Organisers: Antonia Anstatt (University of Oxford, email) and Edmund van der Molen (University of Nottingham, email)
This conference is generously supported by the Society for the Study of Medieval Languages and Literature, the Hagiography Society, the Past & Present Society, and the History Faculty, University of Oxford. In association with Oxford Medieval Studies, it is sponsored by The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities (TORCH).
9 CONFERENCE START, REGISTRATION 9.15am WELCOME 9.30-11 PANEL 1: TRANSGRESSING GENDER Marita von Weissenberg (Xavier University, Cincinnati): Husband-saints and Secular Masculinity as a Tool for Religious Pursuit Caitlín Kane (University of Oxford): Womanly Bridegroom, Manly Bride: Gender Transgression in the Visions of Saint Catherine of Siena Maria Pieschacon-Raffael (Ludwig-Maximilian-University Munich): La Pucelle: The Significance of Gender in the (After-)Life of Joan of Arc 11.30-13 PANEL 2: (TRANS)CENDING GENDER Verity Bruce (University of Exeter): Death Becomes They/Them? Christina Mirabilis’ Post-Death Gender State Genevieve Caulfield (University College London): Desire Has No Gender: Styles of Seeing in Franciscan Hagiography Davide Tramarin (University of Padua): Transcending Gender in Mystical Devotion: Images of Christ and St John the Apostle in Late Medieval Germany 14-15.30 Keynote Lecture: Who’s Afraid of Trans and Genderqueer Saints? Alicia Spencer-Hall (University College London) 16-17.30 PANEL 3: QUEERING SAINTHOOD Michael Eber (Georg-August-University Göttingen): Sancta virgo / sicut pater: Homosociality and Gender Transgression in the Latin Lives of St Marina/us Shay Pertler (Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nürnberg): Oblita sit sexum: Life and Death of Joseph of Schönau Roan Runge (University of Cambridge): Fúair comartha bandachta ann ([He] Found the Sign of Womanhood There): The Construction of Gender in the Medieval Irish ‘Story of the Abbot of Drimnagh’
SATURDAY 6TH APRIL
9.30-11 PANEL 4: WRITING GENDER Isabel Kimpel (Ludwig-Maximilian-University Munich): Famula Christi et Mulier fortis: The Writings of Caesarius of Heisterbach on Saint Elisabeth of Thuringia Georgie Crespi (University of Reading): ‘We’re All Born Naked, and the Rest is Drag’: The Concept of Drag in ‘Christina of Markyate’ and ‘Revelations of Divine Love’ María del Carmen Muñoz Rodríguez (University of Seville): In ure lauerdes luue: The Spaces of Female Sanctity in the Middle English ‘Seinte Iuliene’ 11.30-13 PANEL 5: VISUALISING GENDER Rosalind Phillips-Solomon (University of York): ‘Miraculous Aged Virgin’ or Quintessential Virgin Martyr? Late Medieval Imaginings of Saint Apollonia Sarah Wilkins (Pratt Institute, New York): A Preaching Woman: Mary Magdalen in Late Medieval Italian Art Elisabet Trulla Serra (Trinity College Dublin): Gender Configuration in Byzantine Art Through Saint Mary of Egypt 14-15.30 PANEL 6: FAMILIAL AND SPIRITUAL RELATIONSHIPS Jessica Troy (Independent Scholar): Unequal Treatment: The Power Struggle of Medieval Chaste Couples Laura Moncion (University of Toronto): ‘Be My Spouse’: Spiritual Partnership in the Life of Pirona the Recluse Michaela Granger (Catholic University of America, Washington DC): ‘And It Was Accounted to Him (or Her?) as Righteousness …’: The Value of Childrearing in the Construction of Late Medieval Sanctity 16-17.30 PANEL 7: MODERN PERSPECTIVES Dannelle Gutarra (University of Warwick): Medieval Sainthood and Scientific Racism: Race, Gender, and Sexuality in ‘History of the Female Sex’ by Christoph Meiners Maria Zygogianni (Swansea University): Saint Athanasia of Aigaleo: An Entrepreneur Saint Myrna Nader (American University of Beirut): The Cult of Marina the Monk: Faith, Discourse and Sexuality in Contemporary Lebanon 17.30-18 CLOSING REMARKS 18 CONFERENCE END
Weds 28th Feb, 5.15, The Memorial Room, The Queen’s College
Fruits of the poisonous tree: unprovenanced artefacts and the ethics of consuming archaeological knowledge
Yağmur Heffron, UCL
Opening with a juicy (if cautionary) tale of archaeological mystery and scandal, this lecture will invite the audience to engage in entirely imaginary and possibly fantastical thought experiments around whether it can ever be possible to extract, rescue, or salvage information from suspiciously unprovenanced artefacts – especially those in private collections – in an ethical manner. The purpose of these experiments is to tease out the complex interrelationships between personal and professional gain, conflicts of interest, and power dynamics surrounding the consumption of archaeological knowledge, in order to test if the latter can be satisfactorily isolated. How much are researchers willing to sacrifice to make the fruits from a poisonous tree safe to eat?
The ethics of publishing unprovenanced manuscripts is a hotly contested issue, with scholars becoming more and more polarised on each side of the debate. This new lecture series aims to find new ways of approaching the topic, going beyond ‘for and against’ to explore the challenges presented by these texts in nuanced ways. Our aim is to stimulate considered debate with an audience varied in both background and opinion, finding ways forward to bridge the divide. All are welcome.
Where: Visiting Scholars Centre in the Weston Library How to get there: via the Readers Entrance on Parks Road, 2nd floor via the staircase/elevator just straight ahead from the readers entrance (stick to the concrete part, do not use the ornamental staircase or you will land in the Conservation Department which is also nice but where no coffee is allowed).
NB: There is a new Weston Library Coffee Morning email list. Just send a message to coffee-mornings-weston-subscribe@maillist.ox.ac.uk . The subject and content of the message does not matter. You’ll be subscribed and will get messages, about once a week, of who is speaking and the calendar of coffee mornings.
All medievalists working in Oxford are welcome! Join us for coffee, conversations, and many insights into the Bodleian collections, cf. the playlist ‘Weston Library Coffee Mornings’:
Shofar player opening Psalm 80, with the caption ‘Sing a new song unto the Lord’ in a Psalter manuscript from the German convent of Medingen, ca. 1500, Bodleian Library, MS. Don. e. 248, fol. 145v
This event will begin with music from medieval manuscripts in the Bodleian Library. The performance will also feature songs in Hebrew, Greek, Latin, German, and English for all to join, and will be interspersed with the sound of shofar and shell horn.
Music list: Shofar: Call to celebrating unity; ‘Cantate domino’ (Bodleian, MS. Don. e. 248, 247v); ‘Cantate domino’ (Giuseppe Pitoni); ‘Lumen ad revelacionem’ (MS. Lat. liturg. e. 18, 8r); Shell horn: Call to preserving nature; ‘Every part of this earth shall holy be for us’ (round by Stephan Vesper); Sea weed horn: Call to peace; ‘Hinema tov’ (round, orally transmitted); Horn: ‘Üsküdar’a gider iken’; ‘Victime paschali’ & ‘Christ ist erstanden’ (Bodleian, MS. Lat. liturg. f. 4); ‘Dona nobis pacem’ (round, orally transmitted).
This follows on from previous events organised by Henrike Lähnemann and Andrew Dunning ‘Singing from Manuscripts’. Click here to learn more about singing from Medieval Sources in the Bodleian Library.
In association with Oxford Medieval Studies, sponsored by The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities (TORCH)
We are delighted to announce the finalised programme (and opening of advance registration for online attendance) for the Oxford University Byzantine Society’s 26th Annual International Graduate Conference ‘Transgression in Late Antiquity and Byzantium’, taking place on the 24th-25th February, 2024 at the Faculty of History, George Street, OX1 2BE.
The programme and abstracts of papers can be found on the dedicated conference website and below. The costs for attendance are as follows: In person attendance: £15 for OUBS members / £20 for non-members Online attendance: £5 for students / £6 for non students
Papers will be delivered in-person, with the proceedings broadcast on a Zoom link which will circulate via email to those purchasing online attendance tickets via Eventbrite (see link below). Advance registration for in person attendance is not necessary. If you plan on attending online, please purchase a ticket at our Eventbrite link.
We are grateful for the generous support of The Oxford Centre for Byzantine Research (OCBR), The Oxford Centre for Late Antiquity (OCLA), Oxford Medieval Studies, in association with The Oxford Research Centre for Humanities (TORCH), and The Faculty of History of the University of Oxford, as well as the many others who have helped with the conference’s facilitation.
We look forward to welcoming you to Oxford. Best wishes, the Conference Organisers: OUBS President Alexander Sherborne OUBS Secretary Ilia Curto Pelle OUBS Treasurer Benjamin Sharkey
The OUBS Committee is grateful for the generous support of:
The Oxford Centre for Byzantine Research (OCBR)
The Oxford Centre for Late Antiquity (OCLA)
Oxford Medieval Studies, in association with The Oxford Research Centre for Humanities (TORCH)
The Faculty of History of the University of Oxford
The OUBS Committee would also like to express its gratitude to Shaun Cason, Eleanore Debs, Gavriella Makri, Bryce O’Connor, Rosalie Van Dael,Sophia Miller, Alexander Johnston, Nathan Websdale and Duncan Antich for their assistance with the conference’s facilitation.
Conference Programme
Venue: Faculty of History, George Street, Oxford, OX1 2RL
Panel 1b: ‘The Political’ (Chair: Alexander Johnston)
Duncan Antich (Blackfriars College, Oxford) Compassion and Community: The Regula Pastoralis and Gregory’s Approach to Schism Alejandro Laguna López (Central European University) An Anti-Novelistic Novel: Subverting Love in Niketas Eugenianos’ Drosilla and Charicles Averkios (Dimitris) Agoris (University of Athens) Multigeneric examples in Michael Choniates’s Educational Activity
Euan Croman (Queen’s University Belfast) Transgressing the domus imperii in the fourth and fifth centuries: Treason or Family Trouble? Daniel Murphy (Independent Scholar) Usurpation Narratives as Political Commentary in Fourth-Century Historiography Merve Savas (Ohio State University) Twisting the Narrative: Textual Transgression in Ammianus Marcellinus’ Res Gestae 14
Session 2: Saturday, 14.00–15.30
Panel 2a: ‘The Sexual’ (Chair: Alexander Sherborne)
Panel 2b: ‘The Conciliar’ (Chair: Bryce O’Connor)
Maria Christian (Independent Scholar) “Look at that wood!” An Investigation into a Bizarre Sexual Practice Ascribed to the “Chaldeans” Involving Iconography in an Early Islamic Sex Manual Vid Žepič (University of Ljubljana) Legal Perspectives on Sexual Transgressions in Early-Byzantine Legal Sources Pierrick Gerval (University of Nantes) Sexual violences during wartime, a transgression of Church prohibitions regarding sexuality in Byzantium (7th -13th century)
Kathleen McCulloch (University of Cambridge) Did Dioscorus transgress, or adhere to, established conciliar procedure at Ephesus II (449)? Alexander Johnston (Kellogg College, Oxford) The Edge of Divinity: The Role of Wisdom in the Logos Prosphonetikos of the Quinisext Council Rachel Edney (University of Notre Dame) The Eucharist in John Rufus’ Plerophories: Eucharistic Theology and Christological Controversy
Session 3: Saturday, 16.00–17.30
Panel 3a: ‘On the Edges of Byzantium’ (Chair: Benjamin Sharkey)
Panel 3b: ‘In the Land of Egypt’ (Chair: Sophia Miller)
Shaun Cason (Worcester College, Oxford) The End of Transgressions? Examining the Seventh-Century Treaty Between Islamic Egypt and Medieval Nubia Dmitriy Kravets (St. Hugh’s College, Oxford) Orthodoxy and/or Empire? A Reassessment of the Career of Gregory Tsamblak (fl. 1402- 1415) Helena Davies (Linacre College, Oxford) Sitt al-Mulk: A Damsel in Distress? Challenging Art-Historical Efforts to Rescue and Vindicate an Early Islamic Princess
Apolline Gay (Université libre de Bruxelles) Looking for Eve: Figures of Female Transgression on Textiles from Byzantine Egypt Michael Dunchok (Kellogg College, Oxford) A Higher Rank of Gods: In Defense of the Greek Magical Papyri Chloé Agar (Harris Manchester College, Oxford) ‘He thrust his spear into the middle of him, and his bowels came out’: Literary violence against religious and legal transgressions in Early Christian Egypt
Session 4: Sunday, 11.30–13.00
Panel 4a: ‘The Archaeological and the Art-Architectural‘ (Chair: Gavriella Makri)
Panel 4b: ‘The Imperial and the Ecclesiastic‘ (Chair: Nathan Websdale)
Eleanore Debs (Pembroke College, Oxford) Examining the Peculiar Presence of Reliquaries Within Late Antique Baptisteries of the Limestone Massif Sophia Miller (Balliol College, Oxford) Trees ‘Pleasant to the Sight’: Tree-Meaning in Late Antique Floor Mosaics in the Northern Provinces Karolina Tomczyszyn (Lincoln College, Oxford) Transgressive Use of Holy Oils: In Search of Popular Religion in Syriac Christianity
Ziyao Zhu (King’s College London) Neither Just nor Unjust: Alexios I Komnenos and the Linguistic Politics of Byzantine Extrajudicial Confiscation. Dilara Burcu Giritlioğlu (Middle East Technical University) Sinners and Saints of Constantinople: Union of Souls and Separation of Church and State Findlay Willis (St. Stephen’s House, Oxford) Natural illness or divine punishment: the use of disability rhetoric to excuse or vilify the transgressions of Michael IV
Session 5: Sunday, 14.00–15.30
Panel 5a: ‘Defining Aspects of Deviance’ (Chair: Dimitri Kravets)
Panel 5b: ‘Transgressing Intellectual Borders‘ (Chair: Ilia Curto Pelle)
Ekaterina Rybakova (Pirogov Russian National Researcher Medical University) Illnesses of Spirit or Being: The Transgression of Pneuma in Byzantine Medicine Thibaut Auplat (Aix-Marseille University) An overview of deviance in the 7th and 8th centuries: the Heresies by John Damascene Patrick Martin (University of Winchester) Transgression in Middle Byzantine eschatological iconography
Mathijs Clement (University of Cambridge) Egeria, Traveller of Borderlands Rosalie Van Dael (St. Hilda’s College, Oxford) Seeing is believing? Imagination in Augustine’s Letter 7 to Nebridius Seyhun Kılıç (Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne) Monk in a Mundane Realm: Exploring the Intersection of Spiritual and Secular Realms in the Middle Byzantine Period
Saturday, 25 May 2024 Organised by John Butcher (Meran Academy, South Tyrol) together with Henrike Lähnemann (Oxford Medieval Studies), Taylor Institution Library (St Giles’, Oxford OX1 3NA), Room 2.
Session 1, Chair: Nigel Wilson
Angus Bowie (University of Oxford) – A Homerist on Looking into the Nibelungenlied: Cortés or a Panamanian? Handout
10.40-11.00 John Butcher (Meran Academy) – Henry Fuseli, Homer and the Nibelungenlied
Andrea Doda (University of Oxford) – Power and Passion: The Role of Women (and Female Figures) in Homer and the NibelungenliedHandout
Session 2, Chair: Henrike Lähnemann
Joanna Raisbeck (University of Verona) – Between Homer and the Nibelungenlied: Literary and Aesthetic Debates in Heidelberg around 1800
Alan Murray (University of Leeds) – Chivalric Warfare and Heroic Combat in the Nibelungenlied
Christoph Schmitt-Maaß (LMU München / University of Oxford) – The Reception of the Nibelungenlied in Eighteenth-century Leipzig
Manuscript Workshop
Weston Library (Broad Street, Oxford OX1 3BG), Bahari Room – Homeric manuscripts with Peter Tóth and Nigel Wilson
The last three talks will be of special interest to medieval graduates working in Old English (or Old Norse): Grace Khuri (Nov. 8) will look at compound personal names starting with Ælf- (‘Elf’) that Tolkien encountered in his set texts as an undergraduate (c. 1913-1915) and how these contributed to building (what Tolkien himself later called) his ‘Elf-centric’ mythology for The Book of Lost Tales (c. 1917-1919) — the earliest version of what would later become The Silmarillion (1977), the epic, mythic-legendary prehistory of Middle-earth. The following week is Dr. Laura Varnam’s lecture on ‘Tolkien and Beowulf’ (Nov. 15), and the last lecture of the term will be given by Dr. Simon Horobin on ‘Tolkien the Philologist’ (Nov. 22).
Although there is an online booking system that now states that all these lectures are full, there have been many no-shows at these seminars and the organizers have said that anyone can come along now (without booking) and there should be room to fit everyone in. For those who cannot make it (due to teaching commitments, lectures, tutorials etc.), the talks will be recorded on a case-by-case basis (depending on the permission of each speaker). If there are any questions about this, contact Dr. Stuart Lee at stuart.lee@ell.ox.ac.uk.
1pm Meet outside Ashmolean Museum, Beaumont Street
2.30/ 3pm Meet Brixworth church with Jo Storey, Rory Naismith and students from the universities of Leicester and Cambridge
3.30pm Tea in the Village Hall
5pm Lecture
7pm Dinner in Coach & Horses, Brixworth
8.30pm Leave Brixworth
If you would like to join us to climb the tower of the grandest surviving Anglo-Saxon church and meet graduate students from Leicester and Cambridge, please send your name and phone number to Bobby Klapper: robert.klapper@spc.ox.ac.uk. Limited places available owing to minibus space. First come, first served.
The Centre for Manuscript and Text Cultures (CMTC) is a research group based at The Queen’s College in the University of Oxford. We are scholars working in different fields of the humanities with a common interest in pre- and early modern texts, their materiality, transmission, and dissemination. For further information please visit our website: https://cmtc.queens.ox.ac.uk/. Most of our research talks are recorded and uploaded to our YouTube channel CMTC Media: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNAJFkc6gzBVgseJ_IRrpLw. If you like CMTC Media please subscribe to the channel and turn on notifications to receive regular updates on the new content available.
There are two CMTC events in Michaelmas term:
Michaelmas Term Lecture: 25 October 5.15pm (week 3), Memorial Room, The Queen’s College
Prof. Mary Carruthers (NYU and St Hilda’s, Oxford): Understanding Solid Figures in Early Medieval Manuscripts: how Rhetoric and Geometry interact
Work in Progress Seminar: 7 November 3.30pm (week 5), Memorial Room, The Queen’s College
Dr Anthony Ellis (University of Bern): ‘Greek’ in the Medieval Latin manuscripts of Josephus: reconstructing the philological workings of a late antique translator Dr Sara de Martin (Oxford): Reassessing the transmission of Strato com. fr. 1 K. A.
Archive Michaelmas 2022
(1) “Work in Progress” colloquium Tuesday 8th November 2022, 3,30–5,00pm UK timeMemorial Room, The Queen’s College (and Zoom)(please register through the link provided below: Zoom links will be sent by email by 9,00am UK time on the day of the talk) Benedetta Bessi (Venice/Stanford): ‘Towards a Digital Edition of the Liber insularum by Cristoforo Buondelmonti’ Joseph Mason (New College, Oxford): ‘Oral and Written Transmission in Old French Song: a reassessment’
Please register here (whether you are planning to attend in person or online)
(2) Michaelmas Term Lecture Wednesday 23rd November 2022, 5,15–6,45pm UK timeMemorial Room, The Queen’s College (and Zoom)(please register through the link provided below: Zoom links will be sent by email by 9,00am UK time on the day of the talk) Nikolay Tarasenko (Kyiv/Pembroke College, Oxford): ‘What Can the “Greenfield Papyrus” (pLondon BM EA 10554) Tell Us about Its Owner?’ Please register here (whether you are planning to attend in person or online)
In Michaelmas 2023, Dr Nikolaus Ruge (Universität Trier) returned to Oxford as Visiting Lecturer in German Historical Linguistics at the Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages and delivered an updated lecture series on Middle High German. This was mainly designed as an introductory course for students of the German Paper IV ‘Historical Linguistics’ but the recordings are available to a general audience interested in medieval languages. The first two lectures were recorded by Dr Ruge in person in the Taylor Institution Library, Room 2, lectures 3, 4, and 7 were recorded by him, lectures 5, 6 and 8 from his script on his behalf by the Oxford tutors for Paper IV. The first lecture also saw the launch of the 11th edition of the popular study guide ‘Old and Middle High German’ (utb Sept 2023).
I. Teaching Middle High German: time, space, language (panopto recording, handout), 13 Oct 2023 II. Early Middle High German (1050-1170) (panopto recording, handout), live on 20 Oct 2023 III. ‘Classical’ Middle High German (1170-1250) (panopto recording, handout) recorded on 14 Oct 2023 IV. Late Middle High German (1250-1350) (panopto recording, handout) recorded on 14 Oct 2023 V. Graphemics and Phonology (panopto recording, handout), recorded on 9 November 2023 by William Thurlwell VI. Morphology (panopto recording, handout), recorded on 9 November 2023 by William Thurlwell VII. Word formation and Lexis (panopto recording, handout), recorded on 19 October 2023 VIII. Morphosyntax and Syntax (panopto recording, handout), recorded on 9 November 2023 by Joshua Booth
The textbook for this lecture course is The Oxford Guide to Middle High German. The set text for Middle High German is Helmbrecht in the edition by Karl-Heinz Göttert (2015). Oxford students can access further resources such as reading lists and essay topics via the Canvas page.
