Dr Elizabeth Gemmill

Associate Professor in History; Fellow, Kellogg College

Kellogg College

01865 (2)80888

elizabeth.gemmill@conted.ox.ac.uk

My research and publications are on the society, economy and church of the later medieval period. My recent book, The Nobility and Ecclesiastical Patronage in Thirteenth-Century England (Boydell, 2013), is a study of the ways in which the nobility used their rights in churches and religious houses and the value placed on those rights as revealed in the political agenda of the day. The research for the book has opened up a further line of investigation, into medieval inquisitions and their potential for informing us about changing patterns of prosperity, between regions and over time; while complementing that is my ongoing research into the prices contained in the account rolls of Durham Cathedral Priory. For further details, please see RESEARCH page.

See page on Kellogg College website

Research
Publications

My current research examines both medieval prices and valuations. The work on prices focusses on the medieval north east, and I am using the records of Durham Cathedral Priory to construct price series for a wide range of commodities from the late thirteenth to the fifteenth centuries. The aim is to gain a deeper understanding of the regional economy, and of the cathedral priory's place in it. My work on valuations complements this, being an investigation of the values of parish churches in inquisitions post mortem in the later medieval period. The purpose of this is to seek a better understanding of how these valuations were made, and to use them as a guide to regional variations and changing patterns of agricultural prosperity over time.

Register of John Salmon bishop of Norwich 1299-1325

Book
Valuations of churches in medieval Norfolk

2017
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Conference paper
King John, magna carta and the thirteenth-century English church

2016
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Chapter
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The Rights and Aspirations of the Magna Carta

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2016. Dr. Gemmill focuses on the first clause of Magna Carta-after the role-call to the Great - guaranteeing the freedom of the English Church. She recalls the context, notably the strategic importance of the election of the Archbishop of Canterbury which could only be held with the agreement of the King. What was at stake was the election of the Archbishop, a great-landlord and a potential rival to the King. She draws the portrait of the learned Langton who believed that the King had to rule under the Law and explains that he was only elected the third time due to the opposition of King John. She also underlines the key role of the Pope-Pope Innocent the Third-as feudal superior to the English King and who was to excommunicate King John. Though Magna Carta was interpreted and re-interpreted several times, all the different versions of the text retained the first clause about the liberty of the Church even if they did not refer to the free elections of its representatives.
Prices from the Durham obedientiary account rolls, 1278 - 1367

2013
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Internet publication

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The Nobility and Ecclesiastical Patronage in Later Thirteenth Century England

2013
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Book

A detailed examination of the patronage rights exerted over the church by the nobility, illuminating the complex network of relationships between them, the Church, and the clergy.
Prices from the Durham obedientiary account rolls, 1278-1367

2013
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Journal article
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Archaeologia Aeliana
The Church on Earth and Its Secular Princes

2012
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Book
The Scottish Wool Trade, 1250-1450’ and ‘Trade and Craft Guilds, Scotland

2011
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Chapter
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Encyclopaedia of Medieval Dress and Textiles

History
Durham Grain Prices, 1278-1515

2010
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Journal article
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Archaeologia Aeliana
Town and Region: the corn market in Aberdeen, c. 1398 - c. 1468

2009
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Chapter
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Agriculture and rural society after the Black Death

With special emphasis on the period following the Black Death, this new collection of essays explores agriculture and rural society during the late Middle Ages.

Business & Economics