Dr Laura Flannigan

Having grown up in the historical city of Lincoln, I undertook an undergraduate degree in History and a Master’s degree in Early Modern History at the University of York. The focus of my work since the days of my undergraduate dissertation has been political thought and practice in sixteenth-century England, specifically under the early Tudor monarchs. I completed my PhD at Newnham College, Cambridge, and started a position as Stipendiary Lecturer in Early Modern History at Christ Church in October 2020.

I have recently published research articles on justice-giving within the Tudor royal Council and on the social profiles of litigants approaching the king for judicial remedy. My article on Henry VIII's stamped signature, personal monarchy, and the delivery of justice was awarded the 2020 Sir John Neale Prize in Early Modern History. 

Research Interests

My research explores the permeation of political culture across late-medieval and early modern England, roughly c.1485 to 1540 or the ‘early-Tudor’ period. For my doctorate I studied the principle and practice of royal justice in the reigns of Henry VII and Henry VIII, principally through a survey of the rich but little-studied records of the Court of Requests. Otherwise, I am generally interested in the communication of governmental ideals between ordinary people and the authorities; the projection of monarchy to the ‘public’; the expansion of litigation in early modern England; and the study of petitions and other legal records.