Laura Tompkins
Originally from Cheshire, having studied for my BA (History) and MA (Historical Research) at the University of Lancaster I joined St. Andrews in 2008 to undertake doctoral research under the supervision of Prof. Chris Given-Wilson.
For my thesis I am investigating the controversial yet understudied figure of Alice Perrers, the mistress of Edward III during the final years of his life. A Londoner by birth, Alice made the remarkable transition to the queen’s household and the king’s bed during the 1360s before emerging as a powerful and deeply unpopular figure during the political crisis which gripped the country during the 1370s. Having amassed a vast personal fortune in land and jewels Alice is unique amongst medieval mistresses in the she was placed under ordinance and subsequently convicted in parliament under a special all encompassing forfeiture which reflected her extensive use of the legal mechanism of enfeoffment.
Using government records, chronicle and literary sources I intend draw on broad ideas of gender and power to reach conclusions on both the real and perceived role Alice played within the group of favourites who controlled the king during these years, specifically arguing that after the death of Edward’s consort, Philippa of Hainault, in 1369 Alice became nothing short of an uncrowned queen. Taking in arguments on women as businesswomen and financiers, femme sole, and queenship, this approach seeks to presents queenship as a continuous force in the exertion of effective sovereign power, both during and outside of the reign of a consort. By taking Alice as a case study I hope to present an argument which has implications for our understanding of the nature of queenship, mistresses and royal favourites both in and beyond England in the fourteenth century.
Thesis Title
Inverted Queenship and Failing Kingship: Alice Perrers, Edward III and the Political Crisis in 1370s England.
Supervisor
Prof. Chris Given-Wilson
Papers
- Apr. 2012 ‘“Yet that whore, Alice Perrers, did not refrain from acts of licentiousness and lascivious touching of his flesh”: the corruption of the body natural and body politic of Edward III’, The Royal Body Conference, Royal Holloway, University of London
- Nov. 2011 ‘Alice Perrers and the Goldsmiths’ Mistery’, Late Medieval Seminar, Institute of Historical Research, London
- Jul. 2011 ‘The Trial of Forfeiture of Alice Perrers’, International Medieval Congress, University of Leeds
- May. 2011 ‘Alice Perrers and the Inversion of Queenship’, International Medieval Congress, University of Western Michigan, Kalamazoo (USA)
- Nov. 2010 ‘Was Alice Perrers an Uncrowned Queen?: Queenship, Mistresses and Royal Favourites in Fourteenth Century England’, Postgraduate Seminar Series, University of York
- Jul. 2010 ‘Corrupting Queenship?: The Mediation and Intercession of Alice Perrers’, International Medieval Conference, University of Leeds
- Jun. 2010 ‘Alice Perrers and London’, Late Medieval and Early Modern London Seminar, Institute of Historical Research, London
- May. 2009 ‘Joan of Kent and the Order of the Garter’, Gender and Transgression Postgraduate Conference, St Andrews
Teaching
ME1006: Scotland and the English Empire, 1070-1500
SC1901: Medieval Scotland, 1100-1500 (Evening Degree)
Guest Lecturer on honours module ME3232: Queen’s and Queenship in Early Medieval Europe
Other Positions of Responsibility
2010-2011 PhD representative on the St Andrews Institute of Mediaeval Studies (SAIMS) steering committee.
May. 2010 Co-organiser of ‘Gender and Transgression in the Middle Ages 2010’ postgraduate conference, University of St Andrews.
Sept. 2009 Organised annual ‘Fifteenth-Century Conference’, established academic conference (changes venue annually), University of St. Andrews.
May. 2009 Co-organiser of ‘Gender and Transgression in the Middle Ages 2009’, postgraduate conference, University of St Andrews.