Recovering the Submerged Graphosphere of Westminster Abbey
AHRC/CHASE Collaborative Doctoral Award PhD studentship in collaboration with the Centre for Medieval and Early Modern Studies at the University of Kent and Westminster Abbey Archives – Recovering the Submerged Graphosphere of Westminster Abbey
Qualification type: PhD
Location: Canterbury
Funding for: UK Students / International Students
Funding amount: fees and stipend at AHRC rates (for the current academic year 2024-25, the stipend rate is £19,837). This includes enhanced stipend to cover additional travel costs relating to the project. Please note: this funding amount typically increases with inflation each academic year.
Closes: Monday 17 February 2025, 12 noon
Watch a recording of the webinar for this Collaborative Doctoral Award project, held 2nd December 2024, to find out more from the project team:
Recovering the Submerged Graphosphere of Westminster Abbey, c. 1500 – c. 1650
Westminster Abbey is internationally known as a national mausoleum for monarchs and for poets. It is also a palimpsest —a place of over-writing — with elements of its material heritage lost or effaced. The Abbey’s Archives pay witness to this: its medieval library was closed, its books lost, and its early modern replacement library was stocked with printed books whose bindings hid fragments of other, older books.
This project invites a student to consider the processes of loss by thinking of the Abbey as a site of a submerged graphosphere — that is, its whole ecosystem of lettering, whether it be on parchment or paper or stone or fabric. The student will be encouraged to work out from the understudied fragments in the Archives and consider the wider histories of fragmentation. The student is not expected to arrive already expert in the necessary technical skills: they will gain excellent training from the Centre for Medieval and Early Modern Studies at the University of Kent.
The studentship
This project will allow one student to gain from an exciting partnership between Westminster Abbey’s Archives and the Centre for Medieval and Early Modern Studies (MEMS) at the University of Kent. We are keen to hear from applicants who can shape their own area of research within the theme of the Abbey’s ‘submerged graphosphere’.
Rationale
At the start of the sixteenth century, the Abbey was a functioning community of monks; it was the religious epicentre of the royal city of Westminster; it itself held a significant library and around its walls congregated booksellers; it was also a building site, as its royal associations were being further enhanced by the foundation of the imposing chapel in memory of Henry VII and his family. By the later sixteenth century, it was an abbey only in name — its monastic culture, including its library, had been swept aside, and the city itself had been subsumed into the rising conurbation which took the name of its neighbour, London. It was also becoming not just a royal mausoleum but a national one, with the development of what was to become Poets’ Corner. In the early seventeenth century, as it strove to demonstrate its role within the new urban culture, its replacement library was fashioned, enriched by donations of printed books and manuscripts.
This project considers these bookish aspects of the Abbey’s early modern identity, placing them in a wider context of its ‘graphosphere’ — that is, the whole range of lettering that occupied its curtilage: inscriptions incised on monuments, graffiti etched on walls, invocations stitched onto vestments. Some of these, like the books on the shelves in the Abbey library, remain visible and have long been available for study. What is at the centre of this proposal is a focus on the lost or submerged elements of that graphosphere — those elements which have been effaced but are retrievable. A prime example of this is provided by the books in the library because many of those retain evidence of their early modern bindings: in the creation of those, fragments of other books, manuscript or printed, were often used. Only a few of these have received close study; for the majority, much remains to be discovered. The expectation is that the student pursuing this project will move out from a focus on making this hidden heritage accessible to scholars and a wider public. The student is invited to consider the processes of effacement and how they are constitutive of both a library and the material space of the abbey’s church and cloister — as methods of destruction that also create space for a replenishing.
Support
The lead supervisor in MEMS is Dr David Rundle, an historian and palaeographer with particular expertise in working with fragments. Alongside him, the second supervisor, Dr Sarah Dustagheer, is well-known for her work on the cultural life of early modern London. At the Abbey, the student’s supervisor will be Dr Matthew Payne, who himself researches early print in England. In both places, the student will be able to draw on a wider network of assistance and advice.
The Abbey’s Archives will host the student during their research there, and provide on-site training in all relevant procedures and policies. Moreover, the Abbey will provide space for a workshop on ‘Fragmentary London’, in the organisation of which the student will be integral. The vision for this workshop is to place fragmentary items in collections at the Abbey and elsewhere in the city into a wider history of both fragmentation and recuperation in London. This will take into account histories of destruction (for instance, the loss of Old St Paul’s in the 1666 fire) but also of rediscovery (as in the recent tradition of mud-larking).
In turn, MEMS, as the home to the student, will:
provide the student with the necessary academic training in palaeography and language skills to undertake the detailed research
host the student’s description of relevant fragments as a dedicated section on the Lost Manuscripts website
give the student the opportunity to present their work in supportive environments
Outputs
We are keen for the successful applicant to shape their own project within the wider remit described. In any dissertation, we anticipate the following key questions will be addressed:
what role did Westminster Abbey play in fashioning a new cultural identity of a metropolitan capital?
how did the development of its renewed library feed into the changes in the wider fabric and material culture of the Abbey?
how did that fashioning involve processes of effacement or submersion?
In addition to a dissertation, it is expected that the student will produce detailed research into specific items which can be presented online. In addition, the student will be encouraged to share the material through talks to both academic and public audiences, and by being central to the organisation of the ‘Fragmentary London’ study day.
The lead supervisor is happy to speak to candidates at application stage about how they may shape the project to their existing and emerging interests.
The candidate:
We are keen to encourage as diverse a range of candidates as possible. We therefore are not imposing narrow requirements and urge anyone interested who believes they may have relevant experience and interests to contact the lead supervisor.
Essential skills/attributes: MA in a relevant discipline, or equivalent experience
Desirable skills/attributes: relevant language skills; experience with working with manuscripts and other primary materials
How to apply
Applications for this collaborative studentship must be made via the University of Kent. Please follow each step carefully when applying:
Step 1: Download and complete the Kent Collaborative Doctoral Award Application form.
Step 2: Apply for a PhD at Kent – PhD Medieval and Early Modern Studies
Research Proposal – in this section of the online application, indicate the project title and details of the CHASE Collaborative Doctoral Award.
Reasons for Study – in this section please copy and paste your statement from the Collaborative Doctoral Award application (see Step 1).
Supervisor – please indicate David Rundle as your primary supervisor.
Step 3: Submit your Kent Collaborative Doctoral Award Application Form to the Graduate and Researcher College by emailing kentgrc@kent.ac.uk by the deadline. You MUST complete this step to be considered for a CHASE Collaborative studentship at Kent. Please enclose the following information in your email submission:
Kent Collaborative Doctoral Award Application
Full Name
KentVision applicant/student ID number
Preferred email address
Terms and conditions
The studentship is subject to UKRI eligibility criteria, and will cover home or EU fees and stipend at UKRI rates for a maximum of four years full-time, or eight years part-time study, subject to institutional regulations.
Informal Enquiries
Informal enquiries about this collaborative project can be sent to the lead supervisor, Dr David Rundle, d.g.rundle@kent.ac.uk