
PhD supervision
I am available for supervision of PhD projects in the field of Old English language and literature, as well as medievalism and history of the humanities.
I am currently the co-supervisor of:
- Sander Stolk, Semantic Treasure Troves: Sharing and Reusing Topical Thesauri on Historical Periods (Leiden University; with prof.dr. Rolf H. Bremmer Jr & prof.dr. Piek Vossen; 2016-)
- Amos van Baalen, Old English Renewed: Tracing Transitional English in the Twelfth Century (Leiden University; with prof.dr. J. Grijzenhout; 2021-)
- Tan Song, Imitatio Imperii or Translatio Imperii? The Idea of Imperial Rule and the Representation of the Classical World in Early Medieval England (Leiden University; with prof.dr. A. Wessels & dr. S.T.M. de Beer; 2021-)
- Martina Marzullo, Old English in Contemporary Literature (University of Heidelberg; with prof. dr. P. P. Schnierer; 2020-)
You can find out more about doing a PhD at Leiden University by following this link.

BA and MA thesis supervision
I am always happy to supervise BA and MA theses in the fields of Old English and Middle English language and literature, as well as medievalism (esp. J. R. R. Tolkien).
- Thesis information for the BA English Language and Literature
- Thesis information for the MA Literary Studies
- Thesis information for the MA Linguistics
An overview of the 100+ BA and MA theses I have supervised as first reader is found below:
Overview of BA and MA theses supervised thus far
2011/2012
- “Manly Women. Old Women in Middle English Literature” (BA thesis)
- “A Hero’s Welcome and a Hero’s Farewell: Greeting and Parting Rituals in Beowulf and Andreas” (BA thesis)
- “Anglo-Saxon Kent. The Transition from a Pagan to a Christian Kingdom” (BA thesis)
2012/2013
- “Johannes Bolland’s ‘Se Glêomann’ :An Unusual Poem Written by an Unusual Man” (BA thesis)
- “The Medieval Romance in Space: A Comparison between Medieval Romances and Star Wars” (BA thesis)
- “Sauron’s Overwhelming Pride: “Ofermod” in The Battle of Maldon, Beowulf and The Lord of the Rings” (BA thesis)
- “The Legend of Zelda: Romance or Epic? Applying Medieval Genre Distinctions to Video Games” (BA thesis)
- “Ealdorlang til and beadoweorca saed: Glorification and Hardship of Anglo-Saxon Warfare in Old English Literature” (BA thesis)
- “The Beowulf, the Beasts and the Beauties: Depictions of the Hero and the Grendelkin in Beowulf Film Adaptations” (BA thesis)
- “A Curse and a Blessing: Death and Christianity in The Lord of the Rings” (BA thesis)
- “Welcoming the Thesaurus of Old English Statistics: The Thesaurus of Old English and the Vocabulary of Greetings” (MA thesis)
2013/2014
- “Crossing Muddy Water and Kissing Dead Men: Placing the Hatton 115 dream Book in its Historical Context” (BA thesis)
- “Ungelic is us: An Examination of Translations of Wulf and Eadwacer” (BA thesis)
- “Kings and Queens: Modern Issues for Medieval Character Types in George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire” (BA thesis)
- “Once Upon a Tale: Characteristics of the Fairytale in Middle English Texts” (BA thesis)
- “Old English Metre in Tolkien’s The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth and The Fall of Arthur“(BA thesis)
- “The Influence of a Mixed Provenance on the Portrayal of Harold and William in the Bayeux Tapestry” (MA thesis)
2014/2015
- “The Perso-Arabic Origin of Courtly Love: From the Qur’an to Floris and Blancheflour” (BA thesis)
- “The Legacy of the Vikings: Is English a Scandinavian Language?” (BA thesis)
- “Film Fakes Fact: Authenticating Features in Fuqua’s King Arthur” (BA thesis)
- “The Once and Present Warlord: Bernard Cornwell’s Demystification of Malorian Influences in The Warlord Chronicles” (BA thesis)
- “Widows, Wives and Whores, From Æthelbert to Cnut” (BA thesis)
- “Girls Coming of Age in A Song of Ice and Fire: Arya and Sansa Stark” (BA thesis)
- “Chosen Warrior of Christ: Heroic Imagery in the Vita sancti Guthlaci, Guthlac A and Guthlac B” (BA thesis)
- “The Once and Future Faith? The Portrayal of Religion in Arthurian Literature” (MA thesis)
2015/2016
- “Virginity, Violence and Victory: Feminine Heroism in the Old English Judith” (BA thesis)
- “The Stance of Scribes: The Representation of King Cnut’s Reign in The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle” (BA thesis)
- “Yearning for Passion: The Portrayal of Medieval Women in Ken Follett’s The Pillars of the Earth” (BA thesis)
- “The Earl Conundrum: The Representations of Earl Godwine in the Encomium Emmae Reginae and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle” (BA thesis)
- “Treating Anglo-Saxon Trauma: The Role of the Reader in the Old English Elegies” (BA thesis)
- “‘We Should Rule’: Empowering Women in History’s Vikings” (BA thesis)
- “‘Reshaping the Heroic’: Heroism in J. R. R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth” (BA thesis)
- “The Lord of the ‘Gallant Gifts’: The Function of Gift Giving in Beowulf and Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings” (BA thesis)
- “Fragmented National Identity in Anglo-Saxon Historiography: A Comparative Analysis of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and Ecclesiastical History” (BA thesis)
2016/2017
- “‘Under the Dragon-Spell’: Dragons in Medieval and Medievalist Fiction” (BA thesis)
- “‘Mon That Wol of Wysdam Heren’: Middle English and Middle Dutch Proverb Collections” (BA thesis)
- “Incorrect Old English or in Correct Old English? An Analysis of the Corrections in the Twelfth-Century Eadwine Psalter” (BA thesis)
- “Vikings versus English, Monster versus Human: The Halls in Beowulf” (BA thesis)
- “The Sons of Ham and Shem: The Portrayal of Africa and Asia in Anglo-Saxon England” (BA thesis)
- “Grendles Mōdor: From Monster to Human. A Psychoanalytical Re-evaluation” (BA thesis)
- “A Poet’s Conundrum: The Strategic Choices of Germanic Heroism in the Old English Genesis” (BA thesis)
- “Noisy Neomedievalists: Neomedievalism in Viking Metal, Anglo-Saxon Metal and Neofolk” (BA thesis)
- “Guinevere and Morgan le Fay in Merlin and Camelot: Medieval Women Depicted in Modern Times” (BA thesis)
- “True and Wonderful Dragons: Symbolism and Social History of a Sussex Serpent” (BA thesis)
- “God or Man? The Dual Nature of Christ in Old English Christian Poetry” (MA thesis)
- “Making or Breaking a King: Kingship Ideals in Anglo-Saxon Historiography” (MA thesis)
- “A Promise Made Is a Promise Kept: Oath-Breakers and Keepers in Tolkien’s Middle-earth” (MA thesis)
- “Game of Tropes: A Subversion of Medieval Ideals in George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire” (MA thesis)
2017/2018
- “Grendel’s Cinematic Evolution: The Influence of John Gardner’s Novel Grendel on the Characterisation of Grendel in Film Adaptations of Beowulf” (BA thesis)
- “Reconstructing the Germanic Heroic Code: Heroism without Hubris” (BA thesis)
- “Grendel’s Mother: Monster or Noble Warrior-Lady?” (BA thesis)
- “The Multifaceted Portrayal of King Alfred the Great in Vita Alfredi” (BA thesis)
- “Runes, Riddles, and Rhymes: The Five Rune Poems as Pedagogical Tools” (BA thesis)
- “”For þe bludy menyson”: Dysentery in Old and Middle English Medical Texts” (MA thesis)
- “Leoðcræftig, Skilled in Song: Translating the Old English Deor Into Modern English Verse” (MA thesis)
- “Between Heroic Epic and Courtly Romance: Blending Genres in Middle High German and Middle English Literature” (MA thesis)
2018/2019
- “Bitre breostcaere: Trauma Theory in Old English Poetry” (BA thesis)
- “”Runes Carved to My Memory”: The Adaptation of Old Norse Saga and Viking History in Metal Music” (BA thesis)
- “Geswince, geswell ond wyrmas: Understanding Cancer in Anglo-Saxon England” (BA thesis)
- “What’s in a Name? The Influence of Old English Onomastic Practices on J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings” (BA thesis)
- “The Two-Faced Viking: The Representation of Cnut the Great in The Love-Sick King and Vinland Saga” (BA thesis)
- “Oral Residue and Literate Authority: Transitional Literacy in Anglo-Saxon Manumissions” (BA thesis)
- “Anglo-Saxon Medicine: How Magical Was It?” (BA thesis)
- “Đysum eadigan lareowum and ðysum halgum bocum: Old English Sermons and Caesarius’ Influence on Assmann XII” (BA thesis)
- “Reshaping Northern Heroism: Tolkien’s Definition of Courage in The Children of Húrin” (BA thesis)
- “Monstrous Motherhood: The Cultural Context of Grendel’s Mother” (BA thesis)
- “The State of the Feud: Examnining Feud and fæhð in Early Medieval English History and Beowulf” (MA thesis)
- “Drihtne gecoren, snotor and soðfæst: The Ideal Anglo-Saxon Counsellor in the Old English Daniel” (MA thesis)
- “From Beowulf to Barrow-wights: The Roots of Liminality in J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings” (MA thesis)
- “Dating the Outdated Dative: The Disappearance of the Dative Inflections in The Peterborough Chronicle” (MA thesis)
- “Grendles Mōdor: Academics versus Arts. The Scholarly and Popular Reception of Beowulf’s Grendel’s Mother” (MA thesis)
2019/2020
- “Fira modor and se alwalda: Mother Earth and the Holy Father in Anglo-Saxon Metrical Charms (BA thesis)
- “B oþþe nān B: Beowulf, Bodvar Bjarki and Other Berserkers as Sources for Tolkien’s Beorn” (BA thesis)
- Trauma and Tolkien: Reading The Lord of the Rings through Trauma Theory (BA thesis)
- “Ongan þā word sprecan wudu sēlesta: Translating the Old English Poem The Dream of the Rood into Dutch” (BA thesis)
- “Swa sceal mæg don: Community in the Nowell Codex” (BA thesis)
- “On Creation-Stories: A Social Network Analysis of Leadership in The Silmarillion” (BA thesis)
- “Gods and Dragons: A Comparative Study of Supernatural Beings in The Poetic Edda and The Saga of the Volsungs” (BA thesis)
- “Property, Inheritance and the Restrictions of ‘Mund’: A Comparative Analysis of Female Inheritance and Property Rights in Early Medieval Germanic Law” (BA thesis)
- “Migration in the Myth: The Role of Migration in Tolkien’s Fiction” (MA thesis)
- “Polishing the Grail: Adaptation and medievalism in T.H. White’s The Once and Future King” (MA thesis)
2020/2021
- “Curses found in early medieval English legal texts: Development and changes” (BA thesis)
- “The Value of Digital Humanities for the Study of Medieval Literature: Analysing the Exeter Book Riddles with Lexos” (BA thesis)
- “From Hildeleoma to Flame-Fang: A Comparative Study of Kennings in Translations of Beowulf” (BA thesis)
- “Occulta Similitudo Aenigmatum: Sexual Riddles in the Old English and the Anglo-Latin Riddle Traditions” (BA thesis)
- “From a Golden Age to a Sorry State? The Legal Status of Women Before and After the Norman Conquest” (BA thesis)
- “Heroics’ Hazy History: The Effects of Heroic Ideals on the Historicity of The Battle of Maldon and The Battle of Brunanburh” (BA thesis)
- “How Æthelred Was Made even More Unready and Cnut even Greater: The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle as Royal Propaganda” (BA thesis)
- “Imperialist Ideology: The Portrayal of Early Medieval England and Its Invaders in Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla” (BA thesis)
- “The conceptualisation of emotions in Old English: dream ‘joy’ as LIFE, PRIVILEGE, and HEAVEN in Anglo-Saxon prose and poetry” (MA thesis)
- “After Ælfric: Tracing the Lexical Influence of Ælfric of Eynsham in Two Twelfth-Century English Texts” (Research MA thesis)
2021/2022
- “Human, Monster, Hero: Female Monsters in the Beowulf Manuscript” (BA thesis)
- “The Good, the Bad, the Ugly, and the Bitch: A Comparative Analysis of Old Norse and Old English Bynames” (BA thesis)
- “A Judith for Every Age. Representations of Judith in the Old English Judith and the Middle English Metrical Paraphrase of the Old Testament” (BA thesis)
- “Drenga and Dragonborn: An Exploration of Old English in Video Games” (BA thesis)
- “When Heroes Lose: A Comparative Analysis of the Purpose of Heroism in Beowulf and the Epic of Gilgamesh” (BA thesis)
- “Medieval Dragons in a Modern Genre: A Comparison of J. R. R. Tolkien and J. K. Rowling” (BA thesis)
- “Demystifying the Dual: A Data-oriented Analysis of an Old English Pronoun” (BA thesis)
- “The Other Woman Using Feminist and Translation Theory to Compare Two Translations of Grendel’s Mother” (BA thesis)
- “The Foe of the Gods: A Comparative Study of Loki in The Eddas and The Gospel of Loki” (BA thesis)
- “A Babel of Shadows: The Meaning and Function of Shadows in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings” (MA thesis)
- “Non videbis quid videre non vis: On Sexual Elements in Anglo-Saxon Riddles” (MA thesis)
- “In sorrow we must go, but not in despair: J. R. R. Tolkien and the Modern Philosophies of Death and Immortality” (MA thesis)
- “The feats of the princes of the Noldor: Heroes and Heroism in the Quenta Silmarillion” (MA thesis)
- “When last we saw our heroes: Medieval Oral Tradition and Formulaic Narrative in Dungeons & Dragons” (MA thesis)