Medieval Institute Publications

The cover of the journal Medieval People: Social Bonds, Kinship, and Networks. Subtitle reads: Special Issue Editors Arnaud Fossier, Sara McDougall. Volume 39 2024. Next to the journal is a quote: “It is a messy picture, but it is one in which women, like men, whether or not they lied, whether or not their families, actually, instigated the litigation, had the chance to act at law, and did so.” -- Arnaud Fossier and Sara McDougall. “Introduction,” Medieval People 39, (2024): 8.

A graphic reading: Other Articles in This Issue Include “Believing Medieval Women” by Ruth Mazo Karras “’You gave me a husband and you have taken him as your wife’: Gender and Family Trouble (Bologna, 1474)” by Didier Lett “Jacque and Her Four Husbands (Picardy, 1490s)” by Elisabeth Lusset And more!

Did you know MIP also publishes journals? Here's a highlight from one of our journal series, Medieval People: Social Bonds, Kinship, and Networks! (New issue coming soon!) #medievalsky #academicsky

Three book covers blurred so as to be a mystery with black question marks over their covers. A fourth book covered is in focus with a starburst behind it. The fourth book is "John Capgrave 'The Life of Saint Katherine'"

Cover of "John Capgrave 'The Life of Saint Katherine'" edited by Karen A. Winstead.

Graphic reading: Written in the middle of the fifteenth century, The Life of Saint Katherine is a prime example of hagiography. Capgrave’s Life of Saint Katherine stands apart from other known Katherine narratives for his inclusion of complex social and philosophical issues in an attempt to reach a broad audience, including characters and plot details of interest to women.

Our first recommendation for March is (drum roll please)...
"John Capgrave 'The Life of Saint Katherine" edited by Karen A. Winstead!

Cover of Medieval Ecocriticisms Special Issue -- Plant Temporalities. Next to it an excerpt reads: “In the Old Norse-Icelandic mythological and legendary context, trees —and the wood they produce—inhabit a special temporal status with lifetimes extending unknowingly deep into the distant past and future.” -- Timothy Bourns. “Trees, Temporal Eternity, and the Norse Mythos,” Medieval Ecocriticisms 5, (2025): 89.

Graphic reading: Other Articles in this Issue Include “Great Pieces of Turf” by Kellie Robertson “The Hard of the Wood: Antlers and Aldernate Temporalities in “Riddley Walker” and the Lives of St. Eustace” by Danielle Cudmore, Sarah Harlan-Haughey, and Gabriella Fryer “The Old Dendrochronology: Tree Rings and Material “Figura” in Universal History” by Danille Allor And more!

Medieval Ecocriticisms is the first regular venue dedicated to medieval ecocritical studies, and seeks out the most current and innovative interdisciplinary approaches to the study of literature and the environment in the global Middle Ages. 2025's issue is themed around Plant Temporalities!

Happy March! With spring fast approaching, we're restarting our book recommendation series. For our first month, we're recommending books dealing with hagiography. Check back with us every week for a new title recommendation!

Image: Saint Catherine, The Met, 1982.47.3b.

Since it's still Library Lovers' Month, you might as well expand your collection by learning about other collections!

Cover of the journal "Studies in Iconography: A Journal of Medieval Visual Cultures". Next to it an excerpt of text reads: “No longer a mere marginal figure, the centaur finds itself in a new position both in depicted space and narrative arc. Its peaceful yet authoritative stance and its delicate physiognomy present the creature as a Christ-like figure.” -- Trinity Martinez. “Demonic to Divine: The Centaur as a Christianizing Figure in Benedetto di Montagna’s St. Anthony and the Centaur,” Studies in Iconography 46, (2025): 95.

Graphic reading: Other Articles in this Issue Include “The Study of Anti-Jewish Representation in Medieval Christian Europe (Latin West and Greek East): a Critical Historiogrpahical Overview” by Marcia Kupfer “The Annunciation Triptych: How the Engelbrachts Saw It” by Elizabeth Parker “Looking At and Through Language: The Visuality of Text in Early Medieval England” by Benjamin C. Tilghman And more!

Studies in Iconography is an annual journal hosted by the Index of Medieval Art and published in partnership with Medieval Institute Publications. Check out this highlight! #medievalsky #academicsky

Cover of "Medieval English Political Writings" edited by James M. Dean.

Text reading: This selection of (mostly) anonymous texts reflects a variety of English political concerns from the turbulent fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Five sections introduce important themes: “Poems of Political Prophecy,” “Anticlerical Poems and Documents,” “Literature of Richard II’s Reign and the Peasants’ Revolt,” “Poems against Simony and the Abuse of Money,” and “Plowman Writings.” These sections cover a variety of writings including prophecies attributed to Merlin, letters from the rebel priest John Ball, and works inspired by Piers Plowman. Discontent with the uneven distribution of wealth suffuses these Middle English works—an issue still relevant today.

February is National Library Lovers' Month, so why not celebrate and add a new title to your shelf?

The cover of a book titled "Nicholas of Lyra's Commentaries on the Gospels of Matthew and Luke: Franciscan Exegesis in a Time of Crisis" on a light brown background decorated with a black-eyed susan. A title card reads "coming soon".

Text on a brown floral background that reads: "This volume provides translations of significant passages in the fourteenth-century Franciscan Nicholas of Lyra's commentaries on the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, addressing such important topics as Franciscan poverty, politics, and eschatology. This volume places Nicholas of Lyra in dialogue with earlier Franciscan commentators on the Gospels, principally Peter of John Olivi and Saint Bonaventure, as well as the Dominican Thomas Aquinas. A substantial introduction and explanatory notes are provided."

Coming soon from the TEAMS Commentary Series and MIP! "Nicholas of Lyra's Commentaries on the Gospels of Matthew and Luke: Franciscan Exegesis in a Time of Crisis" edited and translated by Philip D. W. Krey and Ian Christopher Levy.

My book series is part of @mip-medpub.bsky.social You can read the description and get in touch! I would love, love, love to read your MS proposal! Look at how gorgeous these covers are!
wmich.edu/medievalpubl...

A valentine written in comic sans with the message "you make me off-balance valentine" written above a roundel of a couple playing at quintain. At the bottom is the citation for the image: "Roundel with Playing at Quintain. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, The Cloisters Collection, 1980."

A valentine written in comic sans with a statue of St. George standing on the body of a dragon with the message "I'd fight dragons to be your valentine!" next to him. The citation at the bottom reads: St. George and the Dragon. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Bequest of Kurt John Winter, 1979.

A comic sans valentine with a roundel of a wild man holding a shield sits above the message "roses are red, violets are blue, this guy's pretty wild, but you make me wild too". The citation reads: Roundel with Wild Man Supporting a Heraldic Shield. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, The Cloisters Collection, 1932.

A comic sans valentine with the message "I'd be berry happy if you'd be my valentine" next to a manuscript illustration of a strawberry plant with a small caterpillar on it. Citation reads: Book of Flower Studies, Fol. 16.The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Purchase, the Cloisters Collection, Lila Acheson Wallace Gift, and Rogers Fund 2019.

Happy Valentine's Day from MIP! Don't worry if you forgot to pick up the cards for your loved ones, we've got you covered.

A book cover that reads "Conceiving Heroic Christianity in Early Medieval England" with the author's name, "David G. Pedersen" above the title on a brown background featuring a black-eyed susan. To the left is a title card that reads "Coming soon."

Text on a brown floral background that reads: "Unlike much of early medieval Europe, the early English converted to Christianity through missional efforts, not martial conquest. Thus early English converts had freedom to construct their Christian identity, producing a religious subjectivity that differed from the Latinate perspective of the missionaries who converted them. This book investigates lay texts to undermine monolithic conceptions of medieval Christianity by revealing a uniquely English religious subjectivity evident in Old English wisdom literature."

Coming this summer from MIP's Christianities Before Modernity series, "Conceiving Heroic Christianity in Early Medieval England" by David G. Pedersen!

Image of the book cover of Sadomasochistic Beowulf. Next to the cover, there is a box of text reading: "The project explores a field of queer pleasures associated with the dispersal of the self, the extinguishing of the ego, the submission to a more dominant psyche, the postponement of jouissance, and with what Volker Woltersdorff calls “masochistic self-shattering.” The book covers a range of Old English texts from heroic verse narratives to the prose texts of devotional and penitential anthologies and relates these to the poem Beowulf."

Image of the cover of the book "Multivocality and Responsiveness. Medieval Literature in Dialogue. Next to the book cover is text that reads: "At the intersection between the Anglophone and the German sphere with their individual and distinctly different academic environments, Almut Suerbaum's oeuvre has bridged these worlds. This volume brings together some of her influential works, and in addition provides the space for colleagues and friends to embed individual contributions within wider frameworks of scholarship."

Image of the book cover of Narratives of Working Women in Early Modern London. Next to the book cover is text that reads: Gendering London: Narratives of Working Women in Early Modern Drama and Culture investigates depictions of non-elite, working women in relation to London neighborhoods and sites in early modern drama and culture, revealing how gendered place associations become culturally fortified to reinforce unjust social and economic conditions.

Image of the cover of the book Carthusian Monasticism: History, Life, World, Texts. Next to the book cover is text that reads: “As a multi-pronged and interdisciplinary study, this volume offers a comprehensive, yet nuanced re-examination of the Carthusian way of life: one that often challenges long-standing assumptions about the Carthusians and their place within Western Christianity and civilization. The breadth and depth of this volume will appeal not only to the seasoned scholar and graduate students, but also to newcomers to the field.”

Check out the new releases that have joined us here at MIP! linktr.ee/mip_medpub

Find the individual titles here: linktr.ee/mip_medpub

As it is the first Tuesday in February, in accordance with xkcd's comic “Misconceptions”, check out some titles that discuss common misconceptions about the Middle Ages!

Image: Fragment of a Tapestry or Wall Hanging, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, The Cloisters Collection, 1990. (1/2)

The cover shows a medieval illustration of Gawain and the Green Knight before the king.

#internationalplaydate Day, but no one has time? Just pick up "Gaming the Medieval English Text" by Julie Nelson Couch and Kimberly K. Bell (Series Ludic Cultures), which is all about multidimensional games with readers!

www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi...

@mip-medpub.bsky.social #medievalsky

Today is Giving Tuesday! Help support the publication of high-quality research in medieval and early modern studies, including monographs and edited collections, classroom texts, peer-reviewed journals and more, by donating to the Medieval Institute Publications fund! wmich.edu/medieval/giv...

Its arguments are formulated through the works of Sigmund Freud, Michel Foucault, Gilles Deleuze, Roland Barthes, Judith Butler, Leo Bersani, Georges Bataille, & more. It covers texts from heroic verse narratives to devotional & penitential anthologies & relates these to the poem Beowulf. (2/2)

Coming soon! Out in November, Sadomasochistic Beowulf: Queer Narratives of Desire and Dissloution in Old English Literature applies gender/queer theory to the study of Old English literature, advancing the knowledge of both fields... (1/2) wmich.edu/medievalpubl...

There's a new addition to the Middle English Text Series! We're excited to announce the publication of 'The Middle English "Castle of Love" and Robert Grosseteste's Anglo-Norman Original "Le Chasteau d'amour"' ed. by Dana M. Symons.For more information, visit our website: wmich.edu/medievalpubl...

is treated not merely as a pastime, a leisurely pursuit, but as a pivotal part of daily life, a strategic psychosocial endeavor.

at the nexus of material culture, performance studies, and game theory, Playthings in Early Modernity emphasizes the rules of the game(s) as well as the breaking of those rules. Thus, the titular "plaything" is understood as both an object and a person, and play, in the early modern world,

spaces of play? What happens when players go "out of bounds," or when games go "too far"? Moreover, what happens when we push the parameters of inquiry: when we play with traditional narratives of ludic culture, when we rewrite the rules?

An innovative volume of fifteen interdisciplinary essays

Cover of "Playthings in Early Modernity: Party Games, Word Games, Mind Games." Title in white over an image of a painting depicting a woman playing cards with a young man behind her.

Our final entertainment recommendation for August is "Playthings in Early Modernity: Party Games, Word Games, Mind Games," edited by Allison Levy.

Why do we play games—with and upon each other as well as ourselves? When are winners also losers, and vice-versa? How and to what end do we stretch the

early 1430s in Lydgate’s “aureate” style, these mummings provide rare insight into how performances were commissioned, created, and disseminated.

The Legend of St. George dramatizes the eponymous hero to honor the building of a guild hall for London armorers. Some embrace a comic or ludic tone, inviting audience participation, while others suggest proper behavior through Classical and Biblical exempla. Written from the late 1420s to the

or action to accompany occasions like pageants, royal processions, and pictorial representations. For example, Soteltes at the Coronation Banquet of Henry VI offers verses recited during themed subtleties (culinary conceits made of confectionary) at the titular king’s inaugural feast while

prolific fifteenth-century poet. Though Lydgate is known for his longer literary works, this edition compiles fifteen of his Middle English mummings, folk dramas typically performed at festivals, holy days, and royal or civic ceremonies. They may include music, spoken word, costuming, and gesture

Cover of "John Lydgate: Mummings and Entertainments." Title in black over a white rectangle, inset on a colorful abstract background.

Performances and mummings were another form of entertainment in the Middle Ages, and this text will give you fantastic examples. "Mummings and Entertainments" edited by Claire Sponsler, contains multiple different writings of John Lydgate.

John Lydgate, the Benedictine monk of Bury, was a

lives the power of the tale and its ability to create a lasting impression on readers, both medieval and modern.

audiences would often define as "happiness" or "joy," and the significance that the book has had on the transference of this mirth to audiences.

This volume also celebrates the scholarship of Thomas H. Ohlgren, a medievalist whose work encompasses a number of different areas, but at its center