Laura Varnam

BA (hons), Durham, MA (Leeds), DPhil (Oxon).
College Lecturer in Old and Middle English Literature, University College.

Dr Laura Varnam teaches Old and Middle English literature, ranging from Beowulf and The Dream of the Rood to Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales and The Book of Margery Kempe. Laura’s research interests include sacred space and church architecture, the Middle English mystics (especially Julian of Norwich and Margery Kempe), medieval saints’ lives and anchorite texts, and the relationship between literature and material culture. Laura is currently working on a book on sacred space in late Middle English religious texts and she is the secretary of Oxford Medieval Society.

Contact Details

(e)laura.varnam@univ.ox.ac.uk

Research Interests

Laura specialises in late Middle English literature, focusing in particular upon the construction of churches and sacred spaces in religious texts. She has written on The Book of Margery Kempe, St Erkenwald, Mirk’s Festial, Robert Mannyng’s Handlyng Synne, and a range of preaching texts and didactic material. Laura is interested in the relationship between texts and material culture, especially church decorations, and she has research interests in the Ricardian period. Laura is currently working on a book entitled The Howse of God on Erthe: Constructions of Sacred Space in Late Middle English Religious Literature and an edition of the fourteenth-century text The Book of the Foundation of St Bartholomew’s Church. Laura is also the secretary of Oxford Medieval Society (enquiries about meetings and membership should be sent to Laura Varnam

Department

www.english.ox.ac.uk