Shelley M . Williams | University of Oxford (original) (raw)

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Papers by Shelley M . Williams

Womens History Scotland Official Blog, 2024

'Our September blog has been written by Shelley Williams, a member of WHS who is currently comple... more 'Our September blog has been written by Shelley Williams, a member of WHS who is currently completing her doctoral degree in medieval English language and literature at the University of Oxford. She is also working on a long-term project centered on Black Agnes of Dunbar, with the intention of publishing a book on the subject. In this blog, she explores the romantic legend of Black Agnes, questioning why she is singled out as an exemplary warrior woman of the Middle Ages, and if this depiction is accurate.'

Culture & Cosmos, 2022

The title for this article is inspired by the questions repeatedly asked by my students, and this... more The title for this article is inspired by the questions repeatedly asked by my students, and this study attempts to break the question apart and reconsider the language used to study the zodiac in medieval art. The terms 'pagan', 'Christian' and 'Christianising' are problematic and create misleading binaries, so first I reframed the question by carefully redefining the terms used to describe the zodiac in medieval art. I further refined the query to one central question: Why did the signs of the zodiac, and the constellations generally, persist in their Hellenistic renderings in art and texts into the Christian era and beyond, and not reinvented with more religiously-appropriate signifiers? Drawing from contemporary texts and art, I suggest that there were two cultural forces perpetuating the Hellenistic zodiac: the methods of dissemination of astronomical knowledge from classical sources, and the active creation of zodiacal art. I explore how the folkloric authority of the zodiac signs synergistically combined with the visual arts to stimulate astrological practices. I argue that art production was crucial as an advancing influence and not simply a by-product of a classical inheritance.

The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Medieval Women's Writing in the Global Middle Ages, 2024

When the jovial leader of the pilgrimage in Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, Harry Bailey... more When the jovial leader of the pilgrimage in Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, Harry Bailey, sets forth the rules of the taletelling competition that the pilgrims shall play en route to Canterbury, he does not mention prologues. This was one of the interesting deviations from precedent that Geoffrey Chaucer took with The Canterbury Tales. Indeed, in Italian author Boccaccio's Decameron, which similarly uses a social framework within which each tale and teller are placed, the characters are so identical in age and status as to be indistinguishable. By contrast, the Wife of Bath is unforgettable, with her enormous hat, bright red stockings, and lust for life. Her prologue gives her character space to speak her mind, which she does in a totally new way.

New College Notes, 2022

This study offers a new interpretation of the fabulous and enigmatic marginalia adorning the foli... more This study offers a new interpretation of the fabulous and enigmatic marginalia adorning the folia of New College MS 322, a psalter completed c. 1238-1252 in the workshop of William de Brailes in Oxford, England. In the studies published to date on the manuscript, the distinctive pen flourishes and grotesques have been interpreted as pointers to important sections of text or otiose adornment. I suggest that these analyses have missed key useful functions of the design and offer three new interpretations. Primarily, I argue that William de Brailes schematically designed the pen flourishes to serve as mnemonically valuable heuristics in the form cuing images. Secondly, I suggest that they were abstract visualizations of sound, possibly reflecting the shifting nature of musical theory in the thirteenth century. Lastly, I suggest the flourishes may have been inspired by the anatomy of a bird's feather, which is both exegetically and theologically relevant to the Psalms. This study draws evidence from Aristotelian theories of sound, medieval memorial practices, and concepts of music resulting in a new perspective on the remarkable de Brailes psalter. 1

e-Keltoi, 2021

Spurred by antiquarianism and the quest for a pan-Celtic, non-classical mythology, two infamous t... more Spurred by antiquarianism and the quest for a pan-Celtic, non-classical mythology, two infamous translators and forgers sparked influential and prolific artistic production in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. James Macpherson (1736-1796) and his Ossian provided fuel to the fire stoked by Napoleon Bonaparte for a new imperial art, and Edward Williams (Iolo Morganwg, 1747-1826) contributed to an ardent cultural revival in Wales. Both writers have garnered renewed scholarly attention in recent decades, mostly focused on uncovering the genuine Celtic and medieval sources from which they so liberally borrowed. However, scant attention has been paid to the art inspired by Macpherson and Morganwg, especially in comparison with each other. Often art media featuring neo-Celtic bards are broadly categorized together under the term "Early Romanticism." While there are meaningful parallels in the art of Napoleonic France and the art of the Welsh Celtic Revival, understanding their differences offers valuable insights and a more sophisticated view of the period to which they belonged. Both nations were experiencing tremendous but totally different upheavals, yet their artists used mirroring subject matter to express popular sentiments. Why was the Bard such a popular, and indeed political, figure in the art of France and Wales? In this paper, I offer a comparative analysis of the Bard viewed through the lens of the paintings, poetry, music and sculpture of French Ossianism and the Welsh Celtic Revival. Artists of both nations were inspired to use the Bard as a conduit to express social and civic flux, nationality, and liminality, but to different ends. Ultimately, the Bard was an artistic implement for nation building in both France and Wales, but the differences illuminate the historical contexts of each. By closely examining and contrasting the Bard as a singular subject matter in art, this study offers a new perspective on this under-explored part of European art history.

Peregrinations: a Journal of Medieval Art and Architecture, 2021

LINGUA ROMANA VOL 15, ISSUE 1 2, 2020

On 13–14 March 2020, a symposium titled “Women’s Voices of the Middle Ages & Renaissance” was hel... more On 13–14 March 2020, a symposium titled “Women’s Voices of the Middle Ages & Renaissance” was held on the campus of Brigham Young University. It was the product of creative collaboration featuring presentations by scholars from across the country, and highlighted a marvelous one-woman play, Je Christine, by Suzanne Savoy. Suzanne
brought vitality to Christine de Pizan’s own words, in a fashion experienced all too seldomly for a writer of her caliber. The symposium and performance were an enriching experience promoting the kind of discourse critical to the humanities and animated the life and writing of Christine. This brief article discusses the benefits of giving old texts a new voice through performance and the valuable results of the ensuing discourse.