Dr Amanda Hopkins (1962–2022)

Dr Amanda Hopkins, a scholar known for her work on Breton lays and on the erotic in medieval literature, died at the age of 60 on Tuesday 19th July 2022. She had recently been admitted to the Coventry Myton hospice for palliative care, following treatment for cancer.

An alumna of Warwick University (BA, 1990) and of Bristol University (MA, 1993; PhD, 1999), Amanda Hopkins’s published work often concentrated on how medieval romance texts challenge the conventional boundaries of sexual, social, or bodily identity. After completing a doctorate at Bristol on identity in Breton lays, she held positions at the University of Warwick in the department of English and Comparative Literary Studies (from 2002) and in the School of Modern Languages and Cultures (from 2003). In addition to her publications on gender and sexuality, on the overlap between human and animal identity, and on disability and mental illness, Amanda Hopkins made other significant contributions to the field of medieval studies through her editing and translating. She worked on textual editions and translations of Old French werewolf lays both collaboratively and individually. Her 2005 online edition and translation of Melion and Biclarel made these two Old French werewolf lays accessible to a wider anglophone public, while offering contextualization and analysis of these texts that drew upon her considerable knowledge of medieval literature and deep engagement with transnational scholarly debates.

Amanda Hopkins was equally a generous editor of others’ work, notably in two co-edited collections on medieval sexuality: The Erotic in Medieval Literature (2007) and Sexual Culture in the Literature of Medieval Britain (2014). Colleagues she worked with on those collections remember her as being rigorous when it came to improving the work of her contributors, but nonetheless understanding of the demands of the profession.

Amanda Hopkins’s commitment to medieval literary studies and her forensic eye for detail were features of her contributions to scholarly societies too. She was actively involved in the International Courtly Literature Society, where she held the role of British Branch Bibliographical Coordinator between 2004 and 2006. One of the last papers she gave was at the ICLS British Branch conference in Warwick, where she explored how medieval tales of lyncanthropy illuminate shifting ideas of the court and of courtliness. She was also an energetic member of the International Arthurian Society, acting as both British Branch Bibliographer (2008–2013) and as a committee member (2003–2008 and ex officio 2008–2013).

As a teacher, Amanda Hopkins was charismatic, straight-talking, and unfailingly committed to her students. She garnered three commendations in the Warwick Awards for Teaching Excellence (in 2006/2007, 2011/2012, and again in 2016/2017), a university-wide initiative where students nominate their professors. Students she mentored at more advanced levels recall the generosity with which she discussed their ideas, as well as her apparently limitless enthusiasm for the technical aspects of medieval poetry. In addition to her specialist teaching, she dedicated herself to helping undergraduate students acquire and improve essential transferrable skills through her involvement with the Academic Writing Programme and in her role as Academic Lead for Study Skills. She stayed in touch with many of those she taught, even after they graduated. Amanda Hopkins’s phenomenal creative energies were not exhausted by her academic roles: she was also a talented musician, performer, and creative writer. She will be remembered by those who knew her as a dynamic teacher, mentor, and colleague as well as a respected scholar and editor.

Emma Campbell

University of Warwick

emma.campbell@warwick.ac.uk

Amanda Hopkins collecting a teaching award
at the University of Warwick in 2017 © University of Warwick.