Ben Schofield

Dr Steffan Davies stands in front of a PowerPoint outlining community events in the German Department at Bristol

It’s Welcome Week in the School of Modern Languages and we are truly delighted to welcome our incoming first year students studying German with us! And yes, the German Department is on Bluesky! Join and follow us here for all our news and community events!!

lecture theatre with empty seats

Welcome (back) to all our brand new students and returning students. We look very much forward to meeting our new first first year students this Friday during our welcome talk. We have reserved the seats below for you 😃

Abgebildet ist das Buch mit dem Titel „Homo contractualis. Regime und Romantik des Vertrags um 1800“, erschienen bei Konstanz University Press, auf dem Cover ist die Siegelung eines Ehevertrags aus der Zeit um 1800 zu sehen.

Es hat etwas länger gedauert… Aber jetzt ist es/er da! Der „Homo contractualis“👇Es geht um die Entstehung des modernen Vertrags und seine Konjunktur auch jenseits des Rechts: von der Selbstorganisation und Kommunikation bis zu den Liebesträumen des modernen Menschen

Rue Rue Jo Cox, Députée Britannique, a street sign in Burgundy reads, Assassinée pour ses convictions. No British road is named after her, I found on returning home, for fear it could have proved controversial. I remembered in Shakespeare rue even for ruth, called 'herb of grace' because it was used in exorcisms, by the angel to clean Adam's eyes, and Gulliver back home for his nose against the smell of his countrymen.

I think about this poem by Ian Duhig — about Jo Cox, the Labour MP assassinated by a man shouting ‘Britain first’ — every day at the moment. No other contemporary poet has looked so clearly at the political reality of the far right as a minority who must always be appeased

Finding out about the knob on the bottle return machine where you can hang your bag has been a revolutionary technology in my life

9 years ago we queered German History.

I won't share pictures of people in a demo that was banned for the security of the protesters (just saying) but it's BEAUTIFUL to see so much people in Budapest 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️🤩

Happening today! Our second webinar for the ACTFL German SIG - "Teaching with and against the Canon" with Didem Uca! #LangChat Register here: my.actfl.org/SIG_WEBINAR_...

It is less than two weeks until our project conference, kindly hosted by @ucl-ias.bsky.social. If you’d like to join in the conversation, do register for a free place.

@sarahbowdenkcl.bsky.social @uclhistory.bsky.social
@lvhicks.bsky.social @davidpetts1.bsky.social @tostig1066.bsky.social

Two student representatives and one colleague in the department of German stand in front of a banner stating “University of Bristol, Department of German, School of Modern Languages”.

It was wonderful to welcome so many prospective students to the German stand at today’s Open Day in the School of Modern Languages at the University of Bristol! It’s always so inspiring to hear all about your passion for studying German at university! #German #ModernLanguages #ShoutOutForGerman

A screenshot of a league table, showing the German Department at the University of Bristol in 4th place in the UK. To the left a green arrow indicates the department has climbed one space, and to the right the overall score of 94% is shown.

We’re absolutely delighted that the German Department at the University of Bristol has been ranked 4th in the United Kingdom in the 2026 Complete University Guide, with a score of 94%! #German #ModernLanguages

Collection of stickers, flyers, business cards, and letter.

Today is the last day at the NEH for me and many of my amazingly dedicated colleagues. We did our best to represent & serve the American people. To champion humanities research, teaching, public engagement, cultural heritage, infrastructure, and innovation.

Sign the Petition Stop cuts to Modern Languages at Bangor University

Welsh universities have always been centres of excellence in languages, German in particular - no more, it seems.

Cardiff is ditching excellent courses in German, Italian and Portuguese, and now Bangor is proposing the same for German and Chinese. Please sign / share the petition.

Sign the Petition Stop cuts to Modern Languages at Bangor University

Stop cuts to Modern Languages at Bangor University

👉Sign the petition: chng.it/K2zRY6Jqqt
👉Share the petition with family/friends/networks.
👉Send emails outlining your objections. For details and templates visit the website: www.stopcutsinmlatbangor.uk/home/

It’s Pride Month! Use your super-gay voice and audacity to fight for your trans and non-binary siblings! Dance, of course, and slay, but the time for fighting is now.

We are thrilled that Susan Harrow has been appointed Deputy Chair of the Modern Languages & Linguistics Sub-Panel in REF 2029.
Susan writes: 'At this challenging time for the UK humanities, it is more important than ever to champion research across the full spectrum of our dynamic disciplines.'

Susan Harrow becomes General Editor of Legenda Susan Harrow, Professor of French at the University of Bristol, succeeds Jonathan Long as the new General Editor of Legenda.

We are pleased to announce that Susan Harrow, Professor of French at the University of Bristol, is the new General Editor of Legenda. Legenda is the MHRA’s book imprint for new research in the Humanities with titles ranging from medieval texts to contemporary cinema. www.mhra.org.uk/news/2025/05...

The image shows a blue book with the title Narrative Universes of Disability: Global Perspectives, edited by Someshwar Sati, Shilpa Das and Banibrata Mahanta. The publisher is Springer.

If you want to find out about the first German translation of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and the subject of translating disability, my chapter on this has just been published in the book Narrative Universes of Disability. It includes a great image of Frankenstein's creature reading Werther.

Conference: Landscapes of Sanctity in the Medieval World A two-day conference exploring the multiple ways in which saints and their cults are connected to landscape, both as physical reality and as experienced and constructed in cultural memory and imaginat...

Just over 5 weeks until our project conference 'Landscapes of Sanctity', kindly hosted by @ucl-ias.bsky.social.

Details of the programme and how to register for your free place: www.ucl.ac.uk/institute-of...

@uclhistory.bsky.social @kingsartshums.bsky.social @sarahbowdenkcl.bsky.social

Oswald did make it almost as far as Verona - the church at Cerro Veronese dates from C14th - but Oswald’s cult appears to have been most successful in the mountains and didn’t take hold on the northern Italian plains. #OswaldHunting

We are truly delighted that the 20-year anniversary edition of the historical sociolinguistics network conference is taking place at the University of Bristol from 21 to 23 May 2025. It’s being run by our own Dr Anna Havinga (German) and Dr James Hawkey (Hipla) #HiSoN

hison2025.blogs.bristol.ac.uk

Mountain chair lift against rocky background

Any other saints from the British Isles got a ski lift named after them? ⛷️ #OswaldHunting

Today’s church (No. 10) stands at 2220m. St Oswald under the Ifinger mountain was 1st mentioned in 1447 in connection with a dispute about grazing rights. The current chapel dates from 1879 as the earlier building (which was even higher up) was destroyed by a lightning strike. #OswaldHunting

View of the church at Sankt Oswald near Kastelruth with mountains scenery

Wall painting showing Oswald kneeling before battle (damaged)

Keystone depicting Oswald holding a sceptre and wearing a crown with a raven

Oswald church number 9 at Sankt Oswald near Kastelruth was an absolute stunner! On a C13th keystone we found our earliest raven and there were also wall paintings from c.1450 showing Oswald kneeling before battle. Exciting to find a raven together with a scene from Bede. #OswaldHunting

View of Oswald wall-painting in context

Close up of fresco from c.1370 depicting Oswald wearing royal robes, holding a sceptre and with a raven holding a ring perched on one of his hands

View across vineyard towards S. Magdalena

Today in Bozen we visited a former castle chapel dedicated to Oswald, the foundations of an Oswald church that was destroyed by allied bombing in 1943, and - the highlight - a C14th wall-painting depicting Oswald with his raven in the little church of S. Magdalena in Prazöll. #OswaldHunting

Wall painting depicting the Iwein story

View of Rodenegg Castle with irises in foreground

Distant view of Rodenegg Castle

Interior courtyard of Rodenegg Castle

We had a day off Oswald hunting to visit Rodenegg Castle and see the extraordinary frescoes of Hartmann von Aue’s Iwein legend. Dating from c.1220, they are the earliest non-religious wall paintings in the German-speaking world.

Landscapes of Sanctity in Sankt Oswald C16th Church of St Oswald in Sankt Oswald (Gemeinde Bad Kleinkirchheim) There has been a religious building dedicated to St Oswald in this small valley in the Nock Mountains since some time before …

New on our blog: Landscapes of Sanctity in Sankt Oswald

oswaldusrex.co.uk/2025/05/16/l...

Don’t think Bede would even recognise alpine Oswald…
#OswaldHunting

Very exciting new book out! #medievalsky

Nearly as exciting as all the Oswalding: new book out now! Writing Sin in the German Lands, 1050-1215 global.oup.com/academic/pro...