Lecture Series: Seminar in the History of the Book 2021, Bodleian Libraries, Fridays at 2:15pm (GMT)

On-line: register to receive a link to each meeting, by e-mail to: bookcentre@bodleian.ox.ac.uk. Due to limited space (even online), registrations for the live events will be honoured in the order received. Presentations will be recorded if the speaker has granted permission, and in that case will be available a few weeks after the date of the seminar.

Conveners: Cristina Dondi (Lincoln College, Oxford) and Alexandra Franklin (Bodleian Centre for the Study of the Book)

Friday, January 22
Matthew Payne (Keeper of the Muniments, Westminster Abbey)
‘Follow the Money: Wynkyn de Worde, Jacques Ferrebouc and the Bardi’

Friday, January 29: Special session at 5:00pm GMT
Goostly Psalmes in Oxford and New Haven
Henrike Lähnemann (Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages, University of Oxford)
‘Translating, Singing, Printing the Reformation. The Queen’s College Sammelband with Myles Coverdale’s Goostly Psalmes’
With a showing of The Queen’s College copy and the Bodleian and Beinecke fragments
Kathryn James (Beinecke Library, Yale University); Matthew Shaw (The Queen’s College, Oxford); Sarah Wheale (Bodleian Libraries, Oxford)

Friday, February 5
Francesco Guidi-Bruscoli (University of Florence)
‘The Borromei’s trade unveiled: digging for information in fifteenth-century account-books’

February 12 – No seminar

Friday, February 19
Alessandro Bianchi (Bodleian Libraries, Oxford)
‘Hidden in plain sight. Printed books from the Japanese Mission Press in the Bodleian Collections’

Friday, February 26
Kanupriya Dhingra (SOAS, University of London)
‘Streets and Serendipity: “Locating” Daryaganj Sunday Patri Kitab Bazar’

Friday, March 5
Benjamin Wardhaugh (University of Oxford)
‘Hunting for readers in sixteenth-century editions of the works of Euclid’

Friday, March 12
William Stoneman  (Cambridge, MA)
‘Buying Incunabula at Gimbel Brothers Department Store: A Curious Chapter in the History of American Book Collecting’

Find out more here.

Lecture Series: What (is) Medieval?, Wednesdays from 24th February 2021, 5pm (GMT) via Zoom

This virtual seminar series is designed to provoke thoughts on what we mean by the period and all its associated definitions and connotations. What really is “medieval”? Promoting a global and interdisciplinary perspective inclusive of academics, independent scholars, professionals and practitioners alike, the aim is to take on the much-needed challenge of breaking down the calcified disciplinary boundaries that shape medieval studies today.

All sessions are at 5pm GMT via Zoom and uploaded to YouTube thereafter.

***PLEASE REGISTER VIA EVENTBRITE***

Wednesday 24th February 2021

Professor Howard Williams, University of Chester, UK: Doctor Who and the Dark Ages

Wednesday 24th March 2021

Martine Mussies, PhD candidate, Utrecht University, Netherlands: “I’ll be back”—Neo-medieval cyborgization through the lens of Westworld’s main character Dolores

Wednesday 21st April 2021

Dr Carol L. Robinson, Kent State University, USA: Seriously Serious: The Absurd Seriousness of Neomedievalist Digital Media

Wednesday 19th May 2021

Dr Meriem Pages, Keene State College, USA: No Damsel in Distress: Sibylla and Daenerys in History, Popular Medievalism, and Beyond

Wednesday 26th May 2021

Ariana Ellis, PhD Candidate, University of Toronto, Canada: Title TBC

Wednesday 23rd June 2021

Dr Euan Mccartney Robson, University College, London, UK: Jefferson’s Middle Ages: Art, Artifice, Nostalgia

Wednesday 21st July 2021

Dr Madeleine Pelling, University of York/ Edinburgh University, UK: Gothic Historicity and Queer Temporality at Anne Hamilton’s Fonthill Abbey

Wednesday 25th August 2021

Professor Kenna Olsen, Mount Royal University, Canada: Title TBC

Wednesday 22nd September 2021

Dr Renee Ward, University of Lincoln, UK: Arthur’s Court and Gothic Spaces in E.L. Hervey’s The Feasts of Camelot

Wednesday 27th October 2021

Dr Andrew B. R. Elliott, University of Lincoln, UK: “Bad History”

Wednesday 24th November 2021

TBC

Wednesday 15th December 2021

Dr Emma J. Wells, University of York, UK & Dr Claire Kennan, Reading University, UK: A round-up of the series

Found out more here & full programme can be found here.

Lecture Series: Seminar in Palaeography & Manuscript Studies 2021, Bodleian Libraries, Zoom on Mondays at 2.15pm (GMT)

Convenors: Daniel Wakelin, Martin Kauffmann

Meetings will take place online via Zoom on Mondays at 2.15pm (GMT) in weeks 1, 3, 5, and 7. Original manuscripts will be shown. Registration is required. E-mail: bookcentre@bodleian.ox.ac.uk . Your message must be received by noon on the Friday before the seminar (or register for the whole series by noon, Friday 15 January).

Week 1 (18 January 2021)
Julian Luxford (University of St. Andrews)
The Tewkesbury benefactors’ book

Week 3 (1 February 2021)
Bodleian and John Rylands curators
Newly acquired medieval book coffers at the Bodleian and the John Rylands Libraries

Week 5 (15 February 2021)
Adam Whittaker (Birmingham City University)
Medieval music theory in Bodleian manuscripts

Week 7 (1 March 2021)
Marc Smith (École des chartes)
Late medieval writing models: contextualizing MS. Ashmole 789

Find out more here.

Call for Papers: Medieval Government Finance: Innovation and Experimentation, online workshop, 27 April 2021 (Deadline 19 February 2021)

This online workshop, hosted by the University of Reading, will be held on Tuesday 27 April 2021.

Medieval governments regularly innovated and experimented with ways of raising revenue and managing expenditure to achieve their goals. This workshop is an opportunity for postgraduate and early career historians to share current research on any theme of medieval government finance that addresses themes of innovation and experimentation, including: tax, budgeting, governance, investment, debt and credit management, capital expenditure, etc.

The workshop will commence with a keynote talk from Dr. Richard Cassidy, one of the leading specialists in Medieval English Government Finance.

The conference is keen to attract papers that address the theme of innovation and experimentation from across a variety of medieval geographies and all levels of government, within the time period 450-1450. Papers should be presented in English and last 20 minutes, with an opportunity for questions afterwards.

Submission instructions: Please submit abstracts (maximum 300 words) by Friday 19 February 2021 to Andy Ford, University of Reading at jw898873@student.reading.ac.uk. Please also use this address for any questions you may have about the workshop. Participants will be informed by Monday 1 March 2021.

Online Lecture: ‘On the Trail of the Lonesome Nun: Giusto de’ Menabuoi’s London Triptych’, with Laura Jacobus, Murray Research Seminar at Birkbeck, 26 January 2021, 16:50-18:30 (GMT)

Giusto de’ Menabuoi’s little triptych in the National Gallery is signed and dated. With its moveable wings and clearly identifiable subject matter it might seem to be, literally, an open and shut case. However, there is no consensus as to its origins and original ownership, and its purpose is only vaguely understood as ‘devotional’. This paper advances the idea that it was made for a young girl upon her becoming a nun. With this in mind, new perspectives on the triptych can be considered. Intended to serve the new nun in her devotions for her entire life it may nevertheless have held special resonances for her as a child. We can understand it as a memento of family and of a childhood home; as a prize for achievement on a rite of passage; as a prompt to do well in her entrance exams; even as a holy plaything or ‘doll’s chapel’.

Laura Jacobus is a retired Senior Lecturer at Birkbeck, and organizer of the Murray Seminars on Medieval and Renaissance Art .

Register via the official event page here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/on-the-trail-of-the-lonesome-nun-giusto-de-menabuois-london-triptych-tickets-132804528921

Online Lecture: ‘The Nativity Church in Bethlehem in the Light of Recent Restorations’ with Dr Michele Bacci, 8 January 2021, 12pm (EST)

Join Yale for their up-coming Lectures in Late Antique and Byzantine Art and Architecture series. In this online lecture, Dr Michele Bacci (University of Fribourg) presents ‘The Nativity Church in Bethlehem in the Light of Recent Restorations’.

Respondent: Ariel Fine, Yale 

This event is free, but you must register in advance here.

Funding: Simon Barton Postgraduate & ECR Conference Prize (Deadline 31 January 2021)

Society for the Medieval Mediterranean offers grants to assist postgraduate students and early-career researchers with the financing of small conferences, symposia and workshops.

This grant was established in 2017 by Professor Simon Barton, former President of the Society for the Medieval Mediterranean. Support for early-career scholars was one of his priorities, as this grant–now dedicated to his memory–suggests.

The proposed research event, organised by the postgraduate or early-career applicant, may include conferences, symposia, workshops and/or outreach/public engagement initiatives/exhibitions, which should align with the aims and scope of the Society. In-person, blended, and online events are all eligible. For online events funds may be used to support the creation of digital resources related to the event and/or to promote inclusivity.

The event should be dedicated to explore any aspects of Mediterranean history and culture from the fifth to the fifteenth centuries C.E. 

All events sponsored by the SMM must comply with the SMM Equality, Diversity and Inclusivity policy.

The proposed research activity should be completed by 30th April 2022.

Applicants should be enrolled in a Postgraduate programme (both Masters and PhD programmes are eligible) or should be an Early Career Researcher at the time of submission of their application. Early Career Researchers for the purposes of this grant include those who are within 4 years of the award of their PhD degree and who do not hold a permanent position.

Job: 2021 Curatorial Internship, Museum of Russian Icons, deadline 15 January 2021

The Museum of Russian Icons in Clinton, MA invites applications for a curatorial internship to be held during spring 2021. Under the supervision of the Curator of Collections and Exhibits, the curatorial intern will help reorganize and expand the Center for Icon Studies, a collaborative virtual space for professionals, students, and members of the public who are interested in any aspect of Orthodox icon
studies.

The intern will be involved in all aspects of the project, including the following:

  • Researching, compiling lists of and contacting potential funders and collaborators.
  • Researching and gathering relevant electronic resources, such as academic titles, news articles, websites,
  • videos and syllabi.
  • Creatively contributing to the development and publicization of the CIS.

This will be a virtual with a weekly Zoom meeting with the Curator. A final report and PowerPoint presentation will be due at the end of the semester.

For instructions on how to apply, visit the museum’s jobs page.

New Publication: ‘Conversion to Islam in the Premodern Age: A Sourcebook’, eds. Nimrod Hurvitz, Christian C. Sahner, Uriel Simonsohn, and Luke Yarbrough

From University of California Press

Conversion to Islam is a phenomenon of immense significance in human history. At the outset of Islamic rule in the seventh century, Muslims constituted a tiny minority in most areas under their control. But by the beginning of the modern period, they formed the majority in most territories from North Africa to Southeast Asia. Across such diverse lands, peoples, and time periods, conversion was a complex, varied phenomenon. Converts lived in a world of overlapping and competing religious, cultural, social, and familial affiliations, and the effects of turning to Islam played out in every aspect of life. Conversion therefore provides a critical lens for world history, magnifying the constantly evolving array of beliefs, practices, and outlooks that constitute Islam around the globe. This groundbreaking collection of texts, translated from sources in a dozen languages from the seventh to the eighteenth centuries, presents the historical process of conversion to Islam in all its variety and unruly detail, through the eyes of both Muslim and non-Muslim observers.

PhD Funding: The University of Edinburgh Programmes in History, Classics, and Archaeology (Deadline 25 January 2021)

The University of Edinburgh School of History, Classics and Archaeology is delighted to invite applications from outstanding candidates for a range of PhD scholarships designed to attract the best and brightest candidates to study in Edinburgh. 

From the University:

We welcome applications across our full range of research areas in History, Classics and Archaeology, both in areas in which we have long-standing strengths and in areas where we are currently expanding. 

History
The size of Edinburgh’s history department, and the breadth of expertise available from our staff, means that we can offer supervision for research projects in a wide array of fields, spanning two millennia and five continents. We have particularly strong research concentrations in Scottish history, American history, Irish history, social and economic history and medieval history. We are also keen to encourage applications from prospective doctoral students in the following research areas:

  • Global and Transnational History
  • Intellectual history of early modern Europe (including Britain and Ireland)

Classics
We can offer supervision and welcome applications across most of the major areas of Classical studies: Greek and Latin literature and thought, Greek, Roman, Late Antique and Byzantine history, and classical art and archaeology. We are also keen to encourage applications from prospective doctoral students in the following research areas:

  • Ancient Law
  • The Classical Tradition in Byzantium/the Medieval West

Archaeology
Our research interests range from human osteoarchaeology and forensic anthropology to Roman archaeology, early civilisations and urban societies in Europe, the Byzantine world and late antiquity, late hunter-gatherers and the spread of farming in Europe, megalithic monuments, later European prehistory and the archaeology of Scotland. We are also keen to encourage applications from prospective doctoral students in the following research areas:

  • Cultural Heritage and Community Engagement
  • Western and Eastern Mediterranean Archaeology

These PhD scholarships will pay a stipend at the equivalent rate to that offered by the Research Councils of the United Kingdom. Tuition fees at the UK/EU rate will also be paid. Payment will be made in equal monthly instalments for a maximum of three years, subject to satisfactory performance.

Applicants for these awards must:

  • Hold a UK 2.1 or first class honours undergraduate degree (or overseas equivalent) in a relevant field
  • Hold, or successfully achieve before commencing their PhD with us, an equally high standard of postgraduate master’s degree in a relevant field

Applicants must submit a PhD application by 25 January 2021, and a scholarship application for the School Doctoral Award by 4 February 2021.