Learning your lines: on plays and prayerbooks

When I started blogging last month, I planned to at least begin by writing one post a week, although I knew that I was unlikely to keep that up; I have a number of projects on at the moment. In particular, I recently spent two weeks in intensive rehearsals for HIDden Theatre‘s production of the…

How to confess like an Anglo-Saxon

When I’m looking through late Anglo-Saxon prayer collections, one of the prayer genres that I encounter most frequently is that of confession. In my work, I have discovered that there were a number of different ways of confessing one’s sins, such as: directly to God in private; with the aid of a skilled confessor; and…

The highs and lows of editing medieval manuscripts

As a medievalist, I have ample reason to be grateful for the work of nineteenth-century scholars. Many of the great series of medieval texts were founded at that time, including some which are still going, such as the publications of the Early English Text Society, and the liturgical editions produced by the Henry Bradshaw Society….