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IMC 2026: Sessions

Session 1113: New Voices on Early Medieval England

Wednesday 8 July 2026, 11:15-12:45

Sponsor:International Society for the Study of Early Medieval England (ISSEME)
Organiser:Shannon Godlove, Department of English, Columbus State University, Georgia
Moderator/Chair:Thijs Porck, Leiden University Centre for the Arts in Society, Universiteit Leiden
Paper 1113-a'What's Gender Got To Do with It?': The Chatelaine, Artifact Analysis, and the Presumption of Gender
(Language: English)
Dane Williams, Department of Anthropology / Department of Women's, Gender & Sexuality Studies, University of Montana
Index terms: Archaeology - Artefacts, Archaeology - General, Gender Studies
Paper 1113-bBoundless Time: Terms for Eternity in Old English
(Language: English)
Laura Welsh, School of Modern Languages, University of Bristol
Index terms: Daily Life, Language and Literature - Old English, Philosophy, Theology
Paper 1113-cBeowulf: A Vernacular Theology
(Language: English)
Jasmine Jones, Christ Church / St Peter's College, University of Oxford
Index terms: Language and Literature - Old English, Lay Piety, Religious Life, Theology
Abstract

This session features papers by emerging scholars on topics related to perceptions of time and timelessness, the interpretation of artifacts such as the chatelaine in burials, and the adaptation of ancient heroic tales and Christian theology in early medieval England. Dane Williams questions assumptions about chatelaines as indicators of gender identity in archaeological examinations of burials, arguing that the presence of chatelaines alone should not be used as primary determinants of gender in early English contexts. Laura Welsh surveys Old English vocabulary for the concept of eternity in its linguistic and textual contexts, offering unique insights into the early medieval perception of time. Jasmine Jones examines the diverse spiritualities which may have influenced the theology of the Beowulf-poet, particularly apocryphal and Irish texts, proposing that Beowulf should be valued as a remarkable work of vernacular theology providing insight into the beliefs about God, man and the world which were held at the beginning of the English literary and theological tradition.