Dr Aisling Reid reports on her recent trip to Italy and her research into the pilgrims and Sacri Monti of Piedmont and Lombardy. In canto fifteen of the Inferno, Dante encounters the author Brunetto Latini, who asks him how he has come to find this place and who it is that guides him on his […]
Category: Research
Exhibition – ‘Scholar, courtier, magician: The Lost Library of John Dee’
London, Royal College of Physicians. ‘Scholar, courtier, magician: The Lost Library of John Dee’ I’ve been researching Dee for nearly 4 years now, from MA to PhD, so it was not without some trepidation that I read the announcement of an exhibition of his life and books. What if this led me down an entirely […]
Medieval Cultures Seminar Programme
Literacy and Print in Early Modern Germany and England
MA student Scott Eaton discusses the relationship between literacy and print in the Early Modern period… Over the past two centuries world literacy rates have increased dramatically thanks to widespread education (for useful interactive graphs click here). For example, from 1450 to 1550, literacy rates in Germany and Britain climbed from 7% to around […]
What are the challenges of recovering the late medieval / early modern understanding of witchcraft?
Scott Eaton, MA student in the School of History, reports on the challenges he faces while researching his MA Dissertation topic… In today’s world we often think of a witch as an ugly old woman who keeps a black cat as a pet, wears a large crooked hat and cloak, and often flies across the […]
Inquisition in Palermo’s Prison
Final year PhD student Aisling Reid reports on her recent research trip to Palermo, Italy. Inquisition in Palermo’s Prison Palermo’s Piazza Marina is filled with Moreton Bay fig trees, some standing at heights of sixty metres (fig. 1). The seeds of these trees germinate in the canopy of a host tree, which is slowly strangled […]
Norwich’s 1345 Charter
Queen’s PhD student at the School of History and Anthropology Robin McCallum discusses the significance of the 1345 charter granted to the city of Norwich A royal charter was one of the most prized possessions a medieval town could receive from the king. In essence, they granted the townsmen economic, jurisdictional and administrative liberties in […]
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