Medieval England’s view of its relationship with the East and the comparison with the 21st-century relationship between the West and Islam is a key strand of a new joint research project between the universities of Bristol and Reading funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council.

The first major research into medieval texts known as the English Charlemagne Romances aims to investigate parallels between late-medieval England and modern-day Britain, with particular reference to ideas of national identity then and now and views of cultural and religious differences seven centuries apart.

You can learn more about the project and listen to a podcast of the researchers discussing the project at
http://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2009/6401.html
and at
http://www.rdg.ac.uk/about/newsandevents/releases/PR21634.asp

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Media contact: Emi Spinner, AHRC Communications Officer, e.spinner@ahrc.ac.uk. Tel: 0117 9876 770 mob: 07968 480 336

Notes to the editor

Arts & Humanities Research Council: Each year the AHRC provides approximately £102 million from the Government to support research and postgraduate study in the arts and humanities, from languages and law, archaeology and English literature to design and creative and performing arts. In any one year, the AHRC makes approximately 700 research awards and around 1,350 postgraduate awards. Awards are made after a rigorous peer review process, to ensure that only applications of the highest quality are funded. Arts and humanities researchers constitute over a quarter of all research-active staff in the higher education sector. The quality and range of research supported by this investment of public funds not only provides social and cultural benefits but also contributes to the economic success of the UK. www.ahrc.ac.uk