We are pleased to announce the seminars for Hilary Term 2026. The seminars are all held via Zoom on Thursdays at 5 p.m. GMT. If you are planning to attend a seminar this term, please register using this form. For each seminar, those who have registered will receive an email with the Zoom invitation and any further materials a couple of days before the seminar. If you have any questions, please send an email to Joe Mason at all.souls.music.seminars@gmail.com; this address is the main point of contact for the seminars. We look forward to an exciting series and hope to see many of you there.
Margaret Bent (Convener, All Souls College)
29 January 2026, 5pm–7pm GMT: Presenter: Kévin Roger (University of Lorraine) Title: Latin Motets and Literary Networks in the Late Middle Ages: Intertextuality, Rhetoric, and Digital Reading Discussants: Yolanda Plumley (University of Exeter) and Karl Kügle (Universities of Oxford and Utrecht)
Abstract: Latin motets of the 14th and early 15th centuries preserve one of the most complex bodies of lyric poetry from the Late Middle Ages. While vernacular art was flourishing, these pluritextual works maintained a dense, erudite, and allusive Latin that has long hindered scholarly interpretation. Because their meaning is often obscure, research has traditionally focused on musical structure rather than on the literary strategies that shape the motet as a poetic object.
This paper investigates the modes of textual invention in Latin motets by analysing their intertextual mechanisms, rhetorical organisation, and broader literary framework. It considers the major French sources and examines how composers drew on classical, biblical, and patristic materials, as well as on florilegia and mnemonic practices. Rather than merely identifying quotations, this research seeks to characterise different forms of borrowing (citation, allusion, discursive resonance) and to understand how they evolve across the corpus.
Digital methods play a central role: TEI encoding enables fine-grained annotation of stylistic features and standardisation of data, while NLP approaches, including LatinBERT, assist in detecting textual reuse and semantic patterns at scale. These tools complement traditional expertise, revealing previously unknown intertextual links and restoring the literary richness of this challenging repertoire.
26 February, 5pm–7pm GMT Andrew Kirkman (University of Birmingham) Title: Made to measure or prêt à chanter? The Court of Wilhelm IV and the Later Alamire Manuscripts Discussants: Thomas Schmidt (University of Manchester) and Zoe Saunders (Independent scholar)
Abstract: The Alamire codices have traditionally been seen as diplomatic gifts, or at the very least commissions from magnates and super-rich aficionados. This article argues that for most of the later, paper codices at least, the sequence happened in reverse: in other words they comprised workshop material that was first produced and then sold once buyers could be found. The same conclusion prompts also a review of the construction of some of the more elegant, parchment sources, and the proposal that the ‘bespoke’ aspects of such codices may have extended no further than their opening—and hence most immediately visible—pages.
12 March, 5pm–7pm GMT Presenters: Elisabeth Giselbrecht, Louisa Hunter-Bradley and Katie McKeogh (King’s College London) Title: No two books are the same. Interactions with early printed music and the people behind them
Abstract: The DORMEME project investigates how early modern owners, readers, and users engaged with printed polyphonic music books, focusing on 1500–1545, when music printing introduced new modes of circulation alongside manuscript and oral transmission. This technological shift expanded and reshaped how individuals interacted with music books—as tools for performance and teaching, as collectable objects, and as sites of confessional negotiation. Our project undertakes a copy-based survey of surviving printed polyphonic books across European and North American collections, documenting marks of use and developing case studies that reveal how these books were used, altered, and understood.
This paper presents the project’s first synthetic results. We outline a taxonomy of interventions—textual, musical, material, and paratextual—and consider them in relation to user motivations such as correction, performance facilitation, confessional adaptation, education, personalisation, and proof-reading. Drawing on detailed examples, we examine textual changes in religious motets, musical annotations including crosses, numbers, custodes, and barline-like dashes, and patterns of personalisation that illuminate different types of owners and users. We also address the distinctive role of the proof-reader as the “first reader,” whose interventions bridge production and use. Together, these findings show how annotations can reshape our understanding of early modern musical practice and book culture.
Change of policy on seminar recording
The seminars have taken place on Thursdays at 5 p.m. UK time for over thirty years. When we moved them to Zoom in 2020 during Covid, it soon became clear that in attracting wide global participation, including expertise not available locally in Oxford, they would continue online into the foreseeable future. Many have indicated how much they value these online but ‘live’ opportunities to share and respond to new work, or just to learn from them. We decided from the start not to make them hybrid (which doesn’t facilitate awareness or interaction between the in-person and online participants), not to make them webinars (where there is no interaction with the audience), and not to record them. The reasons for that were to protect unpublished work (we know who has registered and received any associated materials), and to ensure a sense of occasion and enable participation in real time. Much of that would be lost if people could easily listen in at their convenience. We are receiving increasing requests to record the seminars from those who can never come because of conflicting schedules or unfriendly time zones. We are therefore proposing the following change:
Where a speaker and the invited discussants are happy to do so, we will record the first hour of the seminar;
If the speaker but not the invited discussants are happy to record, only the first half hour may be available;
We will not record the second hour of general discussion, as we do not wish to inhibit that discussion, and would need to secure too many permissions;
This change of policy is intended to serve those whose schedules do not permit them to attend, as well as those who would like to revisit the presentation afterwards. Recordings will not include the general discussion, and may not include the invited discussion. As for the protection of unpublished material: any unauthorised or uncredited ‘borrowing’ can be documented from the availability of the Youtube recording. As not all speakers may want to be recorded, and as it will not be known in advance which seminars will be available afterwards, we still hope to encourage as much attendance in real time as at present.
You can register for the seminar’s YouTube channel here, where any recordings will be uploaded.
All Souls College, OxfordHilary Term, 2023
Led by Dr Margaret Bent (Convenor, All Souls College, Oxford) and Matthew Thomson (University College Dublin)
The seminars are all held via Zoom on Thursdays at 5 p.m. GMT. If you are planning to attend a seminar this term, please register using this form. For each seminar, those who have registered will receive an email with the Zoom invitation and any further materials a couple of days before the seminar. If you have questions, please just send an email to matthew.thomson@ucd.ie.
Seminar programme
Thursday 26 January, 5pm GMT
Julia Craig-McFeely (DIAMM, University of Oxford)
The Sadler Sets of Partbooks and Tudor Music Copying
Discussants: Owen Rees (University of Oxford) and Magnus Williamson (University of Newcastle)
The digital recovery of the Sadler Partbooks has revealed considerably more than simply the notes written on the pages. Surprisingly more in fact. It has led to a re-evaluation of pretty much everything we thought we knew about the books and their inception, and indeed the culture of music copying in England in the mid- to late-16th century. This paper examines the question of who was responsible for copying Bodleian Library Mus. e. 1–5. Some tempting speculations are explored, and some new paradigms proposed.
Thursday 16 February, 5pm GMT
Martin Kirnbauer and the project team Vicentino21: Anne Smith, David Gallagher, Luigi Collarile and Johannes Keller (Schola Cantorum Basiliensis / FHNW)
Soav’ e dolce – Nicola Vicentino’s Intervallic Vision
The musical ideas and visions that Vicentino sets out in his writings L’antica musica ridotta alla moderna prattica (Rome 1555) and the Manifesto for his arciorgano can only be concretely traced on the basis of a few, mostly fragmentary, surviving compositions. However, the research carried out within the framework of the SNSF-funded research project “Vicentino21” (https://www.fhnw.ch/plattformen/vicentino21/), with the aim of creating a digital edition of Vicentino’s treatise, now provides concrete findings. Using the example of the madrigal Soav’ e dolce ardore (III:51, fol. 67), questions concerning Vicentino’s musical visions and the edition will be discussed.
Thursday 9 March, 5pm GMT
Emily Zazulia (University of California at Berkeley)
The Fifteenth-Century Song Mass: Some Challenges
Discussants: Fabrice Fitch (Royal Conservatoire of Scotland) and Sean Gallagher (New England Conservatory)
Love songs and the Catholic Mass do not make easy bedfellows. The earthly, amorous, even carnal feelings explored in fifteenth-century chansons seem at odds with the solemnity of Christian observance’s most central rite. Recent scholarship has attempted to bridge this divide, showing how some of these genre-crossing pieces conflate the earthly lady with the Virgin Mary, thereby effacing the divide between sacred and secular. But a substantial body of song masses survives whose source material is decidedly not amenable to this type of interpretation—masses based on songs that are less “My gracious lady is without peer” and more “Hey miller girl, come grind my grain”—or, as we shall see, worse. This paper turns an eye toward these misfit masses, surveying the corpus for a sense of what there is—the Whos, Whats, Wheres, and Whens—as a first step toward the Hows and Whys of these puzzling pieces. One particularly tricky example, the mass variously referred to as Je ne demande and Elle est bien malade, suggests that it may be time to replace prevailing sacred–secular interpretative models with a new approach.
The University of St Andrews in Scotland is currently advertising a PhD scholarship (with 3.5 years’ full funding) for the following project “How to write a global success before print: The paradigmatic case of the Seven Sages of Rome/Sindbad narrative.” Deadline for applications is Sunday 15 February 2026. More information can be found on the St Andrews website
Previous advertisment for a doctoral position in 2024: The research project “The Seven Sages of Rome Revisited: Striving for an Alternative Literary History” invites applications for one doctoral research associate: FU Berlin advertisement of the position
The project is funded by the Einstein Foundation Berlin as part of the Berlin University Alliance/Oxford University Einstein Visiting Fellowship scheme. The selected postholder will work closely with the PIs of the project, Professor Dr Jutta Eming, Freie Universität Berlin and Dr Ida Tóth, University of Oxford (Einstein BUA/Oxford Visiting Fellow 2024-27). The position is funded by the Einstein Foundation Berlin as part of the Berlin University Alliance/Oxford University Einstein Visiting Fellowships scheme. The Doctoral Research Associate will participate in the project “The Seven Sages of Rome Revisited: Striving for an Alternative Literary History”. The selected postholder will be jointly supervised by the PIs of the project, Professor Dr Jutta Eming, Freie Universität Berlin and Dr Ida Toth, University of Oxford (Einstein BUA/Oxford Visiting Fellow 2024-27). The research project “The Seven Sages of Rome Revisited: Striving for an Alternative Literary History” focuses on one of the most popular and least studied works of pre-modern world literature. Transmitted in over thirty languages and attested through hundreds of manuscripts and early printed editions, this tradition provides ample scope for exploring the extant material from textual, intercultural, and intersectional literary perspectives. The Einstein BUA/Oxford research project proposes to undertake an interdisciplinary, collaborative and comparative philological, literary, and cultural analysis in Byzantine/Medieval Latin and Medieval German and Early Modern Studies. Its goal is to reassess and redefine the traditional approach to the SSR and to medieval literature in general.
Job description: The Doctoral Research Associate will study one specific set of motifs – Wisdom, Power, and Gender – that is common to all surviving traditions of the Seven Sages in the German and/or Greek textual tradition. The main duty will be to conduct research on a doctoral project designed along these research lines. The postholder will work under the direction of Professor Dr Jutta Eming and Dr Ida Toth as well as collaborating with the other members of the research group. The postholder will assist in planning and organisation of scholarly events (lectures, seminars, workshops, outreach programmes), in publication projects, and will play a key role in securing the online visibility and digital presence of the project. This is an exciting opportunity for a highly motivated doctoral candidate with strong interests in wisdom literature, intersectionality, and concepts of power. The successful candidate will join a team of textual and literary scholars, who play an active role in the current efforts to reassess traditional literary canons and to create an alternative, and much more nuanced, understanding of pre-modern global literary history.
Requirements: • A Master’s degree qualification (MA, MSt, MPhil or the equivalent) in a subject/field relevant to the Project (German Studies, Byzantine Studies/Medieval Latin)
Desirable: • Above-average Masters’ degree grade • Doctoral project on the Seven Sages of Rome • Excellent command of the spoken and written English language • Demonstrable interest in the project’s focus area (Wisdom – Power – Gender) • Ability to work independently • Commitment to team-building and teamwork • Willingness to engage in interdisciplinary exchange
Application materials: • An application letter/statement of purpose (one page) • An outline of the planned dissertation project (two pages) • A curriculum vitae with list of publications (if applicable) • Official transcripts of all previous degrees and university diplomas • A copy of master’s thesis or a sample of written work (max. 25 pages)
How to apply: Your application materials should state the identifier Predoc_JE_BUA_SSoR_2_24. They should be combined in a single PDF document and sent electronically to Ms Sylwia Bräuer (s.braeuer@fu-berlin.de). Two letters of recommendation from university-level teachers should be submitted separately. They should be addressed and emailed to the project PIs Jutta Eming (j.eming@fu-berlin.de ) and Ida Toth (ida.toth@history.ox.ac.uk).
Report on the Oxford-Berlin Workshop ‘The Seven Sages of Rome as a Global Narrative Tradition’
11-12 November 2022, organised by Ida Toth (Oxford) and Jutta Eming (Berlin)
The Seven Sages of Rome (SSR) is a title commonly used for one of the most widely distributed pre-modern collections of stories, which – remarkably – also happens to be barely known today, even among medievalists and early modernists. Several early versions of the SSR exist in Greek (Syntipas), Arabic (Seven Viziers), Hebrew (Mishle Sendebar), Latin (Dolopathos, Historia septem sapientum), Persian (Sindbād-nameh) and Syriac (Sindbād) as well as in the later translations into Armenian, Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, German, English, French, Hungarian, Icelandic, Polish, Russian, Scottish, Serbian, Swedish, Spanish, Romanian, Turkish and Yiddish. The multilingual traditions of the SSR, with their many intercultural links, cannot be adequately understood within the current division of research disciplines into distinct medieval and modern linguistic areas. To mend this deficiency, the workshop has invited specialists in affiliated fields to address the problems of surveying the long history of creative adaptations associated with the SSR. The participants will consider the complexities of the philological, literary, and historical analysis of the SSR in many of its attested versions across the pre-modern and early modern periods. The workshop is envisaged as a forum for a robust discussion on possible ways of advancing the current scholarship of the SSR, and as an opportunity to strengthen the inter-institutional collaboration involving specialists based at the universities in Oxford and Berlin, and more broadly.
The workshop will start with a session in the Weston Library on Friday morning where the group will meet other Oxford medievalists at the Coffee Morning, followed by a view of special collections in the library. While this is for speakers only, their is limited capacity to attend the following talks at the Ioannou Centre. If interested, please contact the workshop co-ordinator Josh Hitt.
4 pm – 5 pm: Daniel Sawyer, Forgotten books: The application of Unseen Species Models to the Survival of Culture (In person, Outreach Room)
SATURDAY, 12 NOVEMBER 2022, THE IOANNOU CENTRE
10 am – 11.30 am
Jutta Eming, The Seven Sages of Rome in Literary History and Genre Theory
David Taylor, Re-examining the Evidence of the Syriac Book of Sindbād
Ida Toth, The Byzantine Book of Syntipas: Approaches and Directions
Emilie van Opstall, The Representation of Women in Byzantine Syntipas and Latin Dolopathos
12 pm – 1.30 pm
Bettina Bildhauer, Consent in the German Version of the Seven Sages of Rome
Rita Schlusemann, Genre, Dissemination and Multimodality of the Septem sapientum Romae, especially in Dutch and German
Niko Kunkel, Statistics and Interpretation: Annotating the German Sieben Weise Meister
Ruth von Bernuth, Yiddish Seven Masters
4.30 pm: Tea and a guided tour of St Edmund Hall with Henrike Lähnemann
5.45 pm: Evensong at New College
Appendix: List of manuscripts and early printed books in the Bodleian Library:
Arabic: Pococke 400
Greek: Barocc. 131 and Laud. 8
Armenian: MS. Arm. e. 33 and MS. Canonici Or. 131
Hebrew (Mishle Sendebar/Fables of Sendebar): MS. Heb. d. 11 (ff. 289-294) and MS. Bodl. Or. 135 (ff. 292-300r)
Yiddish: Opp. 8. 1115 Mayse fun Ludvig un Aleksander and Opp. 8. 1070 Zibn vayzn mansters fun Rom
Welsh Jesus College MS 111
Middle English: B. Balliol College MS. 354
English, early printed book: The History of the Seven Wise Masters of Rome. Now newly Corrected better Explained in many places and enlarged with many pretty Pictures etc. London, Printed for John Wright, next to the Globe in Little-Brittain, 1671
We are pleased to trial a new format, once or twice a term, in which readers of medieval manuscripts can pose questions to a mixed group of fellow readers and Bodleian curators in a friendly environment. Come with your own questions, or to see what questions other readers have!
The sort of questions you might bring are:
What is the place and date of origin of this MS?
What is the place and date of origin of this binding?
What does the decoration of this MS suggest?
What does this semi-legible inscription say?
Whose bookplate is this, or how could I find out?
Meetings will typically be held in the Horton Room (just across the corridor from the manuscripts reading room on the 1st floor). If you wish to pose a question, please order the relevant manuscript to the issue desk, and email the details to Matthew Holford, Tolkien Curator of Medieval Manuscripts, the day before, so that he can arrange for it to be transferred across to the Horton Room for the session. Alternatively, provide a good quality digital image that we can display on a large monitor.
In the expectation that many readers will be at the Weston Library on Fridays for the weekly Coffee Morning in the Visiting Scholars’ Centre, the next such sessions are scheduled for the following dates:
Friday, 28 November 2025 (Horton Room) 11.30-12:30pm
Friday, 5 December 2025 (Horton Room)11.30-12:30pm
Please sign up using this form. Places are limited and will be allocated on a first come, first served basis.
As we prepare for the start of term, I want to encourage anyone and everyone to contribute ideas for content on the Oxford Medieval Studies social media.
We are active anywhere and everywhere — Beacons (this platform), BlueSky, Instagram, and Threads—and eagerly awaiting your suggestions.
If you want an event, workshop, or seminar advertised, please let me know and I will spread the word!
If (when!) something exciting happens in your research, we can raise awareness about that too!
I hope to hear from many of you throughout the year. Wishing everyone a great start to a new term, with a reflection on the weird and wonderful of medieval manuscripts:
Customer: I’d like a letter ‘E’ please. Scribe: A normal one, or a snail-helmeted warrior with an ostrich leg and plums down his pants? Customer: The plums one, obviously.
Cheers, Elizabeth Crabtree elizabeth.crabtree@bodleian.ox.ac.uk
Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts Van Pelt-Dietrich Library Center, University of Pennsylvania, Philadephia And online via Zoom
On September 12, 2025, the Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts at the University of Pennsylvania will host a day-long symposium commemorating Elizabeth (Peggy) A. R. Brown’s extraordinary legacy in the field of Medieval Studies. The event will also mark the official launch of the Elizabeth A. R. Brown Medieval Historians’ archive, a new initiative at Penn Libraries to collect the professional papers of scholars of the Middle Ages and of associated professional organizations. The goal of the symposium is to honor Peggy’s legacy and gift by celebrating research on her area of specialty, namely Medieval France.
The symposium will consist of three panels of short papers devoted to subjects featured in Peggy’s work: Source and Archive; Politics and Kingship; and Liturgy and Sacred Image.
The day will also include an introduction to the research possibilities and historical interest of the medievalists’ archive at Penn, presented by the inaugural Elizabeth A.R. Brown Archivist, an endowed position in the Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts. The day will conclude with reminiscences by friends, students, and mentees, and a reception for all attendees.
Co-organized by Nicholas Herman (Schoenberg Institute for Manuscript Studies, Penn) and Ada Kuskowski (Department of History, Penn). Closing reception generously sponsored by the New York Medieval Society.
See here for event details, program, and abstracts. For Registration, click here. Donations to the Elizabeth A. R. Brown Medieval Historians’ Archivist Fund can be made here. Public messages honoring Peggy Brown’s contributions to the field of medieval studies can be left here.
Friday 13 June 2025, 12 noon–5PM Lecture Room 4, New College, Oxford
New College Library is pleased to announce our exhibition for Trinity Term!
Clockwise: New College Library, Oxford, BT3.275.1, MS 281, MS 369
In ‘Art of the Book’, we explore the beauty of all things bibliographical through our wonderful special collections—from the medieval period to the present day. Expect fabulous illumination, exquisite illustrations, beautiful bindings, and some outstanding private press works.
The items will be on display in Lecture Room 4 in New College on 13 June, between 12pm and 5pm. For those unfamiliar with New College, just head to the Porters’ Lodge (located halfway down Holywell Street). There will be signs to direct visitors to the exhibition.
The exhibition is free and open to all, so please do spread the word . . .
Welcome to week 2! Please find below all of the medieval events across Oxford in the coming week.
The wonderful team behind the medieval mystery plays that took place at the beginning of this term have put together a full report of the event, which includes a number of amazing photos. A video of last week’s performance of The Netherhold Martyr is now available here.
Monday
French Palaeography Manuscript Reading Group – 10:30 pm in the Weston Library.
Medieval History Seminar – 5pm at All Souls College. Amanda Power (St Catherine’s College Oxford) will be speaking on ‘Salvation, alienation and sacrifice zones from medieval to modern thought’.
Tuesday
Medieval English Research Seminar – 12.15 in the English Faculty. Raphaela Rohrhofer (University of Oxford) will be speaking on ‘Nothing Matters: The Contemplative Poetics of Nought in Julian of Norwich and Beyond’.
The Latin Palaeography Reading Group meets 2-3.30pm. Please email Laure Miolo for more information.
Centre for Early Medieval Britian and Ireland Seminar ‘Sacrilizing the Everyday’ – 4pm in the Rees Davies (History Faculty).
Medieval Church and Culture – tea and biscuits from 5pm in the Wellbeloved Room, with talks from 5.15. Shaw Worth (Magdalen) will be speaking on ‘‘Bien est avoiré sur vous le langage’: practising allegory between text and image in three manuscripts of Alain Chartier’s Livre d’Espérance, 1450–1470’. Sophie Boehler (St Hugh’s) will be speaking on ‘Seeress to Abbess: women’s evolving dreams, visions and prophecies during the Icelandic conversion period’.
Wednesday
Medieval German Graduate Seminar – NB In second week, the seminar will not take place. Instead there will be a workshop on Christiane Mariane von Ziegler, the first female German Poet Laureate, in St Edmund Hall, starting at 10am. If you are interested to participate, please contact Henrike Lähnemann.
The ‘science of the stars’ in context: an introduction to medieval astronomical and astrological manuscripts and texts – 2pm in the Horton Room (Weston Library). Session 2: The daily rotation of the celestial sphere (primum mobile) [1/2].
Medieval Latin Document Reading Group – 4pm, online, please contact Michael Stansfield.
Oxford Centre of Islamic Studies Seminar – 5pm in the Oxford Centre of Islamic Studies. Professor Christophe Jaffrelot (Kings College London) will be speaking on ‘Beyond Castes and Regions: The Socio-Economic Decline of Muslims in Contemporary India’.
Merton College History of the Book Group Lecture – 5pm, Mure Room (Merton College). Professor Orietta Da Rold (Professor of Medieval Literature and Manuscript Studies, University of Cambridge) will be speaking on “The many crafts of paper”. Attendees will have the opportunity to view medieval works on paper from the Merton Library and Archives. The talk will be followed by refreshments. All are welcome, and we would appreciate an RSVP to julia.walworth@merton.ox.ac.uk
Thursday
Middle English Reading Group (MERG) – 2pm in the Beckington Room (Lincoln College). Join us to read the ‘double sorwe’ of Troilus and Criseyde in a weekly reading group. We will be reading from the end of Book IV. For more information or to be added to the mailing list, please email rebecca.menmuir@lincoln.ox.ac.uk.
The Khalili Research Centre For the Art and Material Culture of the Middle East: Research Seminar – 5.15 in the KRC Lecture Room. Richard Piran McClary (University of York) will be speaking on ‘Lajvardina: A Re-evaluation of Distinctive Ilkhanid and Golden Horde Overglaze Painted Wares’.
Friday
Medievalists Coffee Morning – 10.30am at the Weston Library. All welcome, coffee and insight into special collections provided.
Exploring Medieval Oxford through Lincoln & Magdalen Archives – 2pm in the EPA Centre (Museum Road) Seminar room 1. Please contact Laure Miolo for more information.
Upcoming
Additional spaces are available on the ‘Big Data’ and Medieval Manuscripts workshop – please sign up here.
Registration is open for the Masterclass by Patrick Boucheron – Pourquoi des médiévistes ? Penser le contemporain depuis le Moyen Âge – 29 May, 2:30pm, Maison Française d’Oxford.
Registration is open for Patrick Boucheron’s lecture entitled ‘The Birth of the Black Death: New Approaches in World History’ – 29 May, 5:00pm, Pembroke College.
The Digital Medieval Studies Institute is hosting a set of workshops on digital scholarly methods specifically tailored for medievalists as part of the International Medieval Congress at the University of Leeds. More information can be found here.
Opportunities
CfP for ‘Staging Silence from Antiquity to the Renaissance’ – more information here.
CfP for ‘Music and Reformation: A Symposium at Lambeth Palace Library, 16 September 2025’
A regular pub trip is being organised on a Friday at 6pm at the Chequers, from 0th week to 8th week, for all medievalists at Oxford. Email maura.mckeon@bfriars.ox.ac.uk
The Oxford Medieval Mystery Plays 2025 are over – thank you to everyone who made this day possible! Read on for some pictures and impressions of a wonderful day. You can access the full programme, scroll through film stills by the camera team, and watch it on the OMS Youtube channel.
01:12 – The Fall of the Angels (Angels of Oxford) – Middle English 13:45 – Adam and Eve (Oxford German Medievalists) – Hans Sachs, German 34:56 – The Flood (The Travelling Beavers) – Middle English 55:02 – Abraham and Isaac (Shear and Trembling) – Middle English 1:11:14 – The Annunciation (Low Countries Ensemble) – Middle Dutch 1:19:26 – The Nativity (Les Perles Innocentes) – Marguerite de Navarre, French 1:45:53 – The Wedding at Cana (Pusey House) – Modern English, with Middle English archaisms 2:00:30 – The Crucifixion (The Wicked Weights) – Middle English 2:15:15 – The Lamentation (St Edmund Consort) – Bordesholmer Marienklage, Low German and Latin 2:30:53 – The Harrowing of Hell (The Choir of St Edmund Hall) – Latin Sequence 2:33:30 – The Resurrection (St Stephen’s House) – Middle English 2:55:14 – The Martyrdom of the Three Holy Virgins (Clamor Validus) – Hrosvitha of Gandersheim, Latin and modern English 3:20:10 – The Last Judgement (MSt English, 650–1550) – Modern English
The fourth iteration of the Oxford Medieval Mystery Plays took place on 26 April at St Edmund Hall. And it was a truly marvellous day! A total of 13 plays were put on by about 150 participants – actors, directors, singers, costume designers, musicians, and many more. Throughout the day, about 350 audience members popped in and out of Teddy Hall, some staying for shorter periods, others for several hours or the whole day. Audience members and participants included a wonderful range: undergraduate and graduate students and academics from within and without Oxford, a full children’s choir, tourists, and members of the public found their way to Teddy Hall and partook in the medieval shenanigans.
And what shenanigans they were! This year, we are particularly proud of the incredible diversity of languages, plays, and different approaches on display. But see for yourself … (All photo credits are at the bottom of the post)
The day started – how could it be otherwise – with a trumpet blast from Henrike Lähnemann herself (Picture 1).
Once again, we were expertly guided through the day by Jim Harris, the Master of Ceremonies. Armed with Bruce Mitchell’s doctoral gown and the ceremonial scroll (consisting of the baking roll to the chaplain of St Edmund Hall, half a coat hanger and numerous layers of paper and sellotape), he introduced each play with a modern English prologue (Picture 2).
We began at the beginning, with the creation of the world and The Fall of the Angels,performed mostly in Middle English, but with modern English elements, and in a modern office setting.
Picture 3: The Holy Trinity is being fawned over by the two good angels … but trouble awaits: the two bad angels are getting arrogant, before their inevitable ejection from Heaven.
From the angels, we moved swiftly on to humans: next was the German Adam and Eve play by Hans Sachs, featuring a particularly good use of the well (the two humps underneath the spare green coat are Adam and Eve, about to be created).
Picture 4: All could be well in Eden, if it wasn’t for Lucifer, Belial, Satan, and the Serpent conspiring.
Picture 5: Adam and Eve might have fallen into desperation, but the cast have good reason to be proud of themselves, having made it to the front page of both the Oxford Mail and Oxford Times.
Skipping a few biblical ages, we next saw the Flood, presented in the Middle English Chester version.
Picture 6: The flood has come! Luckily, Noah and his family are safe on the ark, together with the animals – expertly made and portrayed by the children of St Giles’ and St Margaret’s churches.
The Old Testament concluded with the Middle English York version of Abraham and Isaac.
Will he really do it? Abraham is getting ready to sacrifice his oldest son, Isaac (Picture 7) … but fear not! The angel of the lord approaches and shows him a sheep to sacrifice instead – the little guy, hand-crocheted by one of the cast members, rapidly became the true star of the day (Picture 8).
After a refreshing tea break, we moved from the Front Quad into the Churchyard, and from the Old to the New Testament. The fifth play of the day was the Annunciation, or rather Die Eerste Bliscap van Maria (‘The First Joy of Mary’). It was performed in Middle Dutch: a first (but hopefully not last) for the Oxford Medieval Mystery Plays!
Picture 9: The angel Gabriel announces the happy news to the reading Mary.
True to the Gospels, the Annunciation was followed by the Nativity. It was a particular pleasure to welcome back Les Perles Innocentes, who travelled all the way from Fribourg to wow us with their expert performance of the Comédie de la Nativité, written by none other than Marguerite de Navarre.
Picture 10: Mary and Joseph are desperately looking for a place for Mary to give birth. – Picture 11: If the stable looked as gorgeous as the library of Teddy Hall, it surely wasn’t the worst place to be born in!
Our next play skipped ahead, showing us the grown-up Christ at the Wedding at Cana. This play was a world premiere, reconstructed from only 1.5 surviving lines in the York cycle!
Picture 12: Panic at Cana – the wine has run out at the wedding! What to do?
Picture 13: Christ is there to save the day and transforms the water into wine. The servants are amazed!
From Cana, we moved straight to Golgotha and a Middle English performance of the Crucifixion. The York Crucifixion, strangely, is a comedy, and the four soldiers crucifying Christ were accordingly equipped with ‘Cross flatpack instructions’ and giant inflatable hammers. Certainly not inflatable, however, was the cross, which was purpose-built just for this production and turned into a much-coveted prop for numerous plays.
Picture 14: The poor, overworked soldiers struggle to lift up the heavy cross.
Once the soldiers had vacated the grassy mound in Teddy Hall’s Churchyard, the mourners came: the three Marys (the Virgin, Mary Magdalen, and Mary, Mother of John) and John arrived for the Lamentation, represented by the Bordesholmer Marienklage and beautifully sung in a mixture of Latin and Low German.
Picture 15: Owe, owe nu ys he dot…
Moving directly from the cross to the crypt, we were told about the Harrowing of Hell by the Choir of St Edmund Hall through sung Latin sequences.
Hell having been harrowed, it was time for another tea break, after which we were welcomed back by the angelic hosts of the Choir (Picture 16). And then it was time for some good news: the Resurrection! Performed in the Middle English of the York version, this play truly had it all: sleeping soldiers, lamenting Marys, bickering priests, and a highly enthusiastic angel.
Picture 17: An outraged Pilate commands the soldiers to find out the truth about the rumours concerning Christ’s resurrection. At least Caiaphas and Annas, the extremely well-dressed high priests, are there to back him up. Picture 18: Mary lamenting at the tomb – thankfully, she, too, receives moral support from the angel.
Leaving the Gospels behind, we moved on to the only non-biblical story of the day: The Martyrdom of the Three Holy Virgins by Hrosvitha of Gandersheim, performed mostly in (absolutely flawless!) Latin, with a few bits in modern English.
Picture 19: Governor Dulcitius has been ridiculed by his prisoners, the holy virgins Agape, Chionia, and Irena … his embarrassment will not go unpunished.
Picture 20: The two older sisters are burned, while the youngest is forced to watch. But never fear: all three will be rewarded in Heaven for their martyrdom.
Last, but by no means least, it was time for … the Last Judgement! Performed in a modern English adaptation of different Middle English versions, this wonderfully cheerful and funny play was the perfect end for a fantastic day.
Picture 21: Hey guys, it’s Gabe! The archangels Gabriel and Michael open Judgement day, while the soon-to-be-raised souls rest in the ditch between library wall and lawn.
Picture 22: Who will get more souls? Jesus and the angels, or Lucifer and the demons?
And … that was it! Thirteen plays, five languages, two tea breaks, and five hours later, we had travelled all the way from the Creation to Judgement Day, from Heaven to Hell, from Bethlehem to Golgotha, and from Front Quad to the far side of the library.
Our heartfelt thanks goes to everyone who made this day possible: on and off stage, casts, crews, organisers, helpers, and so many more. We are particularly grateful to Jim Harris, our Master of Ceremonies; David Maskell, who wrote the modern English prologues; and Tristan Alphey and the other helpers for their support during the day. This year’s Medieval Mystery Plays are by far the best-documented yet: Ben Arthur, James May, Archie Dimmock, and Tea Smart filmed the entire day; their recordings will be released on the St Edmund Hall Mystery Cycle page at a film launch party at the end of Trinity Term. Ashley Castelino took many fantastic pictures, and Robert Crighton and Liza Graham recorded impressions from audiences and participants for their podcast Beyond Shakespeare.
Of course, what a play really needs is its audience. We were delighted to see so many of you there, and overwhelmed by the amount of positive feedback we received. Here are just some of the comments we collected in our visitor book – many audience members had their favourite play from the host of performances:
“Brilliant! Loved the Nativity especially!”
“Great job! Love the Wedding feast!”
“Terrific! Thank you very much. I particularly enjoyed Adam and Eve, and Satan with his acolytes in [the Last Judgement]!”
“Really enjoyed the camp Satan!”
“The singing [in the Nativity, Lamentation, and Harrowing of Hell] was superb. Altogether a delightful event!”
The best audience members are naturally those who were themselves surprised by how much they enjoyed themselves: one person wrote that they had a “very unexpectedly enjoyable day supporting a friend in one play, but then enjoy[ed] all the others!” Many also appreciated the use of medieval languages in keeping these plays “alive” through modern performance and praised the “pace, diversity, and inventiveness” of the troupes, the beautiful medieval setting of St Edmund Hall, and the overall “vibrant and entertaining” environment of the Cycle. One particularly nice comment described our day of performances as “full of whimsy” – made even more whimsical by the little stars they drew around their comment. Thank you very much to each and everyone of you!
Are you sad you missed out? Can you not wait to get back into medieval drama? Watch this space! The Oxford Medieval Mystery Plays will be back …
Picture Credits
Pictures 2 and 8: Ashley Castelino
Picture 6: Rahel Micklich
Picture 17: Antonia Anstatt
Header and Pictures 1, 3, 4-6, 9-16, 18-22: Stills from the video recordings made by Ben Arthur, James May, Archie Dimmock, and Tea Smart.
The film crew after the day in Queen’s Lane
Medieval Mystery Plays: Documentation
That’s the summary of the Medieval Mystery Plays – read on for a more detailed documentation of what the different groups did and what each play looked like.
The Fall of the Angels as transmitted in the York Cycle. Performed in Middle English, with some Modern English elements.
Summary
It is the beginning of the world: God creates the Universe and enjoys his own might. The two Good Angels – Seraphyn and Cherabyn – glorify him, while the two Bad Angels bask in their own beauty and power. God names one of them as Lucifer, the Bringer of Light, which further inflates Lucifer’s ego. But he becomes too confident and, supported by the other Bad Angel (Angelus Deficiens), talks about becoming even higher than God himself. God expels the two Bad Angels from Heaven, causing them to fall into Hell. There, they lament their state and blame each other for their downfall. Back in Heaven, God and the Good Angels celebrate, and God creates Day and Night.
About the Performance
This group chose a modern approach to the play. They set the biblical story in a modern office, with God, split into three as the Trinity, representing the leadership board of the company, and the angels their employees. The play was mostly presented in its original Medieval English, but with a twist: after their Fall from Heaven, the two Bad Angels switched to Modern English.
Hans Sachs, Tragedia von schöpfung, fal und außtreibung Ade auß dem paradeyß (1548), adapted by Timothy Powell and Nina Unland. Hans Sachs was a famous German playwright and poet. Between 1548–1560, he wrote 40 religious comedies and tragedies. His ‘Tragedy of the creation, fall, and expulsion of Adam from Paradise’ is an example of a play at the threshold between ‘medieval’ and ‘early modern’ religious drama. It displays many features of emerging ‘early modern’ Protestant religious drama, drawing on the Latin religious dramas of Renaissance humanism, Martin Luther’s reflections on religious tragedy, and the language of Luther’s translation of the Biblical account of the creation and fall of humankind. These elements coexist and interact with numerous elements drawn from medieval mystery plays, especially the extra-biblical episodes involving the three chief devils that keep some of the more light-hearted aspects of ‘medieval’ religious drama alive.
Summary
God creates Adam, then leads him away to show him Paradise. The three angels Raphael, Michael, and Gabriel enter, praising God and the Creation. Once they have left, God and Adam return. God creates Eve, but as soon as the two first humans have left to explore the Garden of Even, three devils appear – Lucifer, Satan, and Belial. They decide to conspire against the humans and call the Snake, who convinces Eve to try one of the apples of the Tree of Life. Eve then gives an apple to Adam; horrified, the two recognise that they are naked. The three devils return and rejoice, followed by the three angles, who weep. Finally, God returns and punishes the wrongdoers: the Snake is made to slither on its belly, Eve is punished with painful childbirth, and Adam with hard manual labour. Then, they are expelled from the Garden of Eden by an angel with a flaming sword.
About the Performance
The entire performance was in Hans Sachs’ original German, except for an English Prologue and Epilogue delivered by the Cherub. The play was performed in Teddy Halls’ Front Quad, with the well serving as the space from where Adam and Eve were created. The Tree of Life was represented by the same cross which, later in the day, served as the cross on which Christ was crucified – an excellent example for the reuse of different props throughout the day. The angels and God were all dressed in liturgical vestments, enhancing their aura of sacrality.
Good Gossips – Amy Jenkins, Rowan Wilson, Siân Grønlie, George Manning
Crew
Director – Minna Jeffrey
Music and Art – St Giles’ Choir, the children of St Giles’ and St Margaret’s churches
Text
The Chester Flood play in Middle English. The Chester cycle probably originated in the later fourteenth century, although the earliest written version dates to 1422. In later years, the Chester cycle was performed on Whitsun and took three days to perform in full. The Chester play of Noah’s flood is one of several flood plays in Middle English. It was chosen by this group because it has most on the actual animals (eight stanzas) and because of the ‘Good Gossips’. It was set to music by Benjamin Britten as Noyes Fludde.
Summary
Dissatisfied with humankind, God decides to send a great flood. The only ones to be spared are Noah and his family. Noah is tasked with the building of a great ark, on which his family and two animals of every kind will survive. Noah complies and brings the animals and his family – his wife, his three sons, and one of their wives – on board, just the Earth begins to flood. The ark is on sea for a considerable amount of time, but finally, the rain ceases. God commands Noah and his family to disembark and repopulate the Earth. So far, the story is well known, but what is special about this version is the central role of Noah’s family. Especially Noah’s relationship with his ‘crabbed’ and not at all ‘meek’ wife is a topic throughout. There is also a unique scene with the ‘good gossips’: ‘gossip’ comes from Middle English ‘godsib(be)’. Originally, this referred to either godparents or godchildren, but it came to mean one’s close friends (especially women) and did not take on its current meaning of tell-tale before the mid-sixteenth century. In this play, Noah’s wife is reluctant to leave her friends behind when the flood begins, which is framed as disobedience to God – but modern audiences might feel more sympathy.
About the Performance
Although in fifteenth-century English, this play is fairly easy to understand. The group made very few changes to the language, but read the text with Modern English pronounciation.
Among the most remarkable elements of this performance were the animals, which were portrayed by the children of St Giles’ and St Margaret’s churches, who held hand-painted cut-out animals to represent the crowd on the ark. Very helpfully for the audience, the human characters all wore T-shirts with their characters’ names. This group highlighted especially that they felt that the play has a strong contemporary message, given current concerns around extreme weather events, climate refugees, and the denial of climate change, as represented by the good gossips, who ultimately do not escape the flood.
The version of Abraham and Isaac from the York Cycle, performed in Middle English. Specifically, taken from Clifford Davidson’s edition of the York Mystery Cycle, which closely adheres to the text in British Library, MS. Add. 35290.
Summary
To test the faith of his loyal servant Abraham, God sends an angel who commands Abraham to sacrifice his youngest and favourite son, Isaac. Despite his sorrow, Abraham resolves to follow the command. He takes Isaac up a hill under a pretense. Once there, he reveals the truth to his son, binds his hands, and gets ready to sacrifice Isaac, who accepts his fate. At the very last moment, the angel of God re-appears and stops Abraham, commending him for his obedience to God and showing him a sheep to sacrifice instead.
The York version of Abraham and Isaac diverges from other iterations of the story by having a grown-up Isaac, who is ‘thirty year and more sumdele’ – around thirty years old, the same age that Christ was believed to have been when he was crucified. The York Abraham and Isaac therefore brings the play closer to the story of the Passion, anticipating the climax of the cycle of performances. Rather than a helpless child, Abraham is asked to kill a son whom he has raised and with whom he has grown old, a strong young man who could overpower his father if he chose to fight back. This also emphasises Isaac’s own acceptance of his fate and his obedience to both God and his father.
About the Performance
This group chose to have the actor playing the angel double as a servant. As a result, God’s messenger appears to watch over – or perhaps spy on – Abraham and Isaac as they go to the mountain to perform the sacrifice. The group got particularly creative with their costumes, drawing on traditional shepherds’ clothing from a variety of times and places and showing the angel as both a messenger and a symbol. A special highlight was the sheep, which was crocheted by a member of the group and caused a round of applause upon its dramatic revelation by the angel.
Die Eerste Bliscap van Maria (The First Joy of Mary), in Middle Dutch, based on the text preserved in Brussels, KBR, MS.IV 192. From 1348 onwards, the city of Brussels held an annual procession on the Sunday before Pentecost to honour a statue of the Virgin Mary. A century after its inception, an extra element was added to the festivities: on the Grote Markt, a seven-year cycle of Bliscap, or ‘Joy’ plays was peformed. Each year until 1566, one of the seven Joys of Mary was staged and celebrated. Of the original seven plays, only two have survived, each preserved in a manuscript in the Royal Library of Belgium.
Summary
God tells the angel Gabriel that he wants to become human and sends him to travel to Nazareth, where he will find Mary. Gabriel is astonished, but complies. He greets Mary, who is reading, and announces that she, albeit a virgin, will conceive a child who shall be called Jesus and be the Saviour of mankind. Mary, too, is astonished by the concept of the immaculate conception, but Gabriel explains that her cousin, Elizabeth, although old and barren, will also conceive a child.
About the Performance
This was the first time a Dutch play was performed in the Oxford Medieval Mystery Plays, and a wonderful addition to the cycle. A particular highlight was the merry angel Gabriel, whose travels from God to Nazareth were accompanied by a jingling bell.
Location: Churchyard; in front of the library entrance
Performers: Les perles innocentes
Cast
Joseph/Satan – Elisa Pagliaro
Marie/God – Aurélie Blanc
Host 1/Angel 1 – Anaïs Collonge
Host 2/Angel 2 – Antigoni Tasiou
Host 3/Angel 3 – Christina Morgan
Sophron, a Shepherd – Helene Wigginton
Elpison, a Shepherd – Carmen Vigneswaren-Smith
Philetine, a Shepherdess – Marta Folegnani
Cristilla, a Shepherdess – Inès Trouplin
Crew
Director – Elisabeth Dutton
Assistant Director – Aurélie Blanc
Musical Director – Antigoni Tasiou
Design, Props, and Costumes – Maria Papantuono
Producer – Helene Wigginton
With special thanks to Sandy Maillard (Université de Fribourg, Suisse)
Text
Marguerite de Navarre (1492–1549), Comédie de la Nativité de Jésus Christ, abridged and performed in the original (early 16th century) French.
Marguerite, wife of King Henry II of Navarre, sister to Francis I, king of France, and ancestress of the Bourbon kings of France, was a patron of humanists and reformers, and herself an important writer: she composed poems, a collection of short stories called the Heptameron, and the intense mystical poem Miroir de l’âme pécheresse. She also wrote a number of plays, including dramatisations of scriptural episodes.
Summary
Joseph, travelling on orders of the Emperor, is seeking accommodation for his heavily pregnant wife Mary. Three ‘Hosts’ turn them away, but they find a stable where Mary can give birth. God sends his angels to celebrate the moment of Christ’s coming to earth: the angels praise Mary and her newborn baby, and Joseph kneels and kisses him. The angels announce the arrival of the Saviour to two shepherds and two shepherdesses, who sing on their way to the stable and offer gifts to the baby of milk, a flute, and firewood. Satan appears and laments the loss of the power he has held over mankind since Adam and Eve were expelled from Eden. The shepherds and shepherdesses tell him that they have met the Saviour; Satan argues that such an important person would not be found in a stable, but their faith remains unshaken. Satan, realising he cannot escape God’s power, calls on evil spirits to advise him ‘how to make shadows eclipse the sun’. God proclaims that the willing sacrifice of his son will overcome Satan, and the angels sing in praise of God.
Like the Comédie des Innocents, which les perles innocentes staged at the Oxford Medieval Mystery Plays 2023, the Comédie de la Nativité is both richly theological, presenting the contrast between divine authority and evil tyranny, and deeply concerned with social justice. Marguerite shows humble people challenging corrupt and bullying powers: ordinary women defied the callous soldiers who murdered their children at a tyrant’s command; humble shepherds outface Satan himself, empowered by their newfound faith in a baby who, to their own initial wonderment, has chosen not a great hall but a humble stable as his first home. Once again, Marguerite gives particular emphasis to female characters, portraying female as well as male shepherds, and emphasising the faith, strength, and wisdom of the Virgin Mary.
About the Performance
Just like their previous performances at the Medieval Mystery Plays, this performance of Les perles innocentes, who travelled from Fribourg just for the Cycle, was once again wonderfully rich and detailed. Performed in perfect, but easily understandable, 16th-century French, their staging included such details as the three Hosts looking like proper concierges, and the angels sang beautifully in between the spoken passages. They also built on the Marguerite de Navarre’s emphasis on strong women by having an all-female cast.
Script Writer and Adapter – Phillip Quinn, with help from Elliott Clark
Text
The Wedding at Cana was included in the York Medieval Mystery Cycle, but the original text has unfortunately mostly been lost. The script used for this performance was an original composition in Modern English (with some Middle English archaisms), written by Phillip Quinn with help from Elliott Clark and based on the one and a half known lines of the York version.
Summary
When the wine runs out at a wedding in the little Galilean town of Cana, Mary asks Jesus to step in. After some hesitation, his ultimate response is to perform the first miracle of his earthly ministry: transforming several large jars of water into fine wine. In doing so, he heralds the coming of the Kingdom of God and foreshadows the consummation of history in the heavenly banquet at which he himself will be the bridegroom.
About the Performance
Despite its foreshadowing of the Crucifixion at the end and the seriousness of Christ’s miraculous power, the Wedding at Cana is an entertaining story, and this performance brought the hilarious elements out in full. Featuring perplexed servants, drunken wedding guests, the happy couple, and a proud-mother-moment for Mary, it elicited many laughs from the audience.
Performers: The Wicked Weights (Lincoln College Players)
Cast
Soldiers – Jess Hind, Molly Milton, Kyra Radley, Alys Young
Christ – Petru Badea
Crew
Directors – Paul Cooley, Molly Milton
Stage and Script Adapter – Paul Cooley, Molly Milton
Costume Designer – Maureen Abrokwa
Props Designer – Tallula Haynes
Music and Marketing – Anja Woosnam
Administration and Assistance – Rebecca Menmuir, Alison Ray
With special thanks to:
Mike Hawkins (Lincoln College Head Gardener) for creating a crown of thorns
Jonny Torrance (Lincoln College Chaplain) for building a cross
Lincoln College JCR for providing funding
Text
The York version of the Crucifixion (Middle English). The group used a manuscript version which was updated to sound more familiar to the modern English-speaking ear but kept as much of the original language and rhyme-scheme as possible to remain close to the original version of the play. Jesus’ speeches were entirely translated into modern English from the original Middle English, adding a sense of gravity that is wholly unique to this particular edition of the play.
Summary
The play depicts the well-known story of Christ’s crucifixion, but with a twist: despite the undeniable seriousness of the situation, the focus is not on Christ and his suffering, but on the four somewhat inept soldiers who are responsible for nailing him to the cross and erecting it. Throughout the play, they bicker with each other over trivial matters whilst Christ endures his cruficixion with solemnity and without objection. The comedic dynamic between the soldiers contrasts heavily with Jesus’ wholly serious speeches and thus creates a tense atmosphere which toes the line between dark comedy and an exploration of the mundane cruelty of the process of the crucifixion. This invites the audience to consider their own inaction during Christ’s passion.
About the Performance
The Wicked Weights were named after a particularly iconic line in the York Crucifixion. They are a group of Lincoln College undergraduates studying English and were supported by various members of college. A particular highlight of this performance was the towering cross, purpose-built for this day by Jonny Torrance, the chaplain at Lincoln College. Other comedic elements were added to the already surprisingly funny play through prop and costume choices – for instance, the soldiers all had giant inflatable hammers, and were reading their Scripts from ‘Cross Flatpack Instructions’.
With special thanks to Fr Andreas Wenzel, the chaplain of St Edmund Hall, for permission to use the vestments.
Text
The Bordesholmer Marienklage, in Low German and Latin. The Bordesholmer Marienklage is a remarkable dramatic dialogue from the late 15th century, written for performance at the Augustinian monastery of Bordesholm in Northern Germany by Provost Johannes Reborch. It consists of sung and chanted text for a cast of five: Christ, John, and the three Marys.
The sung dialogue is taken from the liturgy, including verses from the Stabat Mater, to which are added Middle Low German adaptations of the same, sung to similar melodies. The bulk of the action takes place in chanted Middle Low German rhyming verse. A particular feature, unique amongst German Marian Laments, is the survival of detailed instructions which specify that the work should be performed either on Good Friday or on the preceding Monday, and that it should be ‘neither a play nor amusement, but lamenting and wailing and devout compassion for the glorious Virgin Mary’. It was therefore intended to form a part in the monastery’s liturgical life during Holy week; moreover, these instructions and the ‘personae’ throughout continually insist on the necessity of the audience’s participation, through compassion, in Mary’s suffering. It should be performed either in front of the church choir, or – if the weather is fair – outdoors. The ‘personae’ should wear liturgical vestments and Jesus and John ‘dyademata de papiro’ – paper crowns, and that of Jesus was to be decorated with crosses.
Summary
After Christ’s crucifixion, the three Marys – the Virgin, Mary Magdalen, and Mary, mother of John – as well as St John the Evangelist, lament Christ’s death at the cross. At the end, Christ is taken from the cross and laid on the ground.
About the Performance
Complying with Johannes Reborch’s detailed instructions, the five figures in this performance all wore liturgical vestments from the St Edmund Hall chapel, as well as paper crowns (courtesy of Christmas crackers). Singing their lament in front of the cross from the preceding Crucifixion play, this was a wonderful contrast to the entertaining Crucifixion, emphasising the women’s grief after Jesus’ death.
Latin Sequences. Sequences, complex liturgical songs with a strong poetic and narrative function, are among the most recent, and therefore truly medieval, sung elements of the Christian liturgy, staging particularly in the Easter Night the fundamental miracle of salvation history, Christ overcoming death.
The version used for these sequences was taken from the Handbook of the Provost of the Cistercian convent of Medingen, like Bordesholm located in Northern Germany. It is kept in the Bodleian Library, MS. Lat. liturgy. e. 18.
Summary
Christ descends into Hell, where he brings salvation to the captive souls there, before overcoming death and rising again.
About the Performance
The Choir of St Edmund Hall picked up seamlessly from the previous Lamentation. Accompanying Christ into hell (the crypt underneath the Teddy Hall Library), they sang the Cum rex gloriae, which tells of the host of angels breaking into hell. There, they were greeted with an Advenisti (you have arrived!) by Adam, Eve, and all the patriarchs and prophets of the Old Testament. Following this sequence, there was a short tea break, marking the significant turning point in the narrative that is Christ’s overcoming of death. After the tea break, the choir opened the third part of the Cycle with the Victimae paschali laudes, in which Mary Magdalen reports her experience of the empty tomb to the apostles.
The York verison of the Resurrection (Middle English). The play fits in well with the liturgical traditions of Easter Sunday. Particularly the Angel’s song and the meeting between the Angel and the three Marys, the so-called Visitatio Sepulchri, is a common theme. It appears that this section of the play reproduces a piece of liturgical drama in use at the time. On the other hand, the representation of Pilate and the High Priests is unusual, drawing on speculations in the apocryphal writings, texts which seek to fill in the imaginative gaps left in the Biblical narrative: what did they really think, and what did they do next?
Summary
The York version of the Resurrection of Christ focuses not on Jesus himself but on three sets of characters who represent three sets of responses to the mystery of Easter Sunday. The play begins and ends with Pilate and the High Priests. To begin with, they are pleased with how the crucifixion went, but the Centurion arrives and tells them of strange occurrences which suggest all is not as it seems. To make sure Jesus stays dead, they set a guard of soldiers to watch the tomb. At the tomb, the soldiers are contrasted with the Marys, who bring oils to anoint the body and are confronted with the empty tomb. An angel arrives and tells them that Jesus is risen and now in Galilee, to which they respond with faith, hope, and love. Meanwhile, Pilate and the High Priests Caiaphas and Annas conspire to cover up the embarrassing and disturbing fact of the empty tomb with a story that the soldiers were overpowered by Jesus’ disciples, who stole the body away. The ironic framing invites the audience to question whose account they believe: is it all ‘fake news’, or is he risen indeed?
The dramatist’s range covers pious devotion, political conspiracy, and the everyday reactions of the soldiers who represent the everyman. Faced with the life-changing reality of the empty tomb, they display the full range of responses from pretending nothing has happened to embracing the truth come what may. The piece is character-driven, often emotive, and finally supremely ironic, drawing the audience in.
About the Performance
The York Resurrection, like the Crucifixion, brings out the human element surrounding the biblical narrative, reflecting the worries of the soldiers at the tomb and the High Priests. The players from St Stephen’s House chose to lean on the already existing comedic elements, turning this into a genuinely hilarious production – complete with gorgeously dressed and very camp High Priests who hand-fed Pilate grapes, and a comforting angel delivering tissues to the weeping Virgin Mary.
Soldiers – Hillary Chua, Ivana Kuric, Alex Marshall
Angels – Elizabeth Crabtree, Marisia Czepiel
Crew
Director – David Wiles
Stage Manager – Elizabeth Crabtree
Musician – Jessica Qiao
Text
The Martyrdom of the Three Holy Virgins, by Hrosvitha of Gandersheim, performed in a mix of Latin and a new translation. Hrosvitha was an aristocratic tenth-century canoness, and her six plays are a bridge between the classical and medieval worlds. She had a ribald sense of humour and a strong feminist agenda – even this play, despite its serious plot, is a comedy with many hilarious elements. Latin was a language that Hrosvitha used in daily life, and this group sought to discover her unique style, midway between poetry and prose.
Summary
The Roman Emperor Diocletian insists that the three virgin sisters Agape, Chionia, and Irena renounce their Christian faith and marry members of his court. When they refuse, he orders them imprisoned. Governor Dulcitius, seeing their beauty, tells his soldiers to lock the sisters in the kitchen so that he can visit them. That night, Dulcitius embraces the pots and pans in the dark kitchen, thinking they are the women. He leaves covered in soot, and the soldiers think he is possessed. Not realising this, Dulcitius goes to the palace, where he is beaten and ridiculed. In retaliation for his embarrassment, he commands that Agape, Chionia, and Irena be stripped in public, but the soldiers are unable to remove the robes from the women’s bodies. Eventually, Emperor Diocletian orders Count Sisinnius to punish the sisters. Sisinnius orders Agape and Chionia burned alive – their spirits leave their bodies, but their bodies and clothes miraculously are not burned. Despite her sisters’ death, Irena continues to refuse to renounce her faith. She manages to escape the soldiers and stands on top of a mountain. The soldiers are unable to reach her there, so Sisinnius orders one of the soldiers to shoot her with an arrow. She dies, but her spirit is lifted to heaven.
About the Performance
This performance was unique among the mystery plays in several respects. It was the only play performed partly in Latin, and superbly so – the interspersing of Latin with English parts made it easy to follow the story, and the Latin elements gave an indication of how Hrosvitha of Gandersheim had written the play. The players consisted of both students and members of the Iffley community, making this a production spanning a large range of ages and backgrounds. The performance also included music played on a violin, which gave it a wonderfully emotional note. The group chose to perform the play in modern dress, in order to suggest that the impulses driving early martyrs have not vanished in the modern world. For the research behind this production, see David Wiles ‘Hrosvitha of Gandersheim: The Performance of her Plays in the Tenth Century’, Theatre History Studies 19 (1999), pp. 133-150. The group’s name, Clamor Validus, means ‘Forceful Shout’, Hrosvitha’s Latinisation of her Saxon name.
A modern English adaptation of the Middle English The Last Judgement, drawing from the Chester, N-Town, and Towneley cycles.
Summary
It’s the end of the world. God and the angels recall the Creation and the history of humankind. Then the final reckoning comes: the angels call up the dead souls from their graves. One by one, they praise God (the good souls) or lament their own wicked deeds (the bad souls). Jesus, as king of heaven, judges them. He praises the good souls, who ascend singing into heaven, and scolds the bad ones, who are dragged to hell by Lucifer and the demons.
About the Performance
Performed in modern English and with plenty of ingenious staging choices – highlights included the guitar-playing archangel Gabriel, the dead souls popping up from the ditch next to the church, the gummy worms sewn to their clothes, and a hungover Lucifer being roused by his demons to get ready for Judgment Day –, this performance was a wonderful end to the day. After the Jesus-related plays, TheLast Judgement picked up some of the characters who had appeared in the Old Testament plays earlier that morning, including God, Lucifer, and the archangels, which demonstrated the cyclical nature of world history as presented in the Bible.
Are you curious about what manuscripts can tell us beyond their texts? Join Digital Scholarship @ Oxford and the Bodleian Libraries for a hands-on workshop using data from manuscript catalogues to explore trends and patterns in medieval manuscript production.
You’ll learn:
What kinds of data can be recorded about manuscripts
How to interpret and analyse manuscript catalogue entries
Ways to identify trends and patterns using simple tools like Excel
You’ll have the opportunity to work directly with manuscripts from the Bodleian’s collections, learning new skills that you can apply in your future studies and research. You’ll also get to contribute to the ongoing development of the manuscript catalogues, with your contributions credited on the Bodleian website.
No technical experience is required, just a basic familiarity with Excel.
Spaces are limited and will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis.
Workshop dates:
Thursday of 3rd week (15th May), 1–5pm – undergraduates
Thursday of 4th week (22nd May), 1–5pm – undergraduates
Thursday of 7th week (12th June), 1–5pm – postgraduates
Please still fill in the form if you are unavailable on these dates, as we may be able to make additional workshops available if there is demand.
Signup deadline: Midday, Friday of 2nd Week (9th May)
When? 26 April 2025, from 12 noon. Where? St Edmund Hall, Queen’s Lane, OX1 4AR
Come One, Come All! Free entry, no booking required.
On Saturday, 26 April 2025, a cycle of medieval mystery plays will be performed by various troupes around St Edmund Hall’s grounds. Medieval mystery plays were performed throughout the Middle Ages by and for everyday townspeople, and we’re excited to put on quite a day of shows for you!
Worried that you won’t understand the performances done in medieval languages? Never fear! Each play will be accompanied by a modern English prologue, which will help to summarise the play.
12 noon: OldTestamentPlays (Front Quad):
The Fall of the Angels (Angels of Oxford) – Middle English
Adam and Eve (Oxford German Medievalists) – Hans Sachs, German
The Flood (The Travelling Beavers) – Middle English
Abraham and Isaac (Shear and Trembling) – Middle English
1.30pm: New Testament Plays (Churchyard):
The Annunciation (Low Countries Ensemble) – Middle Dutch
The Nativity (Les Perles Innocentes) – Marguerite de Navarre, French
The Wedding at Cana (Pusey House) – Modern English, with Middle English archaisms
The Crucifixion (The Wicked Weights) – Middle English
The Lamentation (St Edmund Consort) – Bordesholmer Marienklage, Low German and Latin
The Harrowing of Hell (The Choir of St Edmund Hall) – Latin Sequence
3.30pm: New Testament Plays Continued:
The Resurrection (St Stephen’s House) – Middle English
The Martyrdom of the Three Holy Virgins (Clamor Validus) – Hrosvitha of Gandersheim, Latin and modern English
The Last Judgement (MSt English, 650–1550) – Modern English
6.15pm: Evensong (Chapel)
No tickets or booking is required, and it is free to attend. You are welcome to drop in and out throughout the afternoon. All performances will take place outside, so please dress comfortably for the weather conditions. There will be two small tea breaks, at around 1.15pm and 3.15pm.
The Wicked Weights admire their purpose-built cross – all ready for the Crucifixion! Picture: Rebecca Menmuir
If you have any questions about the cycle or the performances, email the co-heads of performance: Sarah Ware (sarah.ware@merton.ox.ac.uk) and Antonia Anstatt (antonia.anstatt@merton.ox.ac.uk). And look out for updates to our website, where detailed information about the individual plays will be published.
For a trailer of the type of Medieval Mystery play which awaits you, have a look at the extract from the Towneley Last Judgement play performed for a HistoryHit programme about the Apocalypse
