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Medieval Matters – Vac

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23/03/2026

10:46

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Around Oxford, Call for Papers, conference, events, Medieval Matters, News, opportunities, Uncategorized

The OMS emails will be put on brief pause over the vac, although the blog will be continually updated with new events. Please see below a number of important opportunities and reminders before term starts. Of particular note to those interested in early medieval England (and who amongst us doesnt fall into that category) is the British Library’s upcoming PhD placement on the Norman Conquest. Applications are open for three PhD placements which will support the development of our upcoming major exhibition on the Norman Conquest, marking the 1,000th anniversary of the birth of William the Conqueror. Apply by Monday 6 April 2026. Apply by Monday 6 April 2026.

British Library PhD placement: the Norman Conquest

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23/03/2026

10:44

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Application are open for three PhD placements which will support the development of our upcoming major exhibition on the Norman Conquest, marking the 1,000th anniversary of the birth of William the Conqueror. Apply by Monday 6 April 2026.

This placement will be hosted by the Ancient, Medieval and Early Modern Manuscripts team at the Library. This team curates the extensive national collection of British and European manuscripts dating from Antiquity to 1600, actively making these collections accessible through cataloguing, digitisation and exhibitions. Curators in the section have led major Library exhibitions including Medieval Women: In Their Own Words (2024–25); Elizabeth and Mary: Royal Cousins, Rival Queens (2021–22); Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms: Art, Word, War (2018–19); Harry Potter: A History of Magic (2017–18) and Magna Carta: Law, Liberty, Legacy (2015).

The Library is currently developing a major exhibition on the Norman Conquest which will run from 1 October 2027 to 27 February 2028, to mark the 1,000th anniversary of the birth of William the Conqueror in 1027. The exhibition will span two generations either side of the Conqueror to explore the history, art and culture of England from the early 11th century to the middle of the 12th century. It will draw on our extremely strong collection of historical and illuminated manuscripts from this period, together with a large number of manuscripts and museum objects on loan from collections in Britain and Europe.

The placement student will be supervised primarily by the co-curator of the exhibition and will assist with key tasks in the development of the exhibition.

The students will assist with the varied tasks involved in developing the exhibition, including but not limited to: 

  • Helping to liaise with other teams at the Library such as Exhibitions, Conservation and Marketing.
  • Researching themes, exhibits or historical figures within the exhibition to support the curators in finalising the object list and storyline
  • Editorial assistance for the exhibition book such as assembling images, bibliography and proof-reading
  • Producing promotional materials such as preparing social media threads and writing blog posts based on exhibits and themes in the exhibition

More information can be found here.

Medieval Matter HT26, Week 8

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08/03/2026

15:59

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Around Oxford, blog, Call for Papers, conference, events, Medieval Matters, News, opportunities, Uncategorized

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We have made it, at long last, to the end of another Hilary term – but the events don’t stop coming! Please find below another week full of medieval events for you to enjoy, and an ever-increasing list of future opportunities. NB: the Maison Française d’Oxford lecture this Tuesday has had to move earlier and is now at 12:00.

Monday

  • French Palaeography Manuscript Reading Group – 10:30, Weston Library.
  • Seminar in Palaeography and Manuscript studies – 2:15, Weston Library. Seamus Dwyer (Cambridge) will speak on ‘Pen-Flourishing and the Boundaries of Meaning’.
  • Medieval Archaeology Seminar – 3:00, Archaeology Faculty.  Eugene Costello will be speaking on ‘Exploring the expansion of pastoral farming in northern Europe’s uplands, c.1200-1600’.
  • Medieval History Seminar – 5:00, All Souls College. Nick Evans (Birkbeck) “Cowries, Cloth and Coins: Currency in Medieval Economic Anthropology”.
  • Theory and Play: Comparative Medievalisms – 5.15, Lady Margaret Hall.

Tuesday

  • Europe in the Later Middle Ages Seminar – 2:00, New Seminar Room, St John’s College. Mike Carr (Edinburgh) will be speaking on ‘Popes, Ambassadors and Falcons: Trade and Diplomacy between Latin Europe and the Mamluk Sultanate in the Fourteenth Century’.
  • Latin Palaeography Manuscript Reading Group – 2:00, Weston Library (Horton Room). Those who are interested can contact the convenor, Laure Miolo.
  • Maison Française d’Oxford lectures: ‘Children in the Middle Ages’ – 12:00, Maison Française. NB. the new, earlier, time.
  • Maghrib History Seminar: “Reading the Qurʾān across the Mediterranean: Toward a Maghribī School of Tafsīr in Early Islam” – 5:00, The Queen’s College.
  • Medieval Church and Culture, theme: TRANSLATION(S) – tea and coffee from 5:00, Harris Manchester College. Celeste Pan (Balliol) will be speaking on ‘Some issues of translation in an illuminated Hebrew bible manuscript from medieval Brussels (Hamburg, Staats- und Universitätsbibl., Cod. Levy 19)’.
  • Old English Hagiography Reading Group – 5:15, Jesus College Memorial Room.
  • Church Historian Pub Night – 6:00 at the Chequers Inn. Contact Rachel Cresswell.

Wednesday

  • History and Materiality of the Book Seminar series – 2:15, Weston Library. Matthew Holford and Laure Miolo will be speaking on ‘Text identification’.
  • Older Scots Reading Group – 2:30, Room 30.401 (Humanities Centre). Palyce of Honour, Thyrd Part, ll. 1288-2142; Palyce of Honour, Dedication, ll. 2142-2169.
  • The Medieval Latin Documentary Palaeography Reading Group – 4:00, online.
  • Islamic Studies Seminar – 5:00, Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies. Professor Sheilagh Ogilvie (University of Oxford) will speak on ‘Leviathan’s Health: State Capacity and Epidemics from the Black Death to Covid’.
  • Late Antique and Byzantine Seminar – 5:00, Ioannou Centre for Classical and Byzantine Studies. Nathan Websdale (Oxford) will be speaking on ‘Unbecoming Roman: Performative Ethnicity and Panspermía in the Byzantine World c.1190-1235’.
  • eCatalogus+: A Digital Tool for the Automated Study of Latin Manuscripts (Liturgical Case Studies) – 5:00, Weston Library. More infomation here.
  • Lydgate Book Club – Weston manuscript visit with Laure Miolo. Meet 3:50pm at the Weston lockers for a 4pm start. Please email Shaw Worth for any information.

Thursday

  • Middle English Reading Group (MERG) – 11:00, Lincoln College, Beckington Room. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.
  • Medieval Women’s Writing Research Seminar – 4:00, Somerville College. Making and Breaking Connections, including letters sent by Hildegard von Bingen and Catherine of Lancaster, queen of Castile.
  • Seminars in Medieval and Renaissance Music – 5:00, online. Elisabeth Giselbrecht, Louisa Hunter-Bradley and Katie McKeogh (King’s College London) will be speaking on ‘No two books are the same. Interactions with early printed music and the people behind them’.
  • Celtic Seminar – 5:15, hybrid. Eleanor Stephenson (Cambridge) will be speaking on ‘Landscapes of Extraction: Philippe de Loutherbourg and the Morris Family’s Copper Works, Swansea’.
  • Medieval Visual Culture Seminar – 5:00, St Catherine’ College. Emily Guerry (University of Oxford) will be speaking on ‘Silver trees and pearl crosses: Franco-Mongolian diplomacy and cultural exchange in thirteenth-century Karakorum’.
  • The Khalili Research Centre For the Art and Material Culture of the Middle East: Research Seminar – 5:15, The Khalili Research Centre. Johannes Niehoff-Panagiotidis (Freie Universität, Berlin) will be speaking on ‘A Greek-Orthodox monastery in the desert: Mount Sinai and the material culture of its Arabic (and Islamic) manuscripts’.

Friday

  • Medievalist Coffee Morning – Friday 10:30, Visiting Scholars Centre (Weston Library). All welcome, coffee and insight into special collections provided. This week, Jana Lammerding will speak on the representation of witches in the Douce Collection.
  • The History of the Bible: From Manuscripts to Print – 12:00, Visiting Scholars Centre at the Weston Library. Week 8: The Bible printed. Places are limited. To register interest and secure a place, please contact Péter Tóth.
  • Exploring Medieval Oxford through Surviving Archives – 2:00, Weston Library (Horton Room). Those who are interested can contact the convenor, Laure Miolo.
  • EMBI ‘New Books: A Celebration’. – 4:30, Schwartzman Room 421. Helena Hamerow and Conor O’Brien will talk informally about the process of researching and writing the projects that they have both just published, and we will also hear some reflections on being a postdoctoral researcher on a major project such as the ERC-funded grant for FeedSax. End-of-term drinks in Jude the Obscure, Walton St.
  • Oxford Medieval Manuscript Group – 5:00, John Roberts Room at Merton College. Julian Harison (Curator, British Library) will be speaking on ‘Sir Robert Cotton and Oxford’.

Opportunities and Reminders

Medieval matter HT26, Week 7

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02/03/2026

08:59

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Welcome all to week 7, and another packed schedule of events. The ‘Opportunities and Reminders’ section is growing particularly large, with a number of new additions – keep an eye out for CfPs and funding opportunities. The OMS blog continues to grow rapidly: Cris Arama (MSt. Medieval Studies) has recently written a report on Ian Forrest’s workshop.

Monday

  • French Palaeography Manuscript Reading Group – 10:30, Weston Library
  • Medieval History Seminar – 5:00, All Souls College. Jo Story (Leicester) “Insular manuscripts: why membrane matters” [Please note: this session will be in-person only, not hybrid – this is due to restrictions governing the sharing of unpublished data by grant partners].

Tuesday

  • EMBI workshop: ‘Reading’ manuscript membrane: bioarchaeology of early medieval books’ – 10:00, Weston Library. Requires pre-booking.
  • Latin Palaeography Manuscript Reading Group – 2:00, Weston Library (Horton Room). Those who are interested can contact the convenor, Laure Miolo.
  • Medieval Church and Culture, theme: TRANSLATION(S) – tea and coffee from 5:00, Harris Manchester College. Simon Heller (Lincoln) will be speaking on ‘Translation, Transformation, and Transmission: the case of the Old English Beowulf’
  • Old English Hagiography Reading Group – 5:15, Jesus College Memorial Room.
  • Medieval French Research Seminar – 5:15, Maison Française d’Oxford. Nathalie Koble (ENS Paris) will be speaking on ‘Sens et sentibilité. Pour une lecture multimédiale de la Dame à la Licorne (Musée de Cluny, Paris)’ .
  • Poetry Reading: Kevin Crossley-Holland – 5:30, St Edmund Hall. More information here.
  • Church Historian Pub Night – 6:00 at the Chequers Inn. Contact Rachel Cresswell

Wednesday

  • History and Materiality of the Book Seminar series – 2:15, Weston Library. Matthew Holford and Laure Miolo will be discussing Medieval Libraries and Provenance
  • Older Scots Reading Group – 2:30, Room 30.401 (Humanities Centre). Palyce of Honour, Thyrd Part, ll. 1288-2142 
  • The Medieval Latin Documentary Palaeography Reading Group – 4:00, online.
  • Islamic Studies Seminar – 5:00, Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies. Dr Moin Nizam will be speaking on ‘Transnational Ties of Faith: Imdadullah’s letters and writings from the Hijaz during the late-19th century’.
  • Late Antique and Byzantine Seminar – 5:00, Ioannou Centre for Classical and Byzantine Studies. Alasdair Grant (Hamburg) will be speaking on ‘Ubiquitous and Universal? Rebellion and State Formation between Byzantium and Early Islam’

Thursday

  • Middle English Reading Group (MERG) – 11:00, Lincoln College, Beckington Room. All are welcome as we read Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: bring any edition of the original text.
  • Heraldry Society – 5:00, Oriel College. Dr Beatrice Groves (Research Fellow, Trinity) will be speaking on ‘”Azure-laced / With blue of heaven’s own tinct:” Shakespeare’s heraldic language’.
  • Celtic Seminar – 5:15, Room 20.306 (Humanities Centre and Online). Emmet Taylor (Cork) will be speaking on ‘Heads, hierarchy and the heroic’
  • Old English Graduate Reading Group – 5:15. Email Harriet Carter for location.
  • The Khalili Research Centre For the Art and Material Culture of the Middle East: Research Seminar – 5:15, The Khalili Research Centre. Günseli Gürel (Khalili Research Centre) will be speaking on ‘Picturing marvels, magic and monsters at the Ottoman court, 1574–1603’.
  • Guild of Medievalist Makers – 5:30, online. Optional theme: regrowth.

Friday

  • Medievalist Coffee Morning – Friday 10:30, Visiting Scholars Centre (Weston Library). All welcome, coffee and insight into special collections provided.
  • The History of the Bible: From Manuscripts to Print – 12:00, Visiting Scholars Centre at the Weston Library. The theme this week is ‘Vernacular Bibles of the Middle Ages’. Places are limited. To register interest and secure a place, please contact the lecturer at Péter Tóth.
  • Exploring Medieval Oxford through Surviving Archives – 2:00, Weston Library (Horton Room). Those who are interested can contact the convenor, Laure Miolo.

Opportunities and Reminders

Medieval Matters HT26, Wk6

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22/02/2026

21:14

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Welcome, all, to week 6 – it was lovely to see so many of you at the OMS lecture last week. An updated version of the OMS Booklet is linked here, and is available on the OMS website throughout the term.

Events

Monday

  • French Palaeography Manuscript Reading Group – 10:30, Weston Library
  • Seminar in Palaeography and Manuscript studies – 2:15, Weston Library. Eric Crégheur (Université Laval) will be speaking on ‘The Bruce Codex (MS. Bruce 96): Answering the Riddles of Coptic Gnostic Manuscript’.
  • Medieval Archaeology Seminar – 3:00, Archaeology Faculty. Charlotte Wood will be speaking on ‘A cultural history of combs in Medieval England, c. 400-1400’.
  • Medieval History Seminar – 5:00, All Souls College. Chris Wickham (Birmingham/Oxford) will be speaking on “International commerce and regional development: pepper in the Indian Ocean”.
  • Theory and Play: Comparative Medievalisms – 5.15, Lady Margaret Hall. Selections from: Dhuoda’s Liber Manualis  (9th Century CE, tr. Handbook for William); Boethius’ Consolatio (6th Century CE, tr. Consolation of Philosophy); Ode in Praise of al-Mansur Al-Amiri, Emir of Córdoba by Ibn Darradj al-Qastalli (10-11th Century CE)  
  • Oxford Thomistic Institute Lecture – 7:30, Blackfriars. Prof Rebecca Rist will be speaking on ‘Pope or Antipope?: Schism and the Medieval Papacy’

Tuesday

  • Medieval English Research Seminar – 12:15, Room 00.079 (Humanities Centre). Elaine Treharne (Stanford University) will be speaking on ‘‘Motes of gold’: early English poetry and its modern recollection’
  • Europe in the Later Middle Ages Seminar – 2:00, New Seminar Room, St John’s College. Tom Cousins (Bournemouth) will be speaking on’ The Mortar Wreck: A Thirteenth Century shipwreck outside of Poole Harbour, Dorset’.
  • Latin Palaeography Manuscript Reading Group – 2:00, Weston Library (Horton Room). Those who are interested can contact the convenor, Laure Miolo.
  • Early Modern Diplomacy Seminar 1400-1800: ‘Competition or Integration? Urban and Princely Diplomacy at times of Civil War in the Burgundian Low Countries (1380s vs. 1480s)’ – 4:15, University College. Michael Depreter (UC Louvain Saint Louis-Brussels) will be speaking on ‘Competition or Integration? Urban and Princely Diplomacy at times of Civil War in the Burgundian Low Countries (1380s vs. 1480s)’.
  • Medieval Church and Culture, theme: TRANSLATION(S) – tea and coffee from 5:00, Harris Manchester College. Celeste Pan (Balliol) will be speaking on ‘Some issues of translation in an illuminated Hebrew bible manuscript from medieval Brussels (Hamburg, Staatsund Universitätsbibl., Cod. Levy 19)’ 
  • Old English Hagiography Reading Group – 5:15, Jesus College Memorial Room. T
  • Book Launch: Medieval Commentary and Exegesis – Interdisciplinary Perspectives – 5:30, Monson Room (LMH). More information.
  • Church Historian Pub Night – 6:00 at the Chequers Inn. Contact Rachel Cresswell

Wednesday

  • Medieval German Graduate Seminar – 11:15, Old Library, St Edmund Hall. The topic for this term is the ‘Liederbuch der Clara Hätzlerin’. 
  • History and Materiality of the Book Seminar series – 2:15, Weston Library. Laure Miolo will be speaking on ‘Calendars and time-reckoning’.
  • Older Scots Reading Group – 2:30, Room 30.401 (Humanities Centre). Palyce of Honour, Seconde Part, ll. 772-1287.
  • The Medieval Latin Documentary Palaeography Reading Group – 4:00, online.
  • Late Antique and Byzantine Seminar – 5:00, Ioannou Centre for Classical and Byzantine Studies. Robert Wiśniewski (Warsaw) will be speaking on ‘Mapping Unholy Places in Late Antiquity’
  • Islamic Studies Seminar – 5:00, Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies. Jocelyne Cesari (University of Birmingham) willbe speaking on ‘From Divine Sovereignty to National Legitimacy: Transformations in the Theology of Political Islam’
  • John Lydgate Book Club – 5:15pm. All Souls College, Hovenden Room. Mishtooni Bose will be speaking on ‘Thinking with Lydgate’. Please email shaw.worth@all-souls.ox.ac.uk for a copy of the text.

Thursday

  • Middle English Reading Group (MERG) – 11:00, Lincoln College, Beckington Room. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.
  • Medieval Women’s Writing Research Seminar – 4:00, Somerville College. Experiences of Captivity and Enslavement – including extracts from the works of Layla bint Lukayz, ‘Arib al-Ma’muniyya, Qamar, Uns al-Qulub and Leonor López de Córdoba
  • Seminars in Medieval and Renaissance Music – 5:00, online. Andrew Kirkman (University of Birmingham) will be speaking on ‘Made to measure or prêt à chanter? The Court of Wilhelm IV and the Later Alamire Manuscripts’
  • Celtic Seminar – 5:15, Online. Malo Adeux (CRBC)  willbe speaking on ‘Ystoria Daret: sources, circulation, reception’
  • The Khalili Research Centre For the Art and Material Culture of the Middle East: Research Seminar – 5:15, The Khalili Research Centre. Eva Schreiner (Kunsthistorisches Institut, Florence) will be speaking on ‘Debt in stone: architectures of finance in late Ottoman Istanbul’.

Friday

  • Medievalist Coffee Morning – Friday 10:30, Visiting Scholars Centre (Weston Library). All welcome, coffee and insight into special collections provided.
  • The History of the Bible: From Manuscripts to Print – 12:00, Visiting Scholars Centre at the Weston Library. Week 6: The Bible in Medieval Europe. Places are limited. To register interest and secure a place, please contact Péter Tóth.
  • Exploring Medieval Oxford through Surviving Archives – 2:00, Weston Library (Horton Room). Those who are interested can contact the convenor, Laure Miolo.
  • Oxford Medieval Manuscript Group – 5:00, Sir Howard Stringer Room at Merton College. Tour of the All Souls College library with Peregrine Horden, Fellow Librarian. The deadline to register has passed. To be put on a waiting list, write to oxfordmedievalmss@gmail.com. 

Opportunities and Reminders

Medieval matter HT26 Wk 5

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16/02/2026

08:51

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Call for Papers, conference, events, Medieval Matters, News, opportunities, Uncategorized

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Welcome to Week 5.

Apart from the Medieval Studies Lecture this Thursday, I would like to highlight a new CfP: Forgotten Libraries: Lost, Dispersed, and Marginalised Manuscript Collections: The Centre for Manuscript and Text Cultures (CMTC) is pleased to invite Oxford-based researchers to participate in the workshop Forgotten Libraries to be held at The Queen’s College (Oxford) on Tuesday 16 June. 

Events

Monday

  • French Palaeography Manuscript Reading Group – 10:30, Weston Library
  • Medieval History Seminar – 5:00, All Souls College. Jay Rubenstein (University of Southern California) will be speaking on “Queen Melisende of Jerusalem and the Wages of Sin”.

Tuesday

  • Europe in the Later Middle Ages Seminar – 2:00, New Seminar Room, St John’s College. Maria Fusaro (Exeter) will be speaking on ‘Maritime Risk Management and Aequitas: the long life of the principle of General Average’
  • Latin Palaeography Manuscript Reading Group – 2:00, Weston Library (Horton Room). Those who are interested can contact the convenor, Laure Miolo.
  • Maghrib History Seminar- 5:00, The Queen’s College. Prof. Cyrille Aillet (Université Lumière Lyon 2)  will be speaking on “Ibadism and Medieval Maghrib: a View from Within”
  • Medieval Church and Culture, theme: TRANSLATION(S) – tea and coffee from 5:00, Harris Manchester College. Luisa Ostacchini (Jesus) will be speaking on ‘(Re)working Miracles: translating Gregory the Great’s Dialogues in Old English literature’.
  • Medieval French Research Seminar – 5:15, Maison Française d’Oxford. Fran Charmaille (Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge) & Gareth Evans (St John’s College, Oxford) will be speaking on ‘Trans Studies and Medieval Literatures’. (joint seminar with Medieval English)
  • Old English Hagiography Reading Group – 5:15, Jesus College Memorial Room. The first text is the anonymous Life of Saint Giles – email Luisa Ostacchini for a copy.
  • Church Historian Pub Night – 6:00 at the Chequers Inn. Contact Rachel Cresswell

Wednesday

  • Medieval German Graduate Seminar – 11:15, Old Library, St Edmund Hall. The topic for this term is the ‘Liederbuch der Clara Hätzlerin’. 
  • History and Materiality of the Book Seminar series – 2:15, Weston Library. Andrew Honey will be discussing Bindings.
  • Older Scots Reading Group – 2:30, Room 30.401 (Humanities Centre). Palyce of Honour, Seconde Part, ll. 772-1287 .
  • The Medieval Latin Documentary Palaeography Reading Group – 4:00, online.
  • Late Antique and Byzantine Seminar – 5:00, Ioannou Centre for Classical and Byzantine Studies. Arietta Papaconstantinou (Aix-Marseille) will be speaking on ‘Dependent Labour in the Late Antique Near East’
  • Maison Française d’Oxford lecture series – 5:00, at the Maison. Antoine Destemberg will be speaking on ‘‘Is medieval biblical exegesis a form of totemism? An examination of analogical-social thinking in Moralised Bibles’
  • Islamic Studies Seminar- 5:30, Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies. Dr Tugba Bozcaga (Kings College London) will be speaking on ‘Imams and Patrons: Service Provision by Islamic Non-State Actors’.

Thursday

  • Middle English Reading Group (MERG) – 11:00, Lincoln College, Beckington Room. All are welcome as we read Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: bring any edition of the original text.
  • Environmental History Working Group – 12:30–2:00pm, Humanities Centre History Hub Room 20.421. Louis James Henry (PhD Medieval Environmental History, University of Stavanger, Visiting Student at KCL) will be speaking on “Timely Courts and Immediate Responses: Waste Management as a Temporal Issue in Late Medieval England”.
  • Pop-up display – ‘What do Christ Church’s newly acquired Hebrew books tell us about the College in the 17th century?’ – 12:00 – 2:00,  Christ Church Upper Library. More info here.
  • OMS Lecture -5–6.30pm in the Old Dining Hall of St Edmund Hall. Prof. Ian Forrest (Glasgow) will be speaking on ‘Telling Tails: Weaponizing Gender in the Late Medieval Church‘. Drinks to follow. More information and register for dinner.
  • Heraldry Society – 5:00, Oriel College. Dr Nicolas Vernot (Guest Researcher, CY Cergy Paris University) will be speaking on ‘Heraldry and Magic’.
  • Celtic Seminar – 5:15, Room 20.306 (Humanities Centre and Online). Sarah Zeiser (Harvard) will be speaking on ‘Finding allegory, history, and a complicated timeline in the harvest quatrain of Rhygyfarch ap Sulien’.
  • Old English Graduate Reading Group – 5:15. Email Harriet Carter for location.
  • Centre for Manuscript and Text Cultures – 5:15, Memorial Room, The Queen’s College. Hana Navratilova (Harris Manchester College/ AMES, Oxford) will be speaking on ‘Meidum: landscape, pyramid, graffiti, and political memory’
  • The Khalili Research Centre For the Art and Material Culture of the Middle East: Research Seminar – 5:15, The Khalili Research Centre. Umberto Bongianino (Khalili Research Centre) will be speaking on ‘Wall painting in the Islamic West and the aesthetic of naqsh’.
  • Latin Compline in the Crypt with the St Edmund Consort – 9:30, St Edmund Hall.

Friday

  • Medievalist Coffee Morning – Friday 10:30, Visiting Scholars Centre (Weston Library). All welcome, coffee and insight into special collections provided.
  • The History of the Bible: From Manuscripts to Print – 12:00, Visiting Scholars Centre at the Weston Library. The theme this week is ‘The Bible in Latin: Old Latin and the Vulgate’. Places are limited. To register interest and secure a place, please contact the lecturer at Péter Tóth.
  • Pop-up display – ‘What do Christ Church’s newly acquired Hebrew books tell us about the College in the 17th century?’ – 12:00 – 2:00,  Christ Church Upper Library. More info here.
  • Exploring Medieval Oxford through Surviving Archives – 2:00, Weston Library (Horton Room). Those who are interested can contact the convenor, Laure Miolo.
  • Oxford Medieval Manuscript Group – 3:30, Weston Library. Workshop with Laure Miolo: Observing and Measuring the Heavens: Manuscripts, Instruments, and Astronomical Practice in the Middle Ages. Limited places. The deadline to register has passed. Write to Oxford Medieval Manuscript group if you want to go on a waiting list. 
  • Postponed: the Wikipedia Editathon planned for today has been postponed to Trinity Term.

Opportunities and Reminders

Medieval Matter HT26, Wk 3

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02/02/2026

08:26

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Call for Papers, conference, events, Medieval Matters, News, opportunities, Uncategorized

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The OMS Booklet is linked here, and is available on the OMS website throughout the term. The 2026 OMS Lecture will take place on Thursday 19 February 5–6.30pm in the Old Dining Hall of St Edmund Hall. Prof. Ian Forrest (Glasgow) will be speaking on ‘Telling Tails: Weaponizing Gender in the Late Medieval Church‘. Drinks to follow. More information and register for dinner. Also: OMS sends condolences to our colleague Anna Abulafia (former Professor of Abrahamic Religions) for the death of her husband, Prof. David Abulafia FBA

Events

Monday

  • French Palaeography Manuscript Reading Group – 10:30, Weston Library
  • Medieval History Seminar – 5:00, All Souls College. Anna Molnár (Reading) will be speaking on “Nuns’ Financial Literacy and the Private Banking Activities of Female Religious Organisations in the Later Middle Ages”

Tuesday

  • Medieval English Research Seminar – 12:15, Room 00.079 (Humanities Centre). Joe Stadolnik (University of Chicago) will be speaking on ‘Bad books in medieval Bristol: alchemy, liturgy and Thomas Norton’s ordinals’.
  • Europe in the Later Middle Ages Seminar – 2:00, New Seminar Room, St John’s College. Tom Johnson, Oxford will be speaking on ‘‘He hath payd his part’: The Political Economy of Fishing Doles in Late-Medieval England’
  • Latin Palaeography Manuscript Reading Group – 2:00, Weston Library (Horton Room). Those who are interested can contact the convenor, Laure Miolo.
  • Medieval Church and Culture, theme: TRANSLATION(S) – tea and coffee from 5:00, Harris Manchester College. Eugenia Vorobeva (St Anne’s) will be speaking on ‘Devil’s Laughter, Language, and Sin in the Old Norse-Icelandic ‘Passio Domini’ Homily’
  • Medieval French Research Seminar – 5:15, Maison Française d’Oxford. Cat Watts (St Anne’s College, Oxford) will be speaking on ‘”Nothing  Of  Thine Own”: Fandom, Devilry, and Rewriting Holy Tales’ .
  • Old English Hagiography Reading Group – 5:15, Jesus College Memorial Room. The first text is the anonymous Life of Saint Giles – email Luisa Ostacchini for a copy.
  • Church Historian Pub Night – 6:00 at the Chequers Inn. Contact Rachel Cresswell

Wednesday

  • Medieval German Graduate Seminar – 11:15, Old Library, St Edmund Hall. The topic for this term is the ‘Liederbuch der Clara Hätzlerin’. 
  • History and Materiality of the Book Seminar series – 2:15, Weston Library. Martin Kauffmann will be discussing Decoration
  • The Medieval Latin Documentary Palaeography Reading Group – 4:00, online.
  • Late Antique and Byzantine Seminar – 5:00, Ioannou Centre for Classical and Byzantine Studies. laudia Rapp (Vienna) and Michael Whitby (Birmingham) will be speaking on ‘Mark the Deacon: The Life of Porphyrius of Gaza (in collaboration with Translated Texts for Historians and LUP)’
  • Islamic Studies Seminar- 5:00, Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies. James McDougall (University of Oxford) will be speaking on ‘Worlds of Islam: A Global History’.

Thursday

  • Middle English Reading Group (MERG) – 11:00, Lincoln College, Beckington Room. All are welcome as we read Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: bring any edition of the original text.
  • Environmental History Working Group – 12:30–2:00pm, Humanities Centre History Hub Room 20.421. Louis James Henry (PhD Medieval Environmental History, University of Stavanger, Visiting Student at KCL) will be speaking on “Timely Courts and Immediate Responses: Waste Management as a Temporal Issue in Late Medieval England”
  • Medieval Visual Culture Seminar – 5:00, St Catherine’s College. Millie Horton-Insch (British Museum & Trinity College Dublin) will be speaking on “Technologies of Reproduction and Sonderauftrag Bayeux: Re-Creating the Bayeux Tapestry for the Third Reich”
  • Celtic Seminar – 5:15, Room 20.306 (Humanities Centre and Online). Rhiannon Marks (Cardiff) will be speaking on ‘Envisaging the end: the representation of language decline in contemporary Welsh writing’
  • Old English Graduate Reading Group – 5:15. Email Harriet Carter for location.
  • The Khalili Research Centre For the Art and Material Culture of the Middle East: Research Seminar – 5:15, The Khalili Research Centre. Maria Judith Feliciano (CSIC, Madrid) will be speaking on ‘the silk core, or lessons from medieval Iberian textile studies’
  • Guild of Medievalist Makers, Making Space Session  – 5:30, online. Optional theme: birds.
  • Compline in the Crypt – 9:30, St Edmund Hall.

Friday

  • Medievalist Coffee Morning – Friday 10:30, Visiting Scholars Centre (Weston Library). All welcome, coffee and insight into special collections provided.
  • The History of the Bible: From Manuscripts to Print – 12:00, Visiting Scholars Centre at the Weston Library. The theme this week is ‘The New Testament’ Places are limited. To register interest and secure a place, please contact the lecturer at Péter Tóth  
  • Exploring Medieval Oxford through Surviving Archives – 2:00, Weston Library (Horton Room). Those who are interested can contact the convenor, Laure Miolo.

Opportunities and Reminders

Medieval Matters HT26, Week 1

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19/01/2026

08:43

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Call for Papers, conference, events, Medieval Matters, News, opportunities, Uncategorized

,

Welcome to Week 1. Thanks to all those who submitted their events for the upcoming term. An updated version of the OMS Booklet is linked here, and is available on the OMS website throughout the term.

For your diary: The 2026 OMS Lecture will take place on Thursday 19 February 5–6.30pm in the Old Dining Hall of St Edmund Hall. Prof. Ian Forrest (Glasgow) will be speaking on ‘Telling Tails: Weaponizing Gender in the Late Medieval Church‘. Drinks to follow. More information and register for dinner.

Tony Hunt’s memorial service is will be held on 16th May, 2.30, St Peter’s College Chapel (booking etc in due course).

Monday

  • French Palaeography Manuscript Reading Group – 10:30, Weston Library
  • Medieval History Seminar – 5:00, All Souls College. John Sabapathy (UCL) will be speaking on “Humanism and bestiality in the land of Cockagne”.
  • Celtic Language Teaching continues throughout the week – please consult the booklet, p. 39 for a full table of dates and locations.

Tuesday

  • Medieval English Research Seminar – 12:15, Room 00.079 (Humanities Centre). Stacie Vos (University of California, San Diego) will be speakin on “Norfolk Broads, or Discovering medieval women with twentieth-century collectives”.
  • Europe in the Later Middle Ages Seminar – 2:00, New Seminar Room, St John’s College. Peregrine Horden and Nicholas Purcell (Oxford) will be speaking on “Beyond the Mediterranean by land and sea: Two medieval cases in a (very) broad context”.
  • Latin Palaeography Manuscript Reading Group – 2:00, Weston Library (Horton Room). Those who are interested can contact the convenor, Laure Miolo.
  • Medieval Church and Culture, theme: TRANSLATION(S) – tea and coffee from 5:00, Harris Manchester College. John Mulhall (Purdue University) will be speaking on “‘Blessings on All the Prophets’: Islamic prayers in the Latin scientific translations of the twelfth century”.
  • Church Historian Pub Night – 6:00 at the Chequers Inn. Contact Rachel Cresswell

Wednesday

  • Medieval German Graduate Seminar – 11:15, Old Library, St Edmund Hall. The first week will be a shortish planning meeting. The topic for this term is the ‘Liederbuch der Clara Hätzlerin’. 
  • Older Scots Reading Group – 2:30, Room 30.401 (Humanities Centre). Theme: ‘Palyce of Honour, Prologue, ll. 1-126’.
  • The Medieval Latin Documentary Palaeography Reading Group – 4:00, online.
  • Late Antique and Byzantine Seminar – 5:00, Ioannou Centre for Classical and Byzantine Studies. John Mulhall (Purdue) will be speaking on “The Republic of Translators: Translating from Greek and Arabic into Latin in the Twelfth-Century Mediterranean”.

Thursday

  • Middle English Reading Group (MERG) – 11:00, Lincoln College, Beckington Room. All are welcome as we read Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: bring any edition of the original text.
  • Environmental History Working Group (EHWG) – 12:30, Room 20.421 (Humanities Centre). Niklas Groschinski (DPhil History) “Environing from Below — Supplications, Denunciations, and Other Sources for Rewriting Early Modern Environmental History”
  • Celtic Seminar – 5:15, Room 20.306 (Humanties Centre) and Online. Brigid Ehrmantraut (St Andrews) will be speaking on “Death of the author? Authorship and authority in the Middle Irish classical adaptations”.
  • The Khalili Research Centre For the Art and Material Culture of the Middle East: Research Seminar – 5:15, The Khalili Research Centre. Yusuf Tayara (Wolfson College) will be speaking on “Timekeeping between art and science: integrated approaches to the history of Mamluk astronomy”.
  • Old English Graduate Reading Group – 5:15. Location is variable so please email Hattie Carter or James Tittering if you’re interested. This term’s text is Apollonius of Tyre.
  • Compline in the Crypt – 9:30, St Edmund Hall. Sung by the College Choir in English

Friday

  • Medievalist Coffee Morning – Friday 10:30, Visiting Scholars Centre (Weston Library). All welcome, coffee and insight into special collections provided.
  • The History of the Bible: From Manuscripts to Print – 12:00, Visiting Scholars Centre at the Weston Library. The theme this week is ‘The Hebrew Bible”. Places are limited. To register interest and secure a place, please contact the lecturer, Péter Tóth.
  • Exploring Medieval Oxford through Surviving Archives – 2:00, Weston Library (Horton Room). Those who are interested can contact the convenor, Laure Miolo
  • EMBI ‘Databases: A Skills Workshop’ has been POSTPONED until Week 4 on 13 February, 16:00-17:15.

Opportunities (see booklet for further details)

Medieval Matter MT25, Week 6

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17/11/2025

08:41

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Call for Papers, events, Medieval Matters, News, opportunities, Uncategorized

An extra large offering of medieval events for sixth week, and a particularly busy Monday! 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
  • Medieval Archaeology Seminar – 3.00, Institute of Archaeology, Lecture Room. Roberta Gilchrist will be speaking on ‘The medieval ritual landscape: Persistence and place-making in later medieval England’
  • Historical and Systematic Theology Research Seminar – 3:30, Campion Hall. Professor Thomas Joseph White (Rector of the Angelicum, Rome) will be speaking on ‘‘How can one say that God has become human? John of Damascus and Thomas Aquinas on the Semantics of the Incarnation’
  • 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. Angus Russell (King’s College, Cambridge) will be speaking on “Between truth and justice: towards an intellectual history of post-Mongol Rus”.
  • History of Liturgy Seminar (IHR) – 5:30, Balliol College and online. Cosima Gillhammer will be speaking on ‘Writing about liturgy for a general audience: some reflections’; Molly Bray will be speaking on ‘Statue Dresses, Rituals and Kinship at Kloster Wienhausen c. 1469-1530’. The poster for the event can be viewed here.
  • Thomistic Institute Lecture – 7:30, Balckfriars. Sr. Catherine Joseph Droste, O.P. (Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas) will be speaking on ‘Virtue and Self-Knowledge in St. Catherine of Siena’

Tuesday

  • Medieval English Research Seminar – 12:15, Margaret Thatcher Centre, Somerville. Caroline Batten (U of Pennsylvania) will be speaking on ‘Vulnerable Bodies: The Old English Verse Charms, Again’
  • Latin Palaeography Manuscript Reading Group – 2:00, Weston Library (Horton Room)
  • Medieval Church and Culture Seminar:  5:15pm, Harris Manchester College (tea & coffee from 5.00). In a change of topic, Alice Rio (All Souls) will be speaking on ‘Otherworldly Tribunals and the State (9-10th c):  Wetti, Theodora, Mulien’.

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. Peter Frankopan and Jonathan Shepard (Oxford) will be speaking on ‘Revisiting the Byzantine Commonwealth: A Discussion’.

Thursday

  • Middle English Reading Group – 11:00, Beckington Room (Lincoln College).
  • Medieval Women’s Writing Research Seminar – 4:00, Somerville College. Including extracts from the letters of Hildegard von Bingen, Catherine of Siena, Violant de Bar and María de Castilla
  • Medieval Visual Culture Seminar – 5:00, Khalili Research Center (NB. change of location). Mariam Rosser-Owen (V&A) & Ashley Coutu (Pitt Rivers) will be speaking on “New directions in the study of ivories from the Islamic world: A talk and handling session” Co-sponsored with the Khalili Research Center.
  • Celtic Seminar – 5:00, hybrid. Roan Runge (Glasgow) will be speaking on ‘‘Turn and face the strange’: Analysing animal species present in medieval Irish narratives of transformation’
  • Multilingual Medieval Compline in the Crypt – 9:30pm, in the crypt below St-Peter-in-the-East, St Edmund Hall (see below).

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).
  • Oxford Medieval Mansucript Group ‘Reading Group’ – 5:00, online. J. E. Murdoch and and Laure Miolo will both present; the deadline for attendance has passed.

Opportunities