Alice Spiers

Research Topic

'The expression and communication of emotion in the devotional works of love mystics, c.1250-1350'

I am an historian of religion, gender and emotion in medieval Europe. I am particularly interested in how different emotions were deemed more or less appropriate for the performance and expereince of piety at different points in time and space, and how this may help to further our understanding of the control and communication of emotion as a means of power. 

My research project uses the production, translation and dissemination of the mystic texts of Richard Rolle, Henry Suso, and Mechthild of Magdeburg to explore how gender and social/political context affected expression of emotion. Comparative linguistic analysis of the original texts and their vernacular or Latin translations reveals how the communication of emotional experiences worked within, and shaped, their gendered and social contexts. This project ultimately aims to build on and challenge historiographical narratives on gendering religion in the middle ages, reassessing binary concepts and gendered movements. 

Supervisor: Dr Amanda Power

Teaching

Undergraduate History, Preliminary: Approaches to History - Gender and Sexualities 

Undergraduate History, Final Honours School: Disciplines of History - Gender and Sexualities