Dr. Krista A. Murchison

Assistant Professor of Medieval English Literature
Leiden University

Originally from Canada, I have been researching and teaching medieval literature at Leiden University since 2016. At present (2020-2024), I am leading an individual Veni Grant project, Righting and Rewriting History: Recovering and Analyzing Manuscript Archives Destroyed During World War II.  Funded by the Dutch Research Council, the project is aimed at using digital technology to virtually recreate and explore medieval manuscripts destroyed during the war. I am also Principal Investigator on another Dutch Research Council-funded project, The Open Medieval Editions by Students (TOMES) Anthology (2019-2020). Previous projects include an investigation of Anglo-Norman manuscripts, which was funded by an Europeana Research Grant.

These projects reflect my broader research interests in medieval literary and cultural history and digital humanities approaches. In my articles and other publications, I explore the ways in which medieval texts developed, the ways in which they were experienced by their audiences, and what such lines of inquiry can tell us about how these texts functioned in medieval society. I am also interested in our own ways of experiencing these texts, including those opened up by digital media.