CY

Our projects

We are currently developing two online exhibitions drawing on our Arthurian collections. The first showcases the core of our rare books in English, centred around editions of Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte Darthur (15th c.) and his followers up to the 21st century. The second focuses on the place occupied by Bangor's Arthurian collections (broadly speaking) in Wales, particularly from a historical perspective, including the history of the book. While there is some evident overlap between these projects, they can be followed separately through the links below.

  1. Quest/Ymgais 2018 Project
  2. 'Malory and his followers in the Bangor University Arthurian collections and the private collection of Alan Lupack and Barbara Tepa Lupack, Rochester, USA'
  3. 'Arthur at Bangor and in Wales' [under construction]

Postgraduate projects

PhD  

Elen Ifan is researching T. Gwynn Jones, and specifically the relationship in his work between poetry and music. This includes translations from legendary Irish material, and others concerning the Arthurian traditions.

Ashley Walchester-Bailes holds a prestigious Drapers' scholarship for his doctoral project associated with the Bangor Centre for Arthurian Studies collections. Ashley is investigating the revival and then growth of Arthurian studies from the nineteenth century onwards, in particular through editorial projects and their effect on both popular and scholarly interest in the legend in the English language.

Audrey Martin is currently researching the post-Conquest, and more specifically Galfridian traditions and their cultural context in multilingual England.

Ongoing Projects and Fellows

AHRC/British Library/UCL ‘Academic Book of the Future’ project, the British Branch of the International Arthurian Society and Bangor University Library and Special Collections fellow: Dr Anastasija Ropa, Bangor alumna (2014) won the competition, and spent her week-long fellowship in the Centre for Arthurian Studies collections in summer 2015. Her project report (blog) was based on her work on rare editions of Rolleston in the Centre’s Flintshire Harries Arthurian collection, and was published here.

Impact and Widening Participation projects

Arthurian studies have long been the heart of Bangor academics’ engagement with the local, national and international community and audiences. Over the years numerous interventions in the national and international press and other media formats, including documentaries, have benefitted from consultancy provided by Bangor Arthurian specialists. Since 2015 when the Centre began to be formalised a broader range of impact and academic activities have been organised, to great success.

If you are interested in learning more about our expertise, or would like to invite one of our members to contribute to an activity, please contact the director/deputy directors of the Centre.

Recent scholarly and impact activities

Medieval Fun Day, June 2016

‘Medieval Fun Day’– a schools event was organised for primary school children (years 2 to 6) from Gwynedd and Anglesey (attended by more than 450 children and their teachers) in collaboration with Caernarfon Castle (CADW) and Bangor University Library, Archives and Special Collections, the College of Arts and Humanities and the Centre for Arthurian Studies. Activities included:

  •  talks and demonstration of medieval manuscript making (Prof. Raluca Radulescu);
  • 3D castle computer design
  •  medieval performance and Arthurian story-telling
  • historic castle tours (Dr Euryn Roberts)
  • arts and crafts and much more.

MA and PhD students in Arthurian studies and undergraduate students from the School of English literature involved in BEDS (Bangor English Drama Society) and the re-enactment society were involved, as were members of the School of History, Welsh History and Archaeology and School of Education.

King Arthur Family Fun Day, June 2015

‘King Arthur Family Fun day’ Prof. Raluca Radulescu, in collaboration with Shan Robinson, Special Collections officer, Bangor Library and Archives staff and the team in the College of Arts and Humanities, initiated and organised a ‘King Arthur Family Fun Day’, which included:

  •  talks on the making of medieval (Arthurian) manuscripts by Prof. Radulescu; Arthurian story-telling;
  • a Quest for the Holy Grail in the splendid surroundings of the Shankland reading room in Bangor University Library;
  • re-enactment of medieval sword-fighting (by the student re-enactment society); medieval drama by BEDS (Bangor English Drama Society), whose performance of a fragment of the Mabinogion was then performed at the Edinburgh Fringe festival in summer 2015;
  • displays from CADW with an opportunity to learn about medieval life in the castle (in collaboration with John Sherlock, Bangor alumnus and custodian of Caernarfon Castle).

Launch of the Flintshire Harries Arthurian collection, April 2015

Launch of the Flintshire Harries Arthurian collection and public lecture by Dr Roger Simpson, member of the board of the Centre: ‘Arthur, the King that Never Left Us’.

The event had 80 in attendance. The lecture is publicly available here.