History
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I received my BA from Sarah Lawrence College and then went on to do a Master of Philosophy (MPhil) and Doctor of Philosophy (DPhil) in History at the University of Oxford (St John’s College). I taught at the University of Manchester before moving to Toronto where I was a Mellon postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies and where I received a post-doctoral Licentiate in Medieval Studies, summa cum laude. I was appointed as a Lecturer in Medieval History at Keele University in 2000 and was promoted first to Senior Lecturer in 2004 and then to Reader in 2007.
I am interested in the religious and social history of early medieval Europe, especially between c. 900 and c. 1200. My work to date has focussed on the ‘Gregorian’ reform of the eleventh century, as well as the use of medieval canon law as a tool of polemic. More recently I have undertaken research in the transmission of canon law sources in the eleventh and early twelfth centuries and the place of penance in the reformers’ agendas. I am currently investigating the significance of monastic compilers of canon law and am also writing a book on penance, reform and pastoral care in eleventh-century Italy.
Selected Publications
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2012. Law, Penance and the ‘Gregorian’ Reform: The Case of Padua, Biblioteca del seminario vescovile MS 529. In Canon Law, Church and Councils: Liber Amicorum Robert Somerville. Blumenthal U-R and Winroth A (Eds.).
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2009. Looking Behind Recension Bb of Anselm of Lucca’s Collectio canonum’. Zeitschrift der Savigny-Stiftung für Rechtsgeschichte, kan. Abt, vol. 95, 29-47.
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Cushing KG and Brett M (Eds.). 2009. Readers, texts and Compilers in The Earlier Middle Ages: Studies in medieval canon law in Honour of Linda Folwer-Magerl. Ashgate.
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Brasington BC and Cushing KG (Eds.). 2008. Bishops, Texts and the Use of Canon Law around 1100 : Essays in Honour of Martin Brett. Ashgate.
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2008. Polemic versus Episcopal Handbook: Recension Bb of Anselm of Lucca's Collectio Canonum. In Bishops, Texts and the Use of Canon Law around 1100 : Essays in Honour of Martin Brett (Church, Faith and Culture in the Medieval West). KG, Cushing, Brasington BC (Eds.). Ashgate.
Full Publications List show
Books
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Cushing KG and Brett M (Eds.). 2009. Readers, texts and Compilers in The Earlier Middle Ages: Studies in medieval canon law in Honour of Linda Folwer-Magerl. Ashgate.
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Brasington BC and Cushing KG (Eds.). 2008. Bishops, Texts and the Use of Canon Law around 1100 : Essays in Honour of Martin Brett. Ashgate.
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2005. Reform and the Papacy in the Eleventh Century: Spirituality and Social Change. Manchester University Press.
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2004. Ritual, Text and Law: Studies in Medieval Canon Law and Liturgy Presented to Roger E. Reynolds. Ashgate.
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1998. Papacy and Law in the Gregorian Revolution: The Canonistic Work of Anselm of Lucca. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
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Power, Discipline and Pastoral Care: Penance and Reform in Eleventh-Century Italy. Manchester University Press.
Journal Articles
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2010. The Medieval Origins of the Legal Profession: Canonists, Civilians, and Courts. The English Historical Review, vol. 125, 954-956. doi>
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2009. Pope Leo 9 from Toul. CATHOLIC HISTORICAL REVIEW, vol. 95(3), 593-594. link>
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2009. Looking Behind Recension Bb of Anselm of Lucca’s Collectio canonum’. Zeitschrift der Savigny-Stiftung für Rechtsgeschichte, kan. Abt, vol. 95, 29-47.
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2008. Pueri, Iuvenes and Viri: Age and Utility in the “Gregorian” Reform. Catholic Historical Review, vol. 94(3), 435-449. doi>
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2008. The biographies of Bishop Burchard of Wurzburg. Vita Anliquior - Vita Posterior - Vita Etrica. JOURNAL OF ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY, vol. 59(1), 110-111. link>
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2007. Heretics and laws. The worldly heretic legislation of the high middle ages under the influence of roman and canon laws. J ECCLESIAST HIST, vol. 58(4), 750.
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2007. Poets, saints and visionaries of the Great Schism, 1378-1417. CHURCH HISTORY, vol. 76(1), 170-172. link>
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2005. 'Of Locustae and Dangerous Men: Peter Damian, the Vallombrosans and Eleventh-century Reform'. Church History, vol. 74(4), 740-757.
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2004. Between God and man: Six sermons on the priestly office. CHURCH HISTORY, vol. 73(4), 841-842. link>
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2004. Review of between God and man: six sermons on the priestly office by Innocent III. Church History.
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1995. Anselm of Lucca and The Doctrine of Coercion: The Legal Impact of the Schism of 108. The Catholic Historical Review, vol. 81, 353-371.
Chapters
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2012. Law, Penance and the ‘Gregorian’ Reform: The Case of Padua, Biblioteca del seminario vescovile MS 529. In Canon Law, Church and Councils: Liber Amicorum Robert Somerville. Blumenthal U-R and Winroth A (Eds.).
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2008. Polemic versus Episcopal Handbook: Recension Bb of Anselm of Lucca's Collectio Canonum. In Bishops, Texts and the Use of Canon Law around 1100 : Essays in Honour of Martin Brett (Church, Faith and Culture in the Medieval West). KG, Cushing, Brasington BC (Eds.). Ashgate.
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2004. Anslem of Lucca and Burchard of Worms: Re-thinking the sources of Anslem A, De Penitentia. In Ritual, Text and law: Studies in Medieval Canon Law and Liturgy. cushing KG and Gyug R (Eds.). Ashgate, Aldershot, Hants..
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2001. 'Events that Led to Sainthood: Sanctity and the Reformers in the eleventh century'. In Belief and Culture in the Middle Ages. Gameson R and Leyser H (Eds.). Oxford University Press.
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Papal Authority and Its Limits. In The Oxford Handbook of Medieval Christianity. Oxford University Press.
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Text and Law. In Ritual, Text and Law: Studies in Medieval Canon Law and Liturgy Presented to Roger E. Reynolds. Cusihing KG and Gyug R (Eds.). Ashgate.
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The Problem of the Minor and “Intermediate” Collections: the Case of the Collectio canonum Barberiniana. In Readers, Texts and Compilers in the Earlier Middle Ages: Studies in Medieval Canon Law in Honour of Linda Fowler-Magerl. Cushing KG and Brett M (Eds.). Aldershot: Ashgate.
Other
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2007. 'Cruel to be Kind: Penance and Excommunication in Gregorian Canonical Collections’. In M. Bellomo (Ed.). Proceedings of the Eleventh International Congress of Medieval Canon Law, Catania, Italy August 2000 (pp. 529-538). Vatican City: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana.
Undergraduate:
- HIS-10030 Historical Research and Writing
- HIS-10025 Medieval Europe
- HIS-20072 Saints and Society in Medieval Europe
- HIS-20062 English Radicals and Writers
- HIS-20030 The Normans in Europe
- HIS-20071 Castle and Cloister in Medieval Europe, c. 900-1250
- HIS-20073 Heresy and Dissent in Medieval Europe, c.1000-c.1250
- HIS-30024/30025 Encountering the Other: Genocide, Tolerance and the European Perspective
- HIS-30096/30097 Spirituality and Social Change in the Eleventh Century
Postgraduate:
- Convenor, Master of Research (MRes) in History
- MRes supervision
- HIS-40002 Approaches to Historical Research
Doctoral research:
I have supervised students on topics dealing with church reform in the eleventh century, identity and romanitas in medieval Europe c.800-1050, the apocalyptic year 1000 and other socio-religious topics. I am happy to supervise research into most aspects of religious and social history in the period c.900- c.1200, including the sources and transmission of pre-Gratian medieval canon law.

