The recent acquisition of a 16th-century manuscript containing copies of Katherine Parr’s Praieres or meditacions (1545) and other devotional works has prompted a new look at women as book producers and owners in early modern England and Scotland as represented in Christ Church Library’s collections.

During the event there will be a chance to view a special display which includes a 16th-century manuscript containing copies of Katherine Parr’s Praieres or meditacions (1545) and other devotional works, a 1599 book of Psalms in French, written out in a large variety of scripts by the Franco-Scottish calligrapher Esther Inglis, many other books and medical works donated to Christ Church in 1567 by Mildred Cecil, Lady Burghley.

Programme

10.30am: Registration and opportunity to see display

11.30am: Welcome

11.35am: Sophie Bacchus-Waterman (Christ Church, Oxford), ‘A Queen’s Monogram?: The Boleyn Family and the Horenbout Workshop’

12.05pm: Professor Tamara Atkins (The Queen’s College, Oxford), ‘Christ Church MS 715: Some Unresolved Questions’

1.00pm-2.00pm: Lunch**

2.00pm: Professor Micheline White (Carleton University), ‘Queen Katherine Parr’s Prayers or Meditations: Origins and Afterlife in Christ Church MS 715’ [Online]

2.30pm: Dr John McCallum (University of Edinburgh), ‘Setting the scene: Religion and Culture in Late Sixteenth-Century Scotland’

3.30pm: Tea break

4.00pm: Dr Georgianna Ziegler (Folger Shakespeare Library), ‘Psalms Fit for a Queen: Esther Inglis's 1599 gift for Elizabeth I’

4.30pm: Anna-Nadine Pike (University of Kent), ‘“I have written in as many diverse styles as anyone else”’

5.30pm: Summing up and drinks reception.

* We regret that access to the Upper Library is by a large spiral staircase only and may cause difficulty for anyone with limited mobility.

** Lunch is not provided but can be easily found in the city centre.

Date: Saturday 3 October 2026, 10.30am-6pm

Venue: Christ Church Upper Library*, St Aldates, Oxford OX1 1DP.

Please note that the Upper Library has no step-free access

Entry: Registration includes refreshments (not lunch): £15; £5 concessions (for University of Oxford staff and alumni, and those over 65); free for students of any institution and those who are unemployed.

Book here!