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.

My teaching is centred on the Ancient History programme. My teaching interests are in Greek and Roman literature and Roman history. I teach modules on Greek Myth and on Rome in Late Antiquity, as well as the Latin and Greek languages.

I have also taught medieval literature, Old English and palaeography.

I trained as a classicist and historian at the University of Göteborg, Sweden. My interest in medieval letter collections as a form of personal or institutional narrative was sparked by my doctoral studies on the textual tradition of the 12^th century writer Peter of Blois, which resulted in a monograph  published in 1993. My 2018 edition of the letters of Nicholas of Clairvaux, (disgraced) secretary to St Bernard of Clairvaux, followed up the theme of letters as self-presentation. It also gave me the opportunity to think more about the reception of ancient authors, particularly those of Late Antiquity.

My interest in funerary inscriptions rose out of my role as Latin tutor at Southampton University. Part of my teaching duties involve introducing students to Roman epigraphy.  When I needed short authentic texts to illustrate points of Latin grammar, it was a natural decision to turn to epigraphical material from my own local area (Hampshire). I started trawling my local parish churches in search of Latin inscriptions from later periods to supplement the Roman material, and soon found my attention caught by the wealth of funerary inscriptions. The life stories and narrative choices presented on these medieval and post-medieval tombs tied in with my earlier work on identity and self-presentation in epistolography, as well as with a personal interest in language and bilingualism.