By Jacob Ridley When the nine-year-old Edward VI came to the throne of England in January 1547, the floodgates of English Protestant print opened. His father Henry VIII had declared an independent Church of England in 1534, rejecting the authority of the Pope, but Henry remained theologically conservative and enforced heresy laws against the more …
Author: Henrike Lähnemann
Hans Sachs in Oxford 1: Historical Context
By Thomas Wood Situated on the river Pegnitz in the heart of the Holy Roman Empire, the Nuremberg of Hans Sachs was a thriving Free City that acted in 1524 as a site of both Imperial power and religious conflict. In the late Middle Ages and into the sixteenth century, Nuremberg had been a prosperous …
Hans Sachs in Oxford
On the 500th anniversary of their first publication, the first of the four hilarious, successful and witty Reformation Dialogues by Hans Sachs is reissued in a new edition. This includes a new English translation, a historical introduction, linguistic footnotes, and also the 15th century Dutch and English translations. The launch event comes in three parts, …
As Translation Intern in Oxford
David Hirsch studies Translation Studies at Heidelberg University and spent his mandatory placement in Oxford during Hilary Term 2024, working with Henrike Lähnemann I was very nervous arriving in Oxford, as I had never had an experience quite like this before. It was quite beneficial to me, then, to be instantly thrown in the deep …
Multilingual Monkcalves and Manuscripts. Working as Intern at Oxford
During Michaelmas Term 2023, Kira Kohlgrüber (Frankfurt) and Karen Wenzel (Augsburg) worked as research interns with Henrike Lähnemann. Here Kira reports on behalf of both of them on highlights of their time in the city, on working with manuscripts, Reformation pamphlets, and xml, and being part of the History of the Book group at the …
Monk-Calf and Nuns on the Run. Two Reformation Pamphlets from 1523
For Volume 6 of the series ‘Reformation Pamphlets’, a team of Germanists from Halle and Oxford have edited two short polemical texts from 1523 held in the Taylorian by Martin Luther, dealing with the question whether monks and nuns should leave their monastic houses: Deutung der greulichen Figur des Mönchkalbs (‘Interpretation of the Gruesome Figure …
Illuminating the Past: Czech Printed Images during the Reformation (c. 1450-1550) and the ‘e-ilustrace’ Database
A Presentation by Veronika Sladká One hundred years before Martin Luther’s arrival, the Reformation had already established itself in One hundred years before Martin Luther’s arrival, the Reformation had already established itself in Bohemia, resulting in a significant aversion towards sacred images. Nevertheless, bibliographical records suggest that around 6,000 printed images had been disseminated through …
Transkribus – a Personal Report
by Henrike Lähnemann For the Digital Community of Practice organised by Emma Huber biweekly in the Taylorian Library, I had promised to speak on Transkribus on Thursday 2 November 2023 but have got a date clash; hence this short report which is meant to be supplemented by two practical demonstrations: by Karen Wenzel on transcribing …
Georges de Peyrebrune in the Taylorian
The Taylor Institution’s collection of Georges de Peyrebrune’s Works, a unique collection in the UK. by Marie Martine, DPhil in Modern Languages (German and French) I came across Georges de Peyrebrune during the first year of my DPhil as I was looking for women writers in contact with naturalist literary circles in end-of-nineteenth-century France. I …
History of the Book: some introductory reading
Preparatory reading matter for the Method Option ‘Palaeography, History of the Book, Digital Humanities’ focussing on general introductions to book history which are easily available via SOLO. Updated version of a commented list compiled by Nigel F. Palmer; in chronological order of first publication. For Oxford students: This is available as a hyperlinked list on …









