Royal Ancestor Discovered Behind Church Pew: A Valedictory Lecture

Colleagues, friends and members of the public are warmly invited to celebrate the academic career of Official Fellow, Professor Elizabeth Gemmill. For this, her valedictory lecture, Professor Elizabeth Gemmill has chosen six episodes from the lives of real medieval people. They come from texts of various kinds, made between the eighth and the sixteenth centuries. One of the stories is justly famous, but the rest concern individuals – children, women, men – otherwise little known in the historical record. One of the documents is the work of an accomplished narrator, but most are taken from administrative records copied laboriously by scribes of whom nothing else is known. Yet, each of the stories, in its way, opens up extraordinary and unexpected truths about the lives of people in the past.

Tea, coffee and biscuits will be served from 5pm. The talk will start at 5.30pm, followed by a drinks reception.

Open to: Guests, Members of Kellogg College, the public,