Everything I did before starting my medieval studies PhD
Preparing during the "in-between"
This post is very much inspired by eli eli’s post “Everything I’m reading to prepare for my literature PhD”; I highly recommend reading!
I’m starting a PhD in like, 3 weeks now? Cambridge terms start late; it feels weird to not be on campus already when all my peers seem to have already started. After applying for funding for 2 years straight and half giving up on the idea that I’d ever get a shot at academia it’s finally actually happening and I’m slightly terrified, but I’ve registered for all the introductory dinners and matriculation, and my full time job is (finally) finishing up next week.
I’ll technically be neither employed nor a student for a week and a half or so, which will be a nice little holiday for me to decompress for a bit, all being well. Once welcome week starts it’ll be all systems go, but before then, I’ll be logging out for a bit to bake some cakes, go for a nice long walk and maybe drink a nice pint of cider or two.
In the time between finding out I was granted funding 6 months ago and now, I’ve done my best to get as prepared as I can so I don’t feel like I’m drowning quite so much once I begin properly. Here, then, is my non-exhaustive list of all the stuff I’ve been up to in and around my full time job!
Primary Sources - so. much. Bede.
I just can’t seem to shut up about him! I re-read Bede’s Ecclesiastical History again on the advice of my supervisor, because Christ knows it had been a while since I’d picked him up. It made for a slightly long lunch break sometimes, but Bede’s Letter to Egberht is genuinely excellent reading if you want to understand more about how scurrilous nobles were managing to pick up parcels of land and setting up monasteries that weren’t exactly straight laced, shall we say.
As much as we bemoan him for being quite literally one of the only available narrative sources available to us for much of the early medieval period, Bede is critical reading, and what he chooses to say (or not to say) reveals so much about the state of the church in the early 8th century. I might make a post sometime soon about how passive aggressive he can be in the source materials. What a little diva.
I also re-read The Age of Bede, a great collection of sources about the early medieval Church in the British Isles. Most of the sources are saints’ Lives, or hagiographies, accounts of saints’ deeds that were often written to preserve and promote their legacies. The Age of Bede contains many of these, including two Lives of Saint Cuthbert, and Stephen of Ripon’s Life of Saint Wilfrid, which I’ll probably do a piece on soon.
Aside from reading these critical editions of sources, I’ve also been getting to grips with the digitised versions of the manuscripts on the Parker Library website that I’m hoping to analyse in person during my second year. Knowing their intricacies, their layout and their backstories is critical when assessing their value for my project, and lets me target specific sources in advance if I know they’re going to be useful to me. I haven’t done as much of this as I’d have liked just yet, but y’know. Can’t run before you can walk, and all that. Back to Gneuss and Lapidge’s handbook for me very soon.
Historiography
I’ve spent a little while reading up on my historiography again, because Christ knows if I could remember much about the intricacies of the Annales school of history. I decided to start with the basics and read a review of the impact of the Rankean approach to history on British historiography, then the introduction of anthropological studies to the discipline. It reminded me that I should probably set aside some time to actually read Religion and the Decline of Magic by Keith Thomas at some point.
Have I read enough about historiographical approaches? Definitely not yet. I’ve still to read more about Marxist historiography (and probably revisit The World Turned Upside Down at some point too) and especially interdisciplinary studies between archaeology and history. The early medieval period, though, requires a pretty blended approach, so I’m taking most of this reading with a relatively large pinch of salt, knowing that much of my evidence is highly fragmentary. But you know, theory is important, so I should probably try and fit some more in when I can.
Secondary Literature
Luckily, I was able to meet up with my supervisor in person for the first time back in June, and he gave me some excellent reading recommendations. Currently, I’m focusing on working my way through John Harper’s The Rule and Forms of Western Liturgy since, although they’re going to be the foundation stone of my project, I haven’t actually interacted with a tonne of liturgical texts before.
It’s a bit of a hefty tome but it’s very accessibly written, and it’s been an invaluable foundation for getting started. My geographical focus has also shifted; throughout my BA and MA studies, my work focused on northern England, particularly, the former Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria, but now I’ll be focusing more on southern England, areas around the Thames valley and particularly the kingdoms of Wessex and Mercia. Have I done enough reading to satisfy this shift? Not at all, yet. I’ll have to get to this later, unfortunately. Rome wasn’t built in a day, etc.
Language learning
This has been my main focus before term starts! When I designed my project, I knew that I would need to be learning Latin and Old English, as well as some modern languages. Whilst I studied Latin at GCSE level when I was in high school (in a state school too, weirdly enough), I haven’t touched those cursed verb tables since I was 16. Very luckily I held onto some of my old Latin textbooks from the Cambridge Latin Course, which I’ve been following along at the same time as working through their online materials.
To supplement in areas where I had no textbooks, I’ve been working through the National Archives’ course on medieval Latin. If you’re interested in starting to learn Latin yourself, I put together a list of resources that I’ve been using in a post that I made back in July:
Learning Latin for study?
A list of accessible, free, online resources for those learning the language independently.
In addition, I’ve also been working my way (very slowly) through the wonderful book Beginning Old English which has been a complete god send to someone who’s interacted with the language only very briefly. Given my work will be focusing on manuscripts that combine both Old English and Latin liturgies, knowing both languages is going to be critical (but Latin probably is more important for me to get a grip on at this moment in time). I cannot recommend this textbook more; I picked it up at a very nice discount from the Minstergate Bookshop in York, but I believe it should be available online too.
I’ll also need to learn French and probably German too for reading my secondary literature, but I’ve decided those will need to wait for when my course actually starts. I’m not insane enough (yet) to try and learn 4 languages by myself at once. That would be a little bit ridiculous.
Abstract Writing
Somehow I managed to get myself into a bit of a muddle already on this one. I knew I was going to need to start writing abstracts early on in the PhD (i.e. submit abstracts for conferences happening in summer 2026 before I’d even picked up my campus card for the start of the 2025-6 academic year) and I got myself into a bit of a tiz over it. I thought I was going to get 4 submitted, I only committed to 2 in the end. I felt awful about it. I felt like I’d let myself, and the session organiser, down, as I’d already told them I was going to submit an abstract.
However, I did realise eventually that committing to 4 conference papers before my course had even started, when there would likely be even more opportunities popping up later, was a bit crazy. I have a real habit of saying “yes” to absolutely every opportunity that comes my way, and then only managing to half-arse it when it comes to delivery time. For the PhD, I’ve decided it has to be quality over quantity. I pulled on my big-girl trousers, emailed my apologies that I wasn’t able to submit a paper when I had wanted to, but that it wasn’t within my scope just at the moment. Sometimes, you need to do what is right for you, even if it goes against all your people-pleasing instincts.
Hobbies!!
The most important section of all! I’ve tried to build some new habits and hobbies I can continue into my PhD because I simply refuse to let myself have not a life outside my work as an early career researcher.
I finally started swimming, as one of my new years’ resolutions was to find a way to exercise sustainably in a format that made me feel good, both physically and mentally. It hasn’t exactly been a smooth start though; I had tried running on and off for about 5 months, but could never get a good habit going, and truth be told, I hated it. I felt great afterwards sure, but I never felt good during it, no matter how hard I tried. Every time I went outside I felt incredibly self conscious, struggling to keep pushing myself, feeling myself wheeze and splutter and my face redden. I realised quite quickly that it just wasn’t for me.
Swimming has been a game changer, though. I’ve only been going for a month, my technique is poor and I’m in an awkward position where I’m too fast for the slow lane and too slow for the medium lane, but I enjoy it so much that I don’t care. I swim for much longer than I used to run, I exert myself and get out of breath, but I actively look forward to it each week, which is more than I can ever say for when I was running. Maybe I’ll come back to running again when my relationship with exercise is a bit different, but who knows? Right now, I’m far happier in the pool than I ever was with my trainers.
Aside from exercising, I’m getting back into paper crafts and origami. I’ve found it an excellent way to quieten my mind during darkening evenings as the days get shorter when my partner and I are watching an episode of Bake Off or Taskmaster to wind down. It’s a bit like weaving, but with paper. Last year, we’d just moved in together so didn’t have much money spare for Christmas decorations, so I made some garlands from paper cut from old magazines and music sheets I’d bought from charity shops, and I’ve been hooked ever since. They’re simple, but made en-masse, they’re pretty lovely when strung up across your living room.
But, but…
Despite having done all this amongst working full time, I still don’t feel like I’m doing enough. It’s ridiculous, really. The more I read, the more I revise my verb endings, the more I realise that this project is going to be one hell of a marathon, one which I really hope that I’m cut out for.
For now, I’m doing my best to sit with that discomfort, and recognise that I am not supposed to come in fully prepared, no matter how hard I try to be. I am supposed to show up to learn. I am not supposed to get it right first time. This process is going to be one filled with both successes and failures; no one ever did a PhD because they thought it was going to be easy.
It’s strange, to try and take comfort in this realisation, but y’know. Sometimes the liminal can be strangely welcoming.
Thank you for reading M.R. James Appreciation Society! If you’re interested in following along my PhD journey or reading my research, you can subscribe for free.
I’m also running a PhD diary-style series with a new post each month, mostly to keep myself accountable and check in with how I’m doing. My first post went up at the beginning of September, which you can read below:
INTRUDER! - the PhDiaries #1
Welcome to the PhDiaries, a series for me to talk frankly about life as a postgraduate history researcher. I hope it is as cathartic for other postgrads to read as it is for me to write.
Thank you much for this wonderful post, as someone just starting my MA in Medieval studies it is great to be able to get a roadmap of what the future might look like. Best of luck in your studies, and I will definitely give swimming a go.
I envy you! What a great thing to begin.