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;
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.
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‘.
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.
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.
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 – 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.
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.
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.
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).
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.
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.
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. JessicaBarker (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
Production of Fulgens and Lucrece – 5:30, St Hilda’s College Pavillion. Light refreshments will be served. Audience standing with limited seating around the outside of the room. Register online: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/sthildascollege/2225373
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.
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).
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.
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)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 – 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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
