Smiths, Myths, and Viking Age Stones
In this lecture, Professor Williams will be examining depictions of smiths from Norse mythology on Viking Age stones in the British Isles, as well as on rune-stones and picture-stones from Scandinavia.
The Globalised World of the Middle Ages: An archaeologist’s view
This talk outlines how archaeologists can reveal the globalised world, with examples from medieval West Africa and the Indian Ocean. What can objects tell us about how our ancestors engaged with their immediate world, and the world beyond?
Norse North Atlantic Textiles and Textile Production: A Reflection of Adaptive Strategies in Unique Island Environments
Textile production was a key industry for the Norse colonies of the North Atlantic during the late Viking and Medieval period.
Petrified Powers: Materials, Forms, and Theories of Medieval Islamic Talismans
Persis Berlekamp is working on Islamic talismans created in the 12th to 15th centuries, focusing on objects from the Seljuk, Mongol and Timurid milieux.
Landscape, Maternal Space, And Child Exposure In The Sagas Of Icelanders
A survey of these episodes, then, suggests that maternal space in the sagas reasserts itself generally—and particularly reasserts itself onto the northern landscape—during instances of child exposure, where this mode of attempted infanticide takes on a variant meaning in Northern societies than it would from more Southern ones.
Depictions of Combat in Medieval Art: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Video of a paper given by James Hester at the 2016 IMC
Who Is the Historian?
How do historians bring past events to life and why is their role so important in society?
The Modern Invention of the Medieval Executioner
We all know the hooded, ominous figure of the medieval hangman, but in fact that image owes much more to nineteenth-century imaginations than to any historical reality.
Tea and Other Decoctions for ‘Nourishing Life’ in Medieval China
Professor Benn examines one significant way in which tea, a relatively new beverage in Tang-dynasty China, was first consumed and understood, alongside other decoctions intended to promote health and wellness.
Negotiating the Sacred: Byzantium, Venice and the True Cross in Late Medieval Venice
Dr. Klein’s lecture about art, faith and politics in late medieval Venice.
Art as data: Studying corpses by drawing them
This paper addresses the potentials of treating art as data, drawing examples from my current research on corpse positioning in early Anglo-Saxon England.
Archaeological Landscapes and Digital Geography
Dominic Powlesland discusses the evolution of archaeological computing for research and publication: was it worth it? has it changed the past? could it have been done without the silicon chip?
Goodbye to the Vikings
Vladimir Polach talks about how scholars are researching the Vikings.
VIDEO: Female Sufis in the Medieval Period
Dr. Lloyd Ridgeon talks about the role of Sufi women in the medieval period. Ridgeone examines positive and negative portrayals of Sufi women in a wide range of texts.
Feasting the Alexander Romance: Dr. Benjamin Garstad – RAVEN 2016
A talk about the famous tale of Alexander the Great’s exploits, The Alexander Romance. The story was retold in numerous versions, and many different languages, from the fourth to the sixteenth centuries and was a popular romance during the Middle Ages.
The Cathedral and the City
Another fantastic talk. Professor Caroline Bruzelius talks to us about medieval art, architecture, and the role of the cathedral in Medieval society.
Cultural Exchange in the Languages and Literatures of Medieval Spain
Professor David Wacks’s fascinating discussion of the Iberian Peninsula and it’s incredible linguistic heritage.
The Silk Roads: Questioning the Eurocentric View of History
Dr Peter Frankopan is a historian at Oxford University, where he is a Senior Research Fellow at Worcester College, Oxford and Director of the Oxford Centre for Byzantine Research. During this lecture he will talk about his best selling book The Silk Roads.
Amorous encounters in Medieval French chess
The question I want to look at today is how chess is used in presenting these questions of love, of the amorous encounter, of the meeting between two people and the potential for feelings the might result from it.
Functions of Chess in Medieval French Literature
Edward Mills examines the functions of the game of chess in medieval French literary culture.
Magna Carta, the Rule of Law, and the Limits on Government
This paper surveys the legal tradition that links Magna Carta with the modern concepts of the rule of law and the limits on government.
A Tale of too Many Romes: Competing Byzantine and Medieval Claims to Roman Legacy
Likewise in the Middle Ages, Rome’s legacy was contested among many powers and interested parties. The eastern (Byzantine) and western (German) emperors insisted that each was the sole legitimate owner of the title ‘Emperor of the Romans.’
The Seafarers’ Saint: Medieval Representations of St Nicholas in the North Sea Area
The cult of St Nicholas was spread in Scandinavia in the last decades of the 11th and the first decades of the 12th centuries. Because the medieval cult of saints was not limited to the liturgy of the saints themselves, but was a wider social phenomenon.
Great Wonders: The Great Walls of China
This talk will examine these Great Chinese Walls from the perspectives of their contemporary and later observers, foreign and Chinese, advocates and critics.