Department of History
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About the department
Research
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Dr Rachel Gibbons
Teaching Fellow in Late Medieval British History
Office: G.49, 13 Woodland Road: Consultation hours
Telephone: 0117 928 8397
Email: Rachel.Gibbons@bristol.ac.uk
Research Interests
My research focuses on medieval queenship studies, stemming originally from my doctoral research into the controversial career of Isabeau of Bavaria, queen of France (c.1370-1435). I am currently writing a book for Longman’s ‘Medieval World’ series on Queens, Queenship and Court Culture (expected publication 2010), in which I explore the familial, political, economic, cultural and symbolic power of the office of queen-consort in the Middle Ages.
I am interested in the later Middle Ages in general, particularly the Hundred Years War period in France and England, including literature/culture, nascent nationalism, monarchical theory and social issues, as well as the political aspects of the conflict for both kingdoms; the Wars of the Roses; and issues of gender and identity.
Teaching
I contribute to the team-taught first-year Lecture Outline course, Introduction to Medieval History.
In addition, I offer the following undergraduate units:
- Chivalry in the later Middle Ages (first year Special Topic)
- Henry V (second year Lecture Response Unit)
- England & France in the Fourteenth Century (third year Lecture Response Unit)
- Kingship & Crisis in the Wars of the Roses (third year Special Subject)
- Joan of Arc (third year Reflective History unit)
MA options on the MA in Medieval and Early Modern History and within the interdisciplinary Centre for Medieval Studies on 'The Madness of Kings: a comparative study of Charles VI of France & Henry VI of England' and 'Marriage and Sexuality in the Middle Ages, c.1100-1500'.
Selected Publications
Editor of Exploring History, 1400-1900: an anthology of primary sources (Manchester University Press, 2007). Set book for Open University history course A200.
'The Queen as "social mannequin". Consumerism and expenditure at the Court of Isabeau of Bavaria, 1393-1422', Journal of Medieval History 26:4 (2000).
'Isabeau of Bavaria, queen of France: the creation of an historical villainess', Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, ser. 6, VI (1996). The Alexander Prize Essay of 1995.