Category: events

Medieval Matter TT26, Wk 8

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15/06/2026

09:13

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events, Medieval Matters, News, opportunities, Uncategorized

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At last, week 8!

We’d like to put together a survey of all the medieval opportunities and events that have taken place this year. If you’ve run a seminar series, reading group, or workshop, at any point this year, I would be very grateful if you’d send me a short report for inclusion by the end of the week.

For your diary: St Edmund Hall is hosting a workshop entitled Peter Payne: A Forgotten Great European from 30 September – 1 October 2026, exploring connectedness in European cultural development and the emergence, as a result of joint artistic and scholarly endeavour, of modern local and common European identity. More information, including how to register, can be found here. The Compline on Thursday in the crypt of St-Peter-in-the-East will be a full Night Office devised by Henry Parkes to resemble that sung by a female monastic community in Northern Germany in post-pentecostal time; starting 9.30pm and probably lasting a couple of hours, so not for the faint-hearted but certainly worthwhile!

Monday

  • French Palaeography Manuscript Reading Group – 10:30, Weston Library. If you are interested in joining the group or would like more information, please email the convenor Laure Miolo.
  • Runic Germanic Inscriptions and Language Lectures – 2:00, room 30.445 (Anna Morpurgo Davies Room) of the Schwarzman Centre.
  • Medieval History Seminar: – 5:00, All Souls College. Serena Ferente (University of Amsterdam) will be speaking on ‘Girls in the Global Middle Ages: three case-studies from the 13th to the 15th centuries’. Prosecco will be served to celebrate the end of term.
  • Inaugural Lecture of theologian and medievalist Andrew Davison on ‘the Creed in Music’ – 5pm, in the Concert Hall of the Humanities Centre (currently sold out but try your luck at the door).
  • Italian Research Seminars – 5:15, Taylor Institute Library. Arielle Saiber (Johns Hopkins) will be speaking on ‘Neither Here, Nor There: Directionality in Dante’s Paradiso‘.

Tuesday

  • Forgotten Libraries (Centre for Manuscript and Text Cultures: International Workshop) – 9:00, The Queen’s College. For more information: https://medieval.ox.ac.uk/forgotten-libraries/
  • Latin Palaeography Manuscript Reading Group – 2pm, Weston Library. Those who are interested can email the convenor Laure Miolo.
  • Early Modern Diplomacy Seminar 1400-1800 – 4.15, Schwartzman 20.402. Marcos Marinho Fernandes (Aix-Marseille Université) will be speaking on ‘Comparing Royal Matrimonial Diplomatic Strategies between Portugal, Spain, France, and the Habsburgs, 1490-1519’. 
  • Medieval Visual Culture Seminar – 4:30, The Queen’s College. Ben Saltzman (University of Chicago) will be speaking on ‘Turning Away: The Poetics of an Ancient Gesture’. Co-sponsored with the Early Medieval Britain & Ireland + the Medieval English Research Seminars.

Wednesday

  • Forgotten Libraries (Centre for Manuscript and Text Cultures: International Workshop) – 9:00, The Queen’s College. For more information: https://medieval.ox.ac.uk/forgotten-libraries/
  • Methods in Arabic and Islamic Studies Class – 10:30, LMH Library.
  • Medieval German Graduate Seminar – 11:15, Oriel College. For the final session of the Medieval German Graduate Seminar, Prof. Markus Stock (Toronto) will talk about his project Medieval Undergrounds under the title “Lithic Enclosures: Limitations and Expansions im wilden steine  in Medieval German Romance”, dealing with Trevrizent’s cell in Wolfram’s ‘Parzival’, the Minnegrotte in Gottfried’s ‘Tristan’, Jerome’s realm in Friedrich von Schwaben etc.
  • Old Norse Reading Group – 4:00, Merton College, Americas Room. This term we are reading Völsunga saga. If you are interested in joining the group, please contact one of the group convenors via email Brooklyn Arnot or Zeynep Kirca. 
  • The Medieval Latin Documentary Palaeography Reading Group – 4:00, online. To join and/or to find out more about this and the possibility of some hands-on experience of cataloguing such documents to develop further your research skills, please contact  Michael Stansfield.
  • Magdalen Lecture – 5:00, Magdalen College Auditorium. Professor Benjamin Pohl will be speaking on ‘Food for Thought—The Bayeux Tapestry Revisited’. Free tickets can be booked here.
  • David Patterson Lecture – 5:00, Clarendon Institute. Elisheva Baumgarten (Hebrew University of Jerusalem) will be speaking on ‘Shared Words: Jews, Christians and Prayer in Medieval Europe’.
  • Late Antique and Byzantine Seminar – 5:00, Late Antique and Byzantine Seminar, Ioannou Centre. Tassos Papacostas (London) will be speaking on ‘The Cult of Saint Mamas between Cyprus and Venice in the 16th Century: A Patron Saint of Shepherds Promoted by the Urban Elite’.
  • Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies Seminar – 5:00, Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies. Dr Afifi Al-Akiti (University of Oxford) will be speaking on ‘The Imago Dei and Human Dignity in Islamic Tradition’.

Thursday

  • Middle English Reading Group (MERG) – 11:00, Lincoln College, Beckington Room. All are welcome as we finish Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Bring any edition of the original text! There will be tea and biscuits. For more information or to be added to the mailing list, please email Rebecca Menmuir. 
  • Medieval Women’s Writing Research Seminar- 4:00, Somerville College. Celebration and Praise, including extracts from the works of Christine de Pizan and Sara al-Halabiyya.
  • Centre for Manuscript and Text Cultures: Global Manuscript and Text Cultures Seminar – 5:15, The Queen’s College. Jessica Rahardjo (Khalili Research Centre) will be speaking on ‘A Critical Edition and Translation of Ṣirāṭ al-Mustaqīm: a 17thc Malay Shāfi’ī Legal Text’; Shane Patrick (Wolfson) will be speaking on ‘The Debate of Abu Qurrah and its Manuscript Circulation’.
  • The Khalili Research Centre Seminar – 5:15, KRC Lecture Room. Jun Muzaffer Özgüleş (Barakat Trust Postdoctoral Fellow, KRC ) will be speaking on ‘Historicising and Visualising the Evolution of Ottoman Architecture in Istanbul from the Mid-fifteenth to the Early Twentieth Century’.
  • Bede Reading Group (or, ‘Bede-ing Group’) – 6:00, Blackfriars. To sign up, email Maura McKeon. Don’t stop Bede-lieving.
  • Special Compline i– 9.30pm in the crypt of St-Peter-in-the-East (St Edmund Hall), devised by Henry Parkes.

Friday

  • Medievalist Coffee Morning – 10:30, Visiting Scholars Centre (Weston Library). All welcome, coffee and insight into special collections provided.
  • Older Scots Reading Group – 3:00, Schwarzman room 30.401. No intensive preparation required. All are welcome and there are usually snacks. This week the theme is Orpheus and Eurydice. Contact megan.bushnell@ling-phil.ox.ac.uk for further details.
  • Medieval Latin Reading Group – 5:30, Christ Church. This term, we will be reading the Cosmographia of Bernardus Silvestris in the original. For more information, please contact Clara Bykvist or Monty Powell. 

Opportunities (see Medieval Studies booklet for full details)

  • Sir John Rhŷs Prize for the study of the Celtic languages, literature, history, and antiquities. Entries should be submitted by email, with the subject line “Sir John Rhŷs Prize”, to the English Faculty Office, no later than Monday of Week 8 of Trinity Term (15 June 2026).
  • 20th MEMSA Anniversary Conference. More information here. Deadline: 20 June 2026.
  • CfP – 2026 Journal of the History of Ideas Graduate Student Symposium on ‘Prophecy, Prediction, and the Politics of Futurity’. Deadline: June 22, 2026. More information here.
  • The Mortimer History Society will once again be offering two Research Bursaries (each of £1000) for the academic year 2026 to 2027, for PhD and MA students whose research includes any aspect of the medieval Welsh Marches or the Mortimers. More information here. Deadline: 30 June 2026.
  • CfP – Representations of Women and/as Animals in Literature, Arts, and Other Media. Deadline: 15 July 2026.
  • Call for book chapters in ‘Times of Change: Norway in the 13thC‘. Deadline: 31 July 2026.
  • CfP – Ars Inquirendi 2026. Deadline: 31 August 2026.
  • Publishing with the Journal Manuscript and Text Cultures. Are you interested in submitting to the journal Manuscript and Text Cultures? Please review the About the Journal page.
  • Bodleian Purchasing Opportunity. Do you know of books that would aid your work but are not in the Bodleian? Help us strengthen the university’s collections. You can submit details of suggested books via https://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/collections-and-resources/recommend-a-purchase or by email to medieval@bodleian.ox.ac.uk.

Medieval Matter TT26, Wk7

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08/06/2026

08:39

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events, Medieval Matters, News, opportunities, Uncategorized

Welcome to week 7.

From Tuesday til Thursday, productions of The Harrowing of Hell.26 continue, now in The Crypt of St Peter-in-the-East. Tickets can be bought here

Free tickets are still available for the inaugural Lecture of theologian and medievalist Andrew Davison on Monday, 15 June, 5pm, in the Concert Hall of the Humanities Centre on ‘1000 years of Creed settings in music with the choir of Christ Church singing’. Do come and make sure the concert hall buzzes with medievalists! All information here.

Professor Benjamin Pohl’s will be delivering a lecture on  “Food for Thought – The Bayeux Tapestry Revisited” in Magdalen’s auditorium at 5pm on Wednesday 17th June, and free tickets can be booked here.

Monday

  • French Palaeography Manuscript Reading Group – 10:30, Weston Library. If you are interested in joining the group or would like more information, please email the convenor Laure Miolo.
  • Archaeology Lecture – 3: 00, Lecture Room, Institute of Archaeology. Kerstin Lidén (Professor of Archaeological Science, Stockholm University) will be speaking on ‘Crisis, Conflict and Climate: Societal Change in Scandinavia 300–700C’.
  • Czech Medieval Literature Workshop: Courtly Love and Its Discontents – 4:00, Schwarzman Centre Room 30.023.
  • Medieval History Seminar: – 5:00, All Souls College. Charles West (University of Edinburgh) will be speaking on ‘Rethinking eleventh-century Europe’.

Tuesday

  • Latin Palaeography Manuscript Reading Group – 2pm, Weston Library. Those who are interested can email the convenor Laure Miolo.
  • Czech Medieval Literature Workshop: Jews, Monks, and Women: Margins and Exclusions – 4:00, Schwarzman Centre Room 30.023.
  • Medieval French Research Seminar – 5:00, Maison Francaise. Rebecca Dixon (University of Liverpool) will be speaking on ‘Between Familiarisation and Historicisation: Visualising Ancient Greece in Raoul Lefèvre’s Histoire de Jason’.
  • Medieval Church and Culture Seminar– Tea & coffee from 5pm; papers begin at 5.15pm, Harris Manchester College. Celeste Van Gent (Pembroke) will be speaking on ‘death and the burial practices of soldiers on campaign in later medieval England’.

Wednesday

  • Methods in Arabic and Islamic Studies Class – 10:30, LMH Library.
  • Medieval German Graduate Seminar on Thomasin von Zerklaere – 11:15, Oriel College. If you are interested to be added to the teams group for updates and access to the sources, please contact Henrike Lähnemann.
  • Old Norse Reading Group – 4:00, Merton College, Breakfast Room. This term we are reading Völsunga saga. If you are interested in joining the group, please contact one of the group convenors via email Brooklyn Arnot or Zeynep Kirca. 
  • The Medieval Latin Documentary Palaeography Reading Group – 4:00, online. To join and/or to find out more about this and the possibility of some hands-on experience of cataloguing such documents to develop further your research skills, please contact  Michael Stansfield.
  • Late Antique and Byzantine Seminar – 5:00, Late Antique and Byzantine Seminar, Ioannou Centre. Maria Lidova (Saint Petersburg) will be speaking on ‘The Murano Ivory Diptych: Defragmenting the History and Image of a Late Antique Book Cover’.
  • Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies Lecture – 5:00, Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies. Al-Faisal Anniversary Lecture

Thursday

  • Middle English Reading Group (MERG) – 11:00, Lincoln College, Beckington Room. All are welcome as we finish Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Bring any edition of the original text! There will be tea and biscuits. For more information or to be added to the mailing list, please email Rebecca Menmuir. 
  • The Khalili Research Centre Seminar – 4:00, KRC Lecture Room. Nilay Özlü & Ceren Abi (Istanbul Technical University) will be speaking on ‘Archives and Archaeology: Unearthing the Ottoman Perspective’ ; Daniel-Joseph MacArthur-Seal ( Scuola Superiore Meridionale, Naples and Gizem Tongo and KRC & Lusail Museum, Doha) will be speaking on ‘Occupation on Display: Curating the Aftermath of World War I in Istanbul’
  • Medieval Visual Culture Seminar – 5:00, St Catherine’s College. Meg Bernstein (University of East Anglia) will be speaking on ‘Negotiating Boundaries in England’s Medieval Parish Churches’,
  • Old English Graduate Reading Group – 5:15. This term we will be reading some of the Exeter Riddles. Our Location is variable so please email Hattie (harriet.carter@lmh.ox.ac.uk) or James (james.titterington@stcatz.ox.ac.uk) if you’re interested.
  • Oliver Smithies Lecture – 5:15, Gillis Lectute Theatre, Balliol. Elaine Treharne will be speaking on ‘Medieval Manuscript Hunters and the Second World War’.
  • Guild of Medievalist Makers – 5:30, online. Optional theme: solstice.
  • Heraldry Society – 5:30, Oriel College. Robert Weaver will be speaking on ‘Bound to Please: A Selection of Early Modern Armorial Bookbindings’. Note: This lecture includes “Show and Tell”. In person attendance is recommended!
  • Compline in the Crypt – 9:30, St Edmund Hall.

Friday

  • Medievalist Coffee Morning – Friday 10:30, Visiting Scholars Centre (Weston Library). All welcome, coffee and insight into special collections provided.
  • Oxford Medieval Manuscript Group Reading Group – 5:00, online.
  • Medieval Latin Reading Group – 5:30, Christ Church. This term, we will be reading the Cosmographia of Bernardus Silvestris in the original. For more information, please contact Clara Bykvist or Monty Powell. 

Saturday

  • Memorial Service for Prof Stephen Baxter – 2:30, St Peter’s Chapel. Registration here.

Opportunities (see Medieval Studies booklet for full details)

  • Postdoctoral Fellowships at the Dictionary of Old English, U of T. More information here. Deadline: 12 June 2026.
  • Sir John Rhŷs Prize for the study of the Celtic languages, literature, history, and antiquities. Entries should be submitted by email, with the subject line “Sir John Rhŷs Prize”, to the English Faculty Office, no later than Monday of Week 8 of Trinity Term (15 June 2026).
  • 20th MEMSA Anniversary Conference. More information here. Deadline: 20 June 2026.
  • CfP – 2026 Journal of the History of Ideas Graduate Student Symposium on ‘Prophecy, Prediction, and the Politics of Futurity’. Deadline: June 22, 2026. More information here.
  • The Mortimer History Society will once again be offering two Research Bursaries (each of £1000) for the academic year 2026 to 2027, for PhD and MA students whose research includes any aspect of the medieval Welsh Marches or the Mortimers. More information here. Deadline: 30 June 2026.
  • CfP – Representations of Women and/as Animals in Literature, Arts, and Other Media. Deadline: 15 July 2026.
  • Call for book chapters in ‘Times of Change: Norway in the 13thC‘. Deadline: 31 July 2026.
  • Publishing with the Journal Manuscript and Text Cultures. Are you interested in submitting to the journal Manuscript and Text Cultures? Please review the About the Journal page.
  • Bodleian Purchasing Opportunity. Do you know of books that would aid your work but are not in the Bodleian? Help us strengthen the university’s collections. You can submit details of suggested books via https://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/collections-and-resources/recommend-a-purchase or by email to medieval@bodleian.ox.ac.uk.

Medieval Matters TT26, Wk 6

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31/05/2026

23:00

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

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Welcome to sixth week!

All week, from Tuesday through to Saturday, you can watch The Harrowing of Hell.26, a 2026 experimental and abstract adaptation of the medieval Harrowing of Hell narrative, created from English mystery plays (York Cycle, Towneley Plays, Ludus Coventriae, Chester Cycle) and rewritten into contemporary English. Performances are at 9:30, in the Oxford Playhouse. Tickets can be bought here. And do book your (free) place for the Inaugural Lecture of theologian and medievalist Andrew Davison on Monday, 15 June, 5pm, in the Concert Hall of the Humanities Centre which promises to be spectacular: 1000 years of Creed settings in music with the choir of Christ Church singing. Do come and make sure the concert hall buzzes with medievalists! All information here.

Monday

  • French Palaeography Manuscript Reading Group – 10:30, Weston Library. If you are interested in joining the group or would like more information, please email the convenor Laure Miolo.
  • Medieval History Seminar: – 5:00, All Souls College. Guy Geltner (Monash University) will be speaking on ‘The workers’ view: an environmental approach to premodern public health’.
  • Edgar Wind Society Lecture – 6:00, House of St Gregory and St Macrina (1 Canterbury Road). Sir Richard Temple will be speakgin on ‘Andrei Rublev and the Hesychastic Mysteries of Byzantium’.

Tuesday

  • Latin Palaeography Manuscript Reading Group – 2pm, Weston Library. Those who are interested can email the convenor Laure Miolo.
  • Early Modern Diplomacy Seminar 1400-1800 – 4.15, Schwartzman 20.402. Philippa Jackson (Independent Scholar) will be speaking on ‘Girolamo Ghinucci (1480-1541): Papal Judge and English Ambassador’. 
  • Medieval Church and Culture Seminar– Tea & coffee from 5pm; papers begin at 5.15pm, Harris Manchester College. Mary O’Connor (Balliol) will be speaking on ‘Pride and Humility: biblical typologies in Old Norse romances’.

Wednesday

  • Methods in Arabic and Islamic Studies Class – 10:30, LMH Library.
  • Medieval German Graduate Seminar on Thomasin von Zerklaere – 11:15, Oriel College. If you are interested to be added to the teams group for updates and access to the sources, please contact Henrike Lähnemann.
  • Oxford Seminar in the History of Alchemy and Chemistry – 3:00, Maison Française d’Oxford. Session 3 — Compuational History of Alchemy and Chemistry. Vojtěch Kaąe (University of West Bohemia, Plzeň) and Sarah Lang (Max Planck Institute, Berlin) will be speaking on ‘Tracing the Histories of Early Modern Conceptual Ecosystems: Remote Sensing Methods for the Archaeology of Alchemical Knowledge’; Guillermo Restrepo (Max Planck Institute, Leipzig) will be speaking on ‘Computational History of Chemistry: How Big Data Illuminates Macrohistorical Trends and Microhistorical Events’.
  • Old Norse Reading Group – 4:00, Merton College, Americas Room. This term we are reading Völsunga saga. If you are interested in joining the group, please contact one of the group convenors via email Brooklyn Arnot or Zeynep Kirca. 
  • The Medieval Latin Documentary Palaeography Reading Group – 4:00, online. To join and/or to find out more about this and the possibility of some hands-on experience of cataloguing such documents to develop further your research skills, please contact  Michael Stansfield.
  • David Patterson Lecture – 5:00, Clarendon Institute. Elisheva Baumgarten (Hebrew University of Jerusalem) will be speaking on ‘Shared Words: Jews, Christians and Prayer in Medieval Europe’.
  • Late Antique and Byzantine Seminar – 5:00, Late Antique and Byzantine Seminar, Ioannou Centre. Saun Tougher (Cardiff) will be speaking on ‘Minor Characters? Other Eunuchs in Byzantine Historiography of the Tenth Century’. 
  • Centre for Manuscript and Text Cultures: Provenance Unknown – 5:15, Memorial Room, The Queen’s College. Dr Stella Panayotova, Royal Librarian, will be speaking on ‘Islamic Manuscripts in the Royal Library’.

Thursday

  • Transmitting and Preserving Languages in the Medieval and Early Modern Mediterranean, Second Workshop – 9:00, Balliol College. To register for online attendance, please contact Ugo Mondini at ugo.​mondini@​mod-​langs.​ox.​ac.​uk.
  • Middle English Reading Group (MERG) – 11:00, Lincoln College, Beckington Room. All are welcome as we finish Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Bring any edition of the original text! There will be tea and biscuits. For more information or to be added to the mailing list, please email Rebecca Menmuir. 
  • Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies Lecture – 2:00, Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies. Dr Kaouther Karoui (University of Münster) will be speaking on ‘Reframing Transcultural Justice: From Early Arabo Islamic Philosophy to Postcolonial Critique’.
  • Medieval Women’s Writing Research Seminar- 4:00, Somerville College. Recording Women’s Deeds, including extracts from Agnes d’Harcourt’s Life of Isabelle of France and the Crònica de Sant Pere de les Puel·les 
  • Medieval Visual Culture Seminar – 5:00, St Catherine’s College. Jessica Barker (Courtauld Institute) will be speaking on ‘Contemporary Art Meets the Medieval Monastery’. 
  • ‘There is an Animal That is Called an Elephant’ – 5:00, Keble College. Research presentation by Dr Alexandra Paddock and sharing of a work-in-progress exploring the life and times of Henry III’s elephant through music, puppetry and text.
  • The Khalili Research Centre Seminar – 5:15, KRC Lecture Room. Emine Fetvaci (Boston College) will be ‘Portrait as Biography at the Ottoman Court: the Case of Murad III (r. 1574–95)’.
  • Bede Reading Group (or, ‘Bede-ing Group’) – 6:00, Blackfriars. To sign up, email Maura McKeon. Don’t stop Bede-lieving.

Friday

  • Medievalist Coffee Morning – 10:30, Visiting Scholars Centre (Weston Library). All welcome, coffee and insight into special collections provided.
  • Older Scots Reading Group – 3:00, Schwarzman room 30.401. No intensive preparation required. All are welcome and there are usually snacks. This week the theme is Orpheus and Eurydice. Contact megan.bushnell@ling-phil.ox.ac.uk for further details.
  • Medieval Latin Reading Group – 5:30, Christ Church. This term, we will be reading the Cosmographia of Bernardus Silvestris in the original. For more information, please contact Clara Bykvist or Monty Powell. 

Saturday

Opportunities (see Medieval Studies booklet for full details)

  • Publishing with the Journal Manuscript and Text Cultures. Are you interested in submitting to the journal Manuscript and Text Cultures? Please review the About the Journal page.
  • CfP – Representations of Women and/as Animals in Literature, Arts, and Other Media. Deadline: 15 July 2026.
  • Sir John Rhŷs Prize for the study of the Celtic languages, literature, history, and antiquities. Entries should be submitted by email, with the subject line “Sir John Rhŷs Prize”, to the English Faculty Office, no later than Monday of Week 8 of Trinity Term (15 June 2026).
  • Ashmolean Engagement Programme. More information here. Deadline: 1 June 2026.
  • CfP – Contested Ground: Ownership and Belonging in the Middle Ages. More information here. Deadline: 1 June 2026.
  • CfP – 1027 – 2027 : The World in which William was Born. More information here. Deadline: 1 June 2026.
  • Postdoctoral Fellowships at the Dictionary of Old English, U of T. More information here. Deadline: 12 June 2026.
  • 20th MEMSA Anniversary Conference. More information here. Deadline: 20 June 2026.
  • The Mortimer History Society will once again be offering two Research Bursaries (each of £1000) for the academic year 2026 to 2027, for PhD and MA students whose research includes any aspect of the medieval Welsh Marches or the Mortimers. More information here. Deadline: 30 June 2026.
  • Call for book chapters in ‘Times of Change: Norway in the 13thC‘. Deadline: 31 July 2026.
  • Bodleian Purchasing Opportunity. Do you know of books that would aid your work but are not in the Bodleian? Help us strengthen the university’s collections. You can submit details of suggested books via https://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/collections-and-resources/recommend-a-purchase or by email to medieval@bodleian.ox.ac.uk.

The Creed in Music

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31/05/2026

22:54

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Around Oxford, events

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Andrew Davison’s Inaugural Lecture: A thousand years of setting Christian theology to music

Monday 15 June, 5:00pm. Auditorium, Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities

Join us as the Revd Professor Andrew Davison delivers his inaugural lecture as Regius Professor of Divinity, exploring how Christian theology has been expressed through musical settings of the Creed across a millennium. The lecture will be interwoven with live performances by the Cathedral Choir of Christ Church Cathedral, celebrating 500 years since their foundation. The programme spans the Renaissance to the 20th century, featuring settings of the Creed by John Taverner — one of the most significant composers of the English Renaissance and the first organist of Christ Church — and Frank Martin, offering a rich illustration of the continuity and development of theological expression through music.

Taking place in the inaugural term of the Schwarzman Centre’s new auditorium, this event represents a landmark moment for the humanities at Oxford, bringing together theology, music, and history in a uniquely rich and celebratory occasion.

Event Details

Date and Time: 17:00-18:00 15 June 2026 (followed by drinks reception)

Venue: Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities

Registration

All are welcome. Registration is free. 

Kindly register by clicking the link here. 

About the Speaker

Professor Andrew Davison is Regius Professor of Divinity. The Regius Professorship of Divinity was founded by Henry VIII in 1535 as one of the original five Regius Chairs and remains one of the most distinguished academic appointments in the world.

Professor Davison read Chemistry and completed a DPhil in Biochemistry at Merton College, University of Oxford. He subsequently read Theology and completed a PhD in Theology at the University of Cambridge. Ordained in Southwark, he served in parish ministry in South London before moving to the University of Cambridge, where he was a Fellow and Director of Studies in Theology at Corpus Christi College.

His research spans theology, philosophy, and natural science, and includes work on astrobiology, AI, Thomas Aquinas, and what Christianity has made of themes from Plato.

Medieval Matter TT26, wk5

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25/05/2026

09:02

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

Welcome to week 5,

Last week’s Wikipedia editathon proved a great success, and there is now a wikipedia article for OMS itself! Thanks again to Louise for leading the session – a recording of the introductory talk can be found here.

This Friday sees the ‘Exploring Medieval Oxford through Surviving Archives‘ conference at the Weston, which includes an exhibition curated by the participants.

Exciting news! The Thegns of Mercia – an Anglo-Saxon reconstruction group – are coming to Balliol the Friday 29th May to show off a range of replicas (Old Common Room, 14:30). All are welcome!

Monday

  • French Palaeography Manuscript Reading Group – 10:30, Weston Library. If you are interested in joining the group or would like more information, please email the convenor Laure Miolo.
  • Armenian Studies Lecture – 4:00, Pembroke College. Ruth Gornandt (Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies) will be speaking on ‘‘Measured Theology’ – Gregory of Tatev (1346–1410) and the limits of theological knowledge’.
  • Medieval History Seminar: – 5:00, All Souls College. Julia Hillner (University of Bonn) will be speaking on ‘The marrying kind: how late Roman emperors chose their wives’.

Tuesday

  • Latin Palaeography Manuscript Reading Group – 2pm, Weston Library. Those who are interested can email the convenor Laure Miolo.
  • Medieval French Research Seminar – 5:00, Maison Francaise. Laura Campbell (Durham University) will be speaking on‘In the Beginning: Re-Creating the Creation Story in Medieval French Translations’.
  • Medieval Church and Culture Seminar– Tea & coffee from 5pm; papers begin at 5.15pm, Harris Manchester College. Youfei Fan (St Anne’s) will be speaking on ‘The Potion and the Women around It: female knowledge and trickery in the Tristan Legend’.
  • Professor Frank Griffel’s inaugural lecture – 5:00, Humanities Centre. ‘Double Truth and Multiple Rationalisms: Philosophy in Islam’s Post-Classical Period’. More information here.
  • Centre for Manuscript and Text Cultures – 5:15, Memorial Room, Queen’s College. Gunnar Seelentag (Hannover & Münster) will be speaking on ‘Monumentalising Norms, not Names: cartelisation and colossality in Archaic Crete’.

Wednesday

  • Methods in Arabic and Islamic Studies Class – 10:30, LMH Library.
  • Medieval German Graduate Seminar on Thomasin von Zerklaere – 11:15, Oriel College. If you are interested to be added to the teams group for updates and access to the sources, please contact Henrike Lähnemann.
  • Old Norse Reading Group – 4:00, Merton College, Breakfast Room. This term we are reading Völsunga saga. If you are interested in joining the group, please contact one of the group convenors via email Brooklyn Arnot or Zeynep Kirca. 
  • The Medieval Latin Documentary Palaeography Reading Group – 4:00, online. To join and/or to find out more about this and the possibility of some hands-on experience of cataloguing such documents to develop further your research skills, please contact  Michael Stansfield.
  • Late Antique and Byzantine Seminar – 5:00, Late Antique and Byzantine Seminar, Ioannou Centre. Alessandra Bucossi (Venice) will be speaking on ‘The Komnenian Panoplies between Religious Polemic and Political Self-Defence’.
  • Medieval English Research Seminar – 5:15, The Schwarzman Centre, room 00.018 . Mel Cowdery (U of North Carolina, Chapel Hill) will be speaking on ‘What Does a Mirror Mean to Thomas Hoccleve?’.
  • ‘Public Health in the Premodern World’ Book Launch – 5:30 in the Mark Bedingham Room, St John’s College. Discussants: H. Skoda, U. Khan, G. Geltner, Janna Coomans, and Ronit Yoeli-Tlalim. Drinks reception to follow.

Thursday

  • Middle English Reading Group (MERG) – 11:00, Lincoln College, Beckington Room. All are welcome as we finish Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Bring any edition of the original text! There will be tea and biscuits. For more information or to be added to the mailing list, please email Rebecca Menmuir. 
  • Oxford Environmental History Working Group – 12:30, Schwarzman Centre History Hub Room 20.421. Dr. Kelsey Granger (IHR History Research Fellow) will be speaking on ‘Messengers of Empire: The Lives and Labour of Horses in China’s Ancient Postal System’.
  • Medieval Visual Culture Seminar – 5:00, St Catherine’s College. Lloyd Debeer (British Museum) will be speaking on ‘The Many Lives of the Asante Ewers’.
  • Global Manuscript and Text Cultures Seminar – 5:15, Memorial Room, Queen’ College. Lauren Dogaer (Univ) will be speaking on ‘How the Greek Text Culture Has Shaped Modern Views of Ptolemaic Egyptian Priests’; Fergus Bovill (Merton) will be speaking on ‘Rebuilding the Medieval, Preserving the 19th Century: Littifredi Corbizzi, Johann Anton Ramboux, and the making and breaking of a choirbook in Gubbio’.
  • Old English Graduate Reading Group – 5:15. This term we will be reading some of the Exeter Riddles. Our Location is variable so please email Hattie (harriet.carter@lmh.ox.ac.uk) or James (james.titterington@stcatz.ox.ac.uk) if you’re interested.
  • The Khalili Research Centre Seminar – 5:15, KRC Lecture Room. Margaret Squires (Ashmolean Museum) will be speaking on ‘Woven Together: Carpets and Architecture in Safavid Iran’.
  • Oxford Trobadors Concert – 7:00, La Maison Francaise.
  • Bede Reading Group (or, ‘Bede-ing Group’) – 6:00, Blackfriars. To sign up, email Maura McKeon. Don’t stop Bede-lieving.
  • Compline in the Crypt – 9:30, St Edmund Hall.

Friday

  • Conference Exploring Medieval Oxford through Surviving Archives – 9:00, Weston Library lecture theatre.
  • Oxford Festival of the Arts: Reading the signs: The meanings of medieval and Renaissance objects, symbols, and tokens – 9:30, The Hub, Kellog College.
  • Medievalist Coffee Morning – Friday 10:30, Visiting Scholars Centre (Weston Library). All welcome, coffee and insight into special collections provided.
  • Thegns of Mercia: Learning through Making – 2:30, Balliol College (Old Common Room).
  • Medieval Latin Reading Group – 5:30, Christ Church. This term, we will be reading the Cosmographia of Bernardus Silvestris in the original. For more information, please contact Clara Bykvist or Monty Powell. 

Opportunities (see Medieval Studies booklet for full details)

  • OMS small grants is now open! Grants are normally in the region of £100–250 and can either be for expenses or for administrative and organisational support such as publicity, filming or zoom hosting. Closing date for applications: Friday of Week 5.
  • Publishing with the Journal Manuscript and Text Cultures. Are you interested in submitting to the journal Manuscript and Text Cultures? Please review the About the Journal page.
  • CfP – Representations of Women and/as Animals in Literature, Arts, and Other Media. Deadline: 15 July 2026.
  • Sir John Rhŷs Prize for the study of the Celtic languages, literature, history, and antiquities. Entries should be submitted by email, with the subject line “Sir John Rhŷs Prize”, to the English Faculty Office, no later than Monday of Week 8 of Trinity Term (15 June 2026).
  • Ashmolean Engagement Programme. More information here. Deadline: 1 June 2026.
  • CfP – Contested Ground: Ownership and Belonging in the Middle Ages. More information here. Deadline: 1 June 2026.
  • CfP – 1027 – 2027 : The World in which William was Born. More information here. Deadline: 1 June 2026.
  • Postdoctoral Fellowships at the Dictionary of Old English, U of T. More information here. Deadline: 12 June 2026.
  • 20th MEMSA Anniversary Conference. More information here. Deadline: 20th June 2026.
  • The Mortimer History Society will once again be offering two Research Bursaries (each of £1000) for the academic year 2026 to 2027, for PhD and MA students whose research includes any aspect of the medieval Welsh Marches or the Mortimers. More information here. Deadline: 30 June 2026.
  • Bodleian Purchasing Opportunity. Do you know of books that would aid your work but are not in the Bodleian? Help us strengthen the university’s collections. You can submit details of suggested books via https://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/collections-and-resources/recommend-a-purchase or by email to medieval@bodleian.ox.ac.uk.
Screenshot of header image with logo of the University of Oxford and the stylised cupola of the Radcliffe Camera turning into graphic arrows in green on dark blue

AccessiBod. Widening Access to Digital Bodleian

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20/05/2026

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events

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Thursday 21 May from 15:00 to 16:00. 

Registration link: AccessiBod: Widening access to Digital Bodleian

Digitised special collections such as manuscripts, archives and photographs are rarely made accessible to people who are blind or have low vision, but this does not mean they are not interested in accessing such materials or that they have no need for access in order to pursue their studies, research, work or pleasure. The cultural heritage and academic sectors could do more to expand access for blind and low vision people, but research is needed to understand what blind and low vision people want to know about digital cultural heritage, and what methods and resources are required to achieve access.

In this talk, Dr Victoria Van Hyning, Assistant Professor of Library Innovation at University of Maryland, College of Information, will report key findings from ‘AccessiBod: Exploring Accessible Futures for Digital Bodleian’, a participatory design study conducted at the Bodleian Libraries in 2025 to understand how crowdsourcing, AI, curatorial metadata and scholarly expertise might be harnessed to create better access within the Digital Bodleian site. Bodleian Libraries curators, digital scholarship specialists, web developers, students, disability services specialists and faculty from across the collegiate University and the broader Oxford community participated in interviews and workshops.

The findings and recommendations shared in this talk will be germane to Digital Bodleian as well as wider cultural heritage and digital humanities practice. We all have a role to play in widening access to digital cultural heritage and the web more broadly, and even small changes can make a big difference. 

This is the latest talk in the Bodleian Bytes series, hosted by the Centre for Digital Scholarship at the Bodleian Libraries.

Medieval matter TT26, Wk 4

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18/05/2026

08:59

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

Welcome to week 4!

This Thursday sees our first ever Wikipedia Editathon for Medievalists, at 5:00 in the Old Library at St Edmund Hall. Whether you have always wanted to write or improve a Wikipedia article, are looking for a low-pressure way to start writing about your topic, or simply want a productive and enjoyable distraction from exams or papers, this editathon offers a space to do so! Participants are encouraged to bring a topic they would like to work on, and prior experience with Wikipedia editing is not required – beginners are very welcome.

Exciting news! Two of our medievalists – Sumner Braund and Helen Flatley – have just opened a used bookshop in Oxford’s Golden Cross called ‘Barker and Company’, full of medieval books.

Monday

  • Bartlemas 900 Exhibition – weeklong, Bartlemas Chapel (Cowley Road). Exhibition exploring the history and significance of Bartlemas. More info here.
  • French Palaeography Manuscript Reading Group – 10:30, Weston Library. If you are interested in joining the group or would like more information, please email the convenor Laure Miolo.
  • Medieval History Seminar: – 5:00, All Souls College. Teresa Witcombe (Wadham College, Oxford) will be speaking in ‘The spoils of war: Andalusi captives in medieval Castile’.
  • Italian Research Seminar – 5:15, Taylorian, Room 2. Ambrogio Camozzi Pistoja (Harvard) will be speaking on ‘towards a Criminal History of Medieval Satire: Boccaccio, Decameron 5.10 (Sodomy, Apuleius, Forgery)’

Tuesday

  • Latin Palaeography Special Session – 2pm, Weston Library. Angela Cossu (Grenoble/ Richard Sharpe Memorial Visiting Fellow, Bodleian Libraries) will show and speak about “Medieval Latin florilegia: palaeography, mise en page and mise en texte” Those who are interested can email the convenor Laure Miolo.
  • Medieval Church and Culture Seminar– Tea & coffee from 5pm; papers begin at 5.15pm, Harris Manchester College. Henry Merrifield (Corpus) will be speaking on ‘Adoption or Rejection:  assessing Anglo-Saxon attitudes to ancient Rome’; Rhys Schwan (Trinity) will be speaking on ‘Revisiting the Regnal Chronology of the Kingdom of Northumbria in the 9th Century’
  • The Oxford Society for the Caucasus and Central Asia (TOSCCA) Seminar Series – 5:00, Lecture Room 4, New College. Dilnoza Duturaeva (University of York/ONGC) will be speaking on ‘Animal Power in the Highlands: Qarakhanid Hybrid Camels to China.’

Wednesday

  • Methods in Arabic and Islamic Studies Class – 10:30, LMH Library.
  • ‘AI and the Future of Everyday Heritage’ Heritage Pathway Programme – 11:00, Humanities Centre. Speaker: Dr Dominique Bouchard, Heritage and Engagement Director, Leeds Castle Clara Saliba, AI and Data Insights Analyst, Blenheim Place. More details and booking here.
  • Medieval German Graduate Seminar on Thomasin von Zerklaere – 11:15, Oriel College. If you are interested to be added to the teams group for updates and access to the sources, please contact Henrike Lähnemann.
  • Oxford Seminar in the History of Alchemy and Chemistry – 3:00, Maison Française d’Oxford. Session 2 — Spiritual Foundations of Alchemy. Chair: Ellen Hausner (Oxford). Speakers: Mark Edwards (Oxford) on ‘Ancient Alchemy as Philosophy’; Charles Burnett (Warburg Institute) on ‘Alchemy as Divinatio’.
  • Old Norse Reading Group – 4:00, Merton College, Americas Room. This term we are reading Völsunga saga. If you are interested in joining the group, please contact one of the group convenors via email Brooklyn Arnot or Zeynep Kirca. 
  • The Medieval Latin Documentary Palaeography Reading Group – 4:00, online. To join and/or to find out more about this and the possibility of some hands-on experience of cataloguing such documents to develop further your research skills, please contact  Michael Stansfield.
  • Late Antique and Byzantine Seminar – 5:00, Late Antique and Byzantine Seminar, Ioannou Centre. Apolline Gay (Brussels and Oxford) will be speaking on ‘They Also Tell the Story: The Role of Biblical Female Figures in Images from Byzantine and Early Islamic Egypt‘.
  • Medieval English Research Seminar – 5:15, Medieval English Research Seminar – 5:15. Annie Englund (U of Oxford) will be speaking on ‘Ghosts, roasts, and the speaking dead: grappling with the popularity of the Old English Soul and Body’; Corinne Clark (U of Oxford) will be speaking on ‘The Reading bee: honey and venom in Walter Map’s De Nugis Curialium’.
  • Centre for Manuscript and Text Cultures: Provenance Unknown – 5:15, Memorial Room, The Queen’s College. Roberta Mazza (University of Bologna) will be speaking on ‘Beyond Provenance: Publishing Papyri and Other Manuscripts from Egypt in 2026’.

Thursday

  • Middle English Reading Group (MERG) – 11:00, Lincoln College, Beckington Room. All are welcome as we finish Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Bring any edition of the original text! There will be tea and biscuits. For more information or to be added to the mailing list, please email Rebecca Menmuir. 
  • Medieval Women’s Writing Research Seminar- 4:00, Somerville College. Poetry and Song, including extracts from the works of Kassia of Constantinople, Florencia Pinar and Gwerful Mechain.
  • Wikipedia Editathon for Medievalists – 5:00, Old Library at St Edmund Hall. More info here.
  • The Khalili Research Centre Seminar – 5:15, KRC Lecture Room. Stephane Pradines (The Aga Khan University) will be speaking on ‘Islamic Archaeology in Egypt: Sixteen Years of Rescue Excavations in Cairo’.
  • Bede Reading Group (or, ‘Bede-ing Group’) – 6:00, Blackfriars. To sign up, email Maura McKeon. Don’t stop Bede-lieving.

Friday

  • Medievalist Coffee Morning – 10:30, Visiting Scholars Centre (Weston Library). All welcome, coffee and insight into special collections provided.
  • Older Scots Reading Group – 3:00, Schwarzman room 30.401. No intensive preparation required. All are welcome and there are usually snacks. This week the theme is Orpheus and Eurydice. Contact megan.bushnell@ling-phil.ox.ac.uk for further details.
  • Oxford Medieval Manuscript Group: Tour of the Magdalen College Old Library – 3:00, Magdalen College, Porter’s Lodge. Booking required.
  • Medieval Latin Reading Group – 5:30, Christ Church. This term, we will be reading the Cosmographia of Bernardus Silvestris in the original. For more information, please contact Clara Bykvist or Monty Powell. 

Opportunities (see Medieval Studies booklet for full details)

The History of Bartholomew Chapel

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11/05/2026

12:28

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Around Oxford, events

Celebrating 900 years of prayer, care and pilgrimage at Bartlemas Chapel

A historic Oxford chapel is marking 900 years of history with a year-long programme of events celebrating its legacy of prayer, care and welcome. This follows on from the workshop with Ian Forrest, read the report: Searching for History

The celebrations at Bartlemas Chapel in 2026 will tell the story of a place that has served pilgrims, the sick and those on the margins since it was founded in 1126 during the reign of Henry I. 

The chapel began life as part of a medieval hospital for people with leprosy. Today the chapel is in the parish of St Mary and St John Church Oxford and remains a place of quiet prayer and reflection on the edge of the city. 

Organisers say the Bartlemas 900th anniversary is about more than marking an ancient date. 

Revd Martha Grace Weatherill, Vicar of the parish, said:

“At heart, the anniversary is about telling the story of this extraordinary place well. Bartlemas has been a place of prayer, pilgrimage, healing and welcome for centuries. The celebrations are an opportunity to help people understand why it still matters today.” 

The life of Bartlemas 

One spring morning, a young boy spies the dreaming spires of Oxford through the mists from the top of Shotover. Descending the hill, hoping to find a welcome and the opportunity to study, he is caught up in a strange procession of young men singing madrigals and brought to a small chapel on the edge of the city. So begins Elizabeth Goudge’s fine novel of Tudor Oxford, Towers in the Mist, beloved of generations of children. The chapel is, of course, Bartlemas Chapel, and young Faithful has, unbeknownst to him, stumbled across the traditional May morning procession of the scholars of New College to sing for the brethren of the attached hospital and the lepers who crowd around the windows outside. 

This tradition of May morning singing died out in the early modern period, until in 2009. The choristers of New College revived it once again, walking to Bartlemas chapel on Ascension Day in 2009 to sing once more.  

Although the hospital has long since gone (it was badly damaged in the Civil War), the chapel remains a place of prayer and music. Evensong continues to be sung monthly, as well as a celebration of the feast of St Bartholomew every August and an Advent Carol Service. The most recent celebration in 2025 was made even more atmospheric by a fuse blowing at the beginning of the service, leaving the organist and choir to sing in almost complete darkness. 

A year of art, music and history 

The celebration programme begins in May with several events linked to the Oxford Festival of the Arts and Oxford Artweeks. 

On 10 May, the Voice Trio performed Feather on the Breath of God at the chapel. The performance celebrates the music and spirituality of the medieval abbess Hildegard of Bingen, whose writings and compositions continue to inspire audiences today. 

Later in the month, the chapel will host a Bartlemas 900 exhibition as part of Oxford Artweeks (16–25 May). The exhibition will feature photography and reflections from a new book by Martin Stott exploring the chapel’s architecture, landscape and spiritual significance. 

Visitors will also have the chance to delve deeper into the site’s story at a public talk on 23 May at St Mary and St John’s Church, exploring the history of the chapel and the medieval leper hospital that once stood there. 

Music will return to the chapel on 24 May with an intimate concert during Artweeks. On 31 May the chapel will host May Song, a celebration of medieval music, poetry and readings about Oxfordshire in spring. The event will feature the Comper Singers alongside actor Anna Tolputt and poet Kate Wakeling. 

A place of pilgrimage 

The liturgical focus of the anniversary year will be on 24 August, the feast day of St Bartholomew. A special patronal festival service will gather parishioners, pilgrims and visitors to mark the chapel’s nine centuries of worship. 

Later in the year, the chapel will open its doors to a wider audience during Oxford Open Doors, inviting people who may not yet know Bartlemas to explore the site. 

Discovering Bartlemas today 

Photographer, writer, and sustainability campaigner Martin Stott has worked with the church on a new photographic book to offer readers a way to encounter Bartlemas through image and story. In the book he traces the site’s medieval origins and reflecting on its continuing spiritual resonance. 

Organisers hope the anniversary will help more people discover the chapel and reflect on how ancient places still speak into modern life. 

Martha said:

“We would love people who have never heard of Bartlemas to discover it. It’s a place where history, prayer and quiet hospitality have come together for centuries — and where that story continues today.” 

Visitors are encouraged to attend an event, explore the chapel during Artweeks or Oxford Open Doors, or simply make time to pause and reflect in this ancient place of prayer. 

Bartlemas 900th anniversary programme of events 

All at Bartlemas Chapel unless otherwise listed. 

  • Feather on the breath of God, Voice Trio, Bartlemas Chapel 10 May, 4pm 
  • Bartlemas 900 Exhibition 16–25 May, 12-6pm 
  • Talk: The History of Bartlemas Chapel and the Leper Hospital, May 23, 6.30pm at St Mary & John’s Church with Martin Stott 
  • Concert, 24 May 6.30pm  
  • May Song 31 May 4-5pm 
  • 24 August St Bartholomew’s Day Service  
  • Oxford Open Doors, throughout September 

For an up to date list, visit https://cowleystjohn.co.uk/bartlemas-chapel-900-years-anniversary 

When? Wed 13 May 2026, 7:30pm
Where? OXFORD: Florence Park Community Centre (info)

This follows on from the workshop with Ian Forrest, read the report: Searching for History

An event of the history of a local medieval site posted by the Florence Park Community Centre – FPCC. 900 Years of Sanctuary & Compassion in East Oxford. Martin Stott marks the anniversary of Bartlemas, a hidden treasure. Presented by: Florence Park Talks

On the 900th anniversary of the founding of the leper hospital at Bartlemas in east Oxford, Martin Stott charts its origins, turbulent history, its focus on the outcasts, dispossessed, and refugees of the times, and the healing, care, refuge and sanctuary it offered. He traces its impact on east Oxford over 900 years, drawing out the threads of these traditions, re-made and celebrated in the neighbourhood today. Also known as St Bartholomew’s Chapel, it is older than any other Grade 1 listed building across the city. A hidden treasure.  Starting as a leper hospital, recent archeological investigations have shed light on a wide fascinating history. You will be enthralled.

Martin Stott is a photographer and local historian. His photobook Bartlemas: Oxford’s hidden sanctuary is just out and will be available for sale on the evening.

https://wegottickets.com/f/18091

Medieval Matters TT26, Wk 3

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11/05/2026

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Call for Papers, conference, events, Medieval Matters, News, opportunities

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Week 3 is upon us, and it’s jam-packed with medieval events and opportunities. Of particular note is Balliol’s Oliver Smithies Lecture, this Thursday, which sees Elaine Treharne discussing Medieval women scribes.

Looking to the future, we’re hoping to put together a list of Oxford participants in this year’s IMC Leeds. If you are organising or speaking on a panel, please drop me a quick email with the details.

Monday

  • French Palaeography Manuscript Reading Group – 10:30, Weston Library. If you are interested in joining the group or would like more information, please email the convenor Laure Miolo.
  • Medieval History Seminar: – 5:00, All Souls College. Round table on Richard Hodges’s The Origins of Anglo-Saxon Towns: A Viking Gift? (London, 2025) with John Blair, Helen Gittos, Helena Hamerow and Rory Naismith.
  • Italian Research Seminar – 5:15, Taylorian, Room 2. Graduate Work-in-Progress. Presentations from DPhil students Silvia Cercarelli (modern/contemporary), Esme Hodson (modern/contemporary), Katherine McKee (medieval), and Victoria White (early modern)

Tuesday

  • Latin Palaeography Manuscript Reading Group – 2pm, Weston Library. Those who are interested can email the convenor Laure Miolo.
  • Medieval French Research Seminar – 5:00, Maison Francaise. Adrian Armstrong (Queen Mary University of London) will be speaking on ‘Testopolis: The Testament as Urban Art’ .
  • Medieval Church and Culture Seminar– Tea & coffee from 5pm; papers begin at 5.15pm, Harris Manchester College. Cris Arama (St Anne’s) will be speaking on ‘Gender embodiment in Old French hagiography:  a textual and iconographical approach’;  Bartholomew Chu (Lincoln) will be speaking on ;The Quandary of Quality:  copying prestige in MS. Bodl. 770′.

Wednesday

  • Methods in Arabic and Islamic Studies Class – 10:30, LMH Library.
  • Medieval German Graduate Seminar on Thomasin von Zerklaere – 11:15, Oriel College. If you are interested to be added to the teams group for updates and access to the sources, please contact Henrike Lähnemann.
  • Early Printed Books: A Computer-Aided Collate-A-Thon – 2:00, Taylor Institute Library. To book a place, please sign up here. For information about the project see here or contact Giles Bergel at giles.bergel@eng.ox.ac.uk 
  • Oxford Seminar in the History of Alchemy and Chemistry: Life and Nature in Early Modern Alchemy – 3:00, Maison Française d’Oxford. Oana Matei (Western University of Arad) will be speaking on ‘Can Life Rise from Ashes? Discussions on the Possibility of the Palingenesis of Plants in the Seventeenth Century’; Xinyi Wen (Warburg Institute) will be speaking on ‘Cosmos or Coitus? A Copy Census of Oswald Croll’s Basilica Chymica, 1609–1690′.
  • Old Norse Reading Group – 4:00, Merton College, Breakfast Room. This term we are reading Völsunga saga. If you are interested in joining the group, please contact one of the group convenors via email Brooklyn Arnot or Zeynep Kirca. 
  • The Medieval Latin Documentary Palaeography Reading Group – 4:00, online. To join and/or to find out more about this and the possibility of some hands-on experience of cataloguing such documents to develop further your research skills, please contact  Michael Stansfield.
  • Late Antique and Byzantine Seminar – 5:00, Late Antique and Byzantine Seminar, Ioannou Centre. Pawel Nowakowski (Warsaw) will be speaking in ‘New Fragments of the Order (forma generalis) of the Praetorian Prefect of the East, Pusaeus Dionysius, 480 CE, from Stratonikeia in Caria’.
  • Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies Lecture – 5:00, Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies. Dr Harry Muntv(University of York) will be speaking on ‘Haram Historiography: Writing the History of Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem in the Early Islamic Centuries’.  
  • Oxford Centre of Early Medieval Britain and Ireland: Invisible East – 5:00, online. Nima Asefi (Universität Hamburg) will be speaking on ‘Documents from Turbulent Times: Studying Middle Persian Collections from the Late Sasanian and Early Islamic Periods-Opportunities and Challenges’. Registration essential.  
  • Medieval English Research Seminar – 5:15, The Schwarzman Centre, room 00.018 . Cathy Shrank (U of Sheffield) will be speaking on ‘Thomas More’s dialogues’.

Thursday

  • Middle English Reading Group (MERG) – 11:00, Lincoln College, Beckington Room. All are welcome as we finish Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Bring any edition of the original text! There will be tea and biscuits. For more information or to be added to the mailing list, please email Rebecca Menmuir. 
  • Oxford Environmental History Working Group – 12:30, Schwarzman Centre History Hub Room 20.421. Wallerand Bazin will be speaking on ‘Bracken dissensus: a historical political ecology of tree planting in the English Lake District’.
  • Oliver Smithies Lecture at Balliol College – 5:15, Gillis Lecture Theatre, Balliol College. Elaine Treharne (Stanford University) will be speaking on “Death of a Nun: Medieval Women Scribes and Networks of Piety”. Followed by a Drinks Reception. More information here.
  • Bede Reading Group (or, ‘Bede-ing Group’) – 6:00, Blackfriars. To sign up, email Maura McKeon. Don’t stop Bede-lieving.
  • Medieval Academy of America’s Graduate Student Council webinar on funding – 8:00 online. MAA Special Projects Assistant Jon Dell Isola will discuss what grants are available to graduate students, how to apply, and tips for grant applications. Register here.
  • Compline in the Crypt – 9:30, St Edmund Hall.

Friday

  • Medievalist Coffee Morning – Friday 10:30, Visiting Scholars Centre (Weston Library). All welcome, coffee and insight into special collections provided.
  • Oxford Medieval Manuscript Group – 3:00. Courtauld Gallery (London) Visit.
  • Old Frisian Reading Group – 3:00, Online.
  • Medieval Latin Reading Group – 5:30, Christ Church. This term, we will be reading the Cosmographia of Bernardus Silvestris in the original. For more information, please contact Clara Bykvist or Monty Powell. 

Opportunities (see Medieval Studies booklet for full details)

  • The experimental production of the Harrowing of Hell is still looking for players. More information can be found here.
  • OMS small grants is now open! Grants are normally in the region of £100–250 and can either be for expenses or for administrative and organisational support such as publicity, filming or zoom hosting. Closing date for applications: Friday of Week 5.
  • Publishing with the Journal Manuscript and Text Cultures. Are you interested in submitting to the journal Manuscript and Text Cultures? Please review the About the Journal page.
  • Register for the Anglo-German Research Funding Opportunities Showcase, Wednesday, 13 May  •  2 PM – 5:30 PM | Eventbrite. The Global Engagement team will host representatives from some of the major German and UK funding bodies (DFG, The Royal Society, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, the Royal Academy of Engineering and more) at Rhodes House; for Early Career People as well as established researchers!
  • CfP – Representations of Women and/as Animals in Literature, Arts, and Other Media. Deadline: 15 July 2026.
  • Sir John Rhŷs Prize for the study of the Celtic languages, literature, history, and antiquities. Entries should be submitted by email, with the subject line “Sir John Rhŷs Prize”, to the English Faculty Office, no later than Monday of Week 8 of Trinity Term (15 June 2026).
  • CfP – 9th International Conference on Myth Criticism. Deadline: 15 May 2026
  • CfP – The Nine Worthies: Interdisciplinary Perspectives. Deadline: 15 May 2026
  • CfP – Contested Ground: Ownership and Belonging in the Middle Ages. More information here. Deadline: 1 June 2026.
  • CfP – 1027 – 2027 : The World in which William was Born. More information here. Deadline: 1 June 2026.
  • 20th MEMSA Anniversary Conference. More information here. Deadline: 20th June 2026.
  • The Mortimer History Society will once again be offering two Research Bursaries (each of £1000) for the academic year 2026 to 2027, for PhD and MA students whose research includes any aspect of the medieval Welsh Marches or the Mortimers. More information here. Deadline: 30 June 2026.
  • Bodleian Purchasing Opportunity. Do you know of books that would aid your work but are not in the Bodleian? Help us strengthen the university’s collections. You can submit details of suggested books via https://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/collections-and-resources/recommend-a-purchase or by email to medieval@bodleian.ox.ac.uk.

Medieval Matters TT26, Wk 2

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04/05/2026

09:13

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Call for Papers, conference, events, Medieval Matters, News, opportunities

Welcome to week 2. Alongside the usual weekly roster of reading groups and opportunities, this weeks sees a number of exciting one-off events: ‘Black Lives in the Archives’ (Thur), Prof Treharne on ‘The Look of the Medieval Book’ (Fri), and Dr Griffith in the annual O’ Donnell Lecture (Fri).

Monday

  • French Palaeography Manuscript Reading Group – 10:30, Weston Library. If you are interested in joining the group or would like more information, please email the convenor Laure Miolo.
  • Medieval History Seminar: – 5:00, All Souls College. Nancy Thebaut (St Catherine’s College, Oxford) will be speaking on ‘When Christ turns away: representing the ascension ca. 1000’.

Tuesday

  • Latin Palaeography Manuscript Reading Group – 2pm, Weston Library. Those who are interested can email the convenor Laure Miolo.
  • Medieval Church and Culture Seminar– Tea & coffee from 5pm; papers begin at 5.15pm, Harris Manchester College. Hannah Free (Kellogg) will be speaking on ‘Christian Fanfiction? Searching for truth in biblical retellings’; Samuel Bedford (Wadham) will be speaking on ‘Reginald Pecock’s Rationalist Turn: a study in medieval intellectual biography’

Wednesday

  • Methods in Arabic and Islamic Studies Class – 10:30, LMH Library.
  • Medieval German Graduate Seminar on Thomasin von Zerklaere – 11:15, Oriel College. If you are interested to be added to the teams group for updates and access to the sources, please contact Henrike Lähnemann.
  • Old Norse Reading Group – 5:00, Merton College, Americas Room. This term we are reading Völsunga saga. If you are interested in joining the group, please contact one of the group convenors via email Brooklyn Arnot or Zeynep Kirca. 
  • The Medieval Latin Documentary Palaeography Reading Group – 4:00, online. To join and/or to find out more about this and the possibility of some hands-on experience of cataloguing such documents to develop further your research skills, please contact  Michael Stansfield.
  • Late Antique and Byzantine Seminar – 5:00, Late Antique and Byzantine Seminar, Ioannou Centre. Ekaterini Vavaliou (Oxford) will be speaking on ‘Dissecting a Medieval Frontier: The Fortifications of Eastern Central Greece‘.

Thursday

  • Middle English Reading Group (MERG) – 11:00, Lincoln College, Beckington Room. All are welcome as we finish Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Bring any edition of the original text! There will be tea and biscuits. For more information or to be added to the mailing list, please email Rebecca Menmuir. 
  • Writing Environmental History Workshop – 2:00, Schwarzman Centre Room TBA. For updated meeting information, please email Ryan Mealiffe.
  • Black Lives in the Archives: Chivalric Romances – 3:00, Weston Library. This hands-on workshop will explore how surviving medieval manuscripts can help us understand race and race-making in medieval Europe. Register here.
  • Medieval Women’s Writing Research Seminar- 4:00, Somerville College. Spiritual and Material World, including extracts from the works of Margery Kempe, Leonor López de Córdoba and Isabel de Villena 
  • Medieval Visual Culture Seminar – 5:00, St Catherine’s College. Cécile Voyer (Université de Poitiers) will be speaking on “Under the Gaze of the Judge: New approaches to a re-reading of the Conques tympanum” 
  • Centre for Manuscript and Text Cultures: Global Manuscript and Text Cultures Seminar – 5:15, Memorial Room, Queen’s College. Shaahin Pishbin (Queen’s) & Thomas Newbold (Asian University for Women, Chittagong) will be speaking on M’uhajir manuscripts: Field notes from the Alia Madrasa Library in Dhaka’; Jaimee Comstock-Skipp (New College) will be speaking on ‘What’s in a nisba? Manuscript makers and migrations in 16th-century Central Asia’.
  • The Khalili Research Centre Seminar – 5:15, KRC Lecture Room. Suna Çağaptay (Muğla Sıtkı Koçman University) will be speaking on ‘Reading Between the Lines: The Maritime Landscape of Anaia on the Byzantine-Genoese and Aydinid Cusp’ 
  • Guild of Medievalist Makers – 5:30, online. Making Space Session –  optional theme: dreams.
  • Bede Reading Group (or, ‘Bede-ing Group’) – 6:00, Blackfriars. To sign up, email Maura McKeon. Don’t stop Bede-lieving.
  • Compline in the Crypt – 9:30, St Edmund Hall.

Friday

  • Medievalist Coffee Morning – 10:30, Visiting Scholars Centre (Weston Library). All welcome, coffee and insight into special collections provided.
  • Older Scots Reading Group – 3:00, Schwarzman room 30.401. No intensive preparation required. All are welcome and there are usually snacks. This week the theme is Orpheus and Eurydice. Contact megan.bushnell@ling-phil.ox.ac.uk for further details.
  • Oxford Medieval Manuscript Group – 5:00, Merton College Mure Room. Professor Elaine Treharne (Stanford University) will be speaking on ‘The Look of the Medieval Book: Manuscripts and Their Uses’. Please join us for a drinks reception following the lecture.
  • Medieval Latin Reading Group – 5:30, Christ Church. This term, we will be reading the Cosmographia of Bernardus Silvestris in the original. For more information, please contact Clara Bykvist or Monty Powell. 
  • O’ Donnell Lecture – 5:30, Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities. Dr Aaron Griffith (Utrecht University) will be speaking on ‘Old Irish: plenty of variation, but of what kind?‘. Register for free tickets here. 
  • A Multilingual Moses Play – 6:30, Ioannou Centre.

Opportunities (see Medieval Studies booklet for full details)

  • The experimental production of the Harrowing of Hell is still looking for players. More information can be found here.
  • OMS small grants is now open! Grants are normally in the region of £100–250 and can either be for expenses or for administrative and organisational support such as publicity, filming or zoom hosting. Closing date for applications: Friday of Week 5.
  • Publishing with the Journal Manuscript and Text Cultures. Are you interested in submitting to the journal Manuscript and Text Cultures? Please review the About the Journal page.
  • Register for the Anglo-German Research Funding Opportunities Showcase, Wednesday, 13 May  •  2 PM – 5:30 PM | Eventbrite. The Global Engagement team will host representatives from some of the major German and UK funding bodies (DFG, The Royal Society, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, the Royal Academy of Engineering and more) at Rhodes House; for Early Career People as well as established researchers!
  • Sir John Rhŷs Prize for the study of the Celtic languages, literature, history, and antiquities. Entries should be submitted by email, with the subject line “Sir John Rhŷs Prize”, to the English Faculty Office, no later than Monday of Week 8 of Trinity Term (15 June 2026).
  • CfP – 9th International Conference on Myth Criticism. Deadline: 15 May 2026
  • CfP – The Nine Worthies: Interdisciplinary Perspectives. Deadline: 15 May 2026
  • CfP – Contested Ground: Ownership and Belonging in the Middle Ages. More information here. Deadline: 1 June 2026.
  • CfP – 1027 – 2027 : The World in which William was Born. More information here. Deadline: 1 June 2026.
  • 20th MEMSA Anniversary Conference. More information here. Deadline: 20th June 2026.
  • The Mortimer History Society will once again be offering two Research Bursaries (each of £1000) for the academic year 2026 to 2027, for PhD and MA students whose research includes any aspect of the medieval Welsh Marches or the Mortimers. More information here. Deadline: 30 June 2026.
  • Bodleian Purchasing Opportunity. Do you know of books that would aid your work but are not in the Bodleian? Help us strengthen the university’s collections. You can submit details of suggested books via https://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/collections-and-resources/recommend-a-purchase or by email to medieval@bodleian.ox.ac.uk.