Professor Martin Heale PhD (Cantab), FRHS

My current research projects focus on the suppression of English monasteries by Henry VIII in the 1530s, and on Protestant responses to the monastic ideal in early modern England.

I have published two books on this theme: an OUP monograph on 'The Abbots and Priors of Late Medieval and Reformation England' (2016), and an edited collection of essays, published by York Medieval Press, on 'The Prelate in England and Europe, 1300-1560' (2015). I am still actively researching monastic superiors - including recent or ongoing work on the prior in late medieval England, retired abbots, and the genre of 'gesta abbatum'.

I have published widely on this theme. Recent and ongoing projects include an article on the relationship between monasteries and urban guilds, and the depiction of the religious orders in the writings of John Gower and late medieval Robin Hood ballads.