The thirty-eighth Battle conference on Anglo-Norman Studies took place at Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge, from 17 to 21 July 2015. Thanks to the superb organization on the part of the Fellow Steward, Mrs Christine Houghton, and her staff all delegates enjoyed an ideal conference location with excellent accommodation and wonderful meals. The gardens added to the delightful ambience. The opening lecture of the conference, the Allen Brown Memorial Lecture, was given by Professor John Hudson of the University of St Andrews in the Queens’ Building of Emmanuel College. We are most grateful to the Master and Fellows of Emmanuel for the use of the Queens’ Building and the College gardens for the reception afterwards.

Financial support for the conference was generously provided by the Trustees of the Trevelyan Fund (Faculty of History, University of Cambridge) and by the Master and Fellows of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, to whom we are most grateful. A vote of thanks is also due to Ed Mays, Financial Clerk of the Faculty of History, who set up the online payment system for the conference and managed the financial transactions with great efficiency.

The two conference outings were local affairs concerned with charters and manuscripts. We visited the newly refurbished college archives, housed in the ‘School of Pythagoras’, in the grounds of St John's College, where the archivist, Mrs Tracy Deakin, provided a most informative tour of the medieval charter collection. At Gonville and Caius College the Fellow Librarian, Professor David Abulafia, showed us a marvellous selection of medieval manuscripts including that of Gratian discussed by Professor Anna Abulafia in her conference paper.

The Trustees of the Allen Brown Memorial Fund were able to use its (limited) funds to make several awards for 2015. The winner of the second Marjorie Chibnall Memorial Essay prize was Dr Casey Beaumont of the University of Chester whose study of the impact of the Norman Conquest on the nunnery of Barking stood out for its originality and thoughtful discussion of its charters and saints’ lives. The Muriel Brown graduate bursarians were James Barnaby (University of East Anglia), Liam Draycott (University of East Anglia) and Tom Powles (University of York).

As in previous years I am deeply grateful for the support of the home team at Boydell and Brewer for the meticulous copyediting and production of the volume, overseen by Caroline Palmer and Rohais Haughton.