Marie Tranchant (KCL) - 2023-24 Students
marie.1.tranchant@kcl.ac.uk

Writing history at Burton Abbey: national politics, local networks and the construction of the past in medieval England

My thesis will be a study of both the chronicle and the cartularies of Burton Abbey in Staffordshire. The former gives a unique account of a revolutionary period in English politics: the mid-13th century. The latter capture the landed and archival resources of the monastery since its foundation in 1004.

Recent historians have analysed both chronicles and cartularies in new and exciting ways, but my thesis will be the first to consider the two together and analyse how they are related. In the process, I hope to shed new light on how a monastery understood and constructed the past, both national and local, ultimately offering a reflection on what it means to write history in the Middle Ages.

Primary supervisor: Professor Julia Crick

Secondary supervisor: Professor Alice Taylor