My MPhil research is looking at the interplay between intellectual culture and physical space at Salisbury Cathedral in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. In the archivault of the arch above the entrance to the Chapter House, there are fourteen carvings of the Virtues dispensing with their Vice pairing. Using these as my starting point, my thesis will uncover the framework of morality at Salisbury, through the use of their extensive manuscript archive, and consider how this framework impacted the Salisbury canons’ interaction with their physical surroundings.

My undergraduate dissertation focused on the medieval visionaries, Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179) and Elisabeth of Schönau (1129-1164/5), alongside the Fourth Lateran Council (1215), to highlight the role of female authority in a deeply patriarchal world of papal reform.