Luisa Ostacchini

Supervisor: Dr. Francis Leneghan and Dr. Siân Grønlie

Research Interests: Old English and Medieval Latin literature, translation, hagiography, vernacular theology, insular-continental relations, Benedictine reform.

Doctoral Research: My thesis examines the 'translation', broadly defined, of continental texts, ideas, people, and places in Ælfric’s Lives of Saints. The texts in the LOS are often studied individually, but have rarely been considered within their context as a collection. Through close comparison of the Lives with their Latin source texts and with each other, my thesis investigates ways in which they portray the continent. In doing so, I aim to reach a better understanding of how Ælfric’s concept of the continent was used to inform both his construction of Anglo-Saxon England and his vernacular theology.