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Bonnie S Millar

University of Leicester, Respiratory Sciences, Clinical research project manager

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Bonnie Millar, Ph.D., Researcher at the University of Leicester holds degrees from Trinity College Dublin, and the University of Nottingham. She is an experienced clinical trial and research study manager.

She has authored a critical study of the "Siege of Jerusalem", and also publishes regularly on alliterative poetry, medieval romances, gender theory, medical humanities and clinical trials.
Address: Glenfield Hospital, Groby Road, Leicester, England, United Kingdom

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articles by Bonnie S Millar

Recruiting into ENT and Audiology patients into pharmaceutical clinical trials: evaluating the multi-centre experience in the UK and the USA

The International Journal of Audiology , 2018

A Place for Everything and Everything in its Place: The Practicalities of randomised clinical trials

Taming the Paperwork Mountain: The logistics of a randomised clinical trial

"St Erkenwald" and the Spectacle of Noise

The Siege of Jerusalem

The Siege of Jerusalem is a late fourteenth-century poem probably of 'extreme West Yorkshire prov... more The Siege of Jerusalem is a late fourteenth-century poem probably of 'extreme West Yorkshire provenance'. Scholars here tended to marginalize it, dismissing it as derivative, decadent, unnecessarily violent, precious, anti-Semitic In this first full-length study of the poem Dr Millar challenges traditional interpretations. Not a history, not a religious narrative, more a romance than anything else, The Siege encourages the audience to reconsider the nature of Christian-Jewish relations, the validity of chivalric ideals, the justification for war, etc. It is a beautifully written poem, deserving of a better scholarly press.

“RICHARD THE REDELES” AND THE CONCEPT OF ADVICE

The Performance of Masculinity and Femininity in The Sowdone of Babylon

Sanctity, Savagery and Saracens in Capystranus: Fifteenth Century Christian-Ottoman Relations

Capystranus has been considered by critics to be an accurate historical account of the 1456 siege... more Capystranus has been considered by critics to be an accurate historical account of the 1456 siege of Belgrade by the Turks. This paper aims to dispel this misconception and to examine the representation of Christians and Saracens in the poem. It is an intriguing work that reflects fifteenth-century ideology and fears and is, above all, an exhortation for a new crusade to save Europe from the Turkish menace. The story of Christian triumph against the odds at Belgrade and the amplification of the role of the saintly Capystranus provides an ideal platform from which to expound these principles. The Saracens are thus depicted as the greatest adversaries of Christendom, following in the footsteps of the Jews, while Capystranus is heralded as a latterday Charlemagne. The publication of Capystranus in 1515 and the two subsequent reprints illustrate how there were many in England who were receptive to such concepts and possessed a deep-rooted fear and loathing of the Turks until well into the sixteenth century.

The Role of Prophecy in the Siege of Jerusalem and its Analogues

incollections by Bonnie S Millar

Dis/enabling Courtesy and Chivalry in the Middle English Romances and Ballads

Approaching Facial Difference , 2018

Hearing Differently: Medical, modern and medieval approaches to sound

Medicine, Health and Being Human , 2018

PIERS PLOWMAN: PASSUS II

A COMPANION TO PRE-1600 BRITISH POETRY edited by Michelle M. Sauer., 2008

PIERS PLOWMAN: PASSUS I

A COMPANION TO PRE-1600 BRITISH POETRY edited by Michelle M. Sauer., 2008

PIERS PLOWMAN: PROLOGUE

A COMPANION TO PRE-1600 BRITISH POETRY edited by Michelle M. Sauer., 2008

ARTHURIAN LITERATURE

A COMPANION TO PRE-1600 BRITISH POETRY edited by Michelle M. Sauer., 2008

THE SOWDENE OF BABYLONE

A COMPANION TO PRE-1600 BRITISH POETRY edited by Michelle M. Sauer., 2008

PETER SCHOEFFER

THE LATE MEDIEVAL AGE OF CRISIS AND RENEWAL 1300-1500 (A Biographical Dictionary) edited by Clayton Drees, 2001

GUILLAUME LEROY

THE LATE MEDIEVAL AGE OF CRISIS AND RENEWAL 1300-1500 (A Biographical Dictionary) edited by Clayton Drees, 2001

Gawain, Arthur and the Loathly Lady: Overcoming physical and ethical monstrosity

ACTES DU 22e CONGRÈS DE LA SOCIÉTÉ INTERNATIONALE ARTHURIENNE, RENNES, 2008 edited by Denis Hüe, Anne Delamaire and Christine Ferlampin-Acher, 2008

Gawain and the Unsettling Nature of Travel in Middle English Romances

Recruiting into ENT and Audiology patients into pharmaceutical clinical trials: evaluating the multi-centre experience in the UK and the USA

The International Journal of Audiology , 2018

A Place for Everything and Everything in its Place: The Practicalities of randomised clinical trials

Taming the Paperwork Mountain: The logistics of a randomised clinical trial

"St Erkenwald" and the Spectacle of Noise

The Siege of Jerusalem

The Siege of Jerusalem is a late fourteenth-century poem probably of 'extreme West Yorkshire prov... more The Siege of Jerusalem is a late fourteenth-century poem probably of 'extreme West Yorkshire provenance'. Scholars here tended to marginalize it, dismissing it as derivative, decadent, unnecessarily violent, precious, anti-Semitic In this first full-length study of the poem Dr Millar challenges traditional interpretations. Not a history, not a religious narrative, more a romance than anything else, The Siege encourages the audience to reconsider the nature of Christian-Jewish relations, the validity of chivalric ideals, the justification for war, etc. It is a beautifully written poem, deserving of a better scholarly press.

“RICHARD THE REDELES” AND THE CONCEPT OF ADVICE

The Performance of Masculinity and Femininity in The Sowdone of Babylon

Sanctity, Savagery and Saracens in Capystranus: Fifteenth Century Christian-Ottoman Relations

Capystranus has been considered by critics to be an accurate historical account of the 1456 siege... more Capystranus has been considered by critics to be an accurate historical account of the 1456 siege of Belgrade by the Turks. This paper aims to dispel this misconception and to examine the representation of Christians and Saracens in the poem. It is an intriguing work that reflects fifteenth-century ideology and fears and is, above all, an exhortation for a new crusade to save Europe from the Turkish menace. The story of Christian triumph against the odds at Belgrade and the amplification of the role of the saintly Capystranus provides an ideal platform from which to expound these principles. The Saracens are thus depicted as the greatest adversaries of Christendom, following in the footsteps of the Jews, while Capystranus is heralded as a latterday Charlemagne. The publication of Capystranus in 1515 and the two subsequent reprints illustrate how there were many in England who were receptive to such concepts and possessed a deep-rooted fear and loathing of the Turks until well into the sixteenth century.

The Role of Prophecy in the Siege of Jerusalem and its Analogues

Dis/enabling Courtesy and Chivalry in the Middle English Romances and Ballads

Approaching Facial Difference , 2018

Hearing Differently: Medical, modern and medieval approaches to sound

Medicine, Health and Being Human , 2018

PIERS PLOWMAN: PASSUS II

A COMPANION TO PRE-1600 BRITISH POETRY edited by Michelle M. Sauer., 2008

PIERS PLOWMAN: PASSUS I

A COMPANION TO PRE-1600 BRITISH POETRY edited by Michelle M. Sauer., 2008

PIERS PLOWMAN: PROLOGUE

A COMPANION TO PRE-1600 BRITISH POETRY edited by Michelle M. Sauer., 2008

ARTHURIAN LITERATURE

A COMPANION TO PRE-1600 BRITISH POETRY edited by Michelle M. Sauer., 2008

THE SOWDENE OF BABYLONE

A COMPANION TO PRE-1600 BRITISH POETRY edited by Michelle M. Sauer., 2008

PETER SCHOEFFER

THE LATE MEDIEVAL AGE OF CRISIS AND RENEWAL 1300-1500 (A Biographical Dictionary) edited by Clayton Drees, 2001

GUILLAUME LEROY

THE LATE MEDIEVAL AGE OF CRISIS AND RENEWAL 1300-1500 (A Biographical Dictionary) edited by Clayton Drees, 2001

Gawain, Arthur and the Loathly Lady: Overcoming physical and ethical monstrosity

ACTES DU 22e CONGRÈS DE LA SOCIÉTÉ INTERNATIONALE ARTHURIENNE, RENNES, 2008 edited by Denis Hüe, Anne Delamaire and Christine Ferlampin-Acher, 2008

Gawain and the Unsettling Nature of Travel in Middle English Romances

Key Critics, Topics and Concepts

The Medieval British Literary Handbook, 2009

"The Turke and Sir Gawain: The Frontiers of Courtliness and Chivalry"

Parodies courtoises, parodies de la courtoisie, 2016

"Hero or Jester: Gawain in Middle English Romances and Ballads"

Le Personnage de Gauvain dans la litterature du europeenne moyen age, 2015

NAMING AND UN-NAMING IN CYNEWULF’S RUNIC SIGNATURES

La construcció d'identitats imaginades, 2015

THE DISCOURSE OF SWORDS: INDICATIONS OF A SHARED SENSE OF BELONGING AND IDENTITY IN ANGLO-SAXON ENGLAND.

Magic, Fantasy and Adventure: Parodying Romance Motifs in "King Arthur and King Cornwall"

"A Measure of Courtliness: Sir Gawain and the Carl of Carlisle”

Cultures Courtoises en Mouvement: Proceedings of the Thirteenth Congress of the International Society of Courtly Literature, 2011

Review: Feminized Counsel and the History of Advice in England, 1380-1500

by Misty Schieberle. Disputatio 26. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols Publishing, 2014. Pp. x + 224. isb... more

The Experience of Beauty in the Middle Ages

Deafness, community and culture in Britain: leisure and cohesion 1945–1995

The Medieval Siege: Theme and Image in Middle English Romance

‘Rethinking the Monstrous: Transgression, Vulnerability, and Difference in British Fiction since 1967’ reviewed by Dr Bonnie Millar

A study of the Siege of Jerusalem in its physical, literary and historical contexts. PhD thesis, University of Nottingham. 2000

The bidirectional relationship between chronic joint pain and frailty: data from the Investigating Musculoskeletal Health and Wellbeing cohort

BMC Geriatrics, May 5, 2023

Background Pain and frailty are associated, but this relationship is insufficiently understood. W... more Background Pain and frailty are associated, but this relationship is insufficiently understood. We aimed to test whether there is a unidirectional or bidirectional relationship between joint pain and frailty. Methods Data were from Investigating Musculoskeletal Health and Wellbeing, a UK-based cohort. Average joint pain severity over the previous month was assessed using an 11-point numerical rating scale (NRS). Frailty was classified as present/absent using the FRAIL questionnaire. Multivariable regression assessed the association between joint pain and frailty, adjusted for age, sex, and BMI class. Two-wave cross-lagged path modelling permitted simultaneous exploration of plausible causal pathways between pain intensity and frailty at baseline and 1-year. Transitions were assessed using t-tests. Results One thousand one hundred seventy-nine participants were studied, 53% female, with a median age of 73 (range 60 to 95) years. FRAIL classified 176 (15%) participants as frail at baseline. Mean (SD) baseline pain score was 5.2 (2.5). Pain NRS ≥ 4 was observed in 172 (99%) of frail participants. Pain severity was associated with frailty at baseline (aOR 1.72 (95%CI 1.56 to 1.92)). In cross-lagged path analysis, higher baseline pain predicted 1-year frailty [β = 0.25, (95%CI 0.14 to 0.36), p < 0.001] and baseline frailty predicted higher 1-year pain [β = 0.06, (95%CI 0.003 to 0.11), p = 0.040]. Participants transitioning to frailty over one year had higher mean pain scores (6.4 (95%CI 5.8 to 7.1)) at baseline than those who remained non-frail (4.7 (95%CI 4.5 to 4.8)), p < 0.001. Conclusions The bidirectional relationship between pain and frailty could lead to a vicious cycle in which each accelerates the other's progression. This justifies attempts to prevent frailty by addressing pain and to include pain measures as an outcome in frailty studies.

1321 the Association of Painful and Non-Painful Comorbidities with Frailty

Age and Ageing, 2023

Introduction Chronic pain is associated with frailty. We hypothesised that painful comorbidities ... more Introduction Chronic pain is associated with frailty. We hypothesised that painful comorbidities would be more strongly associated with frailty than non-painful comorbidities. Method Data were from Investigating Musculoskeletal Health and Wellbeing, a UK-based cohort of people with or at risk of musculoskeletal problems or frailty. Average pain over the previous month was assessed using an 11-point numerical rating scale (NRS). The original FRAIL questionnaire comprises five self-report items: Fatigue, Resistance, Ambulation, Illnesses and Loss of weight. In this study risk of frailty was operationalised using a modified FRAIL questionnaire, omitting the “illnesses” item which related to comorbidities. Comorbidities were classified as either ‘painful’ or ‘non-painful’ based on the International Association for the Study of Pain chronic pain classification criteria. Ordinal logistic regression models explored associations of comorbidity counts with frailty. Results Cross-sectional data were from 2473 participants, 57% female, median age 72 (range 40 to 96) years. 518 (21%) participants were classified as frail. Mean (SD) pain score was 5.5 (2.5). Median (IQR) painful comorbidities was 2 (1 to 3) and non-painful 1 (0 to 2). Highest comorbidity frequency: arthritis (66%) and hypertension (38%). Pain was associated with frailty (OR 1.58 (1.52 to 1.64)). Painful comorbidities (aOR 1.64 (1.54 to 1.75) and non-painful comorbidities (aOR 1.31 (1.21 to 1.41)) were both associated with frailty when included in the same multivariable model adjusted for age, sex and BMI. Conclusions Painful comorbidities were most strongly associated with frailty, although non-painful comorbidities also contributed. Pain and frailty are interconnected, and this might in part be due to comorbidities or their treatments. These findings provide justification for further research to identify the mechanisms through which pain is involved in frailty and to include pain management in interventions to ameliorate frailty.

Feminized Counsel and the Literature of Advice in England, 1380-1500

Medieval feminist forum, May 26, 2017

counsel, both good and bad, was topical in late fourteenth-century England with a series of polit... more counsel, both good and bad, was topical in late fourteenth-century England with a series of political crises in which those in power were considered to be inadequately guided and governing poorly. The efficacy and implementation of monarchical authority was queried. Feminized Counsel's four central chapters explore these concerns in Gower's Confessio Amantis, Chaucer's The Legend of Good Women and The Tale of Melibee, and Christine de Pizan' s Epistre Othea and its Middle English translations. These texts are examined in relation 1.

Naming and Un-naming Cynewulf's Runic Signatures

The siege of Jerusalem in its physical, literary and historical contexts

Central Pain Mechanisms Predict Physical Inactivity at 1-YEAR in Individuals with Knee Pain

Osteoarthritis and Cartilage, Apr 1, 2022

Hearing impairment and hearing disability: towards a paradigm change in hearing services

Disability & Society, Aug 22, 2016

The association of knee pain with frailty: the investigating musculoskeletal health and wellbeing cohort study

Osteoarthritis and Cartilage, 2021

The Performance of Masculinity and Femininity Gender Transgression in The Sowdone of Babylone

Judith Butler has observed that "gender is an identity tenuously constructed in time... through a... more Judith Butler has observed that "gender is an identity tenuously constructed in time... through a stylised repetition of acts", and the performative nature of gender identities has often been highlighted. 1 The extent to which this may be addressed in a medieval context has, however, received less attention. In this paper I will highlight the value of studying the performance of gender roles in medieval culture. I will address the way that knights are described as masculine and ladies as feminine, how the former are feminised and the latter defeminised and what this might suggest within our understanding of medieval society. I will use The Sowdone of Babylone to discuss my hypothesis. My argument is that knights are constructed as masculine when they are in a heroic, knightly role, but they are emasculated when they are described as being in love or when they subscribe to non-Christian religions. Women are depicted as feminine when they perform the roles of daughter, mother, servant or wife, but when they move beyond these functions in order to aid knights, fight or promote Christianity their identity becomes more problematic. It is necessary to observe masculinity and femininity in action as performance as neither is a clearly definable entity. Gender is a cultural process, not a set model and is best described as a movement. It is not possible to map the complexities from some "fixed, unambiguous endpoint". 2 "Gender, like time and space, is continually negotiated, continually in the act of becoming.... Gender performances mark not only private but also cultural constructs of power and powerlessness, frequently reveal individual and collective anxieties about identity boundaries, about the Other in terms of sex, status, race, and religion." 3 In order to understand "social identity" one must examine it in the light of "nature", "culture", the "soul" and "the possibilities of an individual's

The Experience of Beauty in the Middle Ages

The bidirectional relationship between chronic joint pain and frailty: data from the Investigating Musculoskeletal Health and Wellbeing cohort

BMC Geriatrics

Background Pain and frailty are associated, but this relationship is insufficiently understood. W... more Background Pain and frailty are associated, but this relationship is insufficiently understood. We aimed to test whether there is a unidirectional or bidirectional relationship between joint pain and frailty. Methods Data were from Investigating Musculoskeletal Health and Wellbeing, a UK-based cohort. Average joint pain severity over the previous month was assessed using an 11-point numerical rating scale (NRS). Frailty was classified as present/absent using the FRAIL questionnaire. Multivariable regression assessed the association between joint pain and frailty, adjusted for age, sex, and BMI class. Two-wave cross-lagged path modelling permitted simultaneous exploration of plausible causal pathways between pain intensity and frailty at baseline and 1-year. Transitions were assessed using t-tests. Results One thousand one hundred seventy-nine participants were studied, 53% female, with a median age of 73 (range 60 to 95) years. FRAIL classified 176 (15%) participants as frail at bas...

Heading Frequency and Risk of Cognitive Impairment in Retired Male Professional Soccer Players

JAMA Network Open

ImportanceAlthough professional soccer players appear to be at higher risk of neurodegenerative d... more ImportanceAlthough professional soccer players appear to be at higher risk of neurodegenerative disease, the reason remains unknown.ObjectiveTo examine whether heading frequency is associated with risk of cognitive impairment in retired professional soccer players.Design, Setting, and ParticipantsA UK nationwide cross-sectional study was conducted between August 15, 2020, and December 31, 2021, in 459 retired male professional soccer players older than 45 years and registered with the Professional Footballers’ Association or a League Club Players’ Association.ExposureData on heading frequency in 3 bands—0 to 5, 6 to 15, and more than 15 times per match or training session and other soccer-specific risk factors, such as player position and concussion—were collected through a self-reported questionnaire.Main Outcomes and MeasuresCognitive impairment was defined using the Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status-modified as scores of less than or equal to 21. Hopkins Verbal Learning Te...

Cognitive Impairment and Self-Reported Dementia in UK Retired Professional Soccer Players: A Cross Sectional Comparative Study

Sports Medicine - Open

Background Previous studies based on death certificates have found professional soccer players we... more Background Previous studies based on death certificates have found professional soccer players were more likely to die with neurodegenerative diseases, including dementia. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate whether retired professional male soccer players would perform worse on cognitive tests and be more likely to self-report dementia diagnosis than general population control men. Methods A cross-sectional comparative study was conducted between August 2020 and October 2021 in the United Kingdom (UK). Professional soccer players were recruited through different soccer clubs in England, and general population control men were recruited from the East Midlands in the UK. We obtained self-reported postal questionnaire data on dementia and other neurodegenerative diseases, comorbidities and risk factors from 468 soccer players and 619 general population controls. Of these, 326 soccer players and 395 general population controls underwent telephone assessment for cognitive functio...

Feasibility of conducting a cohort randomized controlled trial assessing the effectiveness of a nurse-led package of care for knee pain

Rheumatology

Objective To evaluate the feasibility of conducting a cohort randomized controlled trial (RCT) of... more Objective To evaluate the feasibility of conducting a cohort randomized controlled trial (RCT) of a nurse-led package of care for knee pain and determining a treatment sequence for use in a future trial. Methods This study was an open-label, three-arm, single-centre, mixed-methods, feasibility cohort RCT. Adults aged ≥40 years with moderate-to-severe knee pain for ≥3 months were eligible. Participants were randomized into group A (non-pharmacological treatment first), group B (pharmacological treatment first), or group C (usual care). The intervention was delivered over 26 weeks. Outcomes were dropout rate, recruitment rate, intervention fidelity, ability to collect outcome data, and treatment acceptability. Results Seventeen participants were randomized and enrolled into each of groups A and B (5.2% recruitment rate), and 174 participants were randomized to group C. The participant characteristics at randomization were comparable across the three arms. Coronavirus disease (COVID-19...

Additional file 1 of Investigating musculoskeletal health and wellbeing; a cohort study protocol

Additional file 1.

Hearing differently

East Midlands knee pain multiple randomised controlled trial cohort study: cohort establishment and feasibility study protocol

BMJ Open, 2020

IntroductionKnee pain due to osteoarthritis (OA) is a common cause of disability. The UK National... more IntroductionKnee pain due to osteoarthritis (OA) is a common cause of disability. The UK National Institute for Health and Care Excellence OA guidelines recommend education, exercise and weight loss advice (if overweight) as core interventions before pharmacological adjuncts. However, implementation of these in primary care is often suboptimal. This study aims to develop a complex intervention with non-pharmacological and pharmacological components that can be delivered by nurses. The feasibility and acceptability of the intervention, and feasibility of undertaking a future cohort randomised controlled trial (RCT) will be explored.Methods and analysisIn phase 1, we will develop a training programme for nurses and evaluate the fidelity and acceptability of the non-pharmacological element of the intervention. Fidelity checklists completed by the nurse will be compared with video analysis of the treatment sessions. Patients and nurses will be interviewed to determine the acceptability ...

Dis/enabling Courtesy and Chivalry in the Middle English and Early Modern Gawain Romances and Ballads

The Turke and Sir Gawain, the Frontiers of Courtesy and Chivalry

Cet article examine l'opposition entre le code chevaleresque et le couple altérité/sauvagerie... more Cet article examine l'opposition entre le code chevaleresque et le couple altérité/sauvagerie impliqué dans la relation entre Gauvain et le Turke et mis en œuvre par une série d'exploits comiques accomplis dans les royaumes étrangers, beaucoup d'entre eux ayant rapport au désir de contrôler le pouvoir à la cour du roi Arthur. À travers la parodie des aventures chevaleresques, cet œuvre explore la renégociation du sens de la courtoisie destinée aux publics de la fin du Moyen Âge.

Magic, Fantasy and Adventure: Parodying Romance Motifs in King Arthur and King Cornwall