Department of History
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About the department
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Ms Harriett Webster
Seminar Tutor
Contact details
Email: Harriett.Webster@bristol.ac.uk
Research Interests
My research is currently focused on the development of historiography in the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries, with particular reference to English monastic texts. I am interested in using manuscripts as artefacts to challenge existing interpretations of narrative histories, and will be publishing my new critical edition of the Chronicon Anglicanum by Ralph of Coggeshall next year with Boydell and Brewer. One of the most interesting areas to emerge from my doctoral studies has been the scale of interest shown by English monastic chroniclers of the period in the crusading movement, which will be the subject in the first instance of an article. I will then build on this foundation, extending the field to include non-traditional crusading narratives by different monastic orders and investigating their relationship with the crusades. In particular I will be looking at the strength of their monastic identity and the degree to which this influences their interpretation of the movement.
Teaching
- Introduction to Medieval History
- Approaching the Past
- Crusading in the Middle Ages (Special Topic)
- Latin Palaeography (MA)
- Cabot Project - Schools Group
Publications
H. Webster (ed.) and D. Preest (trans.), The Dunstable Annals (forthcoming, Boydell and Brewer 2013)
Ralph of Coggeshall, Chronicon Anglicanum, ed. and trans. H.Webster (forthcoming, Boydell and Brewer)
Conferences
‘Becoming Cistercian: the Changing Identity of Coggeshall Abbey’, BIRTHA Medieval Postgraduate Conference 2012: Identity & Image, University of Bristol, February 2012
‘The Cistercian Connection: the Evolution of Coggeshall Abbey’s Identity’, The Oxford/Cambridge International Chronicles Symposium 2012: 'Bonds, Links, and Ties in Medieval and Renaissance Chronicles', The Ioannou Centre for Classical and Byzantine Studies, Oxford, July 2012
‘Beyond the Autograph: The Transmission and Reception of the Chronicon Anglicanum’, IMC 2013: ‘Books Have Their Histories: Medieval Chronicles and Their Scribes, Manuscripts, and Early Editions’, Leeds, July 2013