Dr Elizabeth L’Estrange (AHCVS) has been awarded a ‘Special Commendation’ for her proposal ‘Redefining Women and the Book in the Middle Ages (c. 800-1600)’ submitted to the CARMEN Medieval Network Project Prize.
The project prize is designed to recognise a project idea in any area of Medieval Studies, which has the potential to advance our understanding of the medieval period or its reception in important and/or innovative ways. Unlike conventional publication prizes, the CARMEN Project Prize seeks to identify the highest-quality academic research at the planning / development stage and to encourage its future progress.
Dr L’Estrange’s project, which was praised for being ‘timely’ and for its ‘clear cross-disciplinary reach and international significance’, seeks to reassess the relationship between women and book culture in the middle ages, moving it beyond the Northern-European, Christian, parameters defined by a ground-breaking article in the early 1980s.
The prize winners have been invited to the next CARMEN meeting in Tampere, Finland, to present their projects, and network with potential collaborators and discuss funding opportunities.