Dr Lena Wahlgren-Smith

Research groups

Research interests

• Mourning and Memorial Culture
• Bilingualism and Language Choice in pre-Modern Europe
• Latin Letters and Letter Collections
• Editing Medieval Text

Current research

Lena is currently in the process of setting up a project (Latin in the Landscape) on medieval and Early Modern funerary inscriptions, their function as social narratives, and their place in the local visual landscape. She is particularly interested in the subject of language choice and identity. In this period, there is a choice between Latin (or French) and English, with English gradually becoming more popular, though never to the complete exclusion of Latin. This project investigates how these choices are made, how they can be mapped against gender, social status and occupation, and whether the shape of specific epitaphs relates to similar inscriptions in the local area. Do inscriptions talk to each other? The project is intended to result in a scholarly edition (including translations and commentary) of funerary inscriptions from the south of England. It aims to build a network of scholars working on topics of mourning and remembrance.

My second main research area is letters and letter collections, particularly in the medieval period. Again, my main interest is in narrative choice and identity. How do letter writers experiment with the traditional format to present their own narrative? How do authorial or other revisions serve the meet the changing narrative needs?  How does the selection and ordering of letters in manuscripts work to form an over-arching narrative? I am particularly interested in manuscript traditions and editorial technique. I am currently working on the reception topic in regard to another 12^th century letter writer, Gui of Basoches.