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Lauren Randall

@laurenrndll.bsky.social

1.1K followers 570 following 14 posts

PhD Theology student at Durham University researching the paratext of Codex Amiatinus, exploring palaeography, philology and manuscript cultures.

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Lauren Randall @laurenrndll.bsky.social · 5d

@imems.bsky.social @durhamtheology.bsky.social

Lauren Randall @laurenrndll.bsky.social · 5d

CFP: “Shaping the Word: the Form and Use of Biblical Manuscripts in the Early Medieval West” at Durham University in July 2026. We are interested in a wide range of papers exploring ways in which scriptural texts (produced roughly c. 500-1000) were presented and used.

Durham Uni, 2–5 July 2026
From c. 500-1000, Christian scriptures were produced and used in a diverse range of forms and contexts. A manuscript may include a single biblical text (the psalter, a gospel), a collection of texts (the Hexateuch, the gospels), or, rarely, a complete “New Testament” or “Bible” in the modern sense. The distinctiveness of a manuscript is shown by content and textual affiliation, its palaeographical and codicological characteristics, and its paratextual features – from illustrations of biblical narratives, author portraits, and illuminated lettering to canon tables, capitula, prefatory materials, and glosses. Once in circulation, a manuscript’s contexts of use may also vary. Different uses correspond to different users with distinct and perhaps conflicting priorities/goals. Production and use(s) may occur at the same site or at far distant times and places.

This conference aims to explore topics related to both the physical presentation and the use of scriptural manuscripts produced in the Early Medieval period (c. 500–1000 CE). We welcome paper proposals from scholars working in all areas of this field, including PhD students. Whatever the specific topic, priority may be given to papers that also relate it to the wider focus of the conference on both “form” (or “production”) and “use”. We hope to be able to cover presenters’ full conference costs with the exception of travel.
Titles and Abstracts of proposed papers should be submitted to Lauren Randall (lauren.m.randall@durham.ac.uk), copied to Francis Watson (francis.watson@durham.ac.uk), by Monday 17 November. Abstracts should not exceed 150 words. Papers should be 25 minutes, allowing 20 minute discussion. There will be keynote papers/presentations. Please contact us if you have any questions!

This event forms part of our sub-project “Text, Format, and Reader”, focused on Codex Amiatinus and funded by the Glasgow-based “Paratexts Seeking Understanding” project (Templeton Religion Trust)

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Reposted by Lauren Randall

Dr Manuel Muñoz García @manuelmunoz.bsky.social · Sep 1

And we’re back! Our highly-rated Latin Palaeography and Early Modern English Palaeography courses are back with a twist: this time they’ll run across 6 week instead of 2, giving you more time to really dig into the content and your practice at your own pace. Apply now!

Www.imemsdurhamlearn.com

The Durham Institute of Medieval and Early Modern Studies Learning Centre

The Online Learning Centre for the Institute for Medieval and Early Modern Studies at Durham University.

Www.imemsdurhamlearn.com

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Lauren Randall @laurenrndll.bsky.social · Aug 26

Dore Abbey’s abbey door(way). Great skeleton painted on the left, too!

Showing doorway of medieval abbey building from the inside

Reposted by Lauren Randall

Bodies and Being: The Premodern Body Project @bodiesandbeing.bsky.social · Jul 25

#Latin #Medieval

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Reposted by Lauren Randall

Dr Siobhán Jolley @siobhanjolley.bsky.social · Jun 22

I’m at the airport en route to #EABSBL, so it feels like the perfect time to send a copy of my book, Reimaging the Magdalene, on a journey too!

💛 like and 🔁 RT and I’ll draw a winner on the feast of Mary Mag (22/07, heathens)

Let’s see where it ends up…

#Giveaway

The book cover, featuring Artemisia’s Mary Magdalene in Ecstasy

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Lauren Randall @laurenrndll.bsky.social · Jun 9

Definitely related!

Lauren Randall @laurenrndll.bsky.social · Jun 9

Or maybe an otter

Lauren Randall @laurenrndll.bsky.social · Jun 9

This cute little cat-like creature in Egerton 609

Image of manuscript page, showing a little doodle sign-off with a picture of a cat-like creature

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Lauren Randall @laurenrndll.bsky.social · Mar 28

I would never

Lauren Randall @laurenrndll.bsky.social · Mar 27

They were right all along

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Lauren Randall @laurenrndll.bsky.social · Mar 27

Oh no! This is actually my life

Journal of the Australian Early Medieval Association @jaema.bsky.social · Mar 27

Had this pop up on Insta, shared by @oxfordarchaeology.bsky.social - I felt it in my bones

A meme featuring a cranky looking fellow holding a reliquary. It is introduced with: "When I take my friends to a local heritage site, and they tell me they're bored."

The cranky fellow responds: "Really? Right in front of the bones of St Cuthbert?"

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Lauren Randall @laurenrndll.bsky.social · Mar 18

A grumpy looking Luke for the start of his gospel in Amiatinus

Screenshot of the opening of the Gospel of Luke in the Northumbrian Codex Amiatinus, the initial letter Q is decorated with a moody looking face

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Reposted by Lauren Randall

Dr Tom de Bruin @tdbiii.bsky.social · Jan 15

Together with @siobhanjolley.bsky.social, I'm organising a symposium this summer in Nijmegen (NL). We have the opportunity to support 2 PGRs with travel grants to attend and participate. Feel free to share and hit us up with questions.

Student Bursaries:
Liberating Biblical Women? Feminist Afterlives of
the Bible in the 21st Century
One-Day Symposium, Radboud University, Nijmegen, 1st July 2025
We invite postgraduate students to submit applications for participation in a one-day symposium
exploring contemporary feminist reinterpretations of biblical women in modern media. This
symposium will bring together scholars to examine how biblical narratives about women are
reconstructed, reimagined, and reinterpreted in contemporary cultural products.
Contemporary media frequently presents interpretations of biblical women, which are routinely
touted as ‘feminist’: from television series like The Chosen to films such as Mary Magdalene and
contemporary art by artists such as Nalini Malani. But in these media patriarchal values and
judgements of women’s roles in society often still dominate. These media are entangled in
normative representations of gender identities in which women cannot be separated from the roles
of homemaker, helpmeet, mother, and whore.
Two travel grants of up to €250 each are available for postgraduate students to participate in the
symposium. Recipients are expected to submit a 5000-word paper by 1st June 2025. The paper will
be pre-circulated among attendees and discussed at the symposium. Selected papers from the
symposium will be included in a forthcoming edited volume.
Application Requirements
• Abstract outlining your proposed paper (300-500 words)
• Brief biographical statement (150 words)
• Institutional affiliation, where you are a registered student

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Lauren Randall @laurenrndll.bsky.social · Nov 24

Seagull with more of a comment than a question at #sblaar24

Demanding looking seagull in front of a view of San Diego marina

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Lauren Randall @laurenrndll.bsky.social · Nov 14

I usually use the fantastic digitised Amiatinus, but using even the half-size facsimile gives such a different impression of how the pages and diagrams work together

Open facsimile of codex Amiatinus, a purple page with gold letters providing the contents of the Bible. The second page, a diagram with two cruciform shapes containing an alternate list of the books of the Bible.

Lauren Randall @laurenrndll.bsky.social · Nov 12

Had a go at making Iron Gall ink recently, it’s really simple to do (excuse my bad uncial)

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Lauren Randall @laurenrndll.bsky.social · Nov 12

This is great, thanks so much. I’m just starting on this site, but I’m researching for a PhD on the paratext of the early medieval Codex Amiatinus. Please add me too if there’s still space