Welcome to the Centre for Medieval Studies blog! This blog is the showcase for everything that’s going on in medieval studies at the University of Exeter, and is the home for original writing from within our community, from undergraduate students through to academic staff. Posting every Monday during term-time, we provide a platform for shorter pieces that showcase the wide variety of research, thought, and events within the Centre. Thanks to our two regular series and our over 30 contributors, we’ve got something for everyone, with posts covering topics from medieval pregnancy advice and secondary-school History teaching to what happens when you ask ChatGPT to write medieval poetry.
In addition to our general posts, the blog hosts two recurring features, in which new entries are always welcome. The first of these is our long-running Research Postcards series, in which members of the Centre ‘report back’ from a particular archive, event, or location that they’ve been visiting for their research. Previous entries in the series have taken readers to Cambridge College libraries, the Lincolnshire Archives, conferences in Cologne, or – closer to home – the Devon Heritage Centre.
Our second series, Spotlight, offers a platform for the Centre’s members students — at all levels of study and research — to share what they’re working on in an informal question-and-answer format. This is a new series, and aims to raise awareness of the vibrant postgraduate research culture in the Centre. Members of the Centre are warmly invited to fill out this form to express an interest in being featured.