Knowledge Orders before Modernity

The inimitable @drdavidrundle.bsky.social introduces @laurajcleaver.bsky.social who is about to discuss the medieval manuscripts of Narcissus Marsh's Library in Dublin. @ies-sas.bsky.social @senatehouselib.bsky.social

💡 What if the medieval-modern divide is less clear cut than we think? At this Centre for Late Antique and Medieval Studies talk on 12 November, @klavezzo.bsky.social analyses links between the past and present through exploration of Stuart Hall and J.R.R. Tolkein's relationship 👇 buff.ly/PcbkpvT

Our next seminar will be this Wednesday, 28 Oct., with Rob Gallagher (@hwaetspur.bsky.social) speaking to us on 'Rethinking Literary Activity in Ninth-Century England'. All welcome! Please register here. *NB we are not in our usual room: find us in Room 243, Second Floor, Senate House (South Block)*

Don’t miss the next London Medieval Society colloquium, featuring one of our PhD students, Elenor Robins! #MedievalSky

🚨Free public lecture on the Norman Conquest @sas-news.bsky.social @ies-sas.bsky.social @ihr.bsky.social on November 12. Book now to hear Dr Mark Hagger explore the impact of 1066 on Britain. 👇 #BayeuxTapestry #YearOfTheNormans #Millenium www.sas.ac.uk/news-events/...

Conference alert! “Sowing the Seeds VIII”, a two-day conference about medieval economic history organised by Spike Gibbs and @jordanclaridge.bsky.social, will take place on Thursday 5th and Friday 6th November across LSE and King’s. Full programme and registration details here ☟ #MedievalSky

Validation and Valediction: bonaelitterae.wordpress.com/2026/10/23/v...

This afternoon, the final Knowledge Orders cohort visited the Canterbury Cathedral Archives with @bbombi.bsky.social and @hwaetspur.bsky.social to view some beautiful 8th- through 15th-century charters, letters, and papal confirmations. Thanks to @leverhulme.ac.uk for making this trip possible!

This coming Tuesday, 27 October, we will be hearing about this exciting project and exhibition @marshslibrary.bsky.social from all those involved at the London Palaeography Seminar - come and join us, in person or online (5:30pm GMT). Register here: ies.sas.ac.uk/news-events/...

Fascinating thread about becoming a palaeographer (featuring our programme directors)! 🧵☟

Very pleased to have worked on this fascinating group of finds with the wonderful @francescatinti.bsky.social , and thanks to the comms team @cam.ac.uk for putting together the release. www.cam.ac.uk/stories/angl...

Thank you to KOM deputy director @bbombi.bsky.social @memsunikent.bsky.social for sharing your papal diplomatics research with the final Knowledge Orders cohort today! It was a pleasure to learn about the transformation of papal documents and their production.

Last week, we welcomed the final cohort of @leverhulme.ac.uk Knowledge Orders postgraduates from King’s College London and the University of Kent to London. Thank you to Julia Crick and @bbombi.bsky.social for facilitating the introduction! Looking forward to an exciting year of research 📚

Congratulations to Julia Crick, one of our directors, on this award for her research on the Exon Domesday book with C. P. Lewis and the late Stephen Baxter. From the judging panel: “The extent of the research is breathtaking [...] a real tour de force relevant to all Domesday scholars”!

Something for anyone interested in 15th-century England and Europe. 7 scholars will speak, with a focus on the book trade, material culture in big cities, political news reports and the travelling of information, the agency of religious women, and manuscript studies. #MedievalSky #SkyStorians

Huge shoutout to @drdavidrundle.bsky.social, one of our KOM directors, working alongside @tamarajatkin.bsky.social, on their fascinating research uncovering the range of literature enjoyed by citizens of medieval Guernsey. Many congratulations! #MedievalSky #SkyStorians #Manuscripts #Fragments

Tell me what you know about the literary culture of medieval Guernsey, then read this article with some exciting #manuscript #fragment news. What has made this such fun is collaborating with Guernsey's archivists and the ever-excellent @tamarajatkin.bsky.social : www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

Our doctoral student Anisia Iacob participated recently in the YRI summer school organised by PCPS.ce in Tallinn, Estonia. It included training in the digital study of early modern translation, AntConc strategies for historical research, bibliographic data analysis. #medievalsky #phd

Tomorrow morning our phd student Will Matthews will be presenting at @imc-leeds.bsky.social on 'The Origins and Development of the Cult of Fremund', in the 9am panel 'Saintly Anachronisms: New Work on the Cults of Saints from Early England', chaired by Prof. Rosalind Love. #imc #medievalsky

Our doctoral student Catherine Dehaut will be speaking tomorrow at Leeds IMC @imc-leeds.bsky.social on 'Sanctorum nominum festivitas: Martyrologies and the Sanctoral Cycle in the Latin West' in session 726 - 'Feast and Festivities in the Early Middle Ages, I: Connecting Sources.' #IMC26 #medievalsky

There are just 2 weeks left to apply for our final award! One fully-funded Master’s Plus studentship is available for low-income and/or ethnic minority home applicants at Uni of Kent or KCL, and will fund the applicant through their MA and PhD. royalhistsoc.org/calendar/kno... #cfa #phd #medieval

Early this month our first year cohort and profs. Julia Crick and @drdavidrundle.bsky.social visited Dr Eugenio Donadoni, specialist in western manuscripts at Christie's London, who spoke fascinatingly and showed us some gorgeous manuscripts under the hammer this summer.

Huge congratulations to Marie Trenchant, a KCL PHD whose essay 'Reassessing Documentary Culture in Monastic Communities: The Case of a Largescale Project of Manuscript Production at Burton Abbey' won a prize from the Pipe Roll Society and will appear in the next issue of Thirteenth Century England.

CFP: Sowing the Seeds VIII: a Workshop for Early Career Medieval Economic and Social Historians × 13th Annual Conference of the Research Group for Late Medieval Economic History 5–6 Nov 2026. The conference theme is political economy, broadly interpreted. Full details: www.lse.ac.uk/economic-his...

Dr Anthony Harvey on the Medieval Irish History Podcast had a fascinating discussion of the development of the Latin language in Ireland, with particular reference to Patrick and his writings. Listen to the podcast here: open.spotify.com/episode/3ffC...

Last Wednesday our first year cohort visited Winchester College, where they saw many wonderful things, including medieval chests and documents in the muniments tower. As part of the trip they also found time to visit the Cathedral. Huge thanks to James Willoughby and his colleagues for welcoming us.

Adrienne Green, a 1st year KOM doctoral students, will be presenting her stylometric research on Chaucer's Canterbury Tales and William of Palerne at the 3rd online Computational Literary Studies research seminar at 17:00 on 25 March 2026. Thanks as always to @leverhulme.ac.uk for funding our work.

Last Wednesday the full KOM cohort had a hybrid workshop at which 7 of our number gave short presentations on aspects of their research in a format designed to emulate a conference. Many thanks to Prof. Julia Crick and @bbombi.bsky.social for organising, and to @leverhulme.ac.uk for their support.

There are 6 spaces remaining for a fascinating looking workshop on Arabic calligraphy on 24 March at KCL. 'Get ready to dive into the world of creativity by learning the expressive capacities of Arabic letters with Jasmina Bolfek-Radovani.' (from the booking site) libcal.kcl.ac.uk/event/4503803

Many thanks to Dr Daniel Starza Smith for a brilliantly engaging workshop today on letterlocking. We all hugely enjoyed learning how to fold, tuck and adhere our own letters. Thank you Prof. Julia Crick and @drdavidrundle.bsky.social for organising and @leverhulme.ac.uk for making this possible!

And the news is... We're recruiting! Applications are now open for our 2026 @leverhulme.ac.uk Doctoral Scholarships. So, if you want to study at PhD level pre-modern handwritten cultures and the organisation of knowledge and power within them, do investigate our refreshed website.

Tomorrow, we at the @leverhulme.ac.uk-funded Knowledge Orders before Modernity Doctoral Programme will have some exciting news for you... Keep those eyes peeled.

This past Monday, part of our #komldsp students had a workshop on vernacular manuscripts at @lampallib.bsky.social with Prof. @etreharne.bsky.social (Stanford University). This programme is possible because of @leverhulme.ac.uk #leverhulme #manuscripts #workshop

All that glitters...this wonderful description of Tudor jewels can be found in a book of expenses of Princess Mary💎 Learn to read Early Modern handwriting in our 2-week online course (16-27 June) Apply here: imemsdurhamlearn.com/early-modern... @britishlibrary.bsky.social Royal MS 17 B XXVIII

The involvement of #Armenian women in manuscript production is visible in decorated margins & closing colophons—where they appear as commissioners, sponsors, scribes, illuminators, commemorators, intercessors, teachers, & witnesses. Dr. Ani Shahinian shares some examples: hmml.org/stories/seri...

There's still time to join the London Palaeography Seminar's final meeting of this academic year here: ies.sas.ac.uk/events/corpu... Machine Learning, Scribal Profiling and the Dating and Localisation of Manuscripts Containing Old English, w/ @markfaulkner24.bsky.social & @elimagnanti.bsky.social

Don't forget there's still time to join this! #palaeography #london #seminar #medieval

Congratulations to medievalist Prof David Carpenter for making this marvelous discovery. A previously believed copy of the Magna Carta is, in fact, genuine! Read more here: www.bbc.com/news/article...

Next London Palaeography Seminar: Changing the Script: Oxford, Bodleian Library MS Tanner 10, Scribal Stints and the Question of Norms in Early 10th Century Manuscripts, 21 May 2025 (online and in person) with Sharon Rowley (Christopher Newport University, VA) ies.sas.ac.uk/events/chang...

Attend online: Épinal-Erfurt Glossary Colloquium: "Early Latin–Old English Glossaries" - May 31-31 www.medieval.utoronto.ca/events/%C3%A...

Our cohort is still welcoming MA+ students! Applications are still open (UK students only). Check out the application process here together with deadlines and more info on this brilliant opportunity: www.komldsp.org.uk/ma-scholarsh...