Exeter Medieval Studies Blog

In category: Reviews


Honouring Nicholas Orme

A new book, Education and Religion in Medieval & Renaissance England, honours our colleague, Emeritus Professor Nicholas Orme, for his outstanding contribution to the study of cultural and religious life in medieval England which has spanned the six decades since he first arrived at Exeter as a lecturer. Nicholas’ research interests have ranged wide, from […]


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Conference Report: the Ecclesiastical History Society Conference 2017

Last week I went to the annual summer conference of the Ecclesiastical History Society, which was held here in Exeter.  This year’s theme was Churches and Education, and it attracted a large turnout from scholars working on all periods, from the early church to the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.   The president of the EHS this […]


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Leeds Report 2017

The annual International Medieval Congress hosted by the University of Leeds in July (and known affectionately as the ‘IMC’ or ‘Leeds’) is the highlight of the European medieval calendar – and this year saw a particularly large number of Exonian intellectual pilgrims make the journey north. The theme of the 2017 congress was ‘Otherness’, which […]


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Anchorites, Monks and Medievalists: A Day Trip to Haselbury Plucknett and Forde Abbey

What better way to celebrate the end of exam marking at Exeter than to spend a summer’s day wandering around medieval sites in the Southwest? On 1 June, two PhD students and I took a day trip to the parish church at Haselbury Plucknett in Somerset and Forde Abbey in Dorset. The main reason for […]


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The Feast of Orme

Wednesday 29th March saw medievalists from across the University and the city gather for the climax of the Medieval Studies calendar in Exeter. This annual day of events, generously sponsored by Prof. Nicholas Orme, has long included both a postgraduate seminar in the afternoon and, in the evening, the public Orme Lecture. This year, however, […]


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Rendering unto Caesar…: Tithes and Lordship in the Middle Ages

The following is a review of John Eldevik’s Episcopal Power and Ecclesiastical Reform in the German Empire (CUP, 2012). It was originally produced for an online review platform; but, since it never appeared, it is now ‘published’ here in lightly revised format. One of the most fraught issues in the study of the Middle Ages […]


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Video Game Medievalism Part I: 2016 in Review

2016 has had its fair share of popular medievalism in the media. However, for video game medievalism in particular, this year has been one of record-smashing and new frontiers. From the blockbuster cinema experience of Warcraft: The Beginning bringing in over $400 million (making it the most successful video game franchise film of all time) […]


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“Feeling ready to kill some Saxons!”

On 14 October 1066 one of the most renowned battles in Britain was fought between William, Duke of Normandy, and Harold, King of England, near the town of Hastings. This October, 950 years later, I and over 1000 re-enactors from all over the world, attended the anniversary event organized by English Heritage at Battle Abbey. […]


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Douglas Fairbanks, Robin Hood, and the Scop-Knopping Past

On Friday night I attended a screening of the 1922 film Robin Hood at the Barbican Centre in London. In addition to bringing a silent cinema classic back to the big screen, the event also showcased Neil Brand’s rousing new score for the film, which was performed live by the BBC Symphony Orchestra. The new […]


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