Below are listed contact details and research interest information for medievalists in various departments at the University of Cambridge. The information presented on this page is intended to enable other medievalists at Cambridge and around the world to contact scholars with similar interests and to exchange ideas.

We hope that our Cambridge Contacts and UK & Worldwide Contacts pages will continue to grow with contributions from fellow medievalists around the world. If you would like to submit your own contact and research interest information, please complete our Submit Contact Information form. It will be forwarded to us, and we will post your information on our website as soon as possible. We also encourage you to register for our online Forum, a message board that allows users to converse online in real time.

In addition to this list of graduate contacts, there is the very useful Register of Cambridge Medievalists, which can be downloaded in PDF format here. To be included in the Register, please contact either Irene O'Daly (iao20 (@ cam.ac.uk)) or Tom Kitchen (tek21 (@ cam.ac.uk)).

Ingrid Abreu Scherer
Email: ia240 (@cam.ac.uk)
Period: 1300-1500
Institution: Faculty of English
Research: I'm currently working on mystical texts written by and for women in East Anglia during this period. In particular, my PhD focuses on gendered constructions of time and space in texts such as Julian of Norwich's Shewings, and The Book of Margery Kempe. My work also deals with broader constructions of sexuality in this period, and presentations of unnatural/supernatural bodies and monsters. I'm also interested in the changing perception of the Middle Ages through history, and especially in the possible usefulness of the concept of a Postmodern Middle Ages. I am fluent in modern German and Spanish, and am hoping to work on some aspect of medieval Spanish literature - perhaps horror drama.

Laura Ashe
Email: la211 (@cam.ac.uk)
Period: 900-1500
Institution: Faculty of English
Research: My thesis was on eleventh- and twelfth-century insular and Norman texts (French and Latin: Fantosme's Chronicle, the Romance of Horn, the Roman d'Eneas, the Song of Dermot and the Earl, Gerald of Wales' Expugnatio Hibernica, Wace's Rou, and, oddly, the Bayeux Tapestry, as well as lots of comparative stuff) and I try particularly to be interdisciplinary in history and literature: the stuff I write is, I think, cultural history. I have a lot of ideological things to say about that, and about the old text/context debate, but I'll spare you here. I'm now writing a few papers - on Chaucer among other things - and looking for a second big project. Which may be in the Renaissance... or may not. Perhaps I shall hit the thirteenth century next and move forward in an orderly manner.

Linda Bates
Email: lrb28 (@cam.ac.uk)
Period: 1300-1550
Institution: Trinity Hall/Faculty of English, Cambridge
Research: My main research examines the interdependence of literature, law and theology in the later medieval period, with particular focus on the Mystery Cycles. I have working knowledge of Latin and Old English.

Han-Hsi Cheng
Email: hhc24 (@cam.ac.uk)
Period: 1300-1500
Institution: Faculty of English, University of Cambridge
Research: My PhD thesis is about Piers Plowman and Langland's "cartographical" language. Apart from Langland studies and medieval cartography (esp. mappaemundi), I'm also interested in Chaucer studies, medieval apocalypticism, Romance, and the encounter of medieval science and humanity. I have a little French (alors, un peu de francais), but I'm far more confident in Latin (dico, ergo sum). Well, am struggling with ME and considering to learn a more passionate language such as Spanish.

Daniel DiCenso
Email: dd301 (@cam.ac.uk)
Period: 500-1100
Institution: Magdalene College, University of Cambridge
Research: Specifically, I am interested in the (alleged!) Romanization of the chant (and liturgy) that was said to have taken place under Pippin III and Charlemagne (roughly from 750-850). My dissertation, entitled "Charlemagne's Song," seeks to understand whether Charlemagne's reform of the chant was more an aesthetic and musical undertaking (to replace Frankish notes with notes from Rome) or whether the appeal to Romanize the chant was more politically and ideologically motivated (and, if so, how). In addition, I seek to understand better the degree to which the Romanization actually occurred and how musical and non-musical claims about liturgical Romanness stand up when musical and non-musical sources from the era are juxtaposed.

Rudi Eliott Lockhart
Email: rae22 (@cam.ac.uk)
Period: 900-1300
Institution: History Faculty
Research: I'm working on twelfth-century monastic reading and book collections. I examine the role of reading within the cloister as part of the monastic life, and in particular whether a distinction that some have made between intellectual and devotional reading is meaningful for this period. My work focuses on the diffusion and reception of the works of Hugh of St Victor, in particular the Didascalicon, in England.

Irène Fabry
Email: Irene.Fabry (@univ-paris3.fr)
Period: 1100-1500
Institution: Sorbonne nouvelle
Research: I am particularly interested in verse and prose romances, and I have worked especially on Arthurian literature, both in Old French and Middle English texts : La Vengeance Raguidel, l’Atre Périlleux, Hunbaut, Le Chevalier à l’épée, la Mule sans frein and Sir Gawain and the Carle of Carlisle, The Wedding of sir Gawain and dame Ragnelle, the Middle English Prose Merlin... My research is now focusing on text and image in the manuscripts of the Merlin en prose and its Suite Vulgate. I am studying the question of the narrative and iconographic coherence of the "Estoire de Merlin" which assembles the romance of Merlin and its long sequel (which was added later in order to integrate it into the Lancelot Grail cycle). I am teaching Le Bel Inconnu this year in Paris 3.

Mary Flannery
Email: mcf28 (@cam.ac.uk)
Period: 1300-1500
Institution: Faculty of English
Research: I am most interested in the relationship between fifteenth-century English law, literature, history, and politics, particularly from 1377 to 1509. My MPhil thesis focused on the relationship between poet and patron as it is portrayed in John Lydgate's Fall of Princes. Currently, I am researching the role of fama in the same text, and this work has introduced me to the study of rumour, gossip, and the medieval ordeal. Other interests include Arthurian romance and Shakespeare's history plays (particularly the Henriad). I am proficient in modern Spanish and Italian, and am trying desperately to acquire some Latin.

Jen Gonyer-Donohue
Email: jengd (@u.washington.edu)
Period: 900-1500
Institution: Pembroke, visiting grad student
Research: Middle English, mythography, gender and feminist theory

Julian Hendrix
Email: jh421 (@cam.ac.uk)
Period: 500-1100
Institution: King's College
Research: My dissertation is on monastic liturgy for the dead in the Carolingian period. Wider interests include: early medieval cultural history with particular focuses on monasticism, ritual, Iberia, and Italy.

Sarah James
Email: sj2006 (@cam.ac.uk)
Period: 1100-1500
Institution: Faculty of English
Research: 15th-century religious writing in English; Lollardy; female education and learning in 14th-15th centuries; hagiography. Languages: some Old French/Anglo-Norman; medieval Latin.

Hope Johnston
Email: hwj22 (@cam.ac.uk)
Period: 900-1550
Institution: Faculty of English
Research: For my PhD thesis I am working on a critical edition of Brian Annesley's Boke of the Cyte of Ladyes (1521) with the closest extant base text of Christine de Pizan's Livre de la citee des dames (1405). I completed the Cambridge MPhil in Medieval and Renaissance Literature in 2003. Prior to that, I worked as a researcher for AT&T Law and Government Affairs in Washington, DC.

Nicola Jones
Email: nicolajones (@fastmail.fm)
Period: 1300-1500
Institution: Department of Italian
Research: I am currently working on the development of the short story collection in late Medieval Italy and France. I'm interested in the potential for reading the framework of exchange so characteristic of the genre alongside the actual movement and gift-giving of the manuscripts themselves. I'm particularly focusing on the potential of the frame to trap/position the reader within a particular approach to the text. Within this general theme, I'm also interested in the role of illustration within the framwork of the medieval text. I work mainly in Italian and French, but also make use of English, Spanish, German and some (limited, but getting there!) Arabic source material. More specifically, the texts I'm currently working on are: Italian - Il Novellino; Decameron; Novelle (Sercambi); (Salernitano) French - Les Sept Sages de Rome; Les Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles (1464); L'Heptameron.

Jeffrey Knight
Email: jk401 (@cam.ac.uk)
Period:
Institution: University of Cambridge
Research:

Tom Licence
Email: tol21 (@cam.ac.uk)
Period: 900-1300
Institution: Magdalene College
Research: My PhD aims to provide a history of England's hermits c. 970 - c. 1215. Beyond this I enjoy researching all aspects of monasticism from ancient to modern (spirituality, literature, organisation, benefaction etc). Oh - and Oliver Cromwell.

Helen Martin
Email: hmm25 (@cam.ac.uk)
Period: 1300-1500
Institution: Faculty of History
Research: My PhD research focuses upon the history of fifteenth-century English towns. I am considering how late medieval, urban governments created a corporate civic identity through their records, artwork and buildings. In particular, my thesis concentrates upon Bristol, Chester and Norwich, but I am also considering other late medieval towns. Last year I completed an MA in Late Medieval Studies from the University of York and my dissertation was entitled 'John Carpenter's Liber Albus: the civic context'. My dissertation examined this London custumal in detail, with particular reference to the earlier political context of Richard II's seizure of London's liberties in 1392 and the Northampton-Brembre disputes of the 1370s and 1380s.

Simon Meecham-Jones
Email: stmj2 (@cam.ac.uk)
Period: 1100-1500
Institution: Faculty of English
Research: Chaucer and Gower; Medieval Latin lyric; Historical linguistics/ language and cultural contact.

John Munns
Email: jmm89 (@cam.ac.uk)
Period: 1050-1300
Institution: Emmanuel College and Department of History of Art, University of Cambridge
Research: Religious Art, especially Passion imagery, in Medieval England; the relationship between developments in art, theology and devotional practice.

Maria-Kristina Perez
Email: mkp24 (@cam.ac.uk)
Period: 900-1100
Institution: French Department
Research: I am researching the transmission of the role of Morgan la Fey from Celtic Sovereignty Goddess to Old French/Middle English representations. I hope to expand the study to include translations into Old Norse, Spanish and Italian as well.

Aleks Pluskowski
Email: agp21 (@cam.ac.uk)
Period: 700-1500
Institution: Dept. of Archaeology/Clare College
Research: 1) Medieval ecology: the diversity of human-animal-environment relationships across Europe, focusing on a range of environmental and social contexts from the 11th-15th centuries, using archaeological, artistic and written sources supported by ecological and ethological analogues. 2) Physical and conceptualised predator-prey relationships in medieval culture and comparisons from other societies, including present-day Europe and North America. My Ph.D. explored human responses to the wolf and its environment in Britain and Scandinavia from the 8th-14th centuries. 3) Religious diversity across medieval Europe, particularly exploring the spectrum from pagan-Christian in Scandinavia and the Baltic region from the Viking Age into the late medieval period. 4) Seigneurial culture and expressions of élite identity in art, literature, architecture and landscapes, with a focus on hunting in northern Europe, particularly from the 11th century. Additional languages: fluent Polish, enough French and German for academic reading but not really conversation. Have experience of Old English, Old Norse and Latin through PhD research.

Ruth Roberts
Email: rrr26 (@cam.ac.uk)
Period: 1200-1550
Institution: English Faculty, University of Cambridge
Research: Tudor Prison Literature; Anchoritic guides. I am also interested in continuities between the Medieval and Renaissance periods.

Christof Rolker
Email: cr314 (@cam.ac.uk)
Period: 700-1300
Institution: Queens' College
Research: Medieval canon law; intellectual history 11th/12th c.; medieval marriage; France is my major geographical area of interest. Languages include Latin, German, French, Italian, and Greek.

John Spence
Email: jbws2 (@cam.ac.uk)
Period: 1100-1500
Institution: Faculty of English, Pembroke College
Research: I am in the third year of my PhD, studying Anglo-Norman historical literature in prose, mostly from the late thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. I am particularly interested in the conceptual frameworks of these texts and their connections with English noble families. My MPhil looked at representations of giants in Anglo-Norman and Middle English chronicles and romances, and I remain interested in romances. I am also enthusiastic about Chaucer and fifteenth-century English poetry.

Charlotte Steenbrugge
Email: cs446 (@cam.ac.uk)
Period: 1300-1500
Institution: University of Cambridge
Research: For my PhD I want to look at the personification of vices in medieval literature. I\'ll mostly focus on Dutch and English morality plays, but ideally I\'ll also look at other languages and genres.

Anke Timmermann
Email: at364 (@cam.ac.uk)
Period: 1300-1500
Institution: HPS, History and Philosophy of Science
Research: My research focuses on late medieval alchemical poetry (fifteenth century) and its reception in Britain and continental Europe up to the mid-seventeenth century. Interdisciplinary approach (my background is in English literature and linguistics, Philosophy and Maths), multilingual materials (the majority of texts I am working on are written in English, but I am also considering Latin, French and German versions – interest in early modern practice of translation and adaptation of scientific texts).

Sandy Vaughan
Email: sandy_vaughan (@yahoo.com)
Period: 1100-1300
Institution: Faculty of History
Research: My PhD research concerns the three versions of the life of St Dunstan written in England between 1090 and 1130. My primary interests are the way in which meaning is conveyed within each text and the influences upon each writer's use of their source material. My wider concern is the cultural and religious history of England from the late Anglo-Saxon period to the aftermath of the twelfth century civil war (c1000 - 1200) and the reflection of this period within contemporary Latin historical writing. I have some German, a little French and hopefully improving Latin.

Diane E. Vincent
Email: deb28 (@cam.ac.uk)
Period: 1300-1500
Institution: Girton College, University of Cambridge
Research: I'm interested in late-medieval English vernacular theology, and my PhD is focusing on the use of question and answer to talk about God in late medieval England. I'm fascinated by the relationships between academic and popular religious expression in light of scholastic pedagogy, epistemology, philosophy of language, and the repression of the Lollards. My MPhil here at Cambridge was an enjoyable romp into the socio-linguistic and spiritual implications of blasphemous oath-swearing after Lollardy.

James Wade
Email: jpw49 (@cam.ac.uk)
Period: 1100-1650
Institution: Magdalene College/Faculty of English
Research: Romance through Middle Ages and Renaissance; Chaucer; Gower; Malory; Spenser; Shakespeare; early printed romances; the English and Scottish ballads; cultural and literary theory; historiography; 19th and 20th century medievalism

Katie Walter
Email: (@)
Period: 1300-1500
Institution: University of Bochum
Research: My Ph.D. thesis, completed at the University of Cambridge, was entitled 'Discourses of the Human: Mouths in Late Medieval Religious Literature'. It focused on 'vernacular theology' from England in the fourteenth and early fifteenth-centuries, as well as on medical and surgical texts. My next research project at the Universtiy of Bochum is on 'Vernacular Skin', and continues my interest in the body, and in the intersection of religious and medical traditions.

Paul Webster
Email: pw235 (@cam.ac.uk)
Period: 1100-1300
Institution: Faculty of History
Research: My PhD is focused on the piety of the Angevin kings of England c.1154 - c.1216, in particular that of King John. By using a combination of chronicles and administrative sources, I am seeking to approach the subject from a range of different angles, and to consider the development of royal piety over time, as well as comparing Angevin piety with that of other European kings, in particular those of Capetian France.

Charles West
Email: cmaw2 (@cam.ac.uk)
Period: 700-1300
Institution: Faculty of History
Research: My research interests focus on the comparative post-Carolingian (c.850-1100) political development of the regions of Champagne and Upper Lotharingia (broadly from the Ile de France across to the Vosges). This research seeks to address the problematic of the mechanism and meaning of the transformation of the Carolingian world, at the local level. At present I am looking at the transformation of the institution of advocacy: counties and the principalities are next on the list. Thematic interests include the vexing question of 'the public' as well as the nature of lordship in these regions.