Charlemagne in the Midlands: Marianne Ailes reports

‘Charlemagne in the Midlands’ might seem an unlikely title – but that is what was going on in Walsall on Wed 3rd April. It was clear at our previous family event in Walsall that many in the area knew little about the unique artefacts held by the town’s Leather Museum:…

Charlemagne in Toronto

Marianne Ailes reports on the Société Rencesvals International Congress The ‘Charlemagne: A European Icon’ project was much in evidence at the Société Rencesvals International Congress at Toronto in August. The figure of Charlemagne is key to many of the texts worked on by colleagues in the Société Rencesvals so this…

Bex Lyons reports on ‘Medieval Myths and Walsall’s Wands’

Saturday 1st September 2018 saw Marianne Ailes and Bex Lyons from the project team in Walsall for an afternoon of Charlemagne-themed family activities at the Leather Museum. Walsall may seem a surprising place for an event celebrating Charlemagne, but the town boasts a rare, tangible reference to the medieval king.…

England’s Bayeux Tapestry by Marianne Ailes

It was a packed church at All Saints, Claverley on Saturday 21st July when more than 120 people gathered to hear a panel of speakers discuss the context and possible interpretations for the unusual frieze of battling knights depicted along the North wall of the aisle. The audience first had…

Marianne Ailes on Charlemagne at Leeds IMC

It has been exciting to see the Charlemagne project grow and interact with other researchers beyond the network. It was particularly good for our panel at Leeds to have two speakers who are from outside the project network: Elizabeth Munro, a research student at SOAS, and Dr Wendy Hoofnagle from…