Over the years, I have taught Old and Middle English, first at Greyfriars, and more recently to visiting students at Wycliffe Hall. My research focuses mainly on vernacular religious and devotional texts of the late Middle Ages, as for example, ‘The Manere of Good Lyvyng’ which is addressed to a nun and provides her with ‘exhortacions’ on vices, virtues, dreams, etc.
I am currently preparing (with colleagues) an edition of the Middle English translation of Mechthild of Hackeborn’s ‘Liber specialis gratiae’ as well as an edition of the Old French Life of Godric. Having realised that there are many religious texts in the vernacular that are still barely known (for example, ‘Le dyalogue de la Duchesse de Bourgogne a Jhesu Crist’, written for Margaret of York in the late fifteenth century), I am working with a Regent’s colleague on a project to make them more visible to scholars and others.
Apart from my research, I enjoy the works of more modern writers, Charles Ferdinand Ramuz and John Cowper Powys (who both deserve better recognition) have particularly caught my attention. I have also recently discovered medieval Japanese literature, especially the women writers of the Heian period.
I hold a Licence ès lettres from the University of Geneva (1987), and degrees in English from Lincoln College, Oxford (MPhil, 1990 and DPhil, 1997).
Selected Quote
“Le cœur a ses raisons que la raison ne connaît point.” Blaise Pascal, 'Pensées'
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Selected Publications
Books
- Ed., with C. Whitehead and M. Coombe, The Cult of Saints in North East England, 600-1500 (Turnhout: Brepols, 2017)
- Ed., The Manere of Good Lyvyng: A Middle English translation of Pseudo-Bernard: Liber de modo bene vivendi ad sororem (Turnhout: Brepols, 2014)
- Ed., with C. Whitehead and A. Mouron, The Doctrine of the Hert (Exeter: University of Exeter Press, 2010)
Articles and Research Papers
- ‘The Desert of Religion: a Textual and Visual Compilation’, in Proceedings of the 'Late Medieval Religiosity in England' Conference in Lausanne, April 2016 (forthcoming)
- ‘The Desert of Religion: A Voice and Images in the Wilderness’, in Proceedings of the ‘Art and Articulation Conference in Oxford, January 2016 (forthcoming)
- ‘Help thin Godric in Francrice: An Old French Life of St. Godric’, in P. De Leemans and M. Goyens, eds, Translation and Authority: Authorities in Translation (Turnhout: Brepols, 2016), pp. 215-22
- ‘“Sub mensa Patrum micas collegi”’: the Making of the Liber’, in A. Petrina, ed., The Medieval Translator: In principio fuit interpres (Turnhout: Brepols, 2013), pp. 25-36
- ‘The Doctrine of the Hert: A Middle English Translation of De doctrina cordis’, in D. Renevey and C. Whitehead, eds, A Companion to the Doctrine of the Hert (Exeter: University of Exeter Press, 2010), pp. 85-108
- ‘The Livre de l’instruction du cuer de l’ame devote: A Medieval French Translation of De doctrina cordis’, in D. Renevey and C. Whitehead, eds, The Medieval Translator: Lost in Translation (Turnhout: Brepols, 2009), pp. 237-49
- ‘The Manere of Good Lyvyng: the Manner of a Good Translator?’, Medium Ævum 78 (2009), pp. 300-22