Scholar - Women Also Know History

Participant Info

Keywords: Crusades, Diplomacy, Peacemaking, Intercultural Contact, Medieval History Writing, Chronicles, Medieval Historiography, Historiography, Narrative Theory, Narratology

About Me: I hold a PhD from Royal Holloway, University of London. My doctoral thesis explored how western medieval writers chose to represent incidents of Christian-Muslim Diplomacy within a crusading context (c.1095-c.1202). This question taps into discussions surrounding the nature of interfaith contact in the Middle Ages, examines cultural norms and values as transmitted through historical writing, and adds to the so-called ‘Clash of Civilisations’ debate.

I have published academic work on the topics of digital resources for studying and researching the crusades, crusader cannibals and foundation narratives. I am currently in the process of turning my PhD into an academic monograph and journal articles.

I have also written encyclopaedia entries on different aspects of the medieval world, as well as an article on the crusades and cannibalism for History Today.

Recent Publications: 2025

‘Cannibal Crusaders: Reports from the First Crusade Brought Tales of Victorious Christian Soldiers Eating Dead Bodies’, History Today, 75.6 (2025).

2024

‘Foundation and Settlement in Fulcher of Chartres’ Historia Hierosolimitana: A Narratological Reading’, in Crusade, Settlement and Historical Writing in the Latin East and Latin West, c.1100-c.1300, ed. A.D. Buck, J.H. Kane & S.J. Spencer (Boydell, 2024), pp. 102-20.

2023

‘Hagia Irene’, in Religion and World Civilizations: How Faith Shaped Societies from Antiquity to the Present, eds. A. Holt (ABC-Clio, 2023), pp. 205-7.

‘Religious Architecture in the Crusader States’, in Religion and World Civilizations: How Faith Shaped Societies from Antiquity to the Present, eds. A. Holt (ABC-Clio, 2023), pp. 155-6.

‘Christian Views on Prostitution’, in Religion and World Civilizations: How Faith Shaped Societies from Antiquity to the Present, eds. A. Holt (ABC-Clio, 2023), pp. 8-10

2022

‘Digesting Cannibalism: Revisiting Representations of Man-Eating Crusaders in Sources for the First Crusade’, in Chronicle, Crusade and the Latin East: Essays in Honour of Susan. B. Edgington, eds. T.W. Smith & A.D. Buck (Brepols, 2022), pp.

2021

‘Networks of Crusading: An Introductory Overview of Digital Resources for Research into People, Place and Space’, Medieval People, 1 (2021), pp. 333-52.