O Roma Nobilis

O Roma Nobilis – A Pilgrim’s Progress is a cycle of poems and music designed for sacred spaces, created by Victoria Field and Eduard Heyning. It has been performed in September 2022 in St Martin's Church, Canterbury; St Mary’s Church, Patrixbourne; St Margaret’s Church, Womenswold; St Andrew’s Church, Shepherdswell; and in St Mary’s Church, Dover, as part of the Kent Pilgrims' Festival. 

The poetry and poetic prose were drawn on historic texts such as the account of Archbishop Sigeric’s journey in the tenth century from Canterbury to Rome along the Via Francigena, the 12^th century poem O Roma Nobilis, as well as other pilgrim literature such as Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. The music reflected the words, the way, the walk, by weaving together the melody of O Roma Nobilis with other songs of seeking and searching, from medieval music, latin-american, cool jazz to hard rock.

Victoria Field is a writer and poetry therapist who has been widely published. Her latest books include a poetry collection, A Speech of Birds and a memoir of pilgrimage and marriage, Baggage: A Book of Leavings.  She is currently researching a doctorate in narratives of transformation in pilgrimage at Canterbury Christ Church University. She is a North Downs Way Ambassador. Contact: <victoria@thepoetrypractice.co.uk> 

Eduard Heyning has degrees in music, theology and medieval history, composes and plays clarinets and saxophones. Their previous collaborations include A Canterbury Zodiac and Poppies, and samples from these can be found at this website. 

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