Research
My research, in general, studies early medieval western European political, intellectual and gender history. I use digital methods to answer these historical questions, with an emphasis on textual methods. I am also interested in the implications of digital methods on the study of history, and how digital methods might be made more accessible and approachable.
My role on the Monastic Economies project focuses on the creation of digital textual editions of the archival documents of the monastery of Farfa, in Lazio, Italy. It also involves comparative analysis of Fulda, in Hesse, Germany, and their use of leases to manage their relationships with their land. The digital edition will use the Text Encoding Initiative (TEI) standards. Within this project, I am also interested in the interactions between monastic intellectual culture and the economic and social lives of monastic communities.
Outside my current position, I am working on a monograph *Advising the Carolingians*, based on my doctoral research project. This monograph uses digital methods to analyse advice written for Carolingian kings and queens, tracking key concepts, such as justice, over time. I argue that Carolingian advisers debated the purpose of power through producing advice texts for rulers. They advanced a moral framework for the exercise of legitimate authority, to which they then held kings and queens.
Early medieval intellectual and political culture
The majority of my research focuses on early medieval intellectual and political culture. I mainly work on the Carolingian world, but have also researched and published on early medieval Ireland. In particular, I am interested in:
- how political ideas were formulated in the early middle ages;
- the connection between political ideas and gender;
- the connection between political ideas and spiritual culture;
- how political ideas affected the way early medieval leaders exercised their power.
Finally, I am also interested in the connections between parts of early medieval Europe and the wider world in these areas.
Digital and heritage-scientific approaches to the early middle ages
I am interested in the opportunities provided by digital and heritage-scientific methods for the study of early medieval history. Specifically, I work with:
- text encoding, mining and analysis tools;
- handwritten text recognition (HTR);
- advanced imaging methods, particularly multi-spectral imaging (MSI).
I am very interested in collaborations across disciplines, having worked with archaeological scientists, imaging experts and computational linguists to turn these methods to the early middle ages.