Dr Ana de Oliveira Dias

My research focuses on the intellectual and visual culture of early medieval Iberia and Continental Europe, c. 500-1000 CE, with a strong focus on manuscript production and reception.

I studied art history (BA) and medieval history (Mres) at the Faculdade de Letras, University of Lisbon, and received my Ph.D. in medieval history from Durham University in 2019. Before joining the University of Oxford, I was a lecturer in early medieval history at Durham University (2021-2023) and a postdoctoral research fellow at the Institute of English Studies (University of London) in the ERC-funded project ‘CULTIVATE MSS’ (2020-2021).

Research Interests

As a postdoc on the AHRC/DFG-funded project Crafting Documents, I will be producing a palaeographical and historical study of a neglected body of identificatory labels found attached to saints’ and other holy relics dating c. 500-800 CE. Through the combined analysis of their material, visual and textual features, Crafting Documents will bring new perspectives into scribal practices in the period, as well as into the role of the cult of saints in the development of writing technologies in the early Middle Ages.

In addition, I am preparing my first monograph titled Painting the Apocalypse in Medieval Iberia, which explores the mechanisms through which the symbolic language of Revelation was interpreted and translated into visual imagery within the monastic communities of early medieval Iberia and Continental Europe. This study challenges traditional interpretations about the creation and devotional function of the Beatus manuscripts and offers a new framework with which to analyse cognitive processes behind copying and engaging with Scripture in its textual and visual form. More generally, my publications consider various aspects of late-antique and early medieval manuscript production as evidence to explore the wider cultural and religious history of the period.