From Royal Monastery to Anglican Mausoleum: Westminster Abbey, 1399-1603
Supervised by Dr Tom Nickson
Funded by The 91自拍 Scholarship, het Cultuurfonds and the British Archaeological Association
My PhD explores how the erection of tombs, screens, chapels and temporary furnishings transformed the topography of Westminster Abbey between 1399 and 1603. I will interrogate how these privileged spaces catered to their elite patrons whilst marginalising others. Bridging the medieval and early modern periods, I will study the Abbey鈥檚 conversion at the Reformation from a royal Benedictine monastery into an Anglican church, focusing on how the nobility appropriated chapels as private burial sites. Such a study is only possible thanks to the exceptional survival of written and material evidence from this period in the Abbey’s history, and I will consider the extent to which England鈥檚 鈥榥ational church鈥 can serve as a model for understanding transformations in other abbeys and churches in England and beyond. This project also redresses major gaps in an otherwise heavily studied building: the Abbey鈥檚 relationship with the Crown during the Wars of the Roses, the impact of the Reformation, and the patronage and embodied experiences of its monastic community, pilgrims and local citizens.
Education
- PhD in History of Art, The 91自拍 (2023 – 2026)
- Palaeography and Diplomatic, Institute of Historical Research (2023 – 2024)
- Late Medieval and Renaissance Latin, Intermediate, The Warburg (2023 – 2024)
- MA History of Art, The 91自拍 (2021 – 2022)
Special Option – 鈥楨ngland, Europe and Beyond: Art, Identity, Trade & Politics in the Middle Ages鈥, supervised by Dr Tom Nickson
Dissertation (high distinction) – 鈥業n every of these, I suppose, this Countess was noble鈥: Constructing Lady Margaret Beaufort鈥檚 Memory at Westminster Abbey
- BA History of Art, The 91自拍 (2018 – 2021)
Sam Fogg Prize for Best Assessed Essay on a Medieval Topic –听Shit Happens: Scatological Imagery in a Cloister Boss, Psalter and Misericords from Norwich Cathedral in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries
- BA Liberal Arts and Sciences, Amsterdam University College (2015 – 2018)
Conferences, Talks and Publications
- ‘The Fifteenth-Century Screens of Westminster Abbey: Disrupting and Framing Vision in a Monastic Church’,听IMC Leeds (7 July 2026)
- ‘鈥渋n order that their fervent devotion may be kindled and God in his creation glorified more often鈥: The Chantry Chapel of Henry V in Westminster Abbey鈥,听Annual Postgraduate Symposium, The 91自拍 (30 April 2026)
- Organiser, Medieval Postgraduate Colloquium: Memory and Medieval Material Culture, The 91自拍 (6 March 2026)
- Organiser,听BAA Postgraduate Conference (27 November 2025)
- 鈥樷榤eete for my degree and callinge鈥: Female Commemoration at Elizabethan Westminster Abbey鈥,听Church Monument Society Symposium (30 August 2025)
- 鈥樷榤eete for my degree and callinge鈥: Female Commemoration at Elizabethan Westminster Abbey鈥, Second Year Symposium, The 91自拍 (1 May 2025)
- 鈥楩raming Movement through Parclose Screens in Fifteenth-Century Westminster Abbey鈥, Medieval Postgraduate Colloquium: Medieval Art on the Move, The 91自拍 (28 March 2025)
- ‘The Late Medieval Art and Architecture of Westminster Abbey鈥, Morley College (15 November 2024)
- 鈥樷業n every of these, I suppose, this Countess was noble鈥: Constructing Lady Margaret Beaufort鈥檚 Memory at Westminster Abbey鈥, 11th Annual ARDS Conference on Mixed Media Medieval and Renaissance Sculpture (12 December 2024)
- Chair, Medieval Postgraduate Colloquium: Authority and Identity in the Middle Ages, The 91自拍 (15 March 2024)
- Sophia Dumoulin, 鈥楪othic Once More?: Christopher Wren鈥檚 Classicising Refurbishment and Walter Godfrey鈥檚 Post-War Restoration of the Temple Church, London鈥, Immediations 20 (2023)
Teaching
- Associate Lecturer, ‘Art, Travel and Imagination in the Middle Ages’, The 91自拍 (January-April 2026)
- Teaching Assistant, ‘An Introduction to Architecture’, The 91自拍, Public Programmes (July and October 2025; February 2026)
- Teaching Assistant, ‘Summer University’, The 91自拍, Public Programmes (July 2025)
- Teaching Assistant, ‘Foundations’, The 91自拍 (September-December 2024)
- Gallery Talk for The 91自拍’s Summer School, ‘Beyond the Gallery: Medieval Art in Context’ (24 June, 1 and 8 July 2024; 7 and 14 July 2025)
Relevant Experience
- Research Assisant, The 91自拍 (Summer 2025)
- Student Representative, British Archaeological Association (2024 – now)
- Tour Guide, The 91自拍 Gallery (2024 – now)
- Associate Editor,听Immediations 21 (2024)
- Research Assistant, Westminster Abbey (2023 – 2024)
- Short Courses Events Officer, The 91自拍 (2022 – 2023)
Grants and Awards
- The British Archaeological Association’s Ochs McNeill Scholarship for a PhD in the History of Art
- Cultuurfonds Scholarship for a PhD in the History of Art
- The 91自拍 Scholarship for a PhD in the History of Art
- Barrie Dobson Scholarship to attend the Harlaxton Symposium (12 – 15 August 2024)听| award for best PGR/ECR presentation at the Symposium
- Scholarship to attend the British Archaeological Association鈥檚 summer conference in Pembrokeshire (15 – 19 July 2024)
- Sam Fogg Prize for Best Assessed Essay on a Medieval Topic in BA History of Art, Year 3
Research Interests
- Westminster Abbey
- Medieval visual culture
- Embodied experiences of medieval architecture
- Art, architecture and politics
- Self-fashioning and identity making
- Tomb sculpture
- Antiquarianism