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School of History

Professor Miri Rubin

Miri

Professor of Medieval and Early Modern History

Email: m.e.rubin@qmul.ac.uk
Telephone: +44 (0)20 7882 8369
Room Number: ArtsTwo 3.08

Profile

I am a historian of Europe of wide interests. My research has ranged across the period 1100-1600, through the exploration of themes in the religious culture of Europe. I am interested in inter-disciplinary encounters, and these have animated my work.  I also enjoy disseminating history to diverse audiences all over the world.

Research

Research Interests:

My research has introduced new approaches to the study of social relations in the predominantly religious cultures of medieval Europe. I have sought to understand the message of Christian charity as practised in medieval communities; to explore the meanings of the arch-sacrament, the Eucharist; to explore new narratives about Jews, which turned into public social dramas. In all my work I seek to understand issues of identity, community, and gender, the boundaries of cooperation and the threat of violence. Delivering the Wiles Lectures in 2017 led me to develop research on attitudes to strangers in medieval cities.

  • History of religious cultures
  • Social and community relations
  • Jewish-Christian relations
  • Gender, identity and the body: ideas as well as practices
  • Visual and material expressions of ideas and practices
  • Urban life and attitudes to strangers

I am keen to support collaborations and interaction between scholars. During the Covid Year I founded with colleagues from the University of Ghent an international network and seminar, the Belgian-British Medieval Urban History Network, and created the Medievalists in Lockdown! group of QM medievalists and their Colleagues.

Publications

Supervision

I enjoy supervising PhDs and aim to encourage emergent historians to acquire skills, find their voice through engagement with a wide range of sources - material, textual, visual, and develop concepts through engagement with other disciplines. I have been delighted to see most of those I have supervised go on to postdoctoral positions and then academic careers, or choose interesting work in the heritage and cultural sectors.

I am currently supervising:

  • Netta Amir (Hebrew University of Jerusalem), The Making of the Via Dolorosa
  • Eliot Benbow, Material Culture of Devotion in Late Medieval London
  • Edward Caddy, The Crusade Vow in Context: Origins and Evolution, c.1050-1215
  • Bert Carlstrom, Archbishop Hernando Talavera and the Challenges of Pastoral Care
  • Helen Carr, The Emotional Worlds of Late Medieval Women in England
  • Lisa Di Crescenao, The Vernacular-Authored Correspondence of Luisa Donati Strozzi (1434-1510)
  • Amanda Langley, The Lived Experience of the Mystic Agnes Blanbekin
  • Kerstin Mayerhofer (University of Vienna), The Myth of Jewish Male Bleeding
  • Adelheid Russenberger, The Experience of Disability in Later Medieval Europe
  • Ningfen Wang, The Representation of Black African Children in Early Modern England

I have examined 58 PhDs in the UK and abroad, and offer mentoring to those I have examined.

Current PHD Students

  • Ningfen Wang – Black African children in Early Modern English prints and archives, 1500-1700

Public Engagement

Appearances in the media:

Podcasts:

I promote the public understanding of History by serving as President of the Jewish Historical Society since January 2020.

 

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