Category: events

Medieval Matters MT26, Wk3

by

26/10/2026

08:48

Comments Off on Medieval Matters MT26, Wk3

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

, ,

Welcome to week 3, and the return of the rain. As always, please find attached the new booklet of events for this term. 

We’d like to draw your attention to Mearcstapan, a student medievalist society at Oxford focused on making medievalism more accessible and inclusive. You can find out a little more about the society here – do encourage your students to get involved, and do consider getting involved yourself!

Ever behind the times (see 1209), Cambridge have taken a leaf (or, perhaps, an entire bough) from our book and established their own interdisciplinary network for medieval studies. You can access their booklet of upcoming events, and their new website, 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.
  • Greek Palaeography Manuscript Reading Group – 15:00, Horton Room Weston Library. Contact Péter Tóth for further details.
  • Medieval History Seminar: – 5:00, All Souls College. Catherine Holmes (University College, Oxford) on “Byzantium: A Kinetic Commonwealth?”
  • Medieval Latin Reading Group – 5.30pm in Merton College. The text this term is Ysengrimus.

Tuesday

  • Latin Palaeography Manuscript Reading Group – 2pm, Weston Library. Those who are interested can email the convenor Laure Miolo.
  • Byzantine Literature Lectures – 4:00, Kloppenburg Room, Exeter College.
  • Lecture – 4:00, Weston Library. Christophe Masson (University of Liège) on ‘A look into Avignon libraries. Books written or owned by cardinals during the Great Western Schism (1378-1403)’
  • Medieval French Research Seminar – 5:00, Maison française d’Oxford. Mireille Seguy (Université Paris, Sorbonne Nouvelle) on ‘Quelle foi accordait -on aux fictions au Moyen Âge ? Le lecteur au miroir de la métalepse (XII e-XV e siècles)’

Wednesday

  • Medieval German Graduate Seminar – 11:15, Somerville College. The topics for the term will be Frauenlob, Kreuzleich and Minneleich. If you are interested to be added to the teams group for updates, please contact Almut Suerbaum
  • Oxford Centre for Medieval Britain and Ireland Welcome Lunch – 12:45, Balliol. Sign-up sheet here.
  • Byzantine Text Seminar – 3:00, Kloppenberg Room, Exeter College.
  • Old Norse Reading Group – 4:00. Please email Brooklyn Arnold for the location
  • 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.
  • Guild of Medievalist Makers – 5:00, Goodhart Seminar Room at University College. Workshop: Creating Medieval Criticism Now Series by Laura Varnam . ‘The Forms of Criticism’ with Susie Campbell (poet), Nik Gunn (historical novelist), and Esther McManus (cartoonist/illustrator) . Registration required: event page
  • Late Antique and Byzantine Seminar – 5:00, Ioannou Centre for Classical and Byzantine Studies. Anna Lampadaridi, on ‘Translating and Rewriting a Latin Legend into Greek: the Life of Hilarion by Jerome (BHL3879)’.
  • Bede Reading Group – 6:00, Blackfriars. Bede, wine, and merriment – all are welcome.

Thursday

  • Middle English Reading Group (MERG) – 10:00, Beckington Room, Lincoln College. The text this year is Troilus and Criseyde. Please contact Rebecca Menmuir.
  • Medieval English Research Seminar – 12:15, room 00.018 in the Humanities Centre. Patrick Outhwaite (U of Groningen) on ‘Doctor-patient interaction in late-medieval England’.
  • SCRIPTORIUM: Understandig the Medieval Page – 2:00, Weston Library. More info here.
  • Older Scots Reading Group – 3:00, Room 30.401 in the Schwarzman Centre.
  • Court Studies Book Launch – 5:00, Habakkuk Room, Jesus College. ‘The Networked Court: Transdisciplinary
  • Perspectives on Late Medieval Court Cultures’.
  • Celtic Seminar – 5:15, Room 00.056 in the Humanities Centre and online. Ned Tomos on ‘Hawliau iaith a chwalu’r drefn ryngwladol’.
  • Compline in the Crypt (Reformation music from 1524) – 9:30, St Edmund Hall

Friday

  • Medievalist Coffee Morning – 10:30, Weston Library. Henrike Lähnemann and Tim Powell will speak on Reading Reformation Pamphlets, from 16th cent. Nuremberg to the GDR
  • Exploring Medieval Oxford through Surviving Archives – 2:00, Magdalen College. As space is limited, registration is required. Those interested in participating are invited to contact Laure Miolo
  • Launch of Hans Sachs: Dialogue on Greed – 5:00, Taylorian Institute. More info here.
  • Oxford Medieval Manuscript Group (OMMG) – 5:00, Merton College (Mure Room). Professor James Marrow (Princeton University) on ‘The Cleves-Mark Prayer Book: A Dismembered Work of Lower Rhenish Manuscript Illumination of ca.1500. Please join us for a drinks reception.
  • Guild of Medievalist Makers making space session – 5:30, online. Optional theme: horrors.
  • Church historian pub trip – 6:00, The Chequers.

Opportunities

  • The German Historical Institute Medieval History Seminar. Deadline 31 January 2027. More info here.
  • CfP – Unexpected Journeys: New Pathways through Iberian History. More information here.
  • Call for Readers of Early New High German for the launch of a Hans Sachs dialogue on 30 October. More information
  • Call for Committee Members: Oxford Medieval Graduate Conference 2027 – contact ox********@***il.com.
  • OMS Small Grants open. Closing date for applications: Friday of Week 4. More information.
  • Medieval Afterlives: Cultural Programme Open Call – investment of up to £10,000, see booklet.
  • The Multicultural Middle Ages podcast proposal for 6th season. Applications are due October 15th.
  • Medieval Manors Research Network/Provost’s Postdoctoral Fellowship Program at the University of Notre Dame. Art (History), English, German / Slavic / Eurasian, History and Philosophy of Science, Initiative on Race and Resilience, Philosophy, Romance Languages, Theology; international applications and medievalists welcome!
  • Publishing with the Journal Manuscript and Text Cultures – see booklet for details.
  • John W. Baldwin Post -Doctoral Fellowship. A two-year position beginning July 1, 2027, for recent Ph.D. recipients whose work focuses on European medieval studies within a global comparative context. The application deadline is November 13, 2026 .

Court Studies Book Launch

by

26/10/2026

08:43

Comments Off on Court Studies Book Launch

Around Oxford, events

Thursday, 29 October
Habakkuk Room, Jesus College, 5:00pm
‘The Networked Court: Transdisciplinary Perspectives on Late Medieval Court Cultures’

Presentations by editor Karl Kügle and authors Jane Gilbert, Christophe Masson, and Helen Swift

Centre for Digital Scholarship (Bodleian Libraries) Events in Michaelmas Term

by

25/10/2026

12:27

Comments Off on Centre for Digital Scholarship (Bodleian Libraries) Events in Michaelmas Term

events, Uncategorized

SCRIPTORIUM: Understanding the Medieval Page

Thursday 29 October, 2-3pm
Free, in-person event: Centre for Digital Scholarship, Weston Library
Find out more and register here

What can a videogame teach us about medieval manuscripts? Through original manuscripts and the game Scriptorium: Master of Manuscripts, this session explores how medieval books were planned, decorated, and produced, inviting participants to experiment with the processes behind the medieval page.

What do you need from digital collections?

Wednesday 28 October, 3-4.30pm

Free, in-person event: Centre for Digital Scholarship, Weston Library

Find out more and register here

Are you a student or researcher who uses or would like to use digital library, archive or museum collections in your work? If so, we’d like to hear how you use online collections, and what would make your experience better. Please join us for a 90-minute session, with cake, to share your stories, and help us make the case for better digital collections infrastructures. This session is part of work commissioned by the TaNC N-RICH project. 

Digital Humanities Show & Tell

Tuesday 24 November, 9.30am-1pm
Free, in-person event: Weston Library, Oxford

Find out more and register here

Join the Bodleian Libraries for a morning of talks, lightning presentations and discussions, showcasing the latest in digital humanities research at Oxford. Discover insights from researchers working across a diverse range of subjects and take part in a networking lunch. We are also inviting presenters from the University of Oxford to submit proposals for 10-minute talks on a particular aspect of digital humanities. For further information and details about topics, please view the application form below. The deadline for submissions is 5pm (UK time) on 27th October 2026. 

Find out more and view the application form

Medieval Matters MT26, Wk2

by

19/10/2026

09:09

Comments Off on Medieval Matters MT26, Wk2

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

,

Welcome to week 2, and another full set of events.  As always, please find attached the new booklet of events for this term. 

We are very sorry to have to mark the death, far too young, of Professor Chris Wickham, former Chichele Professor of Medieval History and supporter and friend to medieval studies at Oxford.  Chris treated everyone in the medieval community alike, whether they be first-year undergraduates or fellow professors, and he was interested in (and tried to attend, as much as he could) everything that was going on. You can read the OMS obituary 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.
  • Books Medievalists Should Know – 2:00, Lincoln College. The focus this weeks is The Bible, introduced by Dr Cosima Gillhammer.
  • Greek Palaeography Manuscript Reading Group – 15:00, Horton Room Weston Library. Contact Péter Tóth for further details.
  • Medieval Archaeology Seminar – 3;00, Instittue of Archaeology. Jessica Nutt on ‘Passive or Peripheral? Rethinking Viking Conflict in Early Medieval Wales’.
  • Medieval History Seminar: – 5:00, All Souls College. Rory Naismith (Corpus Christi College, Cambridge) on “Rethinking Offa of Mercia”.
  • Medieval Latin Reading Group – 5.30pm in Merton College. The text this term is Ysengrimus.

Tuesday

  • Latin Palaeography Manuscript Reading Group – 2pm, Weston Library. SPECIAL SESSION – Dr Sofia Orsino (Richard Sharpe Memorial Visiting Fellow at the Weston Library) on  ‘From Twelfth-Century French Classrooms to Italian Humanistic Libraries. Texts ad travels of a Latin manuscript in the Canonici collection’. Those who are interested can email the convenor Laure Miolo.
  • Byzantine Literature Lectures – 4:00, Kloppenburg Room, Exeter College.

Wednesday

  • Centre for Manuscript and Text Cultures – 11:00, Weston Library. Chinese Special Collections Masterclass with Mamtimyn Sunuodula (Head of East Asian Materials, Bodleian Libraries). (NB: No bags, food or drink allowed; please leave in lobby lockers)
  • Medieval German Graduate Seminar – 11:15, Somerville College. The topics for the term will be Frauenlob, Kreuzleich and Minneleich. If you are interested to be added to the teams group for updates, please contact Almut Suerbaum
  • Christine de Pizan & Gender in the Late Middle Ages Seminar – 2:00, Weston Library. Prof. Helen Swift (Oxford) on “Encountering Christine de Pizan in 2026”; Prof. Andrea Valentini (Université Sorbonne Nouvelle), on ‘ Lire les textes de Christine de Pizan autrement ‘ (please note that Prof. Valentini’s presentation will be in French).
  • Byzantine Text Seminar – 3:00, Kloppenberg Room, Exeter College.
  • Old Norse Reading Group – 4:00. Please email Brooklyn Arnold for the location
  • 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, Ioannou Centre for Classical and Byzantine Studies. Hallie G. Meredith on ‘Women’s Work: A Social History of Late Antique Industrial Glass Producers’.
  • Bede Reading Group – 6:00, Blackfriars. Bede, wine, and merriment – all are welcome.

Thursday

  • Middle English Reading Group (MERG) – 10:00, Beckington Room, Lincoln College. The text this year is Troilus and Criseyde. 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 English Research Seminar – 12:15, room 00.018 in the Humanities Centre. Laura Kalas (U of Swansea) on ‘A reproductive imaginary: the medieval Pinea and women ’s visionary writings’.
  • Medieval Women’s Writing Research Seminar – 4:00, Magdalen College (meet at lodge). The Art of Storytelling, including extracts from the works of Murasaki Shikibu and Marie de France
  • Seminars in Medieval and Renaissance Music – 5:00, online. David Catalunya (Universidad Complutense de Madrid) on ‘Divine Harmony in Bronze Pipes: The Bethlehem Organ as a Practical Source for Pythagorean Theory’. See booklet for sign-up form.
  • Celtic Seminar – 5:15, Room 00.056 in the Humanities Centre and online. Brendan Kane (Connecticut) on ‘An early modern Gaelic Atlantic? Center and periphery in Irish political thought, c. 1600–1840’.
  • Compline in the Crypt – 9:30, St Edmund Hall

Friday

  • Medievalist Coffee Morning – 10:30, Weston Library. Gary Rendsburg will speak on Queen Elizabeth’s Book of Oxford. Coffee and tea provided
  • Exploring Medieval Oxford through Surviving Archives – 2:00, Magdalen College. As space is limited, registration is required. Those interested in participating are invited to contact Laure Miolo
  • Church historian pub trip – 6:00, The Chequers.

Opportunities (see booklet for more info)

  • CfP – Unexpected Journeys: New Pathways through Iberian History. More information here.
  • Call for Readers of Early New High German for the launch of a Hans Sachs dialogue on 30 October. More information
  • Call for Committee Members: Oxford Medieval Graduate Conference 2027 – contact ox********@***il.com.
  • OMS Small Grants open. Closing date for applications: Friday of Week 4. More information.
  • Medieval Afterlives: Cultural Programme Open Call – investment of up to £10,000, see booklet.
  • The Multicultural Middle Ages podcast proposal for 6th season. Applications are due October 15th.
  • Medieval Manors Research Network/Provost’s Postdoctoral Fellowship Program at the University of Notre Dame. Art (History), English, German / Slavic / Eurasian, History and Philosophy of Science, Initiative on Race and Resilience, Philosophy, Romance Languages, Theology; international applications and medievalists welcome!
  • Publishing with the Journal Manuscript and Text Cultures – see booklet for details.
  • John W. Baldwin Post -Doctoral Fellowship. A two-year position beginning July 1, 2027, for recent Ph.D. recipients whose work focuses on European medieval studies within a global comparative context. The application deadline is November 13, 2026 .

Reformation Pamphlet Launch

by

06/10/2026

07:27

Comments Off on Reformation Pamphlet Launch

Around Oxford, events, News

When: Friday, 30 October 2026, 5-6:30pm
Where: Taylor Institution Library, Room 2

Launch of Hans Sachs’ ‘Dialogue on Greed’

450 years ago, Hans Sachs (1494–1576), one of the most influential German authors intervening in the Reformation debate, died. In 1524, he had published four highly successful polemical dialogues in pamphlet form. The first of these, the debate between a canon and a cobbler, the alter-ego of Hans Sachs, was published in 2024 on the Taylor Editions website and as print-on-demand, including its contemporary Dutch and English translations. For this year’s Reformation pamphlet edition, the last of the four dialogues is published, the topical debate on greed: Ein Dialogus/ des inhalt/ ein argument der Roͤmischen[/ wider das Christlich heüflein[/ den Geytz/ auch ander offenlich laster &c. betreffend (A dialogue containing an argument of the Roman Catholics against the little Christian flock; concerning greed, also other public vices, etc.). The edition and translation are available here as part of the Taylor Editions and as eBook.

In the debate, the characters ‘Romanus’ (a Catholic monk) and ‘Reichenburger’ (a merchant aptly named ‘rich citizen’) argue about all the topics which should be avoided at an Oxford dinner table: money, religion, and politics, while liberally quoting from the Bible, making use of Martin Luther’s then brand-new translation of the New Testament.

As with the previous Taylor Reformation Pamphlets, the launch will include a themed compline, a coffee morning presentation and a full relay reading of the original text with English subtitles. Watch the podcast of the “Sendbrief vom Dolmetschen” and read the introduction into Early Modern German on the website. Former readers have included the Mayor of Bonn, Oxford school children, emeritus professors, linguistics students, Dutch native speakers, members of the German Lutheran Church and many more. Watch / listen to a test reading to prepare for the launch with Henrike Lähnemann as Romanus and Timothy Powell as Junker Reichenburger

Coffee Morning Presentation at 10.30am

To celebrate the publication of ‘Hans Sachs: Dialogue on Greed‘, Henrike Lähnemann and Timothy Powell present 502 years of reading Reformation pamphlets in volumes of the Bodleian and of Tim’s collection of GDR editions of Hans Sachs, the Nuremberg cobbler turned celebrity author.

Three volumes shown from the Bodleian Collection:

  • Tr.Luth. 34: A Sammelband with nine copies of different editions of the four 1524 dialogues by Hans Sachs as no. 53–61, showing different readers’ interventions.
  • Tr.Luth. 36: A Sammelband featuring as no. 93 a diatribe against usury by the Reformation author Jacob Strauß, also from 1524 Das wucher zu nemen vnd gebē vnserm Christlichem glauben vnd brüderlicher lieb … entgegen yst, vnuberwintlich leer, vnnd geschrifft.
  • Tr.Luth. 50: A Sammelband which contains as no. 19 a series of enigmatic woodcuts from 1527 with verses by Hans Sachs interpreting them as ‘prophecy about the fate of the papacy’ (Ein wunderliche weissagung von dem Bapstumb, wie es yhm bis an das ende der welt gehen sol, ynn figuren odder gemelde begriffen, gefunden zu Nurmberg. Ein vorred A. Osianders. Mit gutter verstendlicher auslegung, wilche H. Sachs yn deudsche reymen gefasset.)

Books presented by Timothy Powell:

  • Flugschriften der Bauernkriegszeit, ed. by Adolf Laube/Hans Werner Seiffert (Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, 1975).
  • Ein wünderlicher Dialogus und newe Zeitung: Die Prosadialoge des Hans Sachs, ed. by Ingeborg Spriewald (Leipzig: Insel, 1976).
  • Klaus Wedler, Hans Sachs (Leipzig: Reclam, 1976).
  • Günter Vogler, Nürnberg 1524/25 (Berlin: Deutscher Verlag der Wissenschaften, 1982). 
  • Buch der Reformation, ed. by Günter Vogler (Berlin: Union-Verlag, 1989): Taylorian Teaching Collection BR301.B83 BUC 1989

For more videos in the series, see http://tinyurl.com/coffeemorningsWeston

Schedule of the Presentation 5-6:30pm

5pm Tea and sound checks
5:15pm Introduction to the new edition and translation (Henrike Lähnemann)
5:30pm Relay Reading of the ‘Dialogue on Greed’
6:15pm Show-and-tell of editions of Hans Sachs’s works from the 16th and 20th centuries (Timothy Powell)

For further information on the Reformation Pamphlets, consult the Taylor Editions site.

Image from one of the three editions of the pamphlet in the Bodleian Library, Tr. Luth. 34 (53)
Ein Dialogus / des inhalt / ein argumēt | der Roͤmischen / wider das Christlich heüflein / den | Geytz / auch ander offenlich laster ꝛc. betreffend. [Nuremberg: Jobst Gutknecht,] 1524.
14 folios in 4to. Quire signatures: B, C, D, with C being a half-sheet
(Weller 1868: 18(a); KG, vol. 22: 9a; Pegg 1973: 3550; Köhler 1996: 3989; VD 16 S 211.)

Compline in the Crypt on the eve of the launch

MAMO 2027: Call for Papers

by

01/07/2026

11:03

Comments Off on MAMO 2027: Call for Papers

Call for Papers, events

We are excited to announce preliminary details of the 6th Middle Ages in the Modern World (MAMO) conference! Save the date of Tuesday 22nd – Thursday 24th June, 2027. Our location is Lincoln College, Oxford, UK (https://lincoln.ox.ac.uk/).

The 6th international MAMO conference will explore the ways in which the Middle Ages have been imagined, invoked, forged, refashioned, used and abused in modernity. The conference will take place at Lincoln College, Oxford (UK). 

We invite proposals for papers, panels, workshops and other events, on aspects of the entire Middle Ages (c. 500-1500, with questions of periodisation welcome). Proposals might consider, but are not limited to the topics of: 

  • Modern media: literature, films, theatre, visual art, games, podcasts, etc;
  • Translations, creative adaptations, retellings, creative criticism;
  • Editions, printing, and the material text; the history of scholarship;
  • Pedagogy and teaching with/as medievalism;
  • Performance and re-enactment of the medieval;
  • Local, national, and global medievalisms; the built environment; Oxford and medievalism;
  • Inclusive medievalisms;
  • Questions of ethics, morals, and responsibilities; medievalist activism.

The deadline for proposals is 30 September 2026.

Please send abstracts of c. 250 words, with a brief author bio, to th***************@***il.com

CONFIRMED PLENARIES INCLUDE

SPECIAL EVENT: A film screening and conversation with Robert Eggers, director of The Witch (2015), The Northman (2022), Nosferatu (2024), and Werwulf (2026)

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS: Professors Carolyne Larrington (Oxford) and Elaine Treharne (Stanford)

KEYNOTE ROUNDTABLE: Translation and adaptation with Matthew Francis, Bernard O’Donoghue, and Professor Eva von Contzen (Freiburg)

If you have any suggestions or proposals for larger-scale events that we may need to include in the early planning stages, please do be in touch – all suggestions welcome. Email MAMO. The organising committee are Rachel Burns, Rebecca Menmuir, Marion Turner, and Laura Varnam.

Visit the conference website at https://themamo.org/

Medieval Matter TT26, Wk 8

by

15/06/2026

09:13

Comments Off on Medieval Matter TT26, Wk 8

events, Medieval Matters, News, opportunities, Uncategorized

,

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 me************@*************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 me******@************ac.uk.

Medieval Matter TT26, Wk7

by

08/06/2026

08:39

Comments Off on Medieval Matter TT26, Wk7

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 (ha************@*******ac.uk) or James (ja****************@**********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 me******@************ac.uk.

Medieval Matters TT26, Wk 6

by

31/05/2026

23:00

Comments Off on Medieval Matters TT26, Wk 6

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

,

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 me************@*************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 me******@************ac.uk.

The Creed in Music

by

31/05/2026

22:54

Comments Off on The Creed in Music

Around Oxford, events

, , ,

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.