Dr Cosima Gillhammer

My primary research interests focus on textual criticism, medieval English Bible translation, biblical scholarship, and the liturgy in the context of the Wycliffite Bible (the first complete translation of the Vulgate into English). For my previous Postdoctoral project, I produced the first complete edition of the Wycliffite Old Testament Lectionary, a collection of liturgical texts translated from Latin into Middle English.

The core of my current research project is a study and edition of the Wycliffite Glossed Gospels, a group of erudite fourteenth-century vernacular commentaries on the gospels. The Glossed Gospels are of particular importance for the early history of Bible translation into English, and a close analysis of these texts will help us refine our understanding of the intellectual and scholarly context which gave rise to the Wycliffite translation project. I am particularly interested in philological and linguistics aspects of the Wycliffite translations, including the texts’ translation strategies in rendering the Latin source in the vernacular, and their significance within a wider linguistic network.

At Christ Church, I currently teach FHS Paper 2: Literature in English, c. 1350-1550. I have previously taught Prelims Paper 2: Early Medieval Literature, c. 650-1350 at Trinity College, and Course II Paper 4: The History of the English Language at the English Faculty. I regularly teach manuscript classes at the Bodleian Library for my undergraduate students.

Publications