Workshop: ‘Gaining External Funding for Research in Medieval and Early Modern Studies’, 23 June 2026, London, 2-5pm (BST)

CCLS, Queen Mary, University of London, 67-69 Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London WC2A 3JB, Room 3.1 

Learn how to score funding for your medieval and early modern research.

This workshop is for anyone from pre-doctoral to senior level in any discipline who is contemplating applying for external funding for premodern research from the major bodies or who has been successful with one of these funders and is looking for further opportunities with the same or other funders. What makes a medieval or early modern research project successful with different funders such as the AHRC/ UKRI, the ERC, the Leverhulme? Are there differences and similarities in what these funders are looking for, and in their track records in funding premodern research? What are the different requirements for public engagement and impact, and how can premodern projects best address them?

The workshop will be comprised of discussions of each of the major funders in turn, featuring successful applicants for everything from doctoral to large grant funding, followed by a final discussion to tease out their different mindsets and emphases when it comes to their evaluation of premodern research ideas. 

It is organised by the London Forum for Premodern Studies, an informal association of the medieval and early modern research centers of Queen Mary University of London (CREMS), University College London (Centre for Early Modern Exchanges), King’s College London (Centre for Early Modern Studies), and The Warburg Institute. 

Please register with this Eventbrite link.

The CRSBI Annual Lecture: ‘The Romanesque Sculpture of Norwich Castle Keep’ with Dr Agata Gomółka & Professor Sandy Heslop, 24 June 2026, 6-7.30pm (BST) 

The Courtauld Institute of Art, Vernon Square Campus, Lecture Theatre 2

Book your tickets and learn more about the lecture on the Courtauld’s website.

The Courtauld is delighted to host the Corpus of Romanesque Sculpture in Britain and Ireland for the 2026 Annual Lecture.

In this talk, Dr Agata Gomółka and Professor Sandy Heslop will explore the The Romanesque Sculpture of Norwich Castle Keep. The doorway into the great hall of Norwich castle keep is the grandest early Romanesque portal in England both in terms of scale and the profusion of its carved stone elements. It has been little studied perhaps because it is in a secular rather than an ecclesiastical building. In this lecture, we discuss its contexts, in Norwich and beyond, and the date, purpose and sources of the sculpture.

Speakers:

Dr Agata Gomółka , Project Assistant Curator, Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery.

Professor Sandy Heslop, Emeritus Professor of Visual Arts, University of East Anglia

Co-organised by Dr Agata Gomółka and Dr Jessica Barker, Senior Lecturer in Medieval Art History at the Courtauld,  as part of the Medieval Work-in-Progress series. The series is generously supported by Sam Fogg.

Booking for this talk is available on the Courtauld Website.

Journal Issue: Convivium 12.1: Scent and Sense in Medieval Material Culture, edited by Elina Gertsman

Throughout the Middle Ages and across a staggering variety of sources, both the notion of smell and the olfactory sense responsible for smells’ discernment have been put through an exegetical, doctrinal, and mystical wringer by scores of philosophers, physicians, and theologians. Ephemeral and fleeting but emotionally, spiritually, and physiologically potent, olfaction was deeply embedded in humoral, anatomical, and cognitive theories. Odors could heal and odors could harm; they could purify and they could taint. Scent and Sense explores those images and objects that take smells as their predicates, directing the inquiry on their tropological and often paradoxical meanings, and on their place in the medieval economy of remembrance and reflection. Essays draw from several religious cultures of the global medieval world—Buddhist, Jewish, Christian (both western and eastern), Islamic—and offer a broad temporal span of several centuries. Authors engage with visual production of different kinds: from objects that emit smell to the representation of such objects, from monumental architectural structures and liturgical furnishings to illuminated miniatures in codices and paintings from palm-leaf manuscripts. All share an interest in the theoretical and metaphorical underpinnings of the olfactory sense, but all are thoroughly anchored in the material universe of the medieval cultural eco-system. Scent and Sense, thus, takes a holistic approach to its subject, crossing religions, territories, and media of the medieval world writ large; its inquiry, nevertheless, is tightly focused on the multivalent relationships between olfaction, material culture, and remembrance that manifest themselves along an extraordinarily varied spectrum of thought. Rooted equally in ritual and knowledge, metaphysically potent yet making a claim for absolute truth, the sensorial ephemera studied in this volume exist on the brink, infused with fraught self-contradictions, tethered to the divine but—like any memory—inherently untrustworthy.

Read the journal issue here.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Elina Gertsman, “Not like Poison”. Scent and Sense in Medieval Material Culture

Articles:

  • Adam Bursi, Columns of Scent. Perfumed Signs of the Prophet Muḥammad in Early Islamic Spaces
  • Sonya Rhie Mace, Scent of the Blue Nun. Utpalavarṇā in Palm-Leaf Manuscripts of Medieval India
  • Elisabeth Sobieczky, “and my breath was refreshed by the pleasant fragrance of the Lord” Mnemonic Functions of Image, Word, and Scent in the Freudenstadt Lectern
  • Reed O’Mara, Sensation and Olfaction: Experiencing Image and Text in the Golden Haggadah
  • Tera Lee Hedrick, Breath and Fire. Incense and Sanctification in the Late Byzantine Liturgy

Conference: ‘The Bayeux Tapestry Now’, Swedenborg House, London, 7 November 2026

The Medieval Dress And Textile Society Presents: ‘The Bayeux Tapestry Now’

A one-day Symposium in London with leading experts on the Bayeux Tapestry. From September 2026 to July 2027 the Bayeux Tapestry will be loaned to the British Museum.

Date: 7 November 2026                                                                                    

Time: 9:30 am – 5:30 pm (BST)

Location: Swedenborg House, 20-21 Bloomsbury Way London, WC1A 2TH 

Speakers:

  • David Bates, Emeritus, University of East Anglia
  • Shirley Ann Brown, Emerita, York University, Toronto
  • George Camiller, Birkbeck, University of London
  • Clarisse Chavanne, Musée Curie, Paris
  • Millie Horton-Insch, British Museum
  • Maggie Kneen, Edinburgh University
  • Sylvette Lemagnen, Honorary Chief Curator of the Bayeux Tapestry
  • Alexandra Lester-Makin, Manchester Metropolitan University
  • Michael Lewis, British Museum
  • Gale R. Owen-Crocker, Emerita, The University of Manchester

Book your early-bird ticket now via this link. 

For more information, please visit our website.

Conference: ‘‘Filth and health’: hygiene and sanitation in the Middle Ages’, Great Hall at Barts Hospital, London, Friday 26 Jun 2026

Friday 26th June 2026, 10:30 am – 5.30 pm, Great Hall at Barts Hospital, London

Presented by The BAA, the Friends of Barts Heritage and the Friends of Great St Bartholomew

The British Archaeological Association, the Friends of Barts Heritage and the Friends of Great St Bartholomew are delighted to invite you to this event on Friday, 26 June 2026 in aid of the fundraising campaign for new loos at the church of Great St Bartholomew and in memory of Professor Peter Fergusson.

The conference will begin in the newly restored Great Hall at Bart’s Hospital at 11 a.m. (registration from 10.30 a.m.), and will be followed by a drinks reception (with a paid bar) at 5.30 p.m. in the Cloisters of the church.

The fee is £30. Tea and biscuits will be provided in the afternoon tea break, but delegates should find their own lunch. There are many suitable places in Smithfield. 

Speakers will include Dr Jeremy Ashbee, Dr Alex Buchanan, Professor David Carpenter, Dr David Harrison, Dr Piers Mitchell, Julian Munby, Will Palin and Professor Carole Rawlcliffe.

All funds raised by the event will go towards The Parochial Church Council Of The Ecclesiastical Parish Of Great St Bartholomew’s (charity no. 1163024) 900th appeal. 

Please book here the Great Barts Website.

Find out more about the conference on the BAA website.

CFP: ‘Ruling, Building, and Praying. Secular Authority and Religious Architecture in the Mediterranean between the 12th and 13th Centuries’, deadline 15 June 2026

Between the 12th and 13th centuries the Mediterranean was a space of intense political transformation and cultural interaction. In this context, architecture became one of the most visible expressions of power, identity, and legitimacy. Religious buildings in particular often played a key role in representing the authority of rulers, serving not only as places of worship but also as instruments of political communication and symbolic control.

The conference aims to explore the relationship between secular authority and religious architecture in the Mediterranean world during this crucial period. Particular attention will be paid to the ways in which rulers, dynasties, and political elites promoted, transformed, or appropriated religious buildings to assert their power and shape the urban and territorial landscape.

Relevant examples include the architectural policies promoted by figures such as Frederick II, James II of Aragon, and other rulers who used religious architecture as a means of political representation and legitimation. The conference also welcomes studies on episcopal initiatives, monastic foundations, and other forms of patronage connected to the interaction between political authority and sacred architecture.

The conference will encourage interdisciplinary approaches combining history of architecture, art history, archaeology, and medieval studies, with particular attention to case studies, methodological reflections, and comparative perspectives across different regions of the Mediterranean.

Find out more on the conference website.

Proposals may address, but are not limited to, the following themes:

  • Patronage and political strategies in the construction or transformation of religious buildings
  • The role of rulers and political elites in shaping sacred architectural landscapes
  • Architectural programs linked to processes of conquest, consolidation, or territorial control
  • Interactions between secular and ecclesiastical authorities in the promotion of religious architecture
  • Symbolic, liturgical, and representational functions of religious spaces connected to political power

Proposals must include:

  • title of the contribution
  • abstract (maximum 300 words)
  • short CV of the author (maximum 150 words)

Proposals must be sent by 15 June 2026 to the email address: mediterraneomedievale@gmail.com

Papers should not exceed 20 minutes, and poster presentations should not exceed 10 minutes.

The Scientific Committee will evaluate the submitted proposals by 30 June and will communicate their acceptance, if any, as a paper or as a poster, inserting them in the session of the Conference deemed most suitable.

The contributions presented at the Conference will be published as a monographic volume within the series “Architettura Medievale” (edited by Silvia Beltramo and Carlo Tosco), published by All’Insegna del Giglio. Posters admitted to the dedicated session will also be granted adequate space in the publication.

The languages of the Conference are: Italian, English, French, and Spanish.

The Conference organization will provide participants and grant recipients with lunches on 2 and 3 October, dinners on 1 and 2 October, and coffee breaks.

Grants For Early-Career Researchers

Three scholarships are available for PhD candidates in History of Architecture, History of Art, and Archaeology. The grants will cover accommodation and meals, while travel expenses will be borne by the participants. During the days of the Conference, grant recipients will collaborate with the organizing committee in the management of activities. Applicants are required to submit an updated curriculum vitae and a letter of motivation to the email address mediterraneomedievale@gmail.com no later than 31 May 2026.

The selection will be carried out by the Scientific Committee, and the results will be communicated by 30 June 2026.

Funding for the scholarships is guaranteed by the contribution of the Fundació Institut Amatller d’Art Hispànic and the Parco Archeologico delle Isole Eolie.

Important Dates

  • Deadline for submission of proposals: 15 June 2026
  • Deadline for submission of scholarship applications: 31 May 2026
  • Notification of acceptance of proposals and scholarship applications: 30 June 2026
  • Conference dates: 1–2–3 October 2026

Scientific Secretariat: Fabio Linguanti

Organizing Secretariat And Information: Arianna Carannante, Fabio Linguanti

Info And Communications: mediterraneomedievale@gmail.com

Murray Seminar: ‘The Weaver as Polymath: A Mamluk Artist in Renaissance Ferrara’ with Robert Brennan, Birkbeck and online, 19 May 2026, 17:00—18:30 (BST)

Birkbeck, Clore Management Centre (CLO B01) and Onlin)

Around 1490, an Egyptian artist known as ‘Sabadino’ migrated to Ferrara, Italy, and set up a workshop under the patronage of the ruling Este family. Sabadino produced carpets of a distinctive type that seems to have emerged in Mamluk Egypt around the middle of the century, and was already highly prized across the Mediterranean. Although the general outlines of his career in Ferrara were made known through archival research in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Sabadino has received little sustained scholarly attention. This talk provides an overview of Sabadino’s activity in Ferrara, focusing in particular on how his work came to be interpreted in light of canonical themes of Renaissance art theory, such as the rebirth of antiquity, the social status of the artist, and the figure of the polymath. The aim is both to contribute to scholarship on this understudied artist, and to reevaluate the implications of artistic migration for wider understandings of the relationship between Italian and Islamic art in this period.

Robert Brennan joined the Courtauld Institute of Art in January 2025 as Lecturer in Italian Art, c. 1300-1500. His first monograph, Painting as a Modern Art in Early Renaissance Italy, was published by Harvey Miller in 2019. His articles have appeared in journals such as The Art Bulletin, Oxford Art Journal, and I Tatti Studies.

Book Here for the In-Person Seminar*

Book Here for the Livestream

*Please note that due to ongoing work at 43 Gordon Square, this seminar will be held just around the corner in the Clore Management Centre (room CLO B01), not the Keynes Library.

Seminar: ‘Inventing Animals – Inventing Humans’, An interdisciplinary seminar with Pierre-Olivier Dittmar, UCL, London, 1 June 2026, 13:45–17:00 (BST)

Animals did not exist at the start of the Middle Ages. Pigs, birds, cattle, bears, weasels, and rabbits did.  Inventing the idea of ‘the animal’ happened over the later Middle Ages. It did not simply create a fracture between humans and the rest of the world. It also created a second split, less visible and more intimate, which gave every individual an ‘animal side’. Inventing animals meant inventing humans too.

Pierre-Olivier Dittmar’s L’invention de l’animal. Essai d’anthropologie médiévale (Gallimard, 2026) charts these important European developments through history, religion, art history, archaeology and anthropology. This interdisciplinary seminar will explore this with a range of UCL experts from different fields. The seminar will be in English.

 Pierre-Olivier will present the project as a whole, but we will be primarily discussing section III ‘Dévorations’ for those who would like to read it in advance. 

File

Dévorations – Pierre-Olivier Dittmar

Speakers: Pierre-Olivier Dittmar (EHESS) Jane Gilbert (UCL SELCS-CMII), Mariam Motamedi-Fraser (UCL Geography), Bob Mills (UCL History of Art), Sophie Page (UCL History), John Sabapathy (UCL History)

Details: 1 June, 13:45–17:00, Moot Court, Bentham House. To attend please contact John Sabapathy (j.sabapathy@ucl.ac.uk)

Find out more about this event on the UCL website.

CFP: BAA Post-Graduate Conference, deadline 31st July 2026

The British Archaeological Association is excited to be hosting the 8th BAA postgraduate conference online this year! The BAA invites proposals by postgraduate and early career researchers in the field of medieval art history, architecture and archaeology. Papers can be on any aspect of the medieval period, from antiquity to the Later Middle Ages, across all geographical regions.

Proposals of around 250 words for a 20-minute paper, along with a CV, should be sent by 31 July 2026 to postgradconf@thebaa.org.

The conference will take place online on Thursday, 26 November 2026.

The BAA postgraduate conference offers an opportunity for postgraduate students and early career researchers at all levels from universities across the UK and abroad to present and discuss their research, and exchange ideas.

Find out more on the BAA website.

Online Lecture: ‘Painting in the Margins: Intervisuality (and Intertextuality) in Byzantine Manuscripts, 9th-12th Century’ with Leslie Brubaker, 8 May 2026, 12:00 PM – 1:15 PM (EDT) / 5:00 PM (BST)

We are pleased to highlight an upcoming event in the Late Antique and Byzantine Art and Architecture lecture series, hosted by the Institute of Sacred Music (ISM) at Yale University.

This series, organised in collaboration with the Yale Departments of Classics and History of Art, continues its tradition of bringing world-class scholarship to a global audience via Zoom.

The Lecture: Painting in the Margins: Intervisuality (and Intertextuality) in Byzantine Manuscripts, 9th-12th Century

  • Speaker: Leslie Brubaker (University of Birmingham, emerita)
  • Respondent: Magdalene Breidenthal (Fordham University)

Professor Brubaker is a leading authority on the visual culture of Byzantium. This session will explore the complex relationships between text and image within the borders of Byzantine manuscripts, examining how “marginal” paintings functioned not merely as decoration, but as sophisticated tools for intervisuality and intertextuality during the middle Byzantine period.

Registration

Advance registration is required to attend. Please note that registering for this event grants you access to the entire Late Antique and Byzantine Art and Architecture lecture series for the year.

Book your place here

About the Series

The series is organised by a distinguished committee including Robert S. Nelson (History of Art, emeritus), Felicity Harley (Yale Divinity School/ISM), Justin Willson (History of Art), and Vasileios Marinis (Yale Divinity School/ISM). For further inquiries regarding the event, please contact Katya Vetrov.