Dr John Merrington

Research Topic

Restraint and Reform: the Five Senses in Thought and Practice in Latin Europe, c. 500-900 (Granted Leave to Supplicate, 23/08/24)

My research considers Christian moral teachings and ethical practices relating to the five senses in Latin Europe in the period c. 500 to c. 900. The basic argument that moralists in the early Middle Ages presented was that the senses were apertures through which spiritual corruption could pass. In these terms, the senses were often likened to 'gateways' or 'windows' which, if left unguarded, would endanger the purity of the heart. This ideology of sensory restraint was translated into a set of practices designed to manage the sinful potential of the senses. Prayerbooks, for example, record prophylactic and confessional prayers relating to the five senses, whilst hagiographical and liturgical sources demonstrate that the senses were sometimes anointed as a form of medicinal or therapeutic care. These regulatory practices were rooted ultimately in the conviction that the senses, whilst compromised, could be reformed toward the state of perfection that they had held at the time of Creation.

I discuss my doctoral research further in a podcast recorded by OxPods.

I am also interested in early medieval historiography. My article, 'Bede and Gregory of Tours: a Reconsideration' appeared in English Historical Review in autumn 2024. My article on the sixth-century Gallo-Roman historian Gregory of Tours was awarded the First Publication Prize for 2022 by the journal Early Medieval Europe.

I am grateful to All Souls College for supporting my research.