Bee Jones
Departmental Lecturer in Medieval British History
I completed my doctorate at Oxford in 2026, working on concepts of barbarism in hagiography from twelfth century Latin Europe. In 2025-26 I covered the History Tutor position at Harris Manchester College.
I teach and lecture on a range of papers, including medieval British, European, and world history, and I convene the Edward II optional subject.
Research Interests
My research to date has focussed on concepts of barbarism in central medieval Europe. My doctoral dissertation examined three Latin saints’ lives from the twelfth century whose authors labelled societies from Ireland to the southern Baltic “barbarians”. My work includes linguistic and conceptual analysis of how medieval writers used barbarism signifiers, as well as religious, social, and political analysis of why they decided to do so. In particular, my work examines the connections between central medieval calls for religious "reform" and processes of conquest and colonisation.
More broadly, I am interested in pre-modern environmental histories and approaches to political and social history which problematise enduring narratives of state formation.