Medieval and Early Modern Research

Welcome to the Open University’s Medieval and Early Modern Research Group. This group brings together staff from a variety of disciplines across Arts and Humanities at The Open University, including Art History, Classical Studies, English, History and Music.

We have wide-ranging expertise in social, political, religious and cultural developments of the medieval and early modern periods. Our research interests embrace a broad geographical area, covering developments across Europe and further afield. The group fosters a supportive environment within which staff and students can develop, exchange and collaborate in their studies of the medieval and early modern periods. We host an annual 'Spaces & Places' conference and run a Sensory Experiences seminar series. 

Our research has been presented in numerous individual and collaborative publications and we are involved in several major research projects at the university. We also promote medieval and early modern studies through The Open University’s undergraduate and postgraduate curriculum and welcome applications for MPhil and PhD studies concerning the primary research interests of our group:

• People and objects in movement: courts and cities
• Symbolic and material witnesses: letters, objects, music and art
• Bodies: religion and medicine
• Elizabethan society: politics, religion, gender
• Uses of the arts, uses of knowledge: The Mediterranean and the Italian states
• Performance and performativity: music, theatre, poetry
• Intellectual, cultural and cross-cultural networks:  patronage, production and intermediaries.

Header image: detail from Fra Mauro World Map, c.1450, public domain.