Exeter Stipendiary Lecturer in English Dr Ayoush Lazikani publishes The Medieval Moon

Dr Ayoush Lazikani, Stipendiary Lecturer in English at Exeter College, has published her latest book, The Medieval Moon: A History of Haunting and Blessing (Yale University Press, 2025), which explores how people across the medieval world viewed one of our closest celestial neighbours.  

From around 700 to 1600 CE, medieval observers gazed at the moon and saw something at once powerful and fragile, distant, and intimate, sometimes all these together. In her richly illustrated and global study, Dr Lazikani reveals that for many cultures, the moon was more than a mere celestial body: it could evoke love, beauty, and gentleness, but also pain, hatred, and violence. 

In its fullness the moon came to represent fertility and abundance; in its crescent, waning, and other shifting shapes, it could seem broken or wounded. Dr Lazikani takes readers on a wide-ranging journey, from China to South America, Korea to Wales, exploring how diverse societies perceived, wrote about, and emotionally responded to the moon. She includes vivid examples such as the belief that a lunar eclipse played a role in the Black Death, and Persian love poetry inspired by lunar beauty.  

Dr Lazikani is known for her work on the Global Middle Ages, particularly in the history of emotions and the natural world, with earlier books including Cry of the Turtledove (2021) and Cultivating the Heart (2015).  

The Medieval Moon: A History of Haunting and Blessing is available to purchase from Waterstones and other booksellers.