Medieval Matters MT25, Week 2

Welcome to week 2, and the Medieval Matters email – a day early this time to coincide with St Frideswide’s Day! In honour of the occasion, Jesus College has paid for the Pershore Legendary to appear on Digital Bodleian, which includes the most accurate copy of Robert of Cricklade’s Life of St Frideswide. Browse away!

As always, you can find a complete copy of the Oxford Medieval Studies Booklet here.  Any last-minuted changes will be updated in the weekly blogpost and in the calendar, both accessible via https://medieval.ox.ac.uk/.

Monday

  • French Palaeography Manuscript Reading Group – 10:30, Weston Library (Horton Room)
  • Introduction to Arabic Palaeography – 2:00, Khalili Research Centre
  • Carmina Burana: Graduate Text Seminar – 5:00, Harris Lecture Theatre, Oriel College.
  • Medieval History Seminar – 5:00 with drinks reception to follow, All Souls College. Peter Jones (King’s College, Cambridge), will be speaking on ‘Event, story and image in writings of John Arderne (1307-c.1380), English surgeon’.

Tuesday

  • Medieval English Research Seminar – 12:15, Margaret Thatcher Centre, Somerville. David Scott-Macnab (North-West U) will be speaking on ‘Edward, Second Duke of York’s Master of Game: A New Edition for EETS
  • Latin Palaeography Manuscript Reading Group – 2:00, Weston Library (Horton Room)
  • Medieval Church and Culture Seminar – 5:00, Harris Manchester College. John Merrington (All Souls) will be speaking on ‘Reading the Five Thousand: gender, the body and the interpretation of John 6 in medieval Europe’.
  • Medieval French Research Seminar – 5pm at the at the Maison Française d’Oxford. Prof. Johannes Junge Ruhland (University of Notre Dame) will be speaking on ‘The Bookishness of French Prose Histories’.

Wednesday

  • Medieval German Graduate Seminar – 11:15, Somerville College. The topic for this term is Ulrich von Richental, Chronik des Konzils zu Konstanz (1414-1438).
  • Older Scots Reading Group – 2:30, Room 30.401 in the Schwarzman Centre.
  • Medieval Latin Documentary Palaeography Reading Group – 4:00, online.
  • Late Antique and Byzantine Seminar – 5:00, Ioannou Centre. Johannes Pahlitzsch (Mainz) will be speaking on ‘Concepts of Space and Orthodoxy beyond Byzantium’.

Thursday

  • Middle English Reading Group – 11:00, Beckington Room (Lincoln College).
  • Medieval Women’s Writing Research Seminar – 4:00, Somerville College (meet at Lodge). Authorising the Text: including extracts from the prose works of Teresa de Cartagena and Anna Komnene.
  • Celtic Seminar – 5:00, hybrid. Rhys Kaminski-Jones (CAWCS) will be speaking on ‘Bardic liberties: Bardism and slavery in the poetry of Iolo Morganwg’.
  • Guild of Medievalist Makers – 5:30, online. Making Space Session.
  • Oxford University Heraldry Society – 6:30, online. Mike Rumble will be speaking on ‘The Heraldry of Kensington and Chelsea, London’.

Friday

  • Medievalist Coffee Morning – 10:30, Visiting Scholars Centre (Weston Library). All welcome, coffee and insight into special collections provided.
  • Exploring Medieval Oxford through Surviving Archives – 2:00, Weston Library (Horton Room).
  • Memorial Service for Professor Vincent Gillespie – 2:00, Keble College Chapel.
  • Oxford Medieval Manuscript Group Workshop – 5:00, Merton College. Workshop with Joumana Medlej.

Opportunities

MEMRN Winter Conference 2025

Fragmented Worlds, Shared Histories

The MEMRN Committee are delighted to announce the return of the Winter Conference after the huge success of last year’s inaugural in-person event in Norwich. The MEMRN Winter Conference 2025 will be held from the 13th to the 16th November 2025 at the University of East Anglia.

Please find the provisional programme for our conference event below. You can register to attend the conference panels virtually via Eventbrite HERE. Online registrations for the final few in-person spaces will be opened shortly. We hope to see you there!

Thursday 13th November Scheduled Activities
19:00
Norwich City Centre
The Adam & Eve
17 Bishopgate,
Norwich, NR3 1RZ
Welcome to MEMRN’s Winter Conference 2025! 

If you’re arriving early to the conference, we’d like to welcome you to Norwich by heading out together on a sociable crawl of some of Norwich’s oldest and finest pubs. 

We’ll begin our evening at the oldest pub in the city: the Adam & Eve, which dates back to at least 1249! From there, we’ll walk over to the Belgian Monk next to the historic Maddermarket. Try the cherry beer – you won’t regret it! We plan to wind up at the Lamb Inn, located in what was medieval Norwich’s Jewish Quarter. 
Friday 14th NovemberDay OneScheduled Activities
10:00 – 10:10
University of East Anglia 
Congregation Hall 
Room 0.13
Arrival & registration at Congregation Hall, UEA. 

Morning refreshments (tea, coffee and breakfast pastries) will be provided.)
10:10 – 10:20 
University of East Anglia 
Congregation Hall 
Room 0.13
Welcome and Opening Remarks from the CHASE MEMRN Committee.
10:30 – 11:40 
University of East Anglia 

Panel Session One: 
Congregation Hall 
Room 0.13

Panel Session Two: 
The Union Building
Room 1
Panel Session One: Fragmented Religious Communities 
Panel Chair: Freya Laidlow-Petersen

Dr. Danny Buck 
(Independent Scholar)

A Calvinist Bolthole? The Unusual Survival of Great Yarmouth’s Dutch Congregation

Anisia Iacob 
(University of Kent, Kings College London) 

Banned and Burnt: Michael Servetus’ Christianismi Restitutio and its Journey to 16th century Transylvania

Felix Liber
(Independent Scholar) 

Natural Law Amidst a Plurality of Opinions: John Selden and the Agent Intellect

Panel Session Two: Communities in Manuscript
Panel Chair: TBC

Kate Yarbrough
(University of York)

Passionately Made: Reader Additions in the Pavement-Pulleyn Hours, York Minster LibraryMS XVI.K.6

Madeleine Duperouzel
(University of Oxford)

Examining Marginal Women in Late Antique and Byzantine Egyptian Papyri, 4th-7th centuries

Mathilda Linnéa Osborne
(Independent Scholar)

Remembering Husdent: Marginalised Animals and the Fragmented Béroul Manuscript

Emilia Hesler Osztafi
(University of Oxford)

Practical Fragments: Compilation as Craft and Ritual in English Fifteenth-Century Home-Made Notebooks
11:40 – 12:10BREAK
12:10 – 13:20
University of East Anglia 

Panel Session Three:
Congregation Hall 
Room 0.13

Panel Session Four:
Congregation Hall 
Room 0.17
Panel Session Three: Voices from the Margin
Panel Chair: TBC

Conor Byrne 
(University of Southampton)

‘The supreme opportunity to speak’? Queenship, Gender and Agency on the Early Modern Scaffold 

Lucy Ryell
(University of Lincoln)

‘I love my master, and I hate that slave’: Servicing Power and Empowering Service in Early Modern Domestic Tragedy

Costas Gavriel 
(University of Oxford) 

The Politics of Conversion: The Role of the Jewish Orphan in the Memorias of Leonor López de Córdoba

Panel Session Four: Poetical Matter: Alchemy and Anatomy
Panel Chair: TBC

Amelia Ormondroyd-Williams
(Birkbeck, University of London)

The Vegetal Analogy in Early Modern Poetry and Obstetrics

Anna Piper-Thompson
(University of York)

‘When Phæbus with his Rayes Bryghte’: Sir Hans Sloane’s Alchemical Manuscript Collection in Practice

Gabriela Luz 
(University of Birmingham & UNESP, Brazil)

“And this feende, that hadde power to make woman conceive” – The Demonic Seed in Supernatural Pregnancies
13:20 – 14:00Lunch
14:45 – 17:00 

Session 1: Norwich Castle 
Castle St, Norwich,
NR1 3JU

Session 2: Norwich Cathedral
Cathedral Close,
Tombland, Norwich,
NR1 4DH

Session 3: Norwich City Centre

Session 4: The Forum,
Millennium Plain, Norwich
NR2 1BH
Afternoon Exploration Sessions
Session 1: Norwich Castle Museum – Visit to the new gallery of Medieval Life
Join Dr. Tim Pestell, Castle Curator of Archaeology, for a special look around Norwich Castle’s newly redeveloped Norman keep. Redesigned over the course of 7 years, the Norman keep now houses reconstructed royal apartments and the new Gallery of Medieval Life, opened in partnership with the British Museum. You’ll have the opportunity to hear Tim’s unique insights into the challenges of the keep project and enjoy some time exploring the museum independently. 

Please note: Norwich Castle keep is now fully accessible. 

Session 2: Norwich Cathedral Library Workshop and Cathedral Tour
With construction beginning in 1096, Norwich Cathedral has been a site of Christian worship for over 900 years. This visit will include a guided tour of the medieval & early modern highlights of the cathedral building, rounded off with a workshop in the Cathedral library with library curator Gudrun Warren to examine some of the special collections. 

Please note: Norwich Cathedral and its Library are mostly accessible but the main cathedral building has some uneven floors. You can access more accessibility information here: https://cathedral.org.uk/accessibility/

Session 3: Medieval & Early Modern Norwich Walking Tour
Wrap up warm and explore the incredible medieval and early modern city of Norwich with us! Embark on a walking tour of some of the stunning highlights including the medieval church that was home to Julian of Norwich, the glorious guildhall, Cathedral Close, Tombland, and the famously picturesque Elm Hill. 

Please note: Our walking tour route is largely accessible but could be a challenging distance for those with mobility issues. In the event that  the winter weather works against us, we will dip into Norwich cathedral, have a look around, and enjoy a sociable tea & cake in the Refectory instead! 

Session 4: Norfolk Heritage Centre – Special Collections Visit
This session will be based at the Norfolk Heritage Centre at the Forum. Workshop participants will have the opportunity to work with some of the medieval and early modern highlights of the Centre’s special collections and develop book handling and interpretation skills with the experts. The workshop is intended to develop a deeper understanding of palaeography and book history as well as the role of Norwich’s historic library collections across four centuries of public and academic life. 

Please note: The Forum is an accessible venue.
18:00 
Norwich City Centre
The Vault
The Cosy Club, 45-51 London St, Norwich, NR2 1AG
MEMRN Winter Conference Welcome Dinner

Tonight delegates will be invited to gather for an informal dinner at The Cosy Club in Norwich. Head downstairs to our private room in the old bank vault for a relaxed evening of great food, drinks and company! 

Please note that the cost of dinner is not included. As an optional social event, we’ve endeavoured to keep the costs as accessible as possible. 
Our dinner will be served buffet-style in The Vault at £25.95 per head for two courses. Payment will be made individually on the night. Please let us know via the registration form if you have any dietary requirements. 
Saturday 15th November Day TwoScheduled Activities
8:30 – 9:00
University of East Anglia 
Congregation Hall 
Room 0.13
Arrival & registration at Congregation Hall, UEA. 

Morning refreshments (tea, coffee and breakfast pastries) will be provided.)
9:00 – 10:15
University of East Anglia 

Panel Session Five:
Congregation Hall 
Room 0.13

Panel Session Six:
Congregation Hall 
Room 0.17
Panel Session Five: Diplomatic Encounters
Panel Chair: TBC

Teoni Maughan Passereau
(University of Bristol) 

Initiating and Negotiating Franco-English Diplomatic Relations: 1660-1664 

Rima Greenhill 
(Stanford University) 

“Mutual affection”: An overview of Anglo-Russian diplomatic and trade relations, 1601-1617.

Giada Semenzato
(Università di Firenze) 

The Wars of the Roses: An Italian Perspective through Diplomatic and Commercial Networks

Panel Session Six: Narratives of Travel & Encounter
Panel Chair: TBC

Freya Grace Laidlow-Petersen (University of Bangor)

Monks on the Move: Tracing the Paths of Celtic Wandering Friars

Virginia Ghelarducci 
(School of Advanced Study, University of London)

Images of Global Encounters: The Classical Tradition and the Americas in Early Modern Travel Literature

TBC
TBC

Title TBC
10:15 – 10:45BREAK
10:45 – 12:00 
University of East Anglia 

Session 1
Congregation Hall 
Room 0.13

Session 2
Congregation Hall 
Room 0.17
Parallel Workshop Sessions

Session 1: Latin Crash Course
This session is designed to give those who haven’t had much of a chance to study Latin the opportunity to give it a whirl. Our Latin Crash Course will give you the basics of the language along with a bucket full of tips, tricks and resources to help you pursue effective self-directed Latin study. 

Session 2: Palaeography Clinic
Are you struggling with some monstrous palaeography in your research project? This session is an opportunity to outsource your palaeography woes and work through challenging documents together as a group. Bring your toughest examples to this workshop and with the help of a facilitator, work with your fellow delegates to decipher them. 
12:00 – 13:00Lunch
13:00 – 14:10
University of East Anglia 

Panel Session Seven:
Congregation Hall 
Room 0.13

Panel Session Eight:
Congregation Hall 
Room 0.17
Panel Session Seven: Premodern Poetics of Race, Otherness, and Alterity
Panel Chair: TBC

Georgie Anderson 
(University of Kent)

‘Al was his sward wat scaetde dat?’ Medieval Conventions of Blackness in the Middle Dutch Moriaen.

Jessica Weiss-Bahia
(University of Oxford)

Medieval Legacies, Stuart Stages: Race and Gender Fluidity in Court Performance

Anna Mowery 
(Warburg Institute)

Magic, Colonialism, and Enslavement on the Early Modern Stage (1588-1621)

Panel Session Eight: The Fabric of Care: Medicine & Materiality
Panel Chair: TBC

Rachel Dow 
(Birkbeck, University of London)

Linen in Pieces: The Role of Linen in Seventeenth-Century Experience and Imagination

Alice Goldsney 
(University of East Anglia)

Medicine for the Soul at The Great Hospital, Norwich  

Veronika Lahodinski
(University of York)

The Transfer of Uroscopic Knowledge from Medieval Script Culture to 16th Century English-Language Print Culture
15:00 – 17:00 

Session 1: Norwich Medieval Combat Club 
St Lawrence Church, 
31 St Benedicts Street,
Norwich, NR2 4PE

Session 2: Museum of Norwich at the Bridewell  
Bridewell Alley, 
Norwich, NR2 1AQ

Session 3: Norwich City Centre

Session 4: The Shoebox Experiences
21-23 Castle Meadow, 
Norwich NR1 3DH
Afternoon Exploration Sessions

Session 1: Norwich Medieval Combat Club – Demonstration of Medieval Weaponry
Step into the gritty world of medieval tournaments with Norwich Medieval Combat as they showcase the raw intensity of full-contact armoured medieval fighting. This is not reenactment, but real combat in steel. Alongside the clashes, you’ll explore the arms and armour of 14th-century knights and even try your hand at the techniques they once used in tourneys. A rare chance to experience real history at its most visceral!

Session 2: Museum of Norwich at the Bridewell Tour
Situated in the Bridewell, one of Norwich’s grandest medieval flint-walled residences, the Museum of Norwich tells the story of the city’s colourful social history. Your exclusive tour of the Bridewell building includes a rare opportunity to enter the medieval undercrofts which are the largest remaining undercrofts in the city accessible to the public. 

Please note: Unfortunately, the Bridewell undercrofts are not wheelchair accessible.

Session 3: Medieval & Early Modern Norwich Walking Tour
Wrap up warm and explore the incredible medieval and early modern city of Norwich with us! Embark on a walking tour of some of the stunning highlights including the medieval church that was home to Julian of Norwich, the glorious guildhall, Cathedral Close, Tombland, and the famously picturesque Elm Hill. 

Please note: Our walking tour route is largely accessible but could be a challenging distance for those with mobility issues. In the event that  the winter weather works against us, we will dip into Norwich cathedral, have a look around, and enjoy a sociable tea & cake in the Refectory instead! 

Session 4: The Shoebox Experiences Norwich Hidden Street Tour 
Step into the shadows of Norwich’s history with the Shoebox Hidden Street Tour.  Guided by a local storyteller, and history enthusiast you’ll uncover a whole new world hidden beneath The Shoebox Experience’s office on Castle Meadow – where layers of city architecture expose secrets from the 15th century. Situated between the market and the Norman Keep, head underground to discover Norwich’s rich past.

Please note: Unfortunately, this tour is not wheelchair accessible. The Hidden Street is underground and the activity may not be appropriate for those who struggle with dark, enclosed spaces.
18:00 
Norwich City Centre 
The Louis Marchesi 
17 Tombland, 
Norwich NR3 1HR
MEMRN Pub Quiz Night! 
Join us this evening in the loft space at the Louis Marchesi pub in Norwich for the MEMRN pub quiz! Gather your teammates and compete in this MEMs-themed quizzical tournament for the Winter Conference prize!

The Louis Marchesi is a Grade II listed medieval building with an original gothic undercroft situated in the historic heart of Norwich on Tombland plain across from the Cathedral. Food and drink will be available to purchase at the venue. 
Sunday 16th November Day ThreeScheduled Activities
8:30 – 9:00
University of East Anglia 
Congregation Hall 
Room 0.13
Arrival & registration at Congregation Hall, UEA.  

Morning refreshments (tea, coffee and breakfast pastries) will be provided.)
9:00 – 10:10
University of East Anglia 

Panel Session Nine:
Congregation Hall 
Room 0.13

Panel Session Ten:
Congregation Hall 
Room 0.17
Panel Session Nine: Historic Communities, Modern Methodologies
Panel Chair: TBC

Stanislava Lisna 
(University of Oxford)

Translating the Translator: Making Heritage Inscriptions Accessible

Auriel Tiltman 
(University of Lincoln) 

What Remains When We Remove? The Conservation of a 13th Century Funerary Chalice

Natalie Tolentino 
(University of Kent) 

Pentlimentality: Fragmented Afterlives in the Canterbury Passional and Digital Representations of Recycled Material 

Panel Session Ten: Devotional Narratives
Panel Chair: TBC

Lucy Dallas 
(University of East Anglia)

Conflict and Contemplation: Hints of Autistic Patterning in the Relationships and Spirituality of Margery Kempe

Bella Cerulle 
(University of Cambridge) 

Ouercome ase kempe: A Lexical and Semantic Study of Depictions of the Miles Christi in Three Old and Early Middle English Lives of St. Margaret
10:10 – 10:20BREAK
10:20 – 12:00 
University of East Anglia

Session One:
Congregation Hall 
Room 0.17

Session Two:
Congregation Hall 
Room 0.13

Session Three: 
Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts,
UEA Campus
Wellbeing Workshops

Session One: Make Your Own Medieval Bestiary 
Under the watchful eye of our own fourteenth-century scribe and illuminator, participants in this art-based workshop will be encouraged to draw and paint their own fantastical medieval creatures, learning about the production and conventions of these attractive medieval manuscripts along the way. No previous art experience needed!

Session Two: Writing Historical Fiction – A Creative Workshop
Put your historical research to use in a brand newway through this guided creative writingworkshop. Learn strategies from our UEA Creative Writing facilitators for building rich and believable historical worlds in fiction, grounded in sensory details and a powerful sense of time and space.No previous creative writing experience is necessary.

Session Three: Exploring Living Art – Group Visit to the Sainsbury Centre 
Join your fellow delegates on a group visit to the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, a pioneering art gallery situated on the UEA campus that seeks to redefine our relationship with museums and cultural artefacts. Enjoy an introduction to the gallery’s unique guiding principle of ‘Living Art’ and explore this diverse collection at your leisure. 

You can find accessibility information for the gallery here: https://sainsburycentre.ac.uk/visit-us/#access
12:00 – 13:00Lunch
13:00 – 14:10
University of East Anglia 

Panel Session Eleven:
Congregation Hall 
Room 0.13

Panel Session Twelve:
Congregation Hall 
Room 0.17
Panel Session Eleven: Embodied Masculinities: Encounter and Emotion
Panel Chair: TBC

Srija Dutta
(Independent Scholar) 

Travelling Masculinities: English Perceptions in Intercultural Encounters in Seventeenth-Century India

Olivia Golby-Kirk 
(University of Birmingham)

For Young-men are so false-hearted: Youthful Masculinity from the Perspective of Women

Alyssa Benedetto 
(University of Strathclyde & Aberdeen)

A Tangible Emotional Past in the Death of Roger Mortimer (1231-1282)

Panel Session Twelve: Romance Worlds
Panel Chair: TBC

Irene Lopez-Huicochea
(University of Kent)

The Decaying Corpse of the Empire: A Contemporary Reading of The Ruin

Davide Salmoiraghi 
(University of Cambridge)

Fragmented Selves in Old Norse Chivalric Sagas

Eileen Foy 
(​​Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf)

Locating Identity, Community and Fellowship in the Winchester MS: Reading Le Morte D’Arthur in its Wider Manuscript Context
14:10 – 14:40BREAK
14:40 – 15:45
University of East Anglia
Room TBC 
Keynote Lecture 

Professor Claire Jowitt
Professor of Renaissance Studies, University of East Anglia

The Gloucester, 1682: History, Artefacts, Significance
15:45 – 16:00 
University of East Anglia 
Congregation Hall 
Room 0.13
Closing Remarks from the CHASE MEMRN Committee
16:00 onwards
Norwich City Centre
Goodbye Social 

Delegates who are staying in Norwich an additional night will be invited to gather in the city to celebrate the close of a successful conference. Keep an eye on the conference WhatsApp and come and join us!

Call for Committee Members – Oxford Medieval Graduate Conference

The Oxford Medieval Graduate Conference (OMGC) is one of the highlights of the graduate academic calendar every year. Over two days, this interdisciplinary conference brings together graduate students from the UK and around the world to present their research on a wide variety of topics from across the Middle Ages. Read a review of the 2025 conference. If you think you might be interested in becoming a committee member and gaining experience organizing conferences, please send an expression of interest to oxgradconf@gmail.com. The committee is also excited to announce that the theme for the 2026 Oxford Medieval Graduate Conference will be Sounds and Silence! Until then, keep an eye on the OMGC website and social media (Bluesky / Twitter) for updates on this year’s conference.

Medium Ævum Essay Prize

The Society for the Study of Medieval Languages and Literature has awarded the Medium Ævum Essay Prize since 2008. The competition is run annually, with postgraduates and those recently graduated with a higher degree invited to submit an essay on a topic that falls within the range of the interests of Medium Ævum in the medieval period (loosely defined as the fifth to the fifteenth century, in the Western calendar).

The winner of the Essay Prize will receive a cash prize of £500. The winning article is also eligible to be considered for publication in Medium Ævum, subject to the usual editorial procedures of the journal.

The annual deadline for submissions for the Essay Prize is 12 noon on the first Monday of December of the preceding year (for the Medium Aevum Essay Prize 2026, the deadline is 12:00 noon (GMT), Monday 1st December, 2025).

To read the rules of the Essay Prize Competition and to submit your essay, please follow this link.

Any queries can be directed to the Executive Officer of the Society.

Interim Medieval Matters (Long Vac)

Term draws near. Please send all entries for next term’s OMS booklet to medieval@torch.ox.ac.uk, by Wednesday of -1 week at the latest (1st October). Until then, please see below a number of upcoming deadlines and opportunities:

  • CFP: CHASE Medieval and Early Modern Research Network (MEMRN) postgraduate conference – deadline 12 September. More info here.
  • Oxford School of Rare Jewish Languages classes. The deadline to apply is 12 September at 12 noon UK time. More info here.
  • The Medieval Academy of America’s podcast series The Multicultural Middle Ages is accepting episode proposals for their 5th season. More info here.
  • CFP: Cambridge Medieval History Graduate Workshop. Deadline 29th September. More info here.
  • Applications are open for the John W. Baldwin Post-Doctoral Fellowship. The Post-Doctoral Fellow will be a scholar whose research aligns with the goals of the study of “Europe in the world” and who has demonstrated evidence of innovative methodologies. Deadline 10th Nov. More info here.
  • The West Horsley Place Trust seeks a researcher. More info here.

Medieval Matters: Summer Vacation Notices

A quick update in the middle of the summer break with a few notices which cannot wait for the start of term.

  1. A very warm welcome to Elizabeth Crabtree, our new Social Media Officer. Read a short blogpost about her interests, and contact her for any news you would like to see spread via the numerous social media channels which OMS operates.
  2. Apply by 12 September to take part in one of the numerous language classes offered by the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies this Michaelmas for rare Jewish languages (OSRJL).
  3. Attend on 12 September a conference in honour of Peggy Brown (in-person at UPenn or via Zoom). 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.
  4. Visit the exhibition Sing Joyfully: Exploring Music in Lambeth Palace Library which runs until 6 November to mark the 500th birthday of the ‘Arundel’ or ‘Lambeth’ Choirbook (Arundel, Sussex, c. 1525) and attend upcoming concerts on 20 and 25 September.
  5. As part of two Germanist conferences beginning of September, there will be a new exhibition ‘German in the World’ at the Taylor Institution Library including a case on the ‘Nibelungenlied’, and a couple of public events, see the conference programmes for the Association for German Studies and the Anglo-German Colloquium.
  6. Apply by 3 November for a two-year postdoc position, the John W. Baldwin Post-Doctoral Fellowship at UCLA CMRS Center for Early Global Studies.
  7. The Latin Hymn as Scriptural Exegesis – from Late Antiquity to the Middle Ages. 25–26 September 2025, Ioannou Centre for Classical & Byzantine Studies, 66 St Giles’, Oxford, OX1 3LU. Registration is free but compulsory. 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.
  8. Call for Papers for Ars Inquirendi, a multi-day joint conference to be held on 4-7 December 2025 (online, with in-person workshops in Stockholm and Oxford), invites demonstrations of all aspects of the nascent art of using LMMs to query the pre-modern – by which we mean, broadly, any Old World cultures before their domination by movable-type print – from pre-modernists already using LMMs, and computer scientists building them, to philosophers and historians of knowledge. Submissions deadline of 30th September. https://medieval.ox.ac.uk/ars-inquirendi-querying-cfp/
  9. Presenting the Guild of Medievalist Makers, co-founded by Eleanor Baker, Kristen Haas Curtis, and Laura Varnam. The Guild was the recipient of an Oxford Medieval Studies Small Grant in Trinity Term 2025 to support the launch of their website and to assist with publicity materials for their first two conference appearances this summer. In this blogpost, Oxford co-founders Eleanor Baker and Laura Varnam introduce the Guild and its activities.
  10. Researcher position: ‘A Quiet Revolution’: Exploring West Horsley Place’s Pre-Modern Landscape. The West Horsley Place Trust has recently received a National Lottery Heritage Fund award for a project titled ‘A Quiet Revolution’, for which they are partnering with the University of Oxford to understand more about the site and its history. We are looking for a skilled and motivated researcher to conduct 239 hours (approximately 30 days) of research on the pre-modern landscape of West Horsley and its historical communities. The role combines desk-based and on-site archival research to produce high-quality outputs in support of a collaborative heritage project. If you are a late stage doctoral or postdoctoral researcher with expertise in medieval and/or early modern landscape history and an interest in working with or in the heritage sector, we’d love to hear from you. More details on how to apply. Deadline: Friday 19th September 2025. Prospective applicants are welcome to direct informal enquiries about the opportunity to Dr Rachel Delman, Heritage Partnerships Coordinator in the Humanities Division (Rachel.delman@humanities.ox.ac.uk
  11. Call for Leeds panel on Writing the Past and Shaping the Future in Thirteenth-Century Norway. In this session we invite papers which address any aspect of the political, legal, cultural, and literary life of the Norwegian court in the thirteenth century. We particularly welcome inter-disciplinary approaches which highlight the intersection of historical and literary trends shaping the political and milieu of the thirteenth century Norwegian court. Please submit an abstract of no more than 250 words by Friday 19 September and a brief biography to both Jonas Zeit-Altpeter and Mary Catherine O’Connor.

I hope you have a good summer and remember that it is never too early to send seminar or event announcements to Tristan Alphey under the Oxford Medieval Studies email!

Rare Jewish Languages at Oxford

OSRJL Applications for Michaelmas Term 2025 are now open!

As part of the Oxford School of Rare Jewish Languages (OSRJL), applications for language classes beginning in Michaelmas Term 2025 are now open! The deadline to apply is 12 September at 12 noon UK time.

Classes beginning in Michaelmas Term 2025 include those on the following languages:

For more information on the programme and how to apply, please consult the OSRJL page and our News/Announcements page on our website. If you have questions, please email us at osrjl@ochjs.ac.uk.

Jewish languages are essential and incorporeal parts of Jewish history, creativity, culture and identity. Most of them are currently in danger of extinction while others are already dead, known only from early writing. Various research programmes stress the immense role of vernacular languages in Jewish life and culture as well as point to their fragility, yet universities offer very few learning opportunities for most of these rare Jewish languages. 

Created in August 2021 by the Oxford Centre for Hebrew & Jewish Studies (OCHJS) in collaboration with the Institut des Langues Rares (ILARA) at Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes (EPHE), Paris, the Oxford School of Rare Jewish Languages (OSRJL) offers free, online teaching of rare Jewish languages and their cultural-historical contexts—along with a public lecture seriesacademic blogVisiting Fellows programmeJewish music classes (this year focusing on the history of Yiddish music!) and language Cafés—accessible at no cost to accepted students and members of the general public around the globe. By doing so, the OSRJL aims to preserve, spark interest in, enable access to and reflect on the nature and role of Jewish languages as rich linguistic facets of Jewish life and history. It is the first school of its kind globally. 

You can read about the OSRJL’s second year, 2022–23, in the Impact Report:

In 2023–24, expanded the language offerings to include classes on 3 languages new to the programme—Haketia, Judeo-Hamadani and Kivruli, teaching a record 18 languages. Languages taught through the OSRJL in 2023–24 included:

  • Haketia    (Dr Carlos Yebra López, University College London)
  • Baghdadi Judeo-Arabic    (Dr Assaf Bar Moshe, Freie Universität Berlin)
  • Classical Judeo-Arabic    (Friederike Schmidt, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München)
  • Judeo-French    (Dr Sandra Hajek, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen)
  • Judeo-Greek    (Dr Julia G. Krivoruchko, University of Cambridge)
  • Judeo-Hamadani    (Professor Dr Saloumeh Gholami, Goethe-Universität Frankfurt)
  • Judeo-Italian    (Dr Marilena Colasuonno, University of Naples)
  • Judeo-Moroccan    (Haviva Fenton)
  • Judeo-Neo-Aramaic    (Dr Dorota Molin, University of Oxford, University of Cambridge)
  • Judeo-Persian    (Dr Ofir Haim, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, & Maximilian Kinzler)
  • Judeo-Provençal    (Dr Peter Nahon, Université de Neuchâtel)
  • Judeo-Tat    (Professor Gilles Authier & Dr Murad Suleymanov, EPHE, Paris)
  • Judeo-Turkish    (Professor Laurent Mignon, University of Oxford)
  • Karaim    (Professor Henryk Jankowski, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań)
  • Kivruli    (Dr Hélène Gérardin, Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales/EPHE)
  • Ladino    (Dr Carlos Yebra López, University College London)
  • Old Yiddish    (Dr Diana Matut)
  • Yiddish    (Dr Beruriah Wiegand, OCHJS, University of Oxford)

Some of the languages we teach—such as Classical Judeo-Arabic, Judeo-French, Judeo-Provençal, Judeo-Persian and Judeo-Greek—are extinct, and our teaching is therefore based, at least in part, on medieval texts and manuscripts written in these languages.

To receive notifications about application opportunities, as well as other activities of the OSRJL, follow the Oxford Centre for Hebrew & Jewish Studies on social media (X: @OCHJSnews, Facebook: Oxford Centre for Hebrew & Jewish Studies, LinkedIn: Oxford Centre for Hebrew & Jewish Studies and Vimeo: OCHJS) and/or sign up to its Activities Email List by emailing academic.administrator@ochjs.ac.uk. To learn more about the OSRJL programme as a whole, please visit our website or email us at osrjl@ochjs.ac.uk.

We hope to see you in one of our classes and/or at one of our events soon!

Madeleine Trivasse (OSRJL Coordinator; Academic Registrar & Publications Officer of the Oxford Centre for Hebrew & Jewish Studies)

With: Professor Judith Olszowy-Schlanger (OSRJL Founder; President of the Oxford Centre for Hebrew & Jewish Studies; Professor of Hebrew Manuscript Studies, EPHE, PSL; Fellow, Corpus Christi College)

The Latin Hymn as Scriptural Exegesis – from Late Antiquity to the Middle Ages

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]).

Medieval Libraries of Great Britain Project Researcher

Full-time, fixed-term postdoc position for 6 months to work with Andrew Dunning on redeveloping the Medieval Libraries of Great Britain project as a sustainable, open-access digital resource for manuscript studies. Apply by 14 July 2025
Full job advert and Further Particulars

The Bodleian Libraries are seeking to appoint a researcher to join the Medieval Libraries of Great Britain project, funded by the British Academy.Based in Bodleian Special Collections at the Weston Library, the successful applicant will contribute to the redevelopment of MLGB as a sustainable, open-access digital resource for manuscript studies. This is an exceptional opportunity to work with a leading team in historical bibliography, digital humanities, and medieval library history.You will take a leading role in the reconciliation, enhancement, and integration of the MLGB dataset, working with legacy print, manuscript, and digital sources. You will apply and adapt digital methods (especially TEI XML), analyse provenance data, disambiguate historical agents, and contribute to collaborative scholarly outputs. You will present your findings at conferences and help shape the project’s intellectual direction and future development.

This is a full-time, fixed-term post for 6 months. The role is based in the Weston Library, Oxford, with up to two days of remote working per week by agreement with the line manager. The Chair of this recruitment panel will be Dr Andrew Dunning, R.W. Hunt Curator of Medieval Manuscripts, who can be contacted with enquiries relating to the role (andrew.dunning@bodleian.ox.ac.uk).

About You You will have a PhD/DPhil (or have submitted a thesis) in a field such as medieval studies, book history, or digital humanities. You will have excellent reading knowledge of Latin and expertise in manuscript studies, including palaeographical and codicological skills. You will be able to manage your own research activities independently and will have contributed to academic publications or digital research outputs. You will have excellent communication skills and be able to work collaboratively in a research team.

What We Offer: As an employee of the University of Oxford, you will enjoy a wide range of benefits, including 38 days’ paid annual leave, membership of a generous pension scheme, family-friendly policies, access to childcare services, and opportunities for flexible and hybrid working. You will have access to the University Club and sports facilities, professional development through the Researcher Hub, and a vibrant academic and cultural environment in central Oxford. More information is available at  https://hr.admin.ox.ac.uk/staff-benefits 

Diversity: Our staff and students come from all over the world, and we proudly promote a friendly and inclusive culture. Diversity is positively encouraged through diverse groups and champions, as well as a number of family-friendly policies, such as the right to apply for flexible working and support for staff returning from periods of extended absence, for example, shared parental leave.We are committed to ensuring that our recruitment processes are inclusive and accessible. If you require the job description or any other materials in an alternative format, or if you would like to request any adjustments to support you through the application or interview process, please contact the recruitment team at  recruitment@glam.ox.ac.uk.How to applyYou will be required to upload your CV and a supporting statement. Your supporting statement should list each of the essential and desirable selection criteria, as listed in the job description, and explain how you meet each one. Both documents must be submitted to be considered.We aim to provide a supportive working environment and are happy to discuss training and professional development opportunities.

Only applications received online before 12:00 midday (BST) on Monday 14 July 2025 can be considered. Interviews are expected to take place during the week commencing 28 July 2025.

Contact Person : GLAM Recruitment, Vacancy ID : 180432
Closing Date & Time : 14-Jul-2025 12:00
Pay Scale : RESEARCH GRADE 6
Contact Email : recruitment@glam.ox.ac.uk
Salary (£) : £34,982 – £40,855 per annum

180432 Job Description and Selection Criteria.pdf

On the background of the project

Consult the Holding page: Medieval Libraries of Great Britain. The Bodleian Libraries write: In October 2024, we had to take a number of specialist digital resources offline. This was a precautionary step in line with University guidance to ensure we were protected from a hostile cyber-attack.

Alternative ways to access the material

Digitised copies of the print catalogue can be found on HathiTrust:

1964 edition: https://hdl.handle.net/2027/uva.x000937945

1987 supplement: https://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015021966216

[1941 edition:] https://hdl.handle.net/2027/uiug.30112113075359

An archived static version of the site is available at the Internet Archive, which allows you to browser the records. Date when website was withdrawn: 24 October 2024