Research institutions come in all shapes and sizes. As medievalists, weāre used to the rhythm of a good āarchives tripā: the early start, the queuing to get the readersā card set up, and (of course) the indescribable thrill when the wonderful team working there make the documents youāve requested appear before you for the first […]
As the days start to lengthen and the lecture halls begin to fill up, the gears of the Centre for Medieval Studies are spinning up once again for 2024. We have an exciting range of events planned for this term at the Centre, the centrepiece of which is — as ever — our flagship Medieval […]
The Centre for Medieval Studies here at Exeter plays host to a number of reading groups. One of these, the Medieval French Reading Group, recently celebrated the end of term with a special session in which we explored a Christmas song from 13th-century England. The text itself (no. 148 in Ruth Dean and Maureen Boulton’s […]
A new book, Education and Religion in Medieval & Renaissance England, honours our colleague, Emeritus Professor Nicholas Orme, for his outstanding contribution to the study of cultural and religious life in medieval England which has spanned the six decades since he first arrived at Exeter as a lecturer. Nicholasā research interests have ranged wide, from […]
Emily Selove, Senior Lecturer of Medieval Arabic Literature in the University of Exeter’s Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, has published a book of cartoons about the medieval city of Baghdad. “You can get a PhD in Classical Arabic Literature, or you can just buy this book,” said Michael Cooperson, professor of Arabic at UCLA. […]
Just when Lockdown 1 began Iād started to think about the acknowledgements I would include at the front of my new book, The Dissolution of the Monasteries. A New History. Already I had a long list of names in mind. Then the implications of a complete suspension of research life became clear. Campus and library […]
As the present benefits of study abroad (and the Erasmus programme in particular) are in the spotlight, it is worth considering a past example: a beautiful manuscript book copied and annotated by an English student at Ferrara in 1460 where he was taking a break from his degree course at his home university to attend […]
Five hundred years ago, Henry Courtenay, earl of Devon (d. 1539), marked the coming of the New Year with a rare and costly gift for his king, Henry VIII: oranges (Earl Henryās accounts do not record how many). Oranges were not unknown at the royal table ā indeed Henry is known for his fondness for […]
Iām at the beginning of a new project on āPopular Healing: Christian and Islamic Practices and the Roman Inquisition in Early Modern Maltaā (not medieval, but you canāt have everything), funded by a British Academy Small Grant.Ā Itās a joint project, conducted by me and Dionisius Agius, in the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies […]
Iām very pleased to announce that the Routledge History of Medieval Magic, edited by Sophie Page (UCL) and me, has been published. As editors weāre very happy with it and we hope others will be too.Ā Seeing it in print has prompted me to reflect back on the process of editing such a large volume […]