Project Title
Women of the Lesser Aristocracy and Knightly Class in Thirteenth-Century England
Biographical Note
Rebecca Jarvis is a part-time PhD student in the history department. She obtained a first-class degree in History with Archaeology from Canterbury Christ Church University in 2016. She then stayed on at Canterbury Christ Church to complete her MA by Research in History which she finished in 2018. Her thesis focused on Baronial Women in thirteenth-century Lincolnshire. Rebecca’s principal interests include the lives and role of aristocratic women during the thirteenth century.
Research Outline
The thirteenth century was a period of great change for the English aristocracy as it became increasingly hierarchal and there was the emergence of a more regional aristocracy made up of baronial and knightly families focused on a localised spread of estates and interests. The research Rebecca is undertaking aims to explore the place of women within this aristocracy with a particular focus of the counties of Kent and Lincolnshire. This study will consider how property rights affected these women’s’ abilities to exercise lordship and agency during a turbulent period in English politics which saw the reigns of King John, Henry III and Edward I. This research hopes to uncover more about the lives and the experiences of women of the lesser aristocracy, who have been curiously neglected within existing scholarship.
Supervisory Team
- Professor Louise Wilkinson (First Supervisor)
- Dr Leonie Hicks (Second Supervisor)
- Professor Thomas Hennessey (Chair)