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MA Medieval Studies student, Helen Clutton shares her experience of studying in Bristol

I’m a mature student doing a part-time MA in Medieval Studies, in my recently adopted home city of Bristol. I have been to university twice before but this is my first Masters and my first foray into anything medieval. This year I have done the compulsory units and next year I will choose from a variety of modules and a work placement. 

Each unit this year has been enjoyable and eye-opening. It is quite a feeling to hold a centuries-old manuscript in your hands and be able, to a greater or lesser extent, to decipher the handwriting! The breadth of knowledge gained in this first year has been huge. The staff have all been delightful as well; medievalists are a friendly and enthusiastic bunch and their passion is infectious. They have shared their love of their subject areas in voluntary reading groups so this year I have been tackling Anglo-Norman, Old English and the speeches of Cicero (with varying degrees of success but with much hilarity).  

Alongside these groups and the scheduled seminars, the Centre for Medieval Studies hosts frequent guest lecturers who talk on a huge variety of subjects. We also had a marvellous day out at Wells Cathedral, where we were able to see collections that are not generally accessible to the public. 

A medieval ink-making workshop has been arranged, which is sure to be fascinating. The course goes all the way up to early print, so we also had a wonderful hands-on lesson in setting movable type and printing the results with the university’s very special printing press. 

At Masters level there is considerable freedom to follow your own interests in the assignments. I do not know where this course will take me but wherever it goes I am enjoying the journey and, with a thousand years or so of potential subject matter, there is something for everyone in Medieval Studies.

MA Medieval Studies Alumna, Carol Lamble discusses her experience of completing the MA in Medieval Studies at the University of Bristol and recent placement with Gloucester Cathedral Library and Archives.

I was attracted to study for a Master’s in Medieval Studies at the University of Bristol because I really liked the interdisciplinary approach of the taught course and the existence of the Centre for Medieval Studies, which offered a wide programme of lectures and research seminars. I was also pleased to have the option to study part-time over two years.

I thought the chance of a placement with one of the University of Bristol’s external partners was too good to miss and was fortunate to be matched with the library at Gloucester Cathedral, under the supervision of the Cathedral Librarian and Archivist Rebecca Phillips and with weekly support from the university. As this opportunity took place during the second year of my course, my medieval Latin and research skills had been refreshed by completing the mandatory units of the MA, so I felt able to participate with some confidence in the placement project. This was to help create a parallel image and translation of the 14th-century chronicle of the history of St Peter’s Abbey (the Benedictine abbey that became Gloucester Cathedral after the Dissolution). This tells the story of the abbey through the buildings and achievements of the early abbesses and abbots: Historia Monasterii Gloucestriae and can be viewed here.

I loved that little book. Rebecca and I had worked together on images of the text over Zoom during my virtual lockdown placement so when I first saw it ‘in the flesh’ I was moved to see how small, portable and apparently well used it is. So many of the skills I learnt on the MA had come into play, from palaeography, transcription and medieval Latin translation to legal and monastic history.

I also enjoyed taking part in a project to help produce Tweets for the cathedral, in the voice of Kyneburga the first abbess of St Peter’s and a very important figure in the cathedral’s history. Rebecca has written more about this here : Kyneburga, Gloucester Cathedral’s First Abbess – Visit Gloucester

After graduating, I have carried on volunteering regularly at the Cathedral Library and am now working with Rebecca on transcribing and translating the book of donations to the abbey, also written in the late 14th century. I also help with tours of the library and act as a steward in the cathedral for public events. My volunteering has been made so much more rewarding because of my MA, which has given me a unique raft of skills across history, material culture, language and literature.

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