Our medieval and early-modern research group is home to a vibrant and diverse array of research across the medieval and early-modern periods, ranging from saints lives to the history of scholarship, from pirates to the Paston family, from medieval Wales to renaissance Italy.

Three themes stand out which connect all this research. The first is humanism: the recovery of the classical past. How distinct was 'Renaissance' humanism from earlier medieval modes of reading and imitating classical texts? The second theme is that of archives and the history of the book. This research underpins our commitment to widening public access to archives in innovative and challenging ways, through our 'Unlocking the Archive' and 'Paston Footprints' projects. Humanism and archival studies are also the central strands of our Masters programme, 'Medieval and Early-Modern Textual Cultures'. The third theme is cross-cultural connections. The medieval and early-modern periods are marked by their internationalism, which expressed itself in myriad ways that our members explore, such as travel narratives, pilgrimage texts, military and diplomatic exchanges, and early scholarship into different religious textualities.