Royal Holloway, University of London

Graduate Student, History

Other Affiliations: University of Kent, School of History

Thesis Title: Pope Honorius III and the Holy Land Crusade 1216-1227: A Study in Papal Government

About

I am interested in medieval papal government during Honorius III's pontificate (1216-1227). Working from the manuscripts of the papal registers (Vatican City, Archivio Segreto Vaticano, Registra Vaticana 9-13), my PhD thesis focuses on the papacy's involvement in crusading to recover the Holy Land, which I analyse in the context of medieval ecclesiastical and diplomatic history.

I am an assistant lecturer at the University of Kent, where I teach modules on Medieval Europe, c. 1066-1450, and the Crusades: http://www.kent.ac.uk/history/staff/profiles/smith-t.html

Together with Liz Mylod, Dr Guy Perry, and Jan Vandeburie, I am one of the organisers of the international colloquium 'Contextualising the Fifth Crusade', to be held at the University of Kent on 13-14 April 2012. Twenty-three speakers from twelve different countries will present their research on the crusade movement in the first half of the thirteenth century to contextualise the Fifth Crusade (1217-1221). Keynotes will be delivered by Professor Peter Edbury, Professor Bernard Hamilton, and Dr Alan V. Murray. Please see the website for the full programme, travel and accommodation details, and to download the registration form (deadline 30 March): http://contextualisingthe5thcrusade.wordpress.com/

I am the treasurer and membership secretary of the London Medieval Society http://www.the-lms.org, and I am also the 'Cybersecretary' for the History Lab at the Institute of Historical Research http://www.history.ac.uk/historylab. I am a member of the Ecclesiastical History Society, the Society for the Study of the Crusades and the Latin East, and the Canterbury and York Society.

I am also one of the convenors of the new Royal Holloway postgraduate seminar, to be held at our Bedford Square building in Central London from autumn 2011 onwards. We welcome paper proposals from both PhD and MA students, so if you are a postgraduate student at RHUL and would like to give a paper please contact me or one of the other convenors.

I have worked as a research assistant for Dr Barbara Zipser (RHUL), transcribing Simon of Genoa's 'Clavis sanationis', a thirteenth-century medical dictionary (transcribed from an early printed edition). Dr Zipser's edition of the Clavis is now online in a 'Wiki' format that invites researchers to contribute: www.simonofgenoa.org I also wrote a factual introduction to the 'Clavis', which can be found at: http://simonofgenoa.org/index.php5?title=Incipit

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