Exeter Medieval Studies Blog

In category: Discussion


Looking back on the ‘Medieval Warhorse’ project

With the conclusion of the ‘Warhorse’ project, regular contributor Oliver Creighton looks back on its findings – and forward, to a forthcoming book launch.


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Turning my thesis into a picture book

Camille Vo Van Qui, a recent PhD graduate from the Centre, shares her experience of producing an altogether-less-common research output.


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‘Bardcore’: ‘medieval’ music for modern ears

Medieval music doesn’t typically occupy a prominent place on the Radio 1 Breakfast Show. Nevertheless, a couple of weeks ago saw an unexpected collision of the two, as a discussion of new acoustic music by Sam Fender (55:10 in the link) veered sideways into questions about what the artist’s ‘medieval’ name would be. During this […]


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Public engagement: medieval worlds and modern audiences

This week’s post is comes from Dr. Catherine Rider, a longstanding member of the Centre (and one of the forces behind the inception of this very blog). Catherine is well-known in the Centre for her public engagement work, but what does this sort of work actually involve (besides purchasing Post-It notes)? She offered to help […]


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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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