Posted by Edward Mills
19 January 2026The start of term here in Exeter brings with it, as ever, a plethora of new events and opportunities for all those interested in the pre-modern world. We’re delighted to share the programme for this term’s Medieval Research Seminar over on the Centre website, where (as ever) it can be downloaded as a PDF or viewed through the University’s Events platform.
Keen-eyed readers of the blog will have noticed that members of the ‘Learning Anglo-French’ project (including, erm, me) have been consistent contributors to the blog over the last couple of months. This term, our infiltration of the Centre’s activities is expanding into the seminar series, which features not one, but two members of the project team presenting. On 21st January — this Wednesday! — Dr. Emily Reed will be kicking off this term’s series with a talk on ‘A Tale of Two Tristans: Translating Courtly Culture in Thirteenth-Century Scandinavia’, while 4th March will see Prof. Richard Ingham speaking on ‘Propagating Contact-Induced Language Change: How English was Frenchified’.
It’s not exclusively a ‘LAF-fest’ on the blog, though, and several other exciting seminars are lined up. Perhaps the longest-anticipated of these is our very own Prof. Levi Roach’s inaugural lecture, on 4th February: ‘Editions Live!’ will explore the fascinating world of medieval charters, both in their original form and in the editions through which they are overwhelmingly transmitted today. February and March will also see a further two seminars: Prof. Frédérique Lachaud will be joining us on 11th February for a seminar on ‘How to Write a Book on 12th-Century London’, while this year’s Orme Lecture (‘Staffing the Norman Conquest’) will be delivered by Prof. Julia Crick on 25th March.
Outside the research seminar series, the Centre is also hosting a number of workshops and symposia the term. The first of these is also being delivered by Dr. Emily Reed, who will draw on her training in historical linguistics to run an interactive session entitled ‘Pragmatics for Medievalists’. All are welcome to this workshop, which will take place the day after Dr. Reed’s talk (on Thursday 22nd January, at 10:30am; more information is available on the Events page). Later in the term, the afternoon prior to the Orme Lecture will see our traditional postgraduate symposium, where doctoral researchers will present their work to the Centre; details on speakers and topics will be announced nearer the time.
Our reading groups will also continue over the course of this term, both on Wednesdays (almost as though we planned it …). Start your mornings with the Medieval French Reading Group at 9:30am, in XFi Conference Room 2, where this term we’ll be sampling the 14th-century prose Brut, a history of Britain with something for everyone (from giants to Papal legates, and everything in between). Medieval Latin Reading Group follows at 11:30am — up the hill, in IAIS Seminar Room 2, and exploring Statius’ Thebaid.
Last (but certainly not least), the Centre’s blog is once again spinning up its proverbial wheels for the new term. Over the coming weeks, we’ll be featuring research postcards, deep-dives into upcoming publications (including an exciting two-parter!), and much more, starting next week with an insight into the Centre’s reading groups.
Featured image: discussion, from Tours, Bibliothèque municipale, MS 924 (fol. 11r).