The Toronto Old English Colloquium invites scholars and enthusiasts to a day of exploration into one of the most intriguing Old English manuscripts, MS Junius 11. Hosted by the Centre for Medieval Studies at the University of Toronto, the event takes place both in person and online, offering a symposium and a keynote lecture on Thursday, April 17, 2025, with a focus on the manuscript’s poetic and visual complexity.

The day begins with a Symposium on the Poems of the Junius Manuscript from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm, featuring three papers:

• Christopher Chang, ‘Know Way Out: Epistemological Uncertainty in Junius 11 and the Benedictine Reform’
  Ruoji Guo, ‘Greener on the Other Side: Representations of Greenness in the Junius Manuscript’
  Thomas Kalil, ‘Halls and Hosts: Heroic Bodies of Water in the Junius Manuscript’

At 2:30 pm, Janet Ericksen, Chancellor and Professor of English at the University of Minnesota Morris, will deliver the lecture, “Reading the Gaps in MS Junius 11.” Her talk considers how the manuscript’s unique blend of illustrated, unfinished, and text-only pages invites varied modes of engagement. Far from being incomplete, the manuscript’s “gaps” may have encouraged the kind of reflective reading cultivated in monastic settings.

The lecture is followed by a reception in the Great Hall at 4:30 pm.

For more details and to register for virtual attendance, visit: medieval.utoronto.ca/events/toronto-old-english-colloquium-2025