This year was almost certainly the most productive of my graduate career. Most of the year I spent in Paris studying manuscripts at the Bibliothèque nationale de France. Among the highlights of this experience was the opportunity to study a Greek manuscript almost certainly owned by the famous twelfth-century translator Burgundio of Pisa, which contains a rough draft of his Latin translation in the margins (MS Paris Gr. 1849). Thanks to the Tyler Fellowship, I have been able to complete rough drafts of two chapters of my dissertation. I also made a short visit to Denmark, where I had the chance to present my research at the Center for Medieval Literature in Odense. I have also been able to make great progress on an article on the late antique medical response to the Justinianic Plague. Although the tragic outbreak of COVID-19 in Italy compelled me to abandon my plans to conduct manuscript research at the Vatican Library, I was thankful to be able to leave Europe safely and without difficulty. Not only has the Tyler Fellowship allowed for travel that has made my dissertation research possible, but the colleagues that I have been able to meet and friends I have been able to make over the past few years have benefitted my research in ways that defy quantification.
John Mulhall, Harvard University, William R. Tyler Fellow 2018–2020