Prof Elizabeth Tyler on universal history and vernacular literacy in late Anglo-Saxon England

Yesterday we welcomed Professor Elizabeth Tyler (University of York) to Vitoria, who delivered a fascinating and wide-ranging lecture on ‘Writing Universal History in Eleventh-Century England: Cotton Tiberius B.I, German Imperial History-writing and Vernacular Lay Literacy’. Professor Tyler explored the production and audiences of an extraordinary historical compendium (Cotton Tiberius B.I) in the context of the turbulent politics of the mid eleventh century, arguing that this book needs to be read as a single, universal history, which should be understood in the broader context of northern French and German imperial historiography. The peculiar English penchant for writing history in the vernacular, along with the presence in Cotton Tiberius B.I of shorter theoretical texts, was a unique means of conceptualizing and localizing universal history.

Next week (Wednesday, 27 January), the project welcomes Dr Charles Insley (Manchester), who will be speaking on ‘Languages of Boundaries and Boundaries of Language in Cornish Charters, 900–1100’.