"Postgraduates Present" Colloquium Report

Posted on 13 May, 2009

The 2009 "Postgraduates Present" Colloquium was another great success.  

Tamsyn Rose-Steel, in her paper "The Use of Citation and the Vernacular in the Motets of the Roman de Fauvell" discussed the importance and purpose of the vernacular in the Roman de Fauvell, an examination that relied on both literary and musicological elements, in conjunction with a study of the manuscripts rich illuminations. This was followed by Diane Heath's case study of the "Bear" entry of Canterbury Cathedral Archives Lit. Ms D.10, in a paper entitled: "‘A beast, no more’: Doubts and the Transmission of Ideas in a Late Medieval English Bestiary". Comparing it to the same entry in other bestiaries, she revealed the process of copying - one that involved doubt as much as it did reverence for authority - and underlined the interest of studying lesser known manuscripts.  

The afternoon session saw the exploration of the historical and cultural context of the Life of St. Cuthbert, in James Paz' "Perception, Place and Power: The Anonymous Life of St Cuthbert and the Lindisfarne Gospels." In-depth analysis of the hagiography demonstrated the materialization of religious narrative and feeling in remote areas, through the writing of saints lives and the illustration of manuscripts such as the Lindisfarne Gospels. To conclude the papers, Daniel Thomas's "Prisons in Old English: Image and Reality" examined the Anglo-Saxon law codes in an attempt to understand whether prisons were in fact used in this period, and what they might have been. The day was successfully brought to a close by a discussion chaired by Pirkko Koppinen, which allowed all the postgraduates involved to share various aspects of their experience, especially around the issue of methodology.  

We also had occasion to be both delighted and sincerely saddened in celebrating the contribution and unfortunate departure of two stalwart members of the LMS: Pirkko Koppinen, out-going treasurer, and Gopa Roy, long-standing Secretary and heart of the Society for many years. They will be much missed, and it was our great pleasure to be able to honour them with cake (complete with image of the Alfred Jewel!), champagne, and speeches.

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