Topic description and stories

Minstrel playing music and women dancing, from Bodleian Library MS Bodl-264, 00216, fol-97v

'Bawdy bard' manuscript reveals medieval roots of British comedy

31 May 2023

An unprecedented record of medieval live comedy performance has been identified in a 15th-century manuscript. Raucous texts – mocking kings, priests...

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National Library of Ireland, Manuscript G11 403a10. Image, Irish Scripts on Screen www.isos.dias.ie

Lost Irish words rediscovered, including the word for ‘oozes pus'

30 Aug 2019

Researchers from Cambridge and Queen’s University Belfast have identified and defined 500 Irish words, many of which had been lost, and unlocked the...

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Image from a 14th century manuscript of the Romance of the rose, one of the best-known texts of the Middle Ages

Conquering a continent: how the French language circulated in Britain and medieval Europe

22 Jan 2014

A 13th-century manuscript of Arthurian legend once owned by the Knights Templar is one of the star attractions of a new exhibition opening today at...

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The Searcher, a statue of CS Lewis by sculptor, Ross Wilson, at Holywood Arches Library in Belfast

CS Lewis: 50 years after his death a new scholarship will honour his literary career

08 Nov 2013

CS Lewis, creator of some of the most-loved children’s stories and also a scholar of medieval and early modern literature, died half a century ago on...

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