Alexis Minault

Please tell us about your research

I am currently a first year PhD student in medieval art history, at the Centre d'Etudes Supérieures de Civilisation Médiévale, under the supervision of Cécile Voyer (Université de Poitiers) and Gilles Martinez (Université de Nîmes). My research focuses on the iconography of combat in the margins of manuscipts between the 14th and the 16th centuries. The margins being a true place of semantic densification, the combat depicted here sheds light on the tensions between order, violence, and power symbolism (swordfighting in particular, features prominently in my study). For example, my work looks at the meeting of "artist's" visual and martial cultures, and on the means by which these ideas and pictures might have circulated. It allows me to explore the inner mutations that books experienced between the late Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period, the way that semantic implications of the margin transform (on the codicological aspect), and their relationship to the reader. My work focuses on these various factors and establishes me a dialogue between image, gesture and discourse.

Could you please tell us a bit more about your scholarship/exchange programme ?

The Maison Française awarded me a one-month scholarship to conduct my research in Oxford in March 2026. This allowed me to consult several manuscripts held at the Bodleian Library and the British Library, many of which are relevant to my work. I am also making the most of the end of term by attending multiple lectures and seminars.

First impressions of Oxford/the University ?

Oxford is truly a sanctus sanctorum for medievalists and academics alike. Its libraries are as whimsical as they are beautiful, and full of precious resources - a

reverie for every scholar. The MFO staff and the academic community are both very welcoming, and our interactions are always stimulating and enlightning. In fact, these dreaming spires remind me a lot of the sleeping churches of Poitiers - I already feel at home.