Exeter Medieval Studies Blog

In category: Discussion


In the footsteps of King Arthur: a field trip to Tintagel, Cornwall

‘The Legend of King Arthur‘ (HAS3006 / HASM006) is an exciting new module here at Exeter. Running across third-year undergraduate and Master’s level, it brings together specialists from across the Centre for Medieval Studies into a single module, during which we explore the ‘once and future King’ as he has been presented from the Middle […]


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Glastonbury-bound

This week’s post is courtesy of Rowenna Langley, an MA student in History at Exeter, and her recent visit to Glastonbury Abbey. It began with a sunny day and a journey across the Somerset Levels into the land of Avalon. I was joined by a loyal four-legged friend and a woman whom I would trust with my […]


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A visit to Kirkham House, Paignton

This September sees the return of the annual Heritage Open Days, with sites up and down the country organising events for free to curious visitors that showcase the rich history of our local areas. One of the properties that will be opening its doors this year is Kirkham House, a late medieval house managed by […]


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‘He goes nowhere’: writing medieval French for Netflix

Vikings: Valhalla is a spin-off series from the phenomenally successful Vikings, which ran for six series (largely on History in Canada and Ireland, where it was co-produced) between 2013 and 2018. As its name suggests, the original series followed the exploits of a number of (semi-historical) Viking figures from the first raids on the monastery […]


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A love letter to antiquarians

Naomi Allen is a PhD researcher in the Department of Archaeology and History, working on the English Cluniac congregation after the Black Death. Standing in the north cloister walk of Benedictine Muchelney Abbey, Somerset on a perfect June day – skylarks and swallows overhead, sunshine turning the standing remains of the south cloister a dusty […]


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Generative AI and medieval French poetry: a story in three parts

Almost 18 months after large language models first burst onto the scene, the furore surrounding generative AI shows no sign of abating. In this, the final blog post of the academic year, I’m emphatically not looking to take a decisive position in the debate surrounding the place of large language models in teaching, learning, and […]


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The story (and politics) of a murder

Late one night in November 1283, Walter Lechlade – who was then the precentor of Exeter cathedral – left his house to walk to the cathedral for a service. His house used to be exactly at the spot where the Exeter Cathedral School stands today. Walter finished the service of matins by 1:30am, and accordingly […]


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Don’t panic! Your sure-fire guide to reading a medieval manuscript

This year, thanks to funding from Exeter’s Education Incubator fund, 8 final-year students have been co-researching, with Sarah Hamilton and Stuart Pracy (in Archaeology and History) and Ellie Jones and Emma Laws (Exeter Cathedral’s Archivist and Librarian), one of the manuscripts in Exeter Cathedral Library. The aim of the project was to pilot a new, hands-on approach […]


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Meeting a medieval manuscript

This year, thanks to funding from Exeter’s Education Incubator fund, 8 final-year students have been co-researching, with Sarah Hamilton and Stuart Pracy (in Archaeology and History) and Ellie Jones and Emma Laws (Exeter Cathedral’s Archivist and Librarian), one of the manuscripts in Exeter Cathedral Library. The aim of the project was to pilot a new, hands-on approach […]


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Season’s greetings from the Medieval French Reading Group!

The Centre for Medieval Studies here at Exeter plays host to a number of reading groups. One of these, the Medieval French Reading Group, recently celebrated the end of term with a special session in which we explored a Christmas song from 13th-century England. The text itself (no. 148 in Ruth Dean and Maureen Boulton’s […]


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