Eleanor Smith, Peterhouse

Biographical Information

I am a PhD student in ASNC studying Latin hagiography: my project investigates the provenance of Erfurt, Forschungsbibliothek Gotha MS I.81, a fourteenth-century British compilation of saints' Lives which contains some rare hagiographical texts, including some unique texts from Devon and Cornwall. I received my BA in ASNC from the University of Cambridge in 2017, and my MPhil in ASNC in 2019. My pronouns are she/her. 

Research Interests

I am interested in Latin hagiography, particularly as it relates to women and representations of female sainthood (an interest I picked up from the ASNC Part II Writing Women course). My other research interests include Old English and medieval Welsh language and literature, with a focus on medieval Welsh englyn poetry in particular: I wrote my final-year undergraduate dissertation on Canu Heledd, and my MPhil dissertation analysed emotional reactions to catastrophe in early Welsh englyn poetry more generally. 

I am also interested in making the areas I study more accessible to undergraduate students and to the general public. In 2019 I ran two study days at St Albans Cathedral on "King Arthur in Medieval Welsh Literature" and "Saintly Women in Anglo-Saxon England". I have also been involved with the Llyfr Aneirin project within the department, working on translating and formatting an edition and translation of the Book of Aneirin aimed at undergraduate students of Brittonic history.

Areas of Supervision

Old English language and literature; Medieval Welsh language and literature.

Selected Publications

'Penn a borthaf am porthes: The Subversion of Mourning in Early Welsh Englyn Poetry', Quaestio Insularis 20 (2019), 21–44