya Cabral, “Hidden Knowledge Hubs: Recovering the Neglected Palm-Leaf
Manuscript Collections of Sri Lankan Monastic Libraries”
19:00 Dinner at Queen’s

Day 2: Wednesday 17 June: Tracing and Reconstructing Forgotten Collections

Taylorian Room 2, Taylor Institution, Oxford

Session 5: Tracing Lost Collections Through Fragments and Objects
9:00–9:30 Zoe Screti, “Finding Life in Fragments: The Obfuscation of Autograph Albums
in Archive Catalogues”
9:30–10:00 Holly Smith, “The Fragile Fates of Medieval Music Manuscripts – A Story of
Preservation and Loss”
10:00–10:30 Ana Dias & Julia Smith, “‘The chest of anonymous relics’: Reconstructing the
earliest relic collection of Sens cathedral (France)”
10:30–11:00 Coffee Break
Session 6: Catalogues, Data, and the Production of Invisibility
11:00–11:30 Matt Lampitt, “(Un)Mapping the March: Lost Books, Ghost Data”
11:30–12:00 Sian Witherden, “Defining ‘Rejected’ and ‘Unidentified’ provenance in
Medieval Libraries of Great Britain”
12:00–12:30 Maeve Hagerty, “Valued at nothing’: Unsettling the (Post)Colonial Archival
History of the Danson Erotica Collection”
12:30–14:00 Lunch
Session 7: Libraries Without Shelves: Singular Objects and Dispersed Worlds
14:00–14:30 Elisian Ralli, “A lost library by design: ‘Bibliophilie créatrice’ and the
reinvention of the modern manuscript”
14:30–15:00 Thea Gomelauri, “Forced Migration of Rustaveli’s Epic Poem: Bodleian
Library MS. Wardrop d.27”
15:00–15:30 Coffee Break
15:30–16:30 Roundtable: What is a Library When It Disappears?
17:00–18:00 Drink reception at Queen’s

New Directions in Old English Prose: Conference Report

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20/04/2026

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Over the course of two days, this international conference highlighted emerging directions in the study of the field. Hosted at the University of Oxford as part of Prof. Francis Leneghan’s AHRC-funded projected Writing Pre-Conquest England: A History of Old English Prose, the event brought together a diverse cohort of international senior scholars, early career researchers, and postgraduates. 25 papers were presented and over 60 delegates were in attendance. The features of the texts under study were remarkably broad, moving beyond traditional literary analysis to explore objects, inscriptions, glosses, and prefaces. By employing methodologies rooted in syntax, style, semiotics, and the history of gendered literacy, the contributors demonstrated that Old English prose remains a site of dynamic intellectual enquiry.

A significant theme that unified the sessions was a re-evaluation of the prose canon. For much of the twentieth century, the study of Old English prose was dominated by a teleological focus on the “great books” of the Alfredian era and the late tenth-century homiletic traditions of Ælfric and Wulfstan. This conference, however, placed these established corpora into dialogue with less canonical and a range of pre- and post-Alfredian materials. By integrating marginalia and vernacular glosses, historically sidelined in favour of “complete” or “literary” texts, the sessions highlighted the regional and linguistic diversity of the early medieval period of English literature.

Related to this reassessment of the canon was a shift away from a West-Saxon centred perspective toward a more nuanced dialectal landscape. Scholars explored the importance of the Northumbrian and Mercian traditions and interlinear glossing further emphasised the extent to which Old English prose reflects localised and context-sensitive literacy practices rather than a single uniform prose standard.

The inclusion of papers on women readers (and the possibility of female authorship) and the re-evaluations of wisdom within texts further expanded the scope of prose study. This social-historical approach suggests that “New Directions” in the field are not only about identifying new materials, but also about asking new questions of the texts we already possess.

As an undergraduate student, I found this bird’s-eye view of the field particularly illuminating. Many of the texts discussed, such as early Mercian prayerbooks and Northumbrian glosses, sit outside the standard undergraduate curriculum, yet the conference gave these materials space and challenged the traditional bounds of prose study. For the next generation of scholars, these “New Directions” offer an invitation to pursue fresh angles within the Old English corpus, ensuring that the work of the ROEP project will continue to shape future research in the field.

Libby Histed, Harris Manchester College

Medieval Germanists Gathering (GBOFFL 2026)

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10/04/2026

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“meister, phiff uff, lasz vns springen.” – Maria Magdalena, Frankfurter Passionsspiel 8b (ll. 698–743)

Enough rays to make functional the St Edmund Hall sundial; yellow, orange, and burgundy tulips; the four-note blast of that iconic hunting horn: these signs heralded the beginning of the three-day GBOFFL Conference of medieval Germanists one late afternoon in April.

The GBOFFL participants — from universities whose cities make up the abbreviated title, i.e. Geneva, Bern, Oxford, Freiburg (im Breisgau), Freiburg (im Üechtland), and Lausanne — kicked off the conference with a gathering in the cosy, climate-controlled Old Library of Teddy Hall, where they noshed anise cake and perused materials from the Hall’s collection, including a pamphlet on St Edmund and a Monty Python-themed cardboard catapult.

GBOFFL participants engage with the Teddy Hall collections (Photograph: Giovanna Truong)

After the reception, and with the rare books safely stowed, the participants poured tea and coffee and partook in analyzing and performing the Passionsspiel, in particular scenes from the Frankfurt and Alsfeld versions which are being prepared for an edition focussing on the life of Mary Magdalen — more on this during a workshop on medieval German drama on 2 May!

With their dramatic prowess soundly proven, the Germanists poured into the Wadham Room of The King’s Arms for a celebratory pint, each looking forward to the schedule of lectures and workshops in the days to come.

Gebofel in the Schweizerisches Idiotikon

The ninth of April saw a slate of four lectures by graduate scholars Monty Powell, Luke Cooper, Jasmin Eggel, and Felix Stürz. Each prepared a 30–40-minute presentation and fielded questions for the remainder of the given hour. Lively discussions ensued, on the voice of God, on magical poets, on video games, and on many further interesting topics, that are too many to elaborate here (,der zu vil zu schreiben wer’). A surprise lecture was given by Cornelia Herberichs on the etymology of the word GBOFFL, which proved not just to be an acronym, but a Swiss German description of a spirited (if labour-intensive) gathering.

After lunch, doctoral student Giovanna Truong (that’s me) led a workshop on letterpress printing (and early Yiddish typography) in which the GBOFFL participants learned to set their own names in lead type. With the expertise of Richard Lawrence, the Bodleian Bibliographical Press’s master printer, the students and faculty were able to print the list of names on a card alongside a linocut image of a peacock under a GBOFFL banner (designed and produced by yours truly with materials and assistance from Henrike Lähnemann). Some participants also printed t-shirts bearing the unofficial logo.

The card lists the names of workshop participants and bears a description in Yiddish: “דאָס קאַרטל איז געדרוקט געװאָרן אין אָקספֿאָרד אויפֿן גבאָפֿפֿל” — “This card was printed in Oxford at the GBOFFL.”

The day ended with a candlelit vegetarian dinner in the St Edmund Hall Old Dining Hall, where joyous chatter could be heard until twilight. Some of the merry group migrated to the Hall’s Crypt, where gowned Oxford scholars sang Compline in Latin and Middle High German around an Easter candle. The evening ended after sundown with the sung prayers of Havdalah, marking the end of the Jewish Passover holiday.

GBOFFL Schola in the Norman crypt of St-Peter-in-the-East, the library church of St Edmund Hall

The GBOFFLers returned the next day to Teddy’s Doctorow Hall for an enlivening of the senses — an early lecture by Susanne Finkel on visual poetics in Partonopier and Meliur works. The schedule called for a trip to the Weston Library for the weekly Coffee Morning, this week led by Philine Armbruster, Lucian Shepherd, and Henrike Lähnemann on the topic of manuscript fragments (and, as usual, including a few minutes for gazing at the dreaming spires from the roof terrace).

Welcome to the Coffee Morning by Chris Fletcher

Manuscripts and Books shown:

  1. Otto von Passau ‚24 Alte‘: MS. Germ. b. 3, fols 2-3, ed. here https://editions.mml.ox.ac.uk/editions/otto-von-passau/);
  • Douce 212 Die vierundczweinczig Altē. od’ d’ guldin tron, GW M28503 Augsburg: Anton Sorg, 10.III.1480. 2° Letter by Wieland Schmidt, Die vierundzwanzig alten Ottos von Passau, Palaestra, 212 (Leipzig, 1938), 231-2 no. 1; See VL VII 229-34. Augsburg: Anton Sorg, 10 Mar. 1480. Folio. Wanting gathering [*] containing the register, sheet [05.6], and gathering [x]
  • Boec des gulden throēs of der xxiiij. ouden 1484[X.25] | herlem [J. Bellaert] | (fol.) Auct. 6 Q 5.23 GW M28517 Provenance: Haarlem, Netherlands, Franciscan Tertiary Nuns, S. Anna; inscription on r9r: Dit boec hoert toe den susteren van sinte Marien conuent binnen Haerlem in sinte Jans straet ende heeft ghege[n]en pieternel dirck der Ende marijtgen maertens der onse susteren tot een testement’. Purchased from Asher & Co. for £2.15.0; see Library Bills (1851-5), 77; Books Purchased (1853), 65. O-036 in Bod-Inc
  • Die vier und zweintzig Alten. Auffs new gebessert. Vet. D1 c.426, Dillingen: Sebald Meier 1568

2. Der Heiligen Leben

Fragments which were previously bound with the Der Heiligen Leben fragments

  • MS. Eng. hist. c. 36: summary catalogue, p. 865: was part of a series of unreferenced fragments &c. arranged as Palæographical Specimens, which was broken up in 1895. Now MS. Eng. hist. c. 36.
    1) a cardinal’s hat sent to Woolsey by the pope 15 Nov 1515, backed by the Bodleian (?) conservations; this presumably refers to the Cardinal’s hat still held at Christ Church https://www.chch.ox.ac.uk/news/cardinal-wolseys-hat-ipswich
    2) etc. mainly early modern letters, some 19th cent
    75, 76) list with specimen announcing and recouncing German-Turkish war

Rebecca Schleuß / Henrike Lähnemann: Regelhandschriften

Fun with Fragments manuscript presentation
The GBOFFL participants enjoyed exclusive views of Oxford.

The GBOFFL participants were allowed to stay for an extra hour-long manuscript workshop session with the aforementioned presenters plus Rebecca Schleuss, who showed off manuscripts of nuns’ regulations.

Rebecca Schleuß presenting manuscripts with monastic rules

After a lunch out on the town, the digestively sated but intellectually ravenous scholars rounded out the programme with two lectures, by Julie Dietsche and Hannah Free, which drew connections between printed works and manuscripts, and truth, fiction, and fanfiction, respectively. Their energetic presentations were the exclamation point at the end of a packed couple of days.

The group parted under sunny skies, promising to carry the warm, convivial, erudite spirit of the conference to next year’s gathering in Freiburg, Switzerland. Until then — zayt gezunt (be well)!

Medieval Matters – Vac

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23/03/2026

10:46

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Around Oxford, Call for Papers, conference, events, Medieval Matters, News, opportunities, Uncategorized

The OMS emails will be put on brief pause over the vac, although the blog will be continually updated with new events. Please see below a number of important opportunities and reminders before term starts. Of particular note to those interested in early medieval England (and who amongst us doesnt fall into that category) is the British Library’s upcoming PhD placement on the Norman Conquest. Applications are open for three PhD placements which will support the development of our upcoming major exhibition on the Norman Conquest, marking the 1,000th anniversary of the birth of William the Conqueror. Apply by Monday 6 April 2026. Apply by Monday 6 April 2026.

A Conference at the British Library: Multispectral Gaze: New Approaches to the Cotton Genesis

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23/03/2026

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Friday 9th June, at 10:00

The British Library recently undertook a new multispectral digitisation campaign of the Cotton Genesis (British Library, Cotton MS Otho B VI), one of the greatest works of manuscript art to survive from late Antiquity and one of the most tragic casualties of the Cotton Library fire of 1731. The new imagery made visible parts of the manuscript unseen since the fire. Pages that look black to the naked eye now reveal portions of readable texts; illuminations that look like blocks of colour now show layers of paint, brush strokes, and fold outlines. This opens exciting opportunities for new research on this manuscript, which is a significant witness both of an influential late-antique visual tradition and of the text of the Septuagint. The British Library will celebrate the launch of the multispectral images of the Cotton Genesis on its website with an interdisciplinary conference fully dedicated to the manuscript: Multispectral Gaze: New Approaches to the Cotton Genesis.

View the full programme and register here.

Supported by the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art and the Association for Manuscripts and Archives in Research Collections (AMARC).

Thank to support from AMARC, five free student tickets are available. To apply, please contact  elena.lichmanova@bl.uk and e.zingg@hist.uzh.ch.

Peterborough Chronicle, first page

Conference: New Directions in Old English Prose

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18/03/2026

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University of Oxford – 30 March 2026

L1 Lecture Theatre 10.300 Stephen A. Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities, Radcliffe Observatory Quarter, Woodstock Road, Oxford, OX2 6GG, Faculty of English Language and Literature, University of Oxford

Registration is now closed for this event, which is sold out.

Day 1: 30th March 2026

08.30–9.00: Welcome and Registration

09.00–10.30: Session 1: Early Prose (chair: Tom Revell)

Samuel Cardwell (University of Nottingham), ‘The Earliest English Sentence? Old Northumbrian psalm glosses in MS Pal. Lat. 68‘

Maura McKeown (University of Oxford), ‘The Four Senses of Scripture and the Vespasian Psalter Glosses‘

Emily Kesling (University of Bergen), ‘The Old English Exhortation to Prayer and the “Mercian Prefacing Tradition”‘

10.30–11.00: Tea and coffee break

11.00–12.00: Session 2: Putting Prose in its Place (chair: Helen Appleton)

Christine Rauer (University of St Andrews),  ‘Assigning Mercian Texts to Places and Individuals‘

Tristan Major (Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies), ‘Old English Prose at Winchester, c. 940–c. 1100‘

12.00–12.15: Comfort break

12.15–13.00: Keynote 1 (chair: Francis Leneghan): 

John Hines (University of Cardiff), ‘Syntax, Style and Semiotics: How Anglo-Saxon Inscriptions help to frame and define Old English Prose‘

13.00–14.00: Lunch break [sandwich lunch provided] 

14.00–15.30: Session 3: New Contexts for Alfredian Prose (chair: Amy Faulkner)

Nagore Palomares (University of the Basque Country), ‘Weaving the Vernacular: Tracing Frankish Influences in Old English Texts‘

Alice Jorgensen (Trinity College Dublin),  ‘Gesceadwisnes in the Alfredian Prose Translations‘

Eleni Ponirakis (University of Nottingham/UCL/University of Oxford),  ‘Swa swa leof on treowum: Eriugena and the Alfredian Solioquies‘

15.30–16.00: Tea and coffee break 

16.00–17.30: Session 4: Repurposing Prose (chair: Jasmine Jones)

Courtnay Konshuh (University of Calgary),  ‘Missing Ealdormen: Editing Chronicle Prose‘

Claudio Cataldi (University of Palermo),  ‘Rewriting Christianisation in King Edgar’s Establishment of the Monasteries‘

Gabriele Cocco (University of Bergamo),  ‘From Cloak to Allegory: Christian Adaptations in the Old English Apollonius of Tyre‘

17.30–17.45: Comfort break

17.45–18.30: Keynote 2 (chair: Niamh Kehoe):

Luisa Ostacchini (University of Oxford), ‘Thinking Global, Acting Local: The Old English Martyrology’s Worldview and Mercian Prose Composition‘

18.30: Drinks Reception and Book Celebration

20.00: Conference Dinner

Day 2: 31st March

09.00–10.30: Session 5: Prose beyond the Pulpit (chair: Francis Leneghan)

Stefan Jurasinski (SUNY Brockport), ‘Beyond Wulfstan: The Homiletic Element in Old English Legislation‘

Anine Englund (University of Oxford), ‘Revisiting the Old English Soul-and-Body Homilies‘

Elaine Treharne (Stanford University), ‘Women Readers (and Writers?) of Old English Prose‘

10.30–11.00: Tea and coffee break

11.00–12.00: Session 6: Inclusion and Exclusion, Then and Now (chair: Hannah Bailey)

Juliet Mullins (University College Dublin), ‘Ignored and Obscured: “Behind the Scenes” of Ælfric´s Lives of Saints‘

Rebecca Stephenson (University College Dublin), ‘Weeding out the Danes: An examination of gardening metaphors in Latin and Old English prose texts describing Viking attacks and/or religious conversions‘

12.00–12.15: Comfort break

12.15–13.00: Keynote 3 (chair: Amy Faulkner):

Daniel Anlezark (University of Sydney),  ‘West Saxon Prose from Alfred to Ælfric‘

13.00–14.00: Lunch break [sandwich lunch provided] 

14.00–15.30: Session 7: Wulfstan’s Style (chair: Rachel A. Burns)

Winfried Rudolf (University of Göttingen), ‘Wulfstan’s Autograph Homily on Baptism and Its Echoes‘

James Titterington (University of Oxford), ‘Prose in Progress: Tracing Wulfstan’s Intellectual Development through Autograph Evidence‘

Thomas A. Bredehoft (Chancery Hill Books), ‘Wulfstan’s Prose‘

15.30–16.00: Tea and coffee break

16.00–17.30: Session 8: Saints and Sinners (chair: Niamh Kehoe)

Claudia Di Sciacca (University of Udine),  ‘Gūþ-Lāc vs Se Ealda Fēond? New Directions in the Demonology and Angelology of Gulthlac’s Old English Prose Tradition‘

Susan Irvine (University College London), ‘The Bridge as a Penitential Motif in Old English Prose‘

Corinne Clark (University of Oxford), ‘Fashioning fragmentation in the Corpus Christi MS 303 Life of St. Margaret‘

17.30: Close

Organising committee: Helen Appleton (Oxford), Rachel A. Burns (Oxford), Amy Faulkner (UCL), Niamh Kehoe (Oxford), Francis Leneghan (Oxford)

Contact: Francis Leneghan

Header image: Peterborough Chronicle

Medieval Germany Workshop

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16/03/2026

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29 May 2026, German Historical Institute in London
Organised by the German Historical Institute London and the German History Society

Programme

Commentators: Henrike Lähnemann (Oxford) & Christian Jaser (Kassel)
Convenors: Thomas Kaal (GHIL) and Marcus Meer (UCL)

9.30 Session 1 (Chair: Thomas Kaal)

  • Henrike Lähnemann (Oxford): The Nuns’ Letters – Work-in-Progress
  • Temitope Fagunwa (Lüneburg): From ‘‘Moors Are Not Blacks’’ to Mohr Muss Weg: Identity and Misrepresentation in Europe
  • Erik Pauls (Berlin), The Typus of the ‘Heretic’ and its Function in Historical Thinking

11.00 Coffee & Tea

11.30 Session 2 (Chair: Marcus Meer)

  • Christian Jaser (Kassel): Digital Edition of Medieval Accounting Records (Examples from Munich and Vienna in the Early 15th Century)
  • Thomas Billard (Paris/Konstanz) Accountability: Critical Study of the recording of Accounting Documents in Urban Areas of the Southern Empire (Basel, Nördlingen, Nuremberg, 14th–15th centuries)
  • Arik Solomon (Be’er- Sheva): Beyond the City Walls: Persistence and Permeability in the Expulsion of Jews from Merseburg

13.00 Lunch

14.00 Session 3 (Chair: Thomas Kaal)

  • Anna Wilmore (Oxford): ‘Ich bin din gespile’: Play as Paradigm in Mechthild of Magdeburg
  • Tina Druckmüller (Cologne): From Another Perspective: Hildegard of Bingen on the Origin of the Soul

15.00 Session 4 (Chair: Gabriele Passabi)

  • Carolin Victoria König (Oxford): The Interrelation of Image and Text and the Popularity of Sebastian Brant’s ‘The Ship of Fools’
  • Hila Manor (Jerusalem): Measured Marvels: Ingenuity and Artistic Exchange in Nuremberg around 1500

16.00 Coffee & Tea

16.30 Session 5 (Chair: Marcus Meer)

  • Ole Bunte (Bielefeld): Narrating War: A Cultural History of War in 15th Century East Central Europe
  • Laura Potzuweit (Kiel), The Baltic Sea as a Room of Diplomacy? The Kalmar Union, the Teutonic Order, and other Key Players as a Late Medieval Communication Network

17:30 End

19:00 Conference Dinner

Students and researchers interested in medieval German history are very welcome to attend and listen to the presentations. There is no charge for attendance, but pre-booking is essential due to limited capacity. If you would like to attend as a guest, please contact Kim König.

The Call for Papers

This one-day workshop on the history of medieval Germany (broadly defined) offers an opportunity for researchers from Europe and the wider English-speaking world to meet at the German Historical Institute in London. Participants will be able to discuss their work in a relaxed and friendly setting and to learn more about each other’s research.

Proposals for short papers of 10–15 minutes are invited from researchers at all career stages with an interest in any aspect of the history of medieval Germany. Participants are encouraged to present work in progress, highlight research questions and approaches, and point to yet unresolved challenges of their projects. Presentations will be followed by a discussion.

Participation is free of charge and includes lunch and dinner. The GHIL and the GHS will also provide a contribution towards travel expenses. Accommodation costs cannot be reimbursed. Support is available for postgraduate and early career researchers: up to £150 for travel within the UK (excluding London) and up to 300€ for an economy round trip from Europe. Please indicate your interest in travel support in your application.

We look forward to reading your proposals. Please send your submission—which must include a title, an abstract of c.2000 words, and a biographical note of no more than c.1000 words—to Thomas Kaal: t.kaal@ghil.ac.uk. Questions about all aspects of the workshop can also be sent to Marcus Meer: m.meer@ucl.ac.uk.

Medieval Matter HT26, Week 8

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08/03/2026

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We have made it, at long last, to the end of another Hilary term – but the events don’t stop coming! Please find below another week full of medieval events for you to enjoy, and an ever-increasing list of future opportunities. NB: the Maison Française d’Oxford lecture this Tuesday has had to move earlier and is now at 12:00.

Monday

  • French Palaeography Manuscript Reading Group – 10:30, Weston Library.
  • Seminar in Palaeography and Manuscript studies – 2:15, Weston Library. Seamus Dwyer (Cambridge) will speak on ‘Pen-Flourishing and the Boundaries of Meaning’.
  • Medieval Archaeology Seminar – 3:00, Archaeology Faculty.  Eugene Costello will be speaking on ‘Exploring the expansion of pastoral farming in northern Europe’s uplands, c.1200-1600’.
  • Medieval History Seminar – 5:00, All Souls College. Nick Evans (Birkbeck) “Cowries, Cloth and Coins: Currency in Medieval Economic Anthropology”.
  • Theory and Play: Comparative Medievalisms – 5.15, Lady Margaret Hall.

Tuesday

  • Europe in the Later Middle Ages Seminar – 2:00, New Seminar Room, St John’s College. Mike Carr (Edinburgh) will be speaking on ‘Popes, Ambassadors and Falcons: Trade and Diplomacy between Latin Europe and the Mamluk Sultanate in the Fourteenth Century’.
  • Latin Palaeography Manuscript Reading Group – 2:00, Weston Library (Horton Room). Those who are interested can contact the convenor, Laure Miolo.
  • Maison Française d’Oxford lectures: ‘Children in the Middle Ages’ – 12:00, Maison Française. NB. the new, earlier, time.
  • Maghrib History Seminar: “Reading the Qurʾān across the Mediterranean: Toward a Maghribī School of Tafsīr in Early Islam” – 5:00, The Queen’s College.
  • Medieval Church and Culture, theme: TRANSLATION(S) – tea and coffee from 5:00, Harris Manchester College. Celeste Pan (Balliol) will be speaking on ‘Some issues of translation in an illuminated Hebrew bible manuscript from medieval Brussels (Hamburg, Staats- und Universitätsbibl., Cod. Levy 19)’.
  • Old English Hagiography Reading Group – 5:15, Jesus College Memorial Room.
  • Church Historian Pub Night – 6:00 at the Chequers Inn. Contact Rachel Cresswell.

Wednesday

  • History and Materiality of the Book Seminar series – 2:15, Weston Library. Matthew Holford and Laure Miolo will be speaking on ‘Text identification’.
  • Older Scots Reading Group – 2:30, Room 30.401 (Humanities Centre). Palyce of Honour, Thyrd Part, ll. 1288-2142; Palyce of Honour, Dedication, ll. 2142-2169.
  • The Medieval Latin Documentary Palaeography Reading Group – 4:00, online.
  • Islamic Studies Seminar – 5:00, Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies. Professor Sheilagh Ogilvie (University of Oxford) will speak on ‘Leviathan’s Health: State Capacity and Epidemics from the Black Death to Covid’.
  • Late Antique and Byzantine Seminar – 5:00, Ioannou Centre for Classical and Byzantine Studies. Nathan Websdale (Oxford) will be speaking on ‘Unbecoming Roman: Performative Ethnicity and Panspermía in the Byzantine World c.1190-1235’.
  • eCatalogus+: A Digital Tool for the Automated Study of Latin Manuscripts (Liturgical Case Studies) – 5:00, Weston Library. More infomation here.
  • Lydgate Book Club – Weston manuscript visit with Laure Miolo. Meet 3:50pm at the Weston lockers for a 4pm start. Please email Shaw Worth for any information.

Thursday

  • Middle English Reading Group (MERG) – 11:00, Lincoln College, Beckington Room. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.
  • Medieval Women’s Writing Research Seminar – 4:00, Somerville College. Making and Breaking Connections, including letters sent by Hildegard von Bingen and Catherine of Lancaster, queen of Castile.
  • Seminars in Medieval and Renaissance Music – 5:00, online. Elisabeth Giselbrecht, Louisa Hunter-Bradley and Katie McKeogh (King’s College London) will be speaking on ‘No two books are the same. Interactions with early printed music and the people behind them’.
  • Celtic Seminar – 5:15, hybrid. Eleanor Stephenson (Cambridge) will be speaking on ‘Landscapes of Extraction: Philippe de Loutherbourg and the Morris Family’s Copper Works, Swansea’.
  • Medieval Visual Culture Seminar – 5:00, St Catherine’ College. Emily Guerry (University of Oxford) will be speaking on ‘Silver trees and pearl crosses: Franco-Mongolian diplomacy and cultural exchange in thirteenth-century Karakorum’.
  • The Khalili Research Centre For the Art and Material Culture of the Middle East: Research Seminar – 5:15, The Khalili Research Centre. Johannes Niehoff-Panagiotidis (Freie Universität, Berlin) will be speaking on ‘A Greek-Orthodox monastery in the desert: Mount Sinai and the material culture of its Arabic (and Islamic) manuscripts’.

Friday

  • Medievalist Coffee Morning – Friday 10:30, Visiting Scholars Centre (Weston Library). All welcome, coffee and insight into special collections provided. This week, Jana Lammerding will speak on the representation of witches in the Douce Collection.
  • The History of the Bible: From Manuscripts to Print – 12:00, Visiting Scholars Centre at the Weston Library. Week 8: The Bible printed. Places are limited. To register interest and secure a place, please contact Péter Tóth.
  • Exploring Medieval Oxford through Surviving Archives – 2:00, Weston Library (Horton Room). Those who are interested can contact the convenor, Laure Miolo.
  • EMBI ‘New Books: A Celebration’. – 4:30, Schwartzman Room 421. Helena Hamerow and Conor O’Brien will talk informally about the process of researching and writing the projects that they have both just published, and we will also hear some reflections on being a postdoctoral researcher on a major project such as the ERC-funded grant for FeedSax. End-of-term drinks in Jude the Obscure, Walton St.
  • Oxford Medieval Manuscript Group – 5:00, John Roberts Room at Merton College. Julian Harison (Curator, British Library) will be speaking on ‘Sir Robert Cotton and Oxford’.

Opportunities and Reminders

Medieval matter HT26, Week 7

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02/03/2026

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Welcome all to week 7, and another packed schedule of events. The ‘Opportunities and Reminders’ section is growing particularly large, with a number of new additions – keep an eye out for CfPs and funding opportunities. The OMS blog continues to grow rapidly: Cris Arama (MSt. Medieval Studies) has recently written a report on Ian Forrest’s workshop.

Monday

  • French Palaeography Manuscript Reading Group – 10:30, Weston Library
  • Medieval History Seminar – 5:00, All Souls College. Jo Story (Leicester) “Insular manuscripts: why membrane matters” [Please note: this session will be in-person only, not hybrid – this is due to restrictions governing the sharing of unpublished data by grant partners].

Tuesday

  • EMBI workshop: ‘Reading’ manuscript membrane: bioarchaeology of early medieval books’ – 10:00, Weston Library. Requires pre-booking.
  • Latin Palaeography Manuscript Reading Group – 2:00, Weston Library (Horton Room). Those who are interested can contact the convenor, Laure Miolo.
  • Medieval Church and Culture, theme: TRANSLATION(S) – tea and coffee from 5:00, Harris Manchester College. Simon Heller (Lincoln) will be speaking on ‘Translation, Transformation, and Transmission: the case of the Old English Beowulf’
  • Old English Hagiography Reading Group – 5:15, Jesus College Memorial Room.
  • Medieval French Research Seminar – 5:15, Maison Française d’Oxford. Nathalie Koble (ENS Paris) will be speaking on ‘Sens et sentibilité. Pour une lecture multimédiale de la Dame à la Licorne (Musée de Cluny, Paris)’ .
  • Poetry Reading: Kevin Crossley-Holland – 5:30, St Edmund Hall. More information here.
  • Church Historian Pub Night – 6:00 at the Chequers Inn. Contact Rachel Cresswell

Wednesday

  • History and Materiality of the Book Seminar series – 2:15, Weston Library. Matthew Holford and Laure Miolo will be discussing Medieval Libraries and Provenance
  • Older Scots Reading Group – 2:30, Room 30.401 (Humanities Centre). Palyce of Honour, Thyrd Part, ll. 1288-2142 
  • The Medieval Latin Documentary Palaeography Reading Group – 4:00, online.
  • Islamic Studies Seminar – 5:00, Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies. Dr Moin Nizam will be speaking on ‘Transnational Ties of Faith: Imdadullah’s letters and writings from the Hijaz during the late-19th century’.
  • Late Antique and Byzantine Seminar – 5:00, Ioannou Centre for Classical and Byzantine Studies. Alasdair Grant (Hamburg) will be speaking on ‘Ubiquitous and Universal? Rebellion and State Formation between Byzantium and Early Islam’

Thursday

  • Middle English Reading Group (MERG) – 11:00, Lincoln College, Beckington Room. All are welcome as we read Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: bring any edition of the original text.
  • Heraldry Society – 5:00, Oriel College. Dr Beatrice Groves (Research Fellow, Trinity) will be speaking on ‘”Azure-laced / With blue of heaven’s own tinct:” Shakespeare’s heraldic language’.
  • Celtic Seminar – 5:15, Room 20.306 (Humanities Centre and Online). Emmet Taylor (Cork) will be speaking on ‘Heads, hierarchy and the heroic’
  • Old English Graduate Reading Group – 5:15. Email Harriet Carter for location.
  • The Khalili Research Centre For the Art and Material Culture of the Middle East: Research Seminar – 5:15, The Khalili Research Centre. Günseli Gürel (Khalili Research Centre) will be speaking on ‘Picturing marvels, magic and monsters at the Ottoman court, 1574–1603’.
  • Guild of Medievalist Makers – 5:30, online. Optional theme: regrowth.

Friday

  • Medievalist Coffee Morning – Friday 10:30, Visiting Scholars Centre (Weston Library). All welcome, coffee and insight into special collections provided.
  • The History of the Bible: From Manuscripts to Print – 12:00, Visiting Scholars Centre at the Weston Library. The theme this week is ‘Vernacular Bibles of the Middle Ages’. Places are limited. To register interest and secure a place, please contact the lecturer at Péter Tóth.
  • Exploring Medieval Oxford through Surviving Archives – 2:00, Weston Library (Horton Room). Those who are interested can contact the convenor, Laure Miolo.

Opportunities and Reminders