Anthony Bale FBA

Distinguished Lecture Series, 2025-26 Sem 2

Anthony Bale, Professor of Medieval & Renaissance English, University of Cambridge

Conflict, Novelty and Print: The Birth of News Writing in the West
Feb 5, 2026, 4PM (Thu)
HKU Black Box, Room 54, LG/F, Centennial Campus, HKU

The CFP for the Gender & Medieval Studies conference 2026 is now LIVE! The theme is Gender & Creativity. The conf will be held in Oxford, 8-10 Sept, abstracts due to me by 13 April. Full details on the GMS website (artwork by @hellomizk.bsky.social) medievalgender.co.uk/2026-oxford/

Defenceless under the night
Our world in stupor lies;
Yet, dotted everywhere,
Ironic points of light
Flash out wherever the Just
Exchange their messages:
May I, composed like them
Of Eros and of dust,
Beleaguered by the same
Negation and despair,
Show an affirming flame.

-W. H. Auden

Original version of medieval England’s ‘best-seller’ discovered The only surviving original version of one of late medieval England’s most popular works of literature reveals its secrets.

How did a Yorkshire hermit become more widely read than Geoffrey Chaucer?

Today, @churchofengland.org commemorates 14th-century writer Richard Rolle.

And thanks to an amazing discovery by Dr Timothy Glover, we now know much more about Rolle's life and work.

Find out more 👇
https://bit.ly/4sMcsoL

Lent 2026 Term Card for the Cambridge Medieval History Research Seminar. All sessions take place at 4pm in Sidgwick Lecture Block Room 5!

Had same problem last week and had to disregard a load of donations because past me hadn’t set up a notes thing on my phone, which present me has now done 😑

TOMORROW! @cam.ac.uk

Russia welcomes Trump's tariffs on NATO allies over Greenland as 'collapse' of alliance "The transatlantic alliance is over," Kremlin economic negotiator Kirill Dmitriev said.

⚡️ Russia welcomes Trump's tariffs on NATO allies over Greenland as 'collapse' of alliance.

"The transatlantic alliance is over," Kremlin economic negotiator Kirill Dmitriev said.

Creative Medievalism folks should check out the cfp below- short essays due 1 May. And keep your eyes peeled for the Gender & Medieval Studies conf cfp soon- this year’s topic is Gender & Creativity! (Conf will be in Oxford, in Sept).

Me and my creative-critical bestie Kristen Haas Curtis

My PowerPoint for my talk on my Beowulf and Margery Kempe poetry

Representing the Guild of Medievalist Makers

Kristen Haas Curtis’ amazing presentation

The Creative Medievalisms symposium organised by @realmandeville.bsky.social was an absolute BLAST ✨ @hellomizk.bsky.social & I had an amazing time, repping @guildmedmak.bsky.social and presenting on our creative-critical work 🎊 Thank you for inviting us, Anthony!

A PowerPoint slide showing an artwork by comic-maker Marnie Galloway, in which modern (digital) artists are presented as though they were scribe-artists in a medieval monastic scriptorium. The three modern-medieval figures are surrounded by mythical creatures and leafwork in a modern take on medieval manuscript art.

Comic-maker Kristen Haas Curtis stands at a lectern, looking towards a screen showing a PowerPoint slide. The bottom right quarter of the slide shows a pair of scissors, the blades of which are pointing towards Curtis's face in an alarming/amusing way that makes it seem as though the scissors are coming for her.

A screen showing a PowerPoint slide with images showing 12 pages from Isabel Davis, Conceiving Histories: Trying for Pregnancy, Past and Present (MIT Press, 2025). The images in the book are done by Anna Burel and they are analog/collage art. In the bottom right of the photo Isabel Davis is speaking at a lectern.

Laura Varnam (University College, University of Oxford) presenting her work which is projected on a PowerPoint slide on a screen behind her - the slide gives the title of her paper "Beowulf and Margery Kempe Poetry: Show and Tell".

Just had the most inspiring & invigorating couple of days @ Creative Medievalisms Now workshop @ Cambridge. Fiction, creative non-fiction, poetry, print-makers, comic-makers, film-makers, visual artists & more, all drawing on medieval sources. I spoke about my work & received so much in return ❤️

🔔 Lecture next week @girtoncollege.bsky.social: all welcome. Susan Maddock (@uniofeastanglia.bsky.social; Ex-Principal Archivist @norfolkro.bsky.social): '“Free from their husbands”: #MargeryKempe & other wives & widows in fifteenth-century Lynn.' Stanley Library, Girton College, 20th Jan, 5:30pm.

A compelling, heartfelt and urgent piece about venesection, blood, and the NHS by Clair Wills in @nybooks.com

A section of books in a display. At the center, in between a For Dummies Book and Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, is a book titled A Travel Guide to the Middle Ages by Anthony Bale.

Saw this in the wild at my local library @realmandeville.bsky.social

Birkbeck, University of London, is seeking a Lecturer in Medieval Studies to join our dynamic team within the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Autumn 2026. As Lecturer in Medieval Studies you will contribute to the teaching of Medieval English literature and Medieval history across the Faculty, within our School of Creative Arts, Culture and Communication, and School of Historical Studies - this includes our BA English and BA History programmes, as well as postgraduate taught programmes in the two subject areas. This post is offered on a permanent contract at Birkbeck, full time 35 hours per week, with a salary of £44,247 rising to £60,858 per year. Teaching hours will vary from 6pm - 9pm, Monday to Friday. To be successful, you will bring research expertise in the literature, history and culture of the Late Medieval period (c.1300-1500), and demonstrate a capacity to contribute to interdisciplinary research and teaching, participate actively in curriculum development, supervise doctoral students, and help shape the intellectual life of our vibrant academic community. We would also welcome applicants who would be able to contribute to collaborative teaching programmes or research in the Faculty, in areas such as identity, race/ethnicity, or gender - experience of collaboration with cultural institutions, whether through research or teaching, is also welcome. Core responsibilities will initially include programme/module administration, teaching, supervision, assessment, student support and pastoral care. You will also be equipped to supervise doctoral students. With a PhD in any area of Medieval Studies, you will contribute the Faculty’s and Schools’ research impact and culture, and to the intellectual and cultural life of the institution and the various communities and partners with whom we work and serve.

Birkbeck is hiring a Lecturer in Medieval Studies (c.1300-1500), full-time and open-ended.

They will be formally based in English but expected to be able to contribute about 0.5FTE to History, including teaching and supervision.

Closing date Feb 23rd: cis7.bbk.ac.uk/vacancy/lect...

The Guardian view on universities: Labour needs a clearer plan | Editorial Editorial: Ministers promised a ‘change of approach’, but their new tax could tip weaker institutions over the edge

'Despite all their difficulties, universities remain an enormous and irreplaceable national asset. As well as educating millions of people, they generate about £24bn in export earnings, which is about 1% of GDP – more than aircraft manufacturing and legal services combined'. 1/2

Amazing collections, lovely people. Come and spend a year doing research @theul.bsky.social @theulspeccoll.bsky.social

There's room for another historian (or anthropologist) at @girtoncollege.bsky.social !

3-year postdoc research fellowship, apply by 12 January!

www.girton.cam.ac.uk/job-vacancie...

copies of A Travel Guide to the Middle Ages by Anthony Bale and The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison in front of the OTB Alexandria City of Readers mural

goodbye old year, hello new books

Some of the faces of @chestercathedral.bsky.social

Chester Cathedral in Lego, in Chester Cathedral @chestercathedral.bsky.social

Recorrer Europa como un caballero medieval 🧭

"Guía de viajes por la Edad Media" de Anthony Bale entre los mejores ensayos para regalar estas Navidades recomendados en el especial del ABC ✍️

www.abc.es/cultura/cult...

#ÁticoHistoria

Creative Medievalisms Now: Writing the Middle Ages Today and Tomorrow A two-day symposium on creative writing, the creative-critical seam, and the Middle Ages

'Creative Medievalisms Now: Writing the Middle Ages Today and Tomorrow', forthcoming symposium at Cambridge. A two-day symposium for writer-researchers working on medieval materials to reflect on craft, research processes, and work in progress.
Booking essential: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/creative-m...

Vacancy: Assistant Professor of Celtic, with a specialism in Old Irish, University of Cambridge.

#MedievalSky

www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/assista...

Very welcome news today that the UK will join the Erasmus+ programme in 2027. This will enable greater opportunities for study abroad and contributions in UK universities, and is something we called for in our most recent Manifesto.

We are still accepting applications to the Neil Ker Memorial Fund 2026, open to both early career and established scholars of any nationality. Awards are tenable for a maximum of 12 months. Find out more and apply: https://bit.ly/4hO0Oo1

A copy of the 2012 Oxford World Classics edition of The Book of Marvels and Travels by Sir John Mandeville. Translated by Anthony Bale. The cover is an illustration of dog-headed people from a 1413 manuscript of the book.

"In Bactria there are more griffins than elsewhere...On his feet the griffin has long, large talons like ox-horns, and they are very sharp. From these talons people make drinking-cups, like we make bugles from horns, and from his ribs they make bows for archery."

Trans. @realmandeville.bsky.social

BBC Radio 4 - In Our Time, Margery Kempe and English Mysticism Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Margery Kempe, the medieval English mystic.

To celebrate Melvyn Bragg’s 27 years of 'In Our Time', five well-known fans chose their favourite episodes, and Girton Fellow Prof Anthony Bale features in one!

Author & columnist Caitlin Moran chose the episode on English medieval mystic Margery Kempe.
🎧 https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07cyfkg

I am very excited to speak alongside the alarmingly fantastic @cathamclarke.bsky.social, @realmandeville.bsky.social and @saracharles.bsky.social about the experience of writing a trade press book at #IMC2026, which is something I did not necessarily envisage myself doing!

BBC Radio 4 - In Our Time, Margery Kempe and English Mysticism Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Margery Kempe, the medieval English mystic.

Radio 4 is currently repeating this wonderful episode of In Our Time
BBC Radio 4 - Margery Kempe and English Mysticism share.google/9liBWxkcH4pC...