Projects per year
Personal profile
Interests
I read my PhD at Manchester University and was lecturer in Medieval English and History of the Language at Brasenose College, Oxford University.
Prognostication, Magic, Science in the Middle Ages
Reception of Greek and Roman Mythology in Anglo-Saxon England
Milton and seventeeth-century Italian tragedies on the Fall
Research Statement
My main research interests include manuscript studies, science (mainly astronomy and weather), magic and prognostications in Latin, Old English and Middle English, and the relationship between weather, health and time. Most of this research has been disseminated in books and international peer-reviewed journals, including Anglo-Saxon England, English Studies, Germanic Philology and Studies in Philology. I also published on Anglo-Saxon manuscripts, Ovid’s influence in Anglo-Saxon England, kingship and prognostication, and the role of natural phenomena in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. I was guest editor with K. Prietzel of ‘Holy and Unholy Appetites in Anglo-Saxon England’ (special issue English Studies, August 2012) and co-edited with Hugh Magennis a collection of essays, Aspects of Knowledge: Preserving and Reinventing Traditions of Learning in the Middle Ages, published by Manchester University Press, 2018.
I am completing a monograph on "The Signs of the Weather in Anglo-Saxon England" (for which I was awarded a Leverhulme Research Fellowship ), the first study that explores Anglo-Saxon knowledge of and attitudes to natural phenomena in the literature of the 10th-12th centuries, ranging from historiography to prognostications, hagiography, charms and poetry. It argues that astro-meteorological phenomena acquired an importance based on previously undeveloped scientific awareness in the minds of late Anglo-Saxon learned communities, and that such knowledge was assimilated into historical sources such as the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and other monastic products. Increasing attention to the weather, particularly winds and thunder, seems to have been occasioned by a strong interest in natural science and by the influx of computistical materials. These include Easter tables, texts and diagrams on the direction/names of winds and weather prognostics, which reached England from Fleury during the Benedictine Reform (c. 990s). This study claims that celestial phenomena also acquired a prognosticatory dimension and were considered signs, portending momentous events in the world of men. It makes the case that prognostication and scientific thinking were not in opposition to each other. On the contrary, knowledge of a meteorological phenomenon enhanced its prognosticatory force.
I strongly recognize both the value and challenges of research networking and collaboration with scholars from other disciplines and historical periods, and the importance of public engagement. My current research on weather and astronomy in the Middle Ages transcends in fact discipline boundaries, promoting collaborations between humanities and sciences.
I was awarded an APEX award (£98,149.00) by the UK’s national academies (The Royal Society, British Academy, Royal Academy of Engineering and the Leverhulme Trust) for cross-disciplinary excellence and innovative research. The project ‘Before and After Halley: Medieval Visions of Modern Science’, in collaboration with astrophysicist Dr Pedro Lacerda, renegotiates the meaning and importance of medieval science and demonstrates how medieval records of comets can help test the theory of the existence of the elusive Planet 9. This ground-breaking project, for the first time, looks at celestial occurrences, as they appear in English, Irish, Western European and Russian Chronicles from the 9th to the 12th centuries from a fresh perspective, by relying on up-to-date scientific tools in an attempt to demonstrate the importance of astronomy and scientific thought in early medieval Europe. It also illustrates how the Humanities can make a resounding contribution to the ongoing scientific debate on the existence of the so-called Planet Nine, currently impossible to confirm by direct observation.
In 2018, I was the reciepient of a ‘British Academy Rising Star Public Engagement Award’ (£15,000.00). As part of the project, I organised a photo exhibition ‘Marvelling at the Skies: Comets through the Eyes of the Anglo-Saxons’ which was held at the National Museum of Northern Ireland 1 May – 4 June 2018 https://www.nmni.com/whats-on/marvelling-at-the-skies.
Furthermore, I am working on the first English translation of a 17th-century Italian drama on the fall, L’Adamo caduto by Serafino della Salandra.
Teaching
I teach Old English Language and Literature, Paleaography and Historical Linguistics.
Particulars
I have been the Secretary of TOEBI (Teachers of Old English in Britain and Ireland) since 2012. http://www.toebi.org.uk/
I was awarded a Leverhulme Research Fellowship to complete a monograph on the Signs of the Weather in Anglo-Saxon England.
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Network
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R1790AEL: Before and After Halley: Medieval Visions of Modern Science
Cesario, M. & Lacerda, P.
12/09/2017 → …
Project: Research
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Acknowledgements - Holy and Unholy Appetites: a Collection of Studies in Honour of Hugh Magennis
Cesario, M. & Prietzel, K. (Guest ed.), 2012, In: English Studies. 93, 5, p. 501 1 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Special issue
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An Interdisciplinary Study of the Elements, vol. 3 'Air'
Cesario, M., Magennis, H. & Ramazzina, E., 31 Dec 2022, (Accepted) Leiden: Brill.Research output: Book/Report › Book
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An Interdisciplinary Study of the Elements, vol. 4 'Fire'
Cesario, M., Magennis, H. & Ramazzina, E., 30 Dec 2022, (Accepted) Leiden: Brill.Research output: Book/Report › Book
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Comets and political anxieties in the first half of the ninth century: New light on comets X/839 B1 and X/841 Y1
Cesario, M., Sicoli, P. & Gorelli, R., 06 Jul 2022, In: Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage. 25, 2, p. 213-227 15 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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An interdisciplinary study of the elements, vol. 1: Earth
Cesario, M., Elisa Ramazzina & Magennis, H., 31 Dec 2021, (Accepted) Leiden: Brill.Research output: Book/Report › Book
Prizes
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British Academy Rising Star Public Engagement Award for 'Crossing Frontiers: Medieval Visions of Modern Science'
Cesario, Marilina (Recipient), 20 Mar 2018
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)
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Elected Secretary, the Association of teachers of Old English in Britain and Ireland (TOEBI)
Cesario, Marilina (Recipient), Mar 2012
Prize: Election to learned society
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Honorary Associate in the Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic, University of Cambridge
Cesario, Marilina (Recipient), 30 Jan 2019
Prize: Appointment
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International Prize 'Silvana Luppino' 2018
Cesario, Marilina (Recipient), 21 Jul 2018
Prize: National/international honour
Activities
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'From Element to Environment', University of Trier
Marilina Cesario (Contributor) & Andreas Lammer (Contributor)
12 Feb 2021Activity: Talk or presentation types › Invited talk
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An Interdisciplinary Study of the Elements: 'Water'
Marilina Cesario (Organiser)
05 Feb 2021Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Participation in workshop, seminar, course
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An Interdisciplinary Study of the Elements: 'Earth'
Marilina Cesario (Organiser)
22 Jan 2021Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Participation in workshop, seminar, course
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Brepols Publishers (Publisher)
Marilina Cesario (Member of the advisory board)
2021 → …Activity: Publication peer-review and editorial work types › Editorial activity
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Filolgia Germanica - Germanic Philology (Journal)
Marilina Cesario (Peer reviewer)
2021Activity: Publication peer-review and editorial work types › Publication peer-review
Press/Media
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History of Pandemics, Episode 4: 'The One who Flies' with Francis Leneghan (Oxford University)
Marilina Cesario & Francis Leneghan
04/06/2020
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Public Engagement Activities
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How Medieval monks are revealing our universe's secrets
Marilina Cesario & Pedro Lacerda
02/08/2019
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Public Engagement Activities
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‘Proof of “Planet Nine” May Be Sewn into Medieval Tapestries’
04/05/2019
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media: Research
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Could Medieval Comets Point the Way to Planet 9?
14/09/2018
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media: Research
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'Medieval Tapestries may hold proof of Planet Nine existence’
08/05/2018
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media: Research