Oxford Medieval Studies, Week 4 Hilary Term 2021

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Dear all,

Another Monday, nearly halfway through term! Feast your eyes upon our offerings. You can see the whole booklet here.

  • The Centre for Manuscript and Text Cultures is having a lunchtime colloquium tomorrow, Tuesday 9 February, at 12:30 pm. The speakers will be Chloé Agar (St Anne’s) and Daniel Gallaher (Balliol) on ‘Clues from Miracles and Visions in Coptic Hagiography: What Can They Tell Us About the Cult of Saints in Egypt?’ and ‘A Journey of the Magi: Intercultural Communication in Medieval Armenia’, respectively. Join the Teams meeting here.
  • The London Society for Medieval Studies, based at the London IHR, is recruiting new members to join its steering committee for the 2021/22 academic year. The LSMS is one of the longest running seminar series at the IHR, organized by postgraduates and early career academics, and they welcome expressions of interest from postgrads and ECRs in any area of medieval studies in any part of the world. They prefer people who can commit to attending fortnightly events in London once we can meet in person again. If you’re interested, send a short biography (~150 words), including details of your previous and current eduction/position and academic interests, to londonsocformedievalstudies@gmail.com. You’re encouraged to get in touch ASAP, and before 30 March.

‘For even he who is most greedy for knowledge can achieve no greater perfection than to be thoroughly aware of his own ignorance in his particular field. The more be known, the more aware he will be of his ignorance [and therefore must attend and enjoy many Oxford seminars].’ - Nicholas of Cusa, who just needed a little help finishing his sentence

MONDAY 8 FEBRUARY

  • The Oxford Byzantine Graduate Seminar meets at 12:30 pm on Teams. To join and for information, please contact the organiser at james.cogbill@worc.ox.ac.uk. This week’s speaker is Flavia Vanni (University of Birmingham), ‘Byzantine Stucco Decoration, 850–1453’.
  • The Medieval Latin Reading Group meets at 1 pm on Teams. Submit your email address here to receive notices.
  • The reading group GLARE (Greek, Latin, and Reception) meets at 5 pm on Teams. Email john.colley@ell.ox.ac.uk and jenyth.evans@ell.ox.ac.uk to be added to the mailing list. This week continues with Cicero’s In Catilinam. 
  • The Medieval History Seminar meets on Teams at 5 pm (search for the seminar in Teams with code rmppucs and then click ‘join’). This week’s speaker is Alex Vukovich, ‘Euphrosyne of Polotsk: Princess of Rus, Traveller to the Holy Land, and the National Saint of Belarus’.

TUESDAY 9 FEBRUARY

  • The Late Medieval Seminar meets at 2 pm on Zoom (Meeting ID: 962 7053 8553, passcode: 078931). This week’s speaker is Giogrio Riello (University of Warwick), ‘The Material Regulation of Fashion: Sumptuary Laws in the Medieval and Early Modern World’.
  • At 3:30 pm on Google Meet  we have the Medieval Book Club (for more information, get in touch at oxfordmedievalbookclub@gmail.com). This week’s theme is Food and Farming, reading Robert Grosseteste, Rules of the Household and Estate Management.
  • The Oxford University Numismatic Society meets at 5 pm on Teams. This week’s speaker is Prof. François de Callatäy (Royal Library of Belguim/École Pratique des Hautes Études), ‘Fontes Inedites Numismaticae Antiquae (FINA): A Website with Already 4,000 Letters Written Before 1800 and Dealing with Greek and Roman Coinages’. Email daniel.etches@new.ox.ac.uk to sign up to the mailing list and receive links.
  • The Oxford Pre-Modern Middle Eastern History Seminar meets at 5:30 pm on Zoom. This week’s speaker is Dominic Brookshaw (Oxford) on ‘Beyond the Mystical: How Hafiz’s Poetry Can Help Historians Read Post-Mongol Iran’, with respondent Paul Losensky (Indiana).

WEDNESDAY 10 FEBRUARY

  • The Medieval German Seminar meets at 11:15 am on Teams, with the graduate reading group meeting at 11, reading Arnold von Harff. Email henrike.laehnemann@mod-langs.ox.ac.uk for details.
  • The Late Antique and Byzantine Seminar meets at 5 pm on Google Meet (link here). This week’s speaker is Paweł Nowakowski (Warsaw), ‘Why “Galata”? New Epigraphic Evidence on the Toponomastics of a Suburb of Constantinople’.
  • The Medieval English Research Seminar meets at 5:15 pm on Teams. This week’s speaker is Eleni Ponirakis (University of Nottingham), ‘Deor: A Dark Satanic Scop’.
  • The Hebrew Bible in Medieval Manuscripts reading group will meet at 7 pm on Zoom; email judith.schlanger@orinst.ox.ac.uk for further information. 

THURSDAY 11 FEBRUARY

  • The Aquinas Seminar Series meets at 4:30 pm on Zoom, on the theme ‘De Magistro: Aquinas and the Education of the Whole Person’. This week’s speaker is Andrea Aldo Robiglio (K U Leuven), ‘Learning Failures and Scholarly Vices’. You can register here.
  • The Celtic Seminar meets at 5:15 pm on Teams. Contact david.willis@ling-phil.ox.ac.uk for a link. This week’s speaker is Michaela Jacques (University of Toronto), ‘Grammatical Pedagogy in Late Medieval Wales’.
  • The OCHJS David Patterson lectures commence at 6 pm on Zoom (register here). This week’s speaker is Blanca Villuendas Sabate (OCHJS), ‘The Cairo Genizah Fragments as Pieces in Intellectual History Jigsaws: The Case of Dream Interpretation.
  • The Medieval Trade Reading Group meets at 7 pm. To be added to the team and have access to the materials and meetings, email Annabel Hancock at annabel.hancock@history.ox.ac.uk.

FRIDAY 12 FEBRUARY

Go forth, enjoy the snow, and remember, if you want to celebrate Valentine’s Day properly, you should find a third century Roman emperor to try to convert.

All best wishes,

Caroline