Oxford and King’s College London: Medieval Studies at British Universities

By Kat Balke

The London Review marked my second visit to England within ten months, and as I approach the end of my undergraduate career, I have resolved myself to do my postgraduate work in the UK. Therefore, prior to embarking across the pond once again, I set up meetings with gracious archivists at Oxford, and brilliant, women medievalists at King’s College London. I hope to do my master’s and eventually Ph.D. work in medieval studies, and given Britain’s rich medieval history, I can think of no better place to situate myself within the academy.

On our third full day in the UK, I hopped on an earlymorning train, and after extensive delays, I was on my way to Oxford. I had two meetings scheduled that day: the first was with Martin Kauffmann, the head of early and rare collections at the Bodleian library, and Professor Nicholas Perkins, professor of late-medieval English poetry (and a Chaucerian at heart!); and the second was with archivist Matthew Holford. As I sat in the lobby of the Weston library sipping my steaming tea–which I spilled as my hands shook with nerves–I was overcome with a strange sense of comfort surrounded by the books which will inevitably shape my future.

Listening to Dr. Kauffmann, Dr. Holford and Professor Perkins discuss their work both inspired and awed me: as established scholars, they know exactly what it takes to make it in the world of medieval studies. The work they’re doing is important, albeit infrequently recognized. Despite this, they proceed with their scholarship undeterred.

If you’ve never been to Oxford, my description of the university will most certainly fail to do it justice. The University of Oxford is old. Extremely old. So old, in fact, that evidence of teaching on the grounds dates to approximately 1096 A.D. Oxford was not always recognized as one of the most prestigious academic institutions in the world, however. Around 1209, disputes between university personnel and Oxford townspeople erupted, and many academics were forced north. Even today, evidence of conflict can be seen in building facades. During World War II, nearly 4,000 bombs were dropped in Oxfordshire; thus, the sheer number of manuscripts that have survived over centuries is astonishing.

After two lovely meetings at Oxford, I pivoted to King’s College London (KCL) where I met with Professors Julia Crick and Sarah Salih. King’s is located on the Strand, right next to the Thames and just a few minutes walk from the Palace of Westminster. Because the university is so centrally-located, the campus itself is spread throughout London. The English department, however, is located just adjacent to Somerset House–the building which stores public records including birth, marriage, and death certificates. Somerset House is built atop a Tudor palace belonging to the Duke of Somerset; therefore, KCL’s campus is rich with an underground network of medieval ruins. In fact, the underbelly of contemporary London is home to thousands of medieval buildings and artifacts. Modern London has essentially been built atop medieval London, making it one of the most perfect places in the world to study medieval literature. During my meeting with professors Salih and Crick, we discussed topics ranging from medieval gender and sexual politics to contemporary movements to suppress the free acquisition of knowledge (think book-banning). Unsurprisingly, the humanities–especially medieval and renaissance studies–are significantly more valued in the United Kingdom than they are in the United States. This is understandable given the relatively recent establishment of the American culture in the face of thousands of years of British history. However, given the field in which I hope to situate myself, studying and working in the UK would grant me the most encompassing opportunities to establish myself as a scholar. Think about all of the literary greats and polemical scholars who have emerged from the UK: Virginia Woolf,

J. R. R. Tolkien, Charles Dickens, Karl Marx, and the Brontë sisters, to name a handful. These scholars were entirely enmeshed in their subject material. They were living with the characters in their books and experiencing the real-life struggles of their fellow Englishmen. Pardon the digression, but if they had worked anywhere else, I have a difficult time believing that they would have been so renowned. Certainly, England has a ghastly history of imperialism and colonialism, but many British authors saw these atrocities as an opportunity to encourage change.

Back to the Middle Ages: nearly all of the universities in the UK support medieval scholars, and this is most certainly not because medieval history is obsolete. The opposite is true. Medieval attitudes reflect contemporary conditions. From misogyny, economic instability, infectious disease, mental health, and racism, people in the middle ages were grappling with many of the same issues which present themselves in 21st-century societies. To neglect the Middle Ages is to neglect powerful insights into contemporary struggles. Whether you find yourself at Oxford, King’s College, or anywhere at all in the United Kingdom, I call on you to stop for a moment, close your eyes, and imagine the world beneath your feet. Bustling markets, tyrannical royals, and sumptuous art rest just below, waiting to be unearthed by scholars and citizens alike who are searching for missing historical pieces. The Sutton Hoo1 hoard was found by accident: what else is out there?