Postcards from the Archives

Women's Literary Culture Before the Conquest

Witness for the Prosecution? MS Sloane 3103 Takes the Stand

© British Library Board. London, British Library, Sloane MS 3103, f. 3v by Diane Watt In textual criticism a manuscript is referred to as a ‘witness’ because it provides evidence concerning the history and transmissions of a literary work that can be used, at least in theory, to reconstruct an authentic or original text. The courtroom connotations […]


Anglo-Saxon Studies at IMC#25: Looking Back, Looking Forward (#s401)

By Catherine Clarke, University of Southampton   This guest post is a write-up of the Anglo-Saxon Studies round table at Leeds this year, which I organised and chaired with my ‘Anglo-Saxon Studies Strand Co-ordinator’ hat on. There’s also a great discussion on Twitter, using hashtag #s401. Thanks to all who participated, in the room and […]


Scorched, Preserved, Erased: Manuscripts Connected to Christina of Markate and her Priory

  © British Library Board. London, British Library, MS Cotton Tiberius E.I, volume 2, fol. 167v. by Diane Watt One of the challenges of the project ‘Women’s Literary Culture Before the Conquest’ is that many manuscripts related to early medieval women are scattered across Britain and Europe, and some are found even further afield. Books […]


Forthcoming Event: ‘Anglo-Saxon Studies at IMC #25’, International Medieval Congress, University of Leeds, Monday 2 July,19.00-20.00.

‘Anglo-Saxon Studies at IMC #25: Looking Back, Looking Forward’ Organiser and Chair: Catherine A. M. Clarke (Southampton) Participants: Stewart J. Brookes (Cambridge), Megan Cavell (Birmingham), Peter Darby (Nottingham), Adam Miyashiro (Stockton, New Jersey), Jenny Neville (Royal Holloway), Daniel Thomas (Oxford), Diane Watt (Surrey). Sponsor: Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Culture, University of Southampton This round […]


Anglo-Saxon Women Writers and their Manuscripts in the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek.

By Diane Watt, University of Surrey  Hugeburc’s name is hidden in a cipher in Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Codex latinus monacensis (Clm) 1086, fol. 71v. CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. The project Women’s Literary History before the Conquest identifies early authors whose position as foremothers in the canon of English women’s writers has been overlooked for too long. Two of the most […]