Centre for the Study of the Viking Age
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Chiara Giancoli

Research Student,

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Research Summary

Current Status PhD (full-time) - currently registered

Research Topic

Youth and Young People in Early Medieval English Literature

Research Summary

My thesis examines how youth and young people are described and employed in Early Medieval English literary sources.

It focuses on a variety of texts, including saints' lives and heroic and wisdom poetry, from the 8th to the 11th centuries. My methodology involves a close and critical reading of the texts as well as a linguistic analysis of relevant terms.

Although youth has hitherto received less attention compared to childhood and old age in Early Medieval English studies, my thesis highlights how in Early Medieval English literature youth was often understood as an important period of development between childhood and adulthood, during which the young person gained adult maturity and experience and learnt important life lessons. In the texts I consider, authors employ these descriptions of youth and young people to convey various literary themes, depending on the aims of their texts. I thus intend to show that youth was a significant theme in Early Medieval English literature, which could lead to a better understanding of literary sources.

Research Interests

  • Early Medieval English literature
  • The stages of human growth in Early Medieval England
  • Illness and disability in Early Medieval England

Research Supervisors

Dr Christina Lee

Dr Jayne Carroll

Primary Funding Source/s

School of English PhD Scholarship.

Research Institutes, Centres and/or Research Clusters Memberships

Centre for the Study of the Viking Age

Conference Papers and Presentations

'The Didactic Functions of the Stages of Life in Ælfric of Eynsham's Passion of Chrysanthus and His Wife Daria'- The Life Course in Early Medieval England, University of Cambridge, March 2019

'Medical, Charitable, and Regulatory Responses to Leprosy in two of the Catholic Homilies by Ælfric of Eynsham' - International Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University, May 2019.

Additional Information

Other Studies

BA in Foreign Languages and Cultures - University of Urbino 'Carlo Bo', Italy (2012-2016)

MA in Medieval Literatures and Languages - University of York, UK (2017)

MA in Viking and Anglo-Saxon Studies - University of Nottingham, UK (2018)

Centre for the Study of the Viking Age

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fax: +44 (0) 115 951 5924
email: csva@nottingham.ac.uk