Category: events

The Oxford Seminars in Cartography (TOSCA)

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20/01/2023

23:58

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We’d like to draw your attention to the first of the TOSCA seminars, details below!

‘Please use the postcode’: navigating the past, present, and future conservation needs of the Hereford Mappa Mundi

 -who: Andrew Honey, Bodleian Library, University of Oxford and Conservation Inspector to the Mappa Mundi Trust

-when: Thursday 2 February 2023, 4.30–6pm (GMT)

-where: Sir Victor Blank Lecture Theatre, Weston Library and online via Zoom

-This talk will examine the conservation needs of the Hereford Mappa Mundi, chart the effects of some of the historic repairs and cleaning campaigns carried out in the past, explain the ingenious methods used to mount the map, and outline future conservation needs, as well as presenting some discoveries from recent conservation inspections.

–Book here to attend, in person or online

Comparative Philology Seminar: Old High German and Germanic Reading Group

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18/01/2023

19:20

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There are two opportunities this term to discuss medieval Germanic languages: the Comparative Philology Graduate Seminar and the Germanic Reading Group.

Comparative Philology Seminar: Old High German

We will present general aspects of the language and delve into specialist topics. All are welcome, basic linguistic knowledge is assumed. The seminar will take place on Tuesdays in weeks 2–8, 2.15–4 pm, at the Lecture Theatre of the Centre for Linguistics and Philology (Walton Street). Convenor: Dr Howard Jones

24 January      Introduction/Phonology (Luise Morawetz/Howard Jones)

31 January      Nominal morphology (Will Thurlwell)

7 February      Verb morphology (Luise Morawetz/Howard Jones)

14 February    Syntax (Howard Jones)

21 February    Lexis (Will Thurlwell)

28 February    Metre (Nelson Goering)

7 March          The place of OHG (and Old Saxon) among the Germanic languages (Patrick Stiles)

Germanic Reading Group

We’ll be holding four online meetings of the Germanic Reading Group this term, every other Thursday at 4:00 starting second Week in Oxford.

Thursday, 26 January, 4:00─5:00. Old Norse skaldic verse (Nelson Goering leading)

Thursday, 9 February, 4:00─5:00. Old High German charms (Will Thurlwell leading)

Thursday, 23 February, 4:00─5:00. Medieval Yiddish (Kerstin Hoge leading)

Thursday, 9 March, 4:00─5:00. Old High German glosses and glossaries (Luise Morawetz leading)

Please contact Howard Jones Howard.Jones@sbs.ox.ac.uk to be added to the list

Image: OHG Paternoster, St. Gallen, Stiftsbibliothek, Cod. Sang. 56, p. 68 – Evangelienharmonie des Tatian (https://www.e-codices.ch/de/list/one/csg/0056)

ETC Research Seminar on Anthropology and Religion (HT23)

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18/01/2023

13:52

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The Early Text Cultures Research Seminar for Hilary Term 2023 will be on the theme of Anthropology and Religion. We hope that the seminar will enable us to explore ways in which traditional anthropological questions can (or cannot) help us elucidate key literary texts as sources for ancient religion. Speakers will address Old Norse, Classical Latin, Early Greek, ancient Near Eastern, Old Babylonian and Vedic contexts. After a ca. 20-min presentation, there will be ample opportunity for cross-disciplinary discussion.

The seminar will be held in the Corpus Christi College Seminar Room, on Wednesdays of even weeks at 2–3pm UK time.
To join remotely, please register here: https://forms.gle/UQuoUbjSzDAP6Zo67
Abstracts can be found here: https://www.earlytextcultures.org/events/current-events

Programme

§ Session 1
Week 2, 25 January

James Parkhouse: Old Norse
Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines: Analogical and Anthropological Perspectives on the Legends of Wayland and Daedalus

§ Session 2
Week 4, 8 February

Joe Barber (Balliol College, Oxford): Classics
Disappearing and Dying Gods in the Ancient Near East and Early Greece

§ Session 3
Week 6, 22 February

Christie Carr (Wolfson College, Oxford): Assyriology
The Sumerian Sacred Marriage Ritual

§ Session 4
Week 8, 8 March

Barbora Sojkova (All Souls College/Balliol College, Oxford): Sanskrit
On Ancient Animals: Vedic Literature and Multispecies Anthropology

Everyone is extremely welcome!

ETC Board

Oxford Medieval Visual Culture Seminar

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17/01/2023

12:26

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Where: St Catherine’s College, Arumugam Building
When: Thursdays 5.15 p.m.

Convenors: Elena Lichmanova (elena.lichmanova@merton.ox.ac.uk) and Gervase Rosser

The Oxford Medieval Visual Culture Seminar series is exploring visual aspects of medieval knowledge: from anatomy to alchemy, from geometry to the concepts of time and space. We hope that the programme may appeal to audiences beyond those studying the medieval period and art history, so please do share it with anyone who might be interested. 

Week 2, 26 January
Sarah Griffin Lambeth Palace Library, London
From Hours to Ages: Time in the Large-scale Diagrams of Opicinus de Canistris (1296-
c.1352)
Anya Burgon Trinity Hall, Cambridge
In a Punctum: Miniature Worlds in Late Medieval Art and Literature

Week 4, 9 February
Lauren Rozenberg University College London
In the Flat Round: Brain Diagrams in Late Medieval Manuscripts
Sergei Zotov University of Warwick
Christian Motifs in Fifteenth-Century Alchemical Iconography

Week 6, 23 February
Jack Hartnell University of East Anglia
Visualising Wombs and Obstetrical Fantasies in Late Medieval Germany

Week 8, 9 March
Mary Carruthers New York University, All Souls College, Oxford
Envisioning Thinking: Geometry and Meditation in the Twelfth Century

We very much look forward to seeing you in the Hilary Term!

Workshop: Staging & Enacting Medieval Mystery Plays

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11/01/2023

08:00

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Friday 3 February 2023 (Week 3), 5–6.30pm, at St Edmund Hall, Old Dining Hall

Join this workshop for tips and guidance on how to adapt medieval mystery plays for modern performance, a workshop for directors and actors alike. Whether you have already signed up to this year’s Medieval Mystery Cycle on 22 April 2023 or are interested but still unsure how to put together a play or how to act, all are welcome! The focus of the workshop will be on how to cut a medieval play script down to an accessible version (of up to 20 minutes), but there will also be an opportunity to match actors and directors and to discuss any other practical questions you might have on site at St Edmund Hall – and to enjoy tea and cake!

The workshop will be led by David Wiles, Emeritus Professor of Drama at the University of Exeter and a veteran director of the Oxford Medieval Mystery Cycle. Let us know if you’re interested in joining by emailing Michael Angerer, the graduate convenor.

Meanwhile, we’re still looking for groups to join the Medieval Mystery Cycle: have a look at the original blog post with the sign-up link!

Trust in the Premodern World: Interdisciplinary Conference

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09/01/2023

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When: 13-14 January, 2023

Where: Faculty of History, Oxford / Online (a hybrid event with virtual attendance option)

Virtual attendance registration is still open (deadline 23:00 12 January 2023). Virtual registration fee is £15 and you can sign up here.

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Medieval Church and Culture Seminar

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07/01/2023

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Tuesdays. Meeting from 5pm; papers begin at 5.15pm

Tuesdays, Charles Wellbeloved Room, Harris Manchester College

Tea & coffee from 5pm; papers begin at 5.15pm

Everyone is welcome at this informal and friendly graduate seminar

Week 1                        Medieval Church and Culture Social

17 January                   Come along for tea, coffee, and biscuits in the Charles Wellbeloved Room from 5pm-6pm. A chance to share ongoing research, catch up informally, and give suggestions for themes and speakers in coming terms. All are welcome. 

Week 2                        David d’Avray (UCL)

24 January                   The medieval legacy (to 1234) of the first decretal age (c. 400)

Week 3            Susannah Bain (Jesus)

31 January                   Maps, Chronicles and Treaties:  defining political connections in late-thirteenth-century northern Italy                                    

Week 4                        Mary Hitchman (Wolfson)

7 February                   Martyred Mothers: Augustine’s sermons on Perpetua and Felicitas

Week 5                        Federica Gigante (History of Science Museum)

14 February                 Islamic spoils in a Christian context: the reuse of Islamic textiles in Medieval Italian churches

Week 6                        Laura Light (Les Enluminures)

21 February                 The Paris Bible:  what is it, and why its name matters

Week 7                        Bee Jones (Jesus)

28 February                 Bernard’s ‘barbarians’: the Irish in the Life of Malachy

Week 8                        Henrietta Leyser (St Peter’s) and Samuel Fanous (Bodleian Library)

7 March                       The Vision of the Monk of Eynsham

Convenors:Lucia Akard (Oxford SU);  Sumner Braund (St John’s), Bee Jones (Jesus), Lesley Smith (HMC)

Programme Trinity Term 2021

Everyone is welcome at this informal and friendly graduate seminar. This Trinity Term, as always, MCC will feature presentations from the 2020-21 Medieval Studies MSt cohort on their upcoming dissertations. on teams (click on this link to join)

Convenors: Sumner Braund (St John’s), Amy Ebrey (St John’s), IanMcDole (Keble), Lesley Smith (HMC)

Week 2 (4 May): Pilar Bertuzzi Rivett (Lincoln): Ten Names, One God: Exploring Christian-Kabbalistic affinity in a Christian hymn of the twelfth century
Samuel Heywood (St Peter’s): The Finnish Product: translation and transmission of Luther’s hymns in Finland and Sweden

Week 3 (11 May): Jennifer Coulton (Wolfson): Tongue-tied and Legal Loopholes: binding motifs in Early Medieval England
Florence Eccleston (Jesus): The Emotional and Embodied Experience of the Seven Deadly Sins, c.1350-c.1500

Week 4 (18 May): James Tomlinson (Magdalen): The Relationship between Music and Architecture in Late Medieval Creativity: structure, allegory, and memory
Irina Boeru (Wadham): At the frontier of the known world: cartographic and heraldic encounters inLibro del Conosçimiento de todos los Rregons et Tierras et Señorios que son por el mundo, et de las señales et armas que han

Week 5 (25 May): Arielle Jasiewicz-Gill (Oriel): Lay Devotion and Performative Identity in the Fifteenth Century
Florence Swan (Wolfson): The devel of helle sette his foot therin! A literary historical analysis of the cook in late medieval England

Week 6 (1 June): Thomas Henderson(Linacre): Twelfth-Century Mathematical Thinking: an anonymous fractions treatise, Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Auct. F.1.9

OMCN Interdisciplinary Seminar Series 2023

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06/01/2023

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The Oxford Medieval Commentary Network is delighted to announce an upcoming Seminar Series for Hilary Term 2023. We will welcome four distinguished speakers from different disciplines, who will share their insights into different aspects of the commentary tradition. Seminars will take place on Thursdays of weeks 2, 4, 6, 8, at the Thatched Barn at Christ Church. There will be a free lunch at 12.45pm, followed by a one-hour seminar 1.15-2.15pm. Further details below, and on our website.

E  A  Lowe Lectures in Palaeography 2023: Professor Niels Gaul 

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22/12/2022

14:26

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Manuscripts of Character: Codex, Ethos, and Authority in Byzantium and Beyond

Professor Niels Gaul will deliver the E A Lowe Lectures at 5pm on the following days in the MBI Al Jaber Auditorium, Corpus Christi College. Niels Gaul is A G Leventis Professor of Byzantine Studies and Director of the Centre for Late Antique, Islamic and Byzantine Studies at the University of Edinburgh; from 2005 to 2007 he held the inaugural Dilts-Lyell Research Fellowship in Greek Palaeography at Lincoln College and in the Faculty of Classics.  His research interests include the socio-historical dynamics of schools, learning, and the classical tradition in Byzantium; since 2017 he has been co-directing an ERC-funded comparative project on classicising learning in the Byzantine and middle-period Chinese imperial systems.

Tuesday 28 February  –  “Codex” – explores the phenomenon of Byzantine literati curating their own writings in codex format and possible ancient and patristic models; with glances at similar practices in other medieval manuscript cultures

Thursday 2 March – “Ethos” – examines the ways in which such codices were thought to display the author’s character, and what the concept entailed in this context

Tuesday 7 March –  “Authority” – relates expressions of authorial ethos to matters of mise-en-page, with particular attention to marginal spaces

All welcome!

Corpus Christi College MS 30 (fol. 114r), from the Commentary on the Gospels by Theophylact of Ohrid (late 12th century), a significant Byzantine biblical scholar (ca. 1050/60 – ca. 1108).

Header image: Gospel Lectionary with Marginal Illuminations, second half of 11th century, Dumbarton Oaks MS 1, BZ.1939.12 f.4v (See the manuscript online via Dumbarton Oaks on the Web)

CfP: Postgraduate Conference 2023 (University of Bristol): Identities, Communities and ‘Imagined Communities’

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15/12/2022

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When: 14-15 April 2023

Abstracts and enquiries: cms-conference-enquiries@bristol.ac.uk
Deadline: 10 February 2023

After the success of the 2022 ‘Transitions’ Conference, we invite you to the next instalment of the longest-standing medievalist PGR conference series. This year’s theme of Identities, Communities, and ‘Imagined Communities’ marks the 40-year anniversary of the publication of Benedict Anderson’s book on national identity. Observing all the uses medievalists have made of his theories in subsequent years, the conference celebrates the interdisciplinary currents that have benefitted academia in recent decades – Anderson, after all, did not initially believe his theories were suitable for the medieval world. We welcome respondents and delegates to reflect on how we use concepts of identity and community more broadly across medieval history. Society’s interest in its identities is arguably more topical today than it was in 1983 when Imagined Communities was first published. How did medieval communities see and perform their identities, how did this change over time, and why? What role did identities play – be they political, linguistic, or religious – in the consolidation of some communities and the subjugation of others?

Suggested topics include, but are not limited to:
• National Identities
• Religious Identities
• Sexuality and Gender Identities
• Ethnoreligious Communities
• Marcher Identities
• Urban Communities
• County Communities
• Frontiers, Conquest, and Expansion
• Law and Custom
• Migration and Xenophobia
• Ethnic Origins and Contemporary Myths
• Art and Architecture
• Seals and Heraldry
• Patronage and Memory
• Sovereignty
• Local Autonomy
• Archaeology
• Nationalism
• Concepts in History-writing

We welcome abstracts from postgraduates and early-career researchers, exploring all the aspects and
approaches to concepts of identity and communities, in all relevant disciplines pertaining to the medieval
period, broadly construed c.500-c.1500. Abstracts are 300 words for 20-minute papers. This year’s
conference will be a hybrid event online and on the campus of the University of Bristol.