University of Bergamo
13–14 April 2026
Call for Papers
The Old English Translation of the Historia Apollonii Regis Tyri:
Reframing a Latin Romance in Pre-Conquest England
The Old English Apollonius of Tyre—preserved uniquely in Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 201—has increasingly been recognized as a text of remarkable cultural and literary significance. A fragmentary late antique romance, reshaped within the monastic context of pre-Conquest England, it bridges the realms of narrative entertainment, Christian moral instruction, and ideological reflections on kingship and community.
This conference invites renewed engagement with the Old English Apollonius as both a text of transmission and transformation. We aim to consider its place not only within the codicological context of CCCC 201, but also within the broader European reception and adaptation of the Historia Apollonii Regis Tyri.
We welcome proposals from scholars across disciplines that explore the text through lenses including, but not limited to:
· Apollonius as king, exile, teacher, or Everyman
· Codicological and palaeographical insights into CCCC 201
· Intersections with Old English wisdom literature, homiletics, or royal ideology
· Lexical, stylistic, and rhetorical approaches
· The function of the romance as moral exemplum
· Reception and transmission in pre-Conquest England
· Themes of exile, shipwreck, providence, and restoration
· Translation strategies: omission, adaptation, Christianisation
Submission Guidelines
Please send an abstract of no more than 300 words, along with a brief academic CV, by 15 November 2025 to Gabe Cocco (gabriele.cocco@unibg.it) and Francis Leneghan (francis.leneghan@ell.ox.ac.uk)
