Medieval Colloquium

Welcome! 

Welcome to the Harvard English Department's Medieval Colloquium! The Colloquium brings together students and faculty from Harvard and other universities to discuss current research on medieval literature and its contexts. If you have any questions or suggestions, or would like to be added to the Medieval Colloquium's email list, please contact our graduate student coordinators Sofía Carbonell Realme and Fernanda Garcia-Oteyza.

 Stay tuned for upcoming events!

Harvard Medieval English Colloquium - Calendar of Events - Spring 2026

Thursdays at 5:00pm (unless otherwise noted)

Feb 5th: "Partial Persons and the Economy of Voice in the Prioress's Tale."  Julie Orlemanski, University of Chicago, Radcliffe Fellow 25-26. Barker 114.

Feb 26th: "Trauma, Land, and Lamentation in the Bookscapes of Early England." Matt Aiello, Harvard Society of Fellows. NOTE LOCATION CHANGE: Barker 103.

Mar 12th: “Fear of a Queer Magic: Venereal Fiction in De Planctu Naturae.” Kersti Francis, Boston University Society of Fellows. Barker 114.

March 26th: “Editing and Editions: A Workshop.” Paul Russell & Nicholas Watson, Harvard University. Barker 114.

April 9th: "Peter Damian, Richard Rolle, and Julian of Norwich: Asceticism and the Impaired Christ." Amy Appleford, Boston University. Barker 114. A cosponsored event with the English Renaissance Graduate Colloquium.

May 1st: A Graduate Work-in-Progress Conference in Honor of Daniel Donoghue 

On Friday, May 1, 2026, from 9.00-2.00, the English Medieval Colloquium is hosting a graduate work-in-progress conference in Barker 211, in celebration of Daniel Donoghue's thirty-nine years (and counting!) as a Harvard faculty member. Program and schedule below:

9.00: Coffee and pastries

Session 1. 9.15-10.15

Avantika Kumar, Patterning Identity: The Visual Poetry of Cambridge CCC 326

Ahmed Seif, After “The Tearing” and Before it: How a Ripped Legal “Pardon” Shaped Langland’s Torn Critics

Session 2. 10.30-11:45

Emily Sun, Unlocking Arcestrate: Exile, Enigma, and Spolia in the Old English Apollonius of Tyre

Anna Suh, The Sea and the Abyss: An Elemental Approach to Mystical Literature

Fernanda Garcia-Oteyza, TBD

Session 3. 12.00-1.00

Sage Doane, Fear or Intimacy: The Poetics of the Grave in Late Medieval Britain 

Sofía Carbonell-Realme, Beds and Tombs: Staging Glamour in the Lais of Marie de France

1.00-2.00: Lunch and Cake (pre-registered only; email Prof Watson or Prof Wilson)

Medieval Studies at Harvard

The Standing Committee on Medieval Studies is a great place to start for resources in interdisciplinary medieval studies at Harvard. Here, you can:

• • View current medieval studies course offerings at Harvard

  • Learn about the Secondary PhD Field in Medieval Studies

  • View a calendar of upcoming events in medieval studies in and around Boston, including meetings of the Harvard Humanities Center Medieval Studies Seminar, which meets on Mondays at 4:15 pm

Inter Libros offers a great overview of electronic resources available for scholars in medieval studies; for more electronic resources, see below.

Houghton Library holds a wealth of incredible medieval manuscripts and related materials. Don't miss their collection of Digital Medieval Manuscripts, and be sure to check out their Search Strategies for locating other manuscripts in the collection.