I've been lurking here, but I thought I'd respond to your question about BC's process, Katia_chan. I'm a currently enrolled student with their MA program and applied to their PhD program. Four seats, I'm a Victorianist and one of ours recently retired, and they know me so they had a very good idea of fit, but long story short I received the kindest rejection email I've ever read.
I know they're in the process of hiring a new Medievalist, tenure-track, so depending on how that shakes out that might be why it's taking longer to get back to you.