Susannah Bain

Research Topic

History writing, politics and connectivity in Italy c. 1260-c. 1340

Supervisor: Catherine Holmes and Philippa Byrne

My thesis considers the relationship between history writing, politics and connectivity in thirteenth and fourteenth-century Italy. It examines historical narrative texts and other written materials which store and create a sense of space and political relationships produced in urban contexts in different parts of the peninsula. Focusing on what they say about wider geographies, the actors that inhabit them, and the links between these players, it explores how history writing can not only informs us about political connections, but also participated in their construction.

Beyond this, I am interested in the medieval Mediterranean region more broadly (especially Sicily and the Crown of Aragon) and 'Global' medieval history. I enjoy engaging with questions about connections, mobility, and thinking about comparative and environmental approaches to the study of the past.

I organised 'Identity Abroad in Central and Late Medieval Europe and the Mediterranean Region' conference in January 2022, which explored the construction, expression, and practical implications of ‘identity’ among individuals and groups who chose or were forced to move ‘abroad’ permanently or temporarily in the central and late middle ages. We are currently working on the next steps of the project. 

I am co-organiser of the Environmental History Working Group: an informal forum open to all (including undergraduates) in which we discuss research and ways of approaching History from environmental perspectives. In relation to this, I co-organised 'Uprooting the Anthropocene:(Re-)Centring Trees in Tree-Human Relationships' in July 2021. Sponsored by TORCH, the one-day conference considered how trees engage/have engaged with humans and nonhuman others, prioritising tree agency and tree-ish perspectives. 

Before arriving at Oxford for my Masters, I completed my undergraduate degree at UCL (University College London). My doctoral research is kindly supported by the Oxford-David Jones Graduate Scholarship. I am an Early Career Member of the Royal Historical Society.