Oxford Medieval Studies Week 4 Trinity Term 2020
Dear Medievalists,
We’ve made it to week 4 and so far our online offering of reading groups, seminars, and work-in-progress sessions have been a big success.
I wanted to draw your attention the OMS’s blogs. People have been in touch and offering to write about what they’re doing and the work still going on despite everything. In one of the latest entries here, Oliver Cox discusses a new TORCH initiative with the Churches Conservation Trust to find new ways for people to engage with their parish churches.
Seminars
- First up, today (18th), we have the Old English Work-in-Progress session meeting at 4pm in OMS Teams. This week, Glenn Cahilly-Bretzin will speak about ‘The Case of the Missing Ducks: thematic reshaping in the transmission of the anonymous Martinmas homily’.
- Then, at 5pm, the Medieval History Seminar takes a slightly different tack when it hosts graduate students to discuss their work. This week, Emilie Lavallée (St Cross), Amy Ebrey (SJC), and Alex Peplow (Merton) present short papers on ‘Counsel and Correction in 13th and 14th c. Theological Discourse’, moderated and chaired by Sumner Braund. You can gain access to their Teams and download the relevant files here. To find them look at the top bar and click on ‘files’. There are three downloads now available: one contains all three abstracts; there are handouts for Emilie Lavallée and Amy Ebrey’s papers.
- On Tuesday (19th) the Early Slavonic Seminar will meet at 5pm, when Christian Raffensperger will discuss ‘The Kingdom of a Rus: a new theoretical model of rulership’. The seminar meets via zoom and you can gain entry by clicking here.
- On Wednesday (20th) at 5pm, the Late Antique and Byzantine Archaeology and Art Seminar will host Alessandra Bucossi. There’s no title given as yet, but you can see what Bucossi works on here. You can join the Teams group by clicking here.
- Earlier on Wednesday at 11.15am, the Graduate Seminar in Medieval German takes place where they will continue to discuss Meister Eckhart’s sermons on the subject of freedom. To join them, get in touch with henrike.laehnemann@mod-langs.ox.ac.uk.
- The last Middle English Work-in-Progress Seminar takes place on Wednesday at 4pm on the OMS Teams. This has been a huge success this term and I wanted to congratulate everyone for it. This week Daniel Sawyer and Niall Summers will discuss fifteenth-century East Anglian poetry. Tune in!
Reading Groups
- The Old Norse Reading Group will meet today on OMS Teams at 5.30pm. Get in touch with william.brockbank@jesus.ox.ac.uk for more information.
- On Tuesday, The Medieval Book Club will meet at 3.30pm and continue on the theme of Travel. This week, they focus on ‘Exploration’ and Ibn Battuta’s Travels. You can email them at oxfordmedievalbookclub@gmail.com and join them in their OMS channel.
- For information on how to join the Germanic Reading Group, email nelson.goering@ling-phil.ox.ac.uk.
Other News
- There is an opportunity for a PhD studentship in collaboration with Durham University and Peter Toth at the British Library on their project ‘Appropriating a Conqueror: the legend of Alexander the Great in late antique and medieval literary culture’. This would be a great chance for a masters student to continue their education. Details in PDF below
- There is wonderful online conference taking place this week (20th-22nd) on the topic of ‘The Rituals of the Heavenly and Earthly Kingdoms’, which was originally due to take place in Poland but has moved online. You can find out more details here.
The Medieval Booklet is a rather dynamic document at the moment, and will be updated, as will the calendar on TORCH, when we receive word about events. You can access both here.
