Centre for Medieval Studies
Emma Nuding
Fenland pilgrimage in narratives of St Guthlac and Crowland Abbey
Emma’s PhD project is focused on the fenland saint, St Guthlac of Crowland, whose hermitage became the present-day Crowland Abbey, Lincolnshire. She is charting narratives of pilgrimage to the saint from the Anglo-Saxon period to the present. The watery landscape of the fens impacted travel to Crowland, presenting both spiritual challenges and spiritual opportunities. The Early-Modern drainage of the fens changed this narrative significantly, as did the transformation of the monastic abbey into Romantic ruins and a parish church. The scope of Emma’s project means she is analysing eight-century Old English and Latin texts, but also novels published as recently as 2014. Her wider research interests include Old English language, the interpretation of heritage sites, and reception of medieval culture in modern poetry. She is grateful to the Wolfson foundation for generously funding her research as a Wolfson Scholar.
Biography
Emma holds a first-class English degree from Downing College, Cambridge, and a MA in Medieval English from King’s College London. She is an experienced secondary-school English teacher, having taught in both the state and private sectors. Fittingly, she is passionate about Higher Education paedagogy and widening access to medieval culture.