Eilidh Harris
Originally from Edinburgh, I graduated in 2009 with an MA (Hons) in English Literature and History from the University of Edinburgh before continuing to undertake an MSc in Medieval History. My masters degree developed my research interests in religious history and gender, particularly the study of saints and hagiography.
My thesis builds upon these concerns, examining questions of gender and identity in the saints’ Lives of Anglo-Norman Britain, ranging broadly from 1066 to the eve of the thirteenth century. The core of my research focuses on saints who lived and died in this ‘long twelfth century’ and were the subject of near contemporary biographies. Thus far this corpus of texts remains little collectively examined from this angle. My approach involves comparative textual analysis of the works, considering a range of themes, with gender forming a horizontal category of analysis where relevant. Analysing the intersection between different categories of identity is another important focus. A case-study of Thomas Becket at the end of the thesis hopes to place Thomas’ saintly identity within the context of his fellow twelfth-century saints, and to address the question of how typical he is within this context. Through this thematic comparison I intend to uncover how far construction of the religious identities of twelfth-century saints differed, and whether gender is a useful lens through which to view these texts.
Thesis title:
Gender and Identity in Twelfth-Century Saints’ Lives of Anglo-Norman Britain
Supervisors:
Prof. John Hudson and Dr Kirsten Fenton
Papers:
- ‘A Precious Pearl in the Sight of God: A Reinterpretation of the Life of St Margaret’, at Historical Perspectives Conference, University of Dundee, May 2010 [delivered as Eilidh Pennel]
- ‘Outward Splendor and Inner Virtue: the Early Life of Thomas Becket’, at St Andrews Institute of Mediaeval Studies Postgraduate Seminar, November 2011
- ‘Heavenly Desire and Holy Chastity: Male Saints’ Lives in Twelfth-Century Anglo-Norman England', at Gender and Transgression in the Middle Ages 2012, St Andrews Institute of Mediaeval Studies, forthcoming May 2012; and at Leeds International Medieval Congress, University of Leeds forthcoming July 2012
Other:
Member of Organising Committee for Gender and Transgression in the Middle Ages 2012, an interdisciplinary postgraduate conference hosted by St Andrews Institute of Mediaeval Studies
PhD Representative for St Andrews Institute of Mediaeval Studies Steering Committee, 2011-2012.