Who had a say in making decisions about the natural world, when, how and to what end? How were rights to natural resources established? How did communities handle environmental crises? And how did dealing with the environment have an impact on the power relations in communities?

Lecture, Research Seminar Medieval and Early Modern History

The University of Trento hosts the biennial conference of the International Reynard Society, taking place on September 25-28 2024. Deadline for paper/session submissions: December 31.

How did institutions and structures operate throughout the Muslim world from the earliest history of Islam into the early modern period?

A workshop is organized at St John's College, Oxford, on September 23-24. The workshop aims to bring together medievalists of all disciplines to discuss the research and teaching of ‘difficult’ or ‘taboo’ topics. The organizers welcome applications from scholars working in any field that demands sensitivity…

On May 23 and 24, a masterclass is organized at Utrecht University on the theme of 'Reform'. Participating students will be rewarded 1 ECTS for preparation and presentation at the workshop, with the possibility of gaining another 2 ECTS to research and write a paper afterwards – for a total of 3 ECTS…

‘Re-mediating the Early Book: Pasts and Futures’ is a European Commission-funded MSCA Doctoral Network that will support 13 PhD researchers undertaking projects on late medieval and early modern books. These PhD researchers will be spread across the following institutions: University of Galway (3 positions),…

Working during Corona brings along various challenges but also unexpected opportunities. Thijs Porck, university lecturer medieval English at the Leiden University Centre for the Arts in Society (LUCAS), was asked to give a digital guest lecture for the University of Costa Rica and shares his experi…

What happens in young people's brains when they win money for someone else? Psychologist Elisabeth Schreuders has shown that the brain responds differently according to the type of friendship and that the response is strongest with stable relationships later in adolescence. PhD defence on 6 March.

Built Environment and Domestic Material Culture in the Medieval and Post-Medieval Cyclades, Greece (13th – 20th Centuries AD)

Understanding Late Neolithic Ceramic Containers from Upper Mesopotamia

Join-in courses zijn MA-cursussen over middeleeuwse onderwerpen gegeven binnen vastgestelde MA-programma's van de zes deelnemende universiteiten van de Onderzoekschool. Op aanvraag zijn deze vakken toegankelijk voor studenten van andere (Nederlandse) universiteiten. De cursusbelasting en het aantal…

Leiden University’s Master’s in Middle Eastern Studies programme is a one-year, full-time Master’s programme that is taught completely in English. Building on a tradition of more than four centuries of studying the Middle East, we offer highly relevant and up to date insights into a wide variety of…

The ERC project Early Medieval English in Nineteenth-Century Europe (EMERGENCE), led by Thijs Porck (Leiden University) is hiring 1 postdoctoral researcher and 2 PhD's. Details on the individual projects can be found below. Deadline for applications: 1 March 2024.

On 5 and 6 june 2024, the conference The Senses, Cognition, and the Body in Medieval Devotional Practices is organised at the University of Padova. The organisers welcome abstracts for 25-minute papers in English or Italian, to be submitted by November 30.

On 11 and 12 December, the Associazione Italiana di Filologia Germanica (AIFG) organizes a graduate conference around the theme of "The Fantastic and the Supernatural in the Medieval Germanic Traditions". PhD students and recent graduates who wish to present are encouraged to submit an abstract before…

Essays in Honour of Olivier P. Nieuwenhuyse

Climate change, depletion of natural resources, loss of natural and cultural landscapes, and many other (ecological) sustainability challenges urge us to (re)evaluate human interaction with the natural world. This renewed environmental consciousness has invigorated not only scientists working on effects…

Five researchers from Leiden University have been awarded a Starting Grant by the European Research Council (ERC). This grant of on average 1.5m euros enables researchers who show potential to start their own project, lead a research team and implement their best ideas.

What can we learn from how maritime conflicts were managed in the past? What significance did Maritime Conflict Management have in shaping the standards of diplomacy and international law in pre-modern Atlantic Europe (1200-1600)?

Amphorae are usually associated with the ancient Phoenicians, Greeks and Romans. ‘​​​​​​​Yet, in some cases, such as Byzantium, amphorae existed for centuries after Antiquity. Another, even later instance of the amphora's afterlife can be found in the Iberian Peninsula, from where the latest specimens…

Els Rose has received an honorary doctorate from the University of Lausanne. Rose is professor of late and medieval Latin at Utrecht University. The committee commended Rose for “ her original research, that has contributed to an understanding of the breadth and depth of the reception of texts and traditions…

The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) has awarded Veni funding to four Humanities researchers in at Leiden University. This award offers promising young scientists the opportunity to develop their own ideas over a period of three years.

During the 2019 Reuvensdagen, PhD candidate Femke Lippok was awarded the prestigious W.A. van Es-prize for her research master’s thesis The Pyre and the Grave, written in 2017. The jury lauded Femke for her pioneering work and making use of big data analysis, while adding an admirably expansive and…

The Disticha Catonis by Catenaccio of Anagni. A text in vernacular from Latium (late 13th - early 14th century)

Most of us know that Venice, Genoa, and Florence were major Mediterranean powers during the Renaissance. But did you know that in terms of trade and sea power, Barcelona was probably more powerful than two of these three?

The bottom-up development of post-Roman northwestern Europe

New Approaches to Understanding the Eastern Mediterranean during Byzantine and Ottoman Times

Fighting for the faith, caring for the sick, and praying for the soul of their benefactors were the main tasks of the military orders, who since the time of the crusades were well represented in the Netherlands in the Middle Ages, including the Frisian lands. Especially the Hospitallers and the Teutonic…

The map application includes information from old and new buildings archaeological projects. This makes it possible to investigate whether water facilities (wells, cisterns) and waste facilities (cesspits, sewers) were the privilege of Leiden’s wealthy elite in the late 16th and 17th centuries or whether…

Conference

The Department of Art & Archaeology at Princeton University invites paper proposals on late antique and medieval Syriac iconography and visual culture for a virtual conference to be held on September 17–18, 2021. Abstracts should be between 300–500 words and should be submitted to acady@princeton.edu…

The physical features of twelfth-century manuscripts from the Flemish abbey of Ter Duinen – such as script, page layout, and reading aids – show how their readers organized, interpreted, and transmitted knowledge.

The Middle Ages are becoming increasingly more popular: just look at the popularity of such ‘medievalist’ TV series as Game of Thrones and Vikings, and let’s not forget popular re-enactments of medieval battles. Leiden University is home to many specialists of this fascinating period and this new blog…

In 2013, Thijs Porck wrote a guest blog for 'medievalfragments'...

Being on time for a lecture can be hard for students. To make life easier, you can now request for a ‘Kwartiertje’ pass.

The Research MA Classics and Ancient Civilizations covers two years and can be studied in four tracks: Classics is one of them. While diving into the literary, cultural and intellectual worlds of Greece and Rome, you will be involved in current research, and stimulated to reflect on the significance…

Learn about the newest research from the researchers who are performing it.

The project Deconstructing Stability aims to improve reconstructions of late prehistoric landscapes and predictive models for the purpose of archaeological heritage management.

As of 1 February 2015, dr. David Napolitano is postdoctoral researcher at the Institute for History. He is particularly interested in the figure of the medieval city magistrate.