Centre for Medieval Studies
We promote interdisciplinary study of the Middle Ages by bringing together specialists from several different subject areas to collaborate in research and graduate teaching.
Promoting interdisciplinary study of the Middle Ages by bringing together specialists from several different subject areas within Cardiff University to collaborate in research and graduate teaching.
We aim to promote interdisciplinary study of the Middle Ages, bringing together specialists from several different subject areas within the University to collaborate in high-quality research and graduate teaching. Members of the Centre include staff and postgraduate students from the Schools of History, Archaeology and Religious Studies, English, Communication and Philosophy and Welsh.
We run a regular programme of research seminars, providing a focus for collaboration and discussion as well as an opportunity to bring scholars to the University from overseas. Our academic and social events are open to, and well supported by, non-University medievalists in the region.
Academic staff
Dr Rob Gossedge
Dean of Undergraduate Studies for the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, Senior Lecturer
- gossedgera@cardiff.ac.uk
- +44 (0)29 2087 5618
Professor Helen Nicholson
Professor of Medieval History (Research Leave 2020/1)
- nicholsonhj@cardiff.ac.uk
- +44 (0)29 2087 4250
Professor Shaun Tougher
Professor of Late Roman and Byzantine History
- toughersf@cardiff.ac.uk
- +44 (0)29 2087 6228
Dr David Wyatt
Reader in Early Medieval History, Civic Mission and Innovation Lead
- wyattd1@cardiff.ac.uk
- +44 (0)29 2087 0404
Postgraduate students
CMS Seminar: “The English of a Dutch migrant community: the hatmakers of late medieval London”
Professor Ad Putter, University of Bristol
Tuesday 12 October at 17:30 via Zoom
This paper examines the remarkable bilingual manuscript remains of a community of Dutch-speaking hatmakers who lived and worked in late medieval London. They wrote down the ordinances of their craft in two languages, Dutch and English. This unique survival allows us to ask some interesting questions: where were they from? how good was their English? How well did they adapt to English handwriting? By looking at the content and the language of this document, I hope to provide some answers to these questions.
To request the Zoom link, please contact Dr Usha Vishnuvajjala at VishnuvajjalaU@cardiff.ac.uk
CMS Seminar: “Genre, Emotion, and Women’s Friendship in the Middle English Stanzaic Morte Arthur”
Dr Usha Vishnuvajjala, Cardiff University
Tuesday 2 November at 17:30 via Zoom
This talk explores the possibility of affinity and sympathy between two female characters the poem initially frames as rivals for the same man’s affections, Gaynor (Guinevere) and the Maid of Ascolot. I draw on the history of emotions, the study of medieval romance as a genre, and the poem’s manuscript context and French source to argue that Gaynor’s interaction with the Maid’s posthumous letter can be read as a moment of friendship, one that also serves as a critique of the poem’s male friendships.
To request the Zoom link, please contact Dr Usha Vishnuvajjala at VishnuvajjalaU@cardiff.ac.uk
CMS Seminar: “Chaucer and Arabic Science”
Dr Shazia Jagot, University of York
Tuesday 1 February 2022 at 17:30 (details to follow).
Henry Hoyn Lecture by Dr Lindy Brady, University College Dublin
Date and details to follow.