Dr Clovis Maillet

clovis.maillet@history.ox.ac.uk

I am a medieval historian and artist. A specialist in gender studies, transgender studies and kinship, I am the author of Hagiographic Kinship (2014), Fluid Genders: From Joan of Arc to Trans Saints (2020), An Emancipatory Middle Ages (2021), Ecotransfeminisms (with E. Bigé, 2025), and All Our Tears: Anti-Feminism and Death (2026). I have published widely in academic journals and books.

I have been teaching History of Art in Geneva (HEAD), Paris (EHESS), Angers (UCO). Since the early 2000s, I have developed an artistic practice combining performance, installation and film, often in collaboration with other artists. I was a resident at the Villa Medici – French Academy in Rome in 2024–2025.

I am a medievalist whose research focuses on manuscript studies and gender studies in the period c. 1100–1450, between Latin worlds and Byzantium. I am currently working on a study of the cult of Saint Eugenia*us of Rome, tracing its development across the Roman Empire, Burgundy, and Spain. I am also working on a project entitled Trans Within History. It is the culmination of my recent years of teaching trans studies and history, from the Middle Ages to modernity. The book explores the prehistory of transness—before the term itself existed—complementing the work of scholars like Kit Heyam and C. Riley Snorton. It aims to combine scholarly rigor with accessibility to a broader public audience. My postdoctoral research has focused on establishing the field of trans medieval studies. I am currently collaborating with scholars from various countries to develop and promote this emerging field, particularly within the Francophone academic community. 

I am committed to producing writing that bridges academic and non-academic audiences, particularly in the fields of art criticism and the essay form.