Time marches ever on, and the new term is on the horizon.
It will soon be time to put the next iteration of the OMS booklet together. If you are organising a seminar series, reading group, or one-off event (conference, medievally-themed social event, workshop etc), please email the details to medieval@torch.ox.ac.uk ASAP. If you are still awaiting confirmation on the finer points of your event (eg. paper titles), please send a place-holder email so that an entry can be made in preperation.
This year’s Dorothy Whitelock Lecture will be given by Profesor Jane Roberts (University of London) on ‘Guthlac: What the Early Medieval Records Tell Us’. The lecture will take place on 3 December at 5.15pm at St Peter’s College chapel, New Inn Hall Street, Oxford, OX1 2DL.
To secure your (free) ticket, please use the Eventbrite link here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/dorothy-whitelock-lecture-tickets-1368622870849?aff=ebdssbdestsearch
The lectures in this series honour Prof. Dorothy Whitelock’s remarkable contributions to medieval studies and to improving the status of female scholars at Oxford and beyond. The first lecture in this series took place on 4 December 2024. Professor Gale Owen-Crocker spoke on ‘Social History and False Friends: From Anglo-Saxon Wills to the Bayeux Tapestry via Material Culture’. Read a review of the lecture to find out more.
Image: Courtesy British Library, Harley/Guthlac Roll Y 6, fol. 6r
September 12, 2025, 10:00am–7:00pm
Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts
Van Pelt-Dietrich Library Center, University of Pennsylvania, Philadephia
And online via Zoom
On September 12, 2025, the Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts at the University of Pennsylvania will host a day-long symposium commemorating Elizabeth (Peggy) A. R. Brown’s extraordinary legacy in the field of Medieval Studies. The event will also mark the official launch of the Elizabeth A. R. Brown Medieval Historians’ archive, a new initiative at Penn Libraries to collect the professional papers of scholars of the Middle Ages and of associated professional organizations. The goal of the symposium is to honor Peggy’s legacy and gift by celebrating research on her area of specialty, namely Medieval France.
The symposium will consist of three panels of short papers devoted to subjects featured in Peggy’s work: Source and Archive; Politics and Kingship; and Liturgy and Sacred Image.
The day will also include an introduction to the research possibilities and historical interest of the medievalists’ archive at Penn, presented by the inaugural Elizabeth A.R. Brown Archivist, an endowed position in the Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts. The day will conclude with reminiscences by friends, students, and mentees, and a reception for all attendees.
Co-organized by Nicholas Herman (Schoenberg Institute for Manuscript Studies, Penn) and Ada Kuskowski (Department of History, Penn). Closing reception generously sponsored by the New York Medieval Society.
See here for event details, program, and abstracts.
For Registration, click here.
Donations to the Elizabeth A. R. Brown Medieval Historians’ Archivist Fund can be made here.
Public messages honoring Peggy Brown’s contributions to the field of medieval studies can be left here.
25–26 September 2025.
Ioannou Centre for Classical & Byzantine Studies, 66 St Giles’, Oxford, OX1 3LU
Registration is free but compulsory https://www.classics.ox.ac.uk/event/the-latin-hymn-as-scriptural-exegesis-from-late-antiquity-to-the-middle-ages
The Latin hymnic tradition is one that spans over a millennium from Late Antiquity through the Middle Ages to the Reformation (and beyond). In that period, there are aspects of it that have remained in many ways stable and enduring, but individual and local contexts and usages at various junctures in its long-lived history have required it to change and to adapt. The corpus also represents a group of texts that would, in many cases, have been very well known beyond the narrow confines of the intellectual and social elite who operated at the highest levels of Latinity and – even if largely penned by incredibly adept Latinists – had a much wider reach than many other Latin texts because of the performed nature of hymns. The relationship of hymns to other exegetical traditions and to the liturgical and para-liturgical contexts in which they were used is also noteworthy.
This conference brings together an international group of scholars at varied career stages from different disciplinary backgrounds with interests that include the Latin hymnic tradition and scriptural exegesis across a period covering a little over a thousand years. We intend to explore the ways in which the widespread but understudied phenomenon of hymnody has been used as a means of elaborating on, engaging with, and complementing the teachings of Christian scriptures by homing in closely on the texts themselves.
Organisers: Tristan Franklinos and Cosima Gillhammer
Thursday, 25 September 2025
Arrivals from 1330.
1400–1445 Simon Whedbee (Loyola) Hymnus est laus Dei cum cantico: Teaching with and about hymns in the cathedral schools of twelfth-century Paris.
1445–1530 Tristan Franklinos (Oxford) Exegesis in Abelard’s hymns for the Feast of the Ascension.
1530–1600 Tea & Coffee
1600–1645 Marie Zöckler (LMU Munich) Ave mundi creator – Nature, its creator, and the fusion of scholastic philosophy and scriptural exegesis in Latin hymns.
1645–1730 Juan Montejo (LMU Munich) The Flores Psalmorum of Gregory of Montesacro: exegesis through abbreviatio.
1730 Reception
Friday, 26 September 2025
1015–1100 Cillian O’Hogan (Toronto) Martyrs as exegetes in Prudentius’ Peristephanon.
1100–1145 Katie Painter (Oxford) Nature and scripture in the Liber Kathemerinon: Prudentius on the kaleidoscope of creation.
1145–1230 Joshua Caminiti (Oxford) Singing alone: the private hymns of Marius Victorinus.
1230–1400 Lunch
1400–1445 Danuta Shanzer (Vienna) Voices and sources: revisiting Hilary, Hymn 2.
1445–1530 Cosima Clara Gillhammer (Oxford) Lux vera gentis Anglice: Latin hymns in Anglo-Saxon England
1530–1600 Tea & Coffee
1600–1645 Nicholas Richardson (Oxford) mellifluis nostras musis qui impleuerat aures: Scripture and sweet music in the hymns of St Paulinus of Aquileia.
1645–1730 Christoph Uiting (Zurich) Festa Christi – Notker’s sequence on Epiphany in a late medieval commentary.
This event is generously supported by the Faculty of Classics Board, the Craven Committee, the Institute of Classical Studies, and Oxford Medieval Studies (sponsored by The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities [TORCH]).
On Friday 25th July 2025, the Bodleian Coffee Morning presentation was given by Matthew Holford and Sebastian Dows-Miller, who are working on a project on the Bodleian’s western medieval manuscript catalogue data.
The purpose of the project, funded by Digital Scholarship @ Oxford, is to open up the library’s TEI catalogues for use by students and non-digital scholars by extracting the data into spreadsheets, which allow cross-comparison of over 11,000 medieval manuscripts held in Oxford’s collections.
Being able to compare manuscripts by details like their size and layout means that we can identify particularly interesting outlier manuscripts, and that was the topic of this presentation. Those present were treated to an introduction to:
If you’re interested, you can download the raw data by clicking here.
Watch the full recording of the talk below! The slides shown are included beneath the video.
View the Slides below:
Dear all,
Weekly emails will stop over the long vac, but it is worth drawing to your attention a number of opportunities that take place before term starts up again. It is never too early to send in events for the booklet and / or the calendar – we will keep posting events on the OMS calendar as soon as you send them in.
Two more things OMS is looking for:
1) We are still seeking information on your publications for the production of an impact document – please send information of any monographs/edited volumes etc with a short blurb to this email address ASAP.
2) The social media officer position is still vacant – we know that Ashley Castelino is a hard act to follow (see his report here) but he is prepared to help whoever is taking over to learn the trade secrets.
Last week saw the premiere of the filmed version of the Oxford Medieval Mystery Play – thank you to all of you who watched along online! The entire collection is available on our Youtube channel here, where each individual play can also be found.
IMC Leeds 2026 has opened its Call for Papers. Following the death of Twitter, it can be hard to circulate CfPs – if you are organising an event for this, please send me information ASAP, and I will try and make sure that these are all circulated as a group. Medievalists Coffee Mornings continue throughout the term break, only stopping in August.
Events
Opportunities
Another academic year draws to a close: welcome, finally, to Week 8. The full Medieval Studies booklet is available here.
Next Thursday, 19 June, 4:30-6pm, is the official launch date for the “The Oxford Medieval Mystery Plays – the Film”. This is a wonderful chance to come together to celebrate the end of the year, and watch some of the excellent performances that were put on earlier in the term. At 4:45pm, the film will have its youtube premiere. You can tune in from anywhere in the world to comment; find the full schedule of when each play will start, more information, and a teaser here.
NB. If you are leaving us at the end of this year, and you would like to remain a member of this mailing list (and you are most welcome to do so), please register here with your personal email (link always available from our homepage https://medieval.ox.ac.uk/).
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Opportunities (new additions in bold)
Welcome to Week 7: the full Medieval Studies booklet is available here. First, a number of important reminders.
The Centre for Early Medieval Britain and Ireland is hosting an online exhibition of artefacts and manuscripts that explore the lives of early medieval women. To submit an item, or to attend the even, follow this link.
The Medieval History research seminar in Week 8 (16 June) has been moved to the Old Library in All Souls. There will be a drinks reception afterwards, 6.30-7.30pm, in the Great Quad, to mark Julia’s retirement. For catering purposes, people planning to attend should RSVP using this form: https://forms.office.com/e/Mr92xB66jh
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Opportunities (new additions in bold)
When: Tuesday 10th, 3:30-5.
Where: Massey Room, Balliol College
Interested in exploring the lives of medieval women? Recently stumbled upon a text or a bit of material culture that piqued your interest? The Centre for Early Medieval Britain and Ireland will be launching an online exhibition later this spring, designed to complement the British Library’s recent Medieval Women exhibition. While the BL focused primarily on later medieval material, we hope in our exhibition to shed light on the lives of early medieval women.
For us to embark on this project, we need your help!
We are looking for artefacts, objects, manuscript inscriptions or sections, documentary evidence, and any other bits and bobs that might speak to the history and lived experience of early medieval women.
If you have in mind something that you would like to be included in the exhibition, we will be hosting an informal meeting next Tuesday, 10 June at 3:30pm at Balliol (main site—Massey Room) to give everyone an opportunity to present their ideas, with time for general discussion about the exhibition as a whole.
To prepare, please send us a single slide for each object/manuscript (one slide per exhibition piece, up to three) you’d like to propose, with a couple of bullet points telling us about it and its relevance. We’ve attached a sample slide, just so you have an idea of what we’re looking for. No need to do a full write-up on your proposals; we’d just love to get an idea of what interests you.
Please send your slide(s) to Harriet Carter (harriet.carter@lmh.ox.ac.uk) and Sarah Ware (sarah.ware@history.ox.ac.uk) by Monday, 9 June at 6pm.
Even if you don’t have a particular object in mind for the online exhibition, please do come along to our meeting. This will be a laid-back discussion, and all are welcome (undergraduates, graduate students, researchers, instructors, community members, and everyone in between). We hope to see many of you there!
Image Credit: Add MS 33241, f. 1v
Friday 13 June 2025, 12 noon–5PM
Lecture Room 4, New College, Oxford
New College Library is pleased to announce our exhibition for Trinity Term!
In ‘Art of the Book’, we explore the beauty of all things bibliographical through our wonderful special collections—from the medieval period to the present day. Expect fabulous illumination, exquisite illustrations, beautiful bindings, and some outstanding private press works.
The items will be on display in Lecture Room 4 in New College on 13 June, between 12pm and 5pm. For those unfamiliar with New College, just head to the Porters’ Lodge (located halfway down Holywell Street). There will be signs to direct visitors to the exhibition.
The exhibition is free and open to all, so please do spread the word . . .