Sheila Sweetinburgh

Lecturer in Medieval & Early Modern Studies; Co-Director of the Centre for Kent History & Heritage

I have taught at Canterbury Christ Church University at undergraduate and postgraduate levels for over fifteen years. As Co-Director of CKHH, I organise the annual History Weekends as well as other public engagement events showcasing new research in history and allied fields. I have been involved in several funded research projects since 2000 and currently, among other projects, I am working on a 3-year funded project on Kent's Maritime Communities with Dr Craig Lambert (University of Southampton).

I began lecturing in medieval and early modern history at the University of Kent in 1995, and continue to offer a postgraduate option module in the MEMS Taught MA there. In the early 2010s, I taught at the University of Huddersfield. I have been lecturing at Canterbury Christ Church University for well over fifteen years to undergraduates and postgraduates, including supervising doctoral students.

My main research interests focus on medieval and early Tudor urban society, especially the period c.1350 to c.1550. Using microhistory and theoretical approaches from social anthropology and historical geography, I have undertaken a wide variety of thematic investigations relating to those below the elite. These studies have involved research into areas such as material culture, migration, pragmatic literacy and affective piety employing the exceptionally rich archival sources for Canterbury and the Cinque Ports. I have also undertaken studies on medieval peasant society, the agrarian strategies of the great monastic landlords and maritime communities.Among the research projects I am currently involved in are the Leverhulme-funded Gough Map project, the Lossenham Project and the 3-year funded 'Kent's Maritime Communities' project, the latter involving the allied supervision of two doctoral research students, one full-time and one part-time.

Research Projects

Civilisation, Power and Knowledge in early modern East Kent: an analysis of discourse and transgression of social and cultural practice in the Cinque Ports c.1600-c.1640. Researcher(s): Mr Jason Mazzocchi. Supervisor(s): Dr Dave Hitchcock, Dr Sheila Sweetinburgh. [Postgraduate Research Project]
Different Voices: Parochial Charity in the Medway Valley 1660 - 1840. Researcher(s): Mr Peter Joyce. Supervisor(s): Dr Dave Hitchcock, Dr Sheila Sweetinburgh. [Postgraduate Research Project]
Doctoral Research Project. Researcher(s): Dr Lily Hawker-Yates. Supervisor(s): Dr Sheila Sweetinburgh, Dr Lesley Hardy. [Postgraduate Research Project (past)]
St Thomas Becket in Late Medieval England: Laurence Wade’s ‘Life of Becket’ and its place in English History and Literature, 1450-1530. Researcher(s): Mr Michael Byrne. Supervisor(s): Dr Sheila Sweetinburgh, Dr Claire Bartram. [Postgraduate Research Project]
The Emotional Life of the Poor in England between 1600 and 1800: How did the poor cope with poverty?. Researcher(s): Mrs Elizabeth Burton. Supervisor(s): Dr Dave Hitchcock, Dr Sheila Sweetinburgh. [Postgraduate Research Project]
The suppression of several of Kent’s monastic houses during Cardinal Wolsey’s asset-stripping ‘Little Dissolution’ (1520s). A critical study of three religious houses: Tonbridge, Bayham and Lesnes.. Researcher(s): Mrs Jane Richardson. Supervisor(s): Dr Sheila Sweetinburgh, Dr Claire Bartram. [Postgraduate Research Project]
The use and development of the Maison Dieu, Dover and its significance to the crown, port and local community 1450-1606.. Researcher(s): Ms Kieron Hoyle. Supervisor(s): Dr Sheila Sweetinburgh, Dr Claire Bartram. [Postgraduate Research Project]
Tonbridge: the evolution of a town 1250 to 1700. Researcher(s): Mrs Maureen McLeod. Supervisor(s): Dr Sheila Sweetinburgh, Dr Claire Bartram. [Postgraduate Research Project]
We recommend that Tracey reviews the thesis title as discussed in the viva and set out in our recommendations.. Researcher(s): Ms Tracey Dessoy. Supervisor(s): Dr Sheila Sweetinburgh, Dr Astrid Stilma, Professor Thomas Hennessey. [Postgraduate Research Project]

As a consequence of my research interests and knowledge of medieval and early modern Kent, as well as my consultancy work for various archaeological and other bodies, I am on the Advisory Council for Kent Archaeological Society. I am also a Trustee of the Wye Rural Museum Trust and the Oxus Foundation. Such appointments have offered opportunities to engage in organisational activities, including the provision of outreach activities and the provision of research skills to members of KAS and the general public. This experience has been valuable for my recent work for the Centre for Kent History and Heritage that has also involved the creation and organisation of History Weekends, Study Days, Workshops, Conferences and Lectures.
Additionally, I edited two volumes in the Kent History Project: Early Medieval Kent, 800-1220 (2016) and Later Medieval Kent, 1220-1540 (2010), as well as being one of the editors of Maritime Kent through the Ages (2020).
Since 2005 I have been a reviewer for the following history journals: Age of Chaucer Studies, Agricultural History Review, Journal of Medieval Monastic Studies, Journal of British Studies, Social History, Social History of Medicine and Southern History.
Since 2015 I have been a reader for Boydell, Routledge, Manchester University Press and Nottingham Medieval Studies.
I contributed to several projects organised by the 'Christianity and Culture' group, University of York.

Topics of lectures and talks given recently

'Canterbury's Medieval Hospitals and Almshouses'
'Looking to the Past: the St Thomas Pageant in Early Tudor Canterbury'
''Going to Visit': an Imaginary Tour of Sir Peter Buck's House in Seventeenth-Century Rochester'
'Medieval Hospitals in Hythe and in the Kentish Cinque Ports'
'Agricultural Practice in the Medieval Kentish Marshlands'
'Neighbours across the Religious Divide in Henrician Kent'
‘Mayor-making and other civic ceremonies at the Kentish Cinque Ports’
‘Religious women in the landscape: their roles in medieval Canterbury and its hinterland’
‘The pilgrimage experience in late medieval Canterbury’
‘Starting a new life in Ricardian and Henrician Canterbury’
‘Crossing the Channel: immigrant artisans and traders in 15^th-century Canterbury’
‘Pigs in medieval Kent’
‘Pigs, naming practices and symbolic meanings’
‘Seasonal settlers: pig herders in the medieval Kentish dens’

Rethinking the medieval pig in England: From woodland animal to bagpipe-playing sow Sweetinburgh, S., Skin and Bone, Wood and Stone. [Book chapter]
Starting a new life as artisans and traders in Ricardian and Henrician Canterbury (c.1400 and c.1500) Sweetinburgh, S., (30 Jun 2022): Kent Archaeological Society. [Journal article]
"Ready for to go to the sea": maintaining fishing families in Late Medieval Hythe Sweetinburgh, S., (Oct 2021), Maritime Kent Through The Ages. Woodbridge: Boydell Press. [Book chapter]
‘Fat persons bathing whose appearance was most disgusting’: Entertaining Thanet in the Age of Steam Oulton, C., (Oct 2021), Maritime Kent Through the Ages: Gateway to the Sea: Boydell Press. [Book chapter]
More continuity than change: Kent's Tudor almshouses Sweetinburgh, S., (2021): Southern History Society. [Journal article]
Parish Clergy Wives in Elizabethan England, by Anne Thompson Sweetinburgh, Sheila, (27 Feb 2021, 17 Jun 2021): Oxford University Press. [Journal article]
Community care: civic charitable institutions in the Kentish Cinque Ports, c.1300-c.1500 Sweetinburgh, S., (Jun 2020): Kent Archaeological Society. [Journal article]
'Writing the town in mid-fifteenth-century Sandwich: the contribution of John Serle, common clerk' Sweetinburgh, S., Kentish Book Culture: Writing and reading in the Provinces 1400-1660: Peter Lang. [Book chapter]
Fishermen and their families in late medieval and Tudor Kent Sweetinburgh, S., The Routledge Research Companion to Marine and Maritime Worlds, 1400-1800: Oceans in Global History and Culture: Routledge. [Book chapter]
Neighbours across the religious divide: coping with difference in Henrician Kent Sweetinburgh, S., The Experience of Neighbourliness in Europe, c.1000-1600: Routledge. [Book chapter]
Religious women in the landscape: their roles in medieval Canterbury and its hinterland Sweetinburgh, S., (15 Nov 2018), Gender: Places, Spaces and Thresholds. London: Institute of Historical Research. [Book chapter]
Shepsters, Hucksters and other Businesswomen: female involvement in Canterbury's fifteenth-century economy Sweetinburgh, S., (01 Jul 2017): Kent Archaeological Society. [Journal article]
Those who marched with Faunt: reconstructing the Canterbury rebels of 1471 Sweetinburgh, S., (Dec 2017): Southern History Society. [Journal article]
Early medieval Kent, 800-1220, (2016). Woodbridge: Boydell Press. [Book]
Farming the Kentish marshlands: continuity and change in the late Middle Ages Sweetinburgh, S., (Feb 2016), Custom and Commercialisation in English Rural Society: Revisiting Tawney and Postan. Hatfield: University of Hertfordshire Press. [Book chapter]
Looking to the past: the St Thomas Pageant in early Tudor Canterbury Sweetinburgh, S., (Jun 2016): Kent Archaeological Society. [Journal article]
A tale of two mazers: negotiating relationships at Kentish medieval hospitals' Sweetinburgh, S., (Jun 2015): Kent Archaeological Society. [Journal article]
The economic impact of the Reformation on two Canterbury parishes Sweetinburgh, S., (2015), Views from the Parish: Churchwardens' Accounts c.1500-c.1800. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. [Book chapter]
Placing the hospital: the production of St Lawrence's hospital registers in fifteenth-century Canterbury Sweetinburgh, S., (2014), The Fifteenth Century XIII: Exploring the Evidence: Commemoration, Administration and the Economy. Woodbridge: Boydell Press. [Book chapter]
To move the mind: scenes from Christ's life on Faversham's painted pillar Sweetinburgh, S., (2014), Devotional Culture in Late Medieval England and Europe. Turnhout: Brepols. [Book chapter]
What's in a name? Exploring the use of 'Creature' as a Christian name in early modern Kent Sweetinburgh, S., Craig-Mair, V., (2014): Kent Archaeological Society. [Journal article]
''With the consent of the towne, and other skillfull marryners and gentlemen': An examination of textual negotiations in the Elizabethan restoration of Dover Harbour 1582-1605. Bartram, C., Dixon, M., Negotiating the Political in Northern European Urban Society, c.1400-1600: Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies. [Book chapter]
'With the consent of the towne, and other skillfull marryners and gentlemen': an examination of textual negotiations in the Elizabethan restoration of Dover Harbour 1582-1605 Bartram, C., Dixon, M., (2013), Negotiating the Political in Northern European Urban Society, c.1400-1600. Tempe, Arizona, USA: Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies. [Book chapter]
Canterbury's martyred archbishop: the 'cult' of Simon Sudbury and relations between city and cathedral Sweetinburgh, S., (2013), Monuments and Monumentality across Medieval and Early Modern Europe. Donington: Shaun Tyas. [Book chapter]
Discord in the public arena: processes and meanings of the St Bartholomew's day festivities in early sixteenth-century Sandwich Sweetinburgh, S., (2013), Negotiating the Political in Northern European Urban Society, c.1400-c.1600. Tempe, Arizona: ACMRS and Brepols. [Book chapter]
Pilgrimage in 'an Age of Plague': Seeking Canterbury's 'hooly blisful martir' in 1420 and 1470 Sweetinburgh, S., (2013), The Fifteenth Century XII: Society in an Age of Plague. Woodbridge: Boydell Press. [Book chapter]
Anglo-Saxon saints and a Norman archbishop: 'imaginative memory' and institutional identity at St Gregory's Priory, Canterbury Sweetinburgh, S., (2012), The Regular Canons in the Medieval British Isles. Turnhout: Brepols. [Book chapter]
Caught in the cross-fire: patronage and institutional politics in late twelfth-century Canterbury Sweetinburgh, S., (2011), Cathedrals, Communities and Conflict in the Anglo-Norman World. Woodbridge: Boydell Press. [Book chapter]
Hythe's butcher-graziers: townsmen in the late medieval English countryside Sweetinburgh, S., (2011), New Directions in Local History since Hoskins. Hatfield: University of Hertfordshire Press. [Book chapter]
The social structure of New Romney as revealed in the 1381 Poll Tax returns Sweetinburgh, S., (2011): Kent Archaeological Society. [Journal article]
'My painted chamber' and other rooms: Stephen Hulkes and the history of Calico House, Newnham Sweetinburgh, S., Austin, R., (2010): Kent Archaeological Society. [Journal article]
Kentish hospitals during the late Middle Ages Sweetinburgh, S., (2010), Later Medieval Kent, 1220-1540. Woodbridge: Boydell Press. [Book chapter]
Kentish towns: urban culture and the parish in later medieval Kent Sweetinburgh, S., (2010), Later Medieval Kent, 1220-1540. Woodbridge: Boydell Press. [Book chapter]
Overcoming disaster? Farming practices on Christ Church Priory's marshland manors in the early 14th century Sweetinburgh, S., (2010), Romney Marsh: Persistence and Change in a Coastal Lowland. Sevenoaks: Romney Marsh Research Trust. [Book chapter]
Remembering the dead at dinner-time Sweetinburgh, S., (2010), Everyday Objects: Medieval and Early Modern Material Culture and its Meanings. Aldershot: Ashgate. [Book chapter]
Eternal town servants: civic elections and the Stuppeny tombs of New Romney and Lydd Sweetinburgh, S., (2009), Negotiating Heritage: Memories of the Middle Ages. Turnhout: Brepols. [Book chapter]
The Austin Friars in late medieval Canterbury: negotiating spaces Sweetinburgh, S., (2008), Monasteries and Society in the British Isles in the Later Middle Ages. Woodbridge: Boydell Press. [Book chapter]
Royal patrons and local benefactors: the experiences of the hospitals of St Mary at Ospringe and Dover in the thirteenth century Sweetinburgh, S., (2007), Religious and Laity in Western Europe 1000-1400: Interaction, Negotiation, and Power. Turnhout: Brepols. [Book chapter]
The poor, hospitals and charity in sixteenth-century Canterbury Sweetinburgh, S., (2007), Pieties in Transition: Religious Practices and Experiences c.1400-1640. Aldershot: Ashgate. [Book chapter]
Mayor-making and other ceremonies: shared uses of sacred space among the Kentish Cinque Ports Sweetinburgh, S., (2006), The Use and Abuse of Sacred Places in Late Medieval Towns. Leuvan: Leuven University Press. [Book chapter]
Strategies of inheritance among Kentish fishing communities in the later Middle Ages Sweetinburgh, S., (2006, Jan 2012): Taylor & Francis. [Journal article]
The Archangel Gabriel's stone and other relics: William Haute's serach for salvation in fifteenth-century Kent Sweetinburgh, S., (2006): Kent Archaeological Society. [Journal article]
Clothing the naked in late medieval Kent Sweetinburgh, S., (2004), Clothing Culture, 1300-1600. Aldershot: Ashgate. [Book chapter]
The role of the hospital in medieval England: gift-giving and the spiritual economy Sweetinburgh, S., (2004). Dublin: Four Courts Press. [Book]
Wax, stone and iron: Dover's town defences in the later Middle Ages Sweetinburgh, S., (2004): Kent Archaeological Society. [Journal article]
Joining the sisters: female inmates in the late medieval hospitals of east Kent Sweetinburgh, S., (2003): Kent Archaeological Society. [Journal article]
Supporting the Canterbury hospitals: benefaction and the language of charity in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries Sweetinburgh, S., (2002): Kent Archaeological Society. [Journal article]

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Dr Sheila Sweetinburgh

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