University of Chichester

Dr Amanda Richardson, BA (Hons), MA, PhD (Southampton), FSA

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Dr Amanda Richardson

Senior Lecturer in Late-Medieval and Early Modern History

Contact Details

Telephone: +44 (0) 1243 816204
Email: a.richardson@chi.ac.uk

Office Number: New Hall, N125

Research Interests and Current Projects

I have a background in both history and archaeology and my research interests have focused on landscape history, chiefly that of medieval forests and deer parks, each of which is currently a vibrant topic of historical study.  I am also interested in the archaeology and history of gender, and my earliest publications explored the use of space in high-status buildings, with particular attention to what this can reveal about medieval gender ideologies.  These interests underpin my teaching, in that I encourage students to use material culture (e.g. the built environment, designed landscapes, art, and other cultural artefacts) as historical ‘evidence’, alongside written sources.  Hence my level one module ‘The Material World’ explores various aspects of material culture including Chichester’s historic buildings. I also teach the module ‘Spaces and Places’ at level three, which allows students to analyse local landscapes such as Chichester Cemetery, Arundel Castle, and the university campus itself, as socio-cultural artefacts.

Another interest is the interface between history and heritage, and I co-ordinate the level two work placement module (http://www.chi.ac.uk/history/workplacement.cfm), which allows students to make a real contribution to the dissemination of historical knowledge at local heritage sites.  Its handbook and general organisation were praised in May 2011 by a national survey on university history work placement courses as among the most student-friendly they had seen. (http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/cross_fac/heahistory/research/gwi/wpl/).  Indeed, some students have gone on to work in the heritage industry, notably at Tintagel and Petworth House (both National Trust).  I also teach modules in late-medieval history at all levels, including ‘Kingship, Queenship and Power in Medieval and Early Modern Europe’ at level 3. In fact medieval queenship is one of my main interests and I am currently researching the way queens of England managed their substantial estates from c.1200-1500, and thus how they functioned, in a gendered context, as ‘great lords’. 

Publications

  • ‘Beyond the Castle Gate: The role of royal landscapes in constructions of English medieval kingship and queenship’, Concilium Medii Aevi (special edition: ‘Lordship and Castle Landscapes: Franconian and international studies in comparison), Band 14, (2011) http://cma.gbv.de/z/2011
  • ‘Putting the “Royal” Back into Forests: kingship, largesse, patronage and management in a group of Wessex forests in the 13th and 14th centuries’, in J. Langton and G. Jones (eds), Forests and Chases of England and Wales to circa 1500 (Oxford: St John’s College, 2010)
  • ‘The Royal Parkscapes of Medieval England: a landscape approach’, in R. Liddiard (ed.), The Medieval Park: New Perspectives (Macclesfield: Windgather Press, 2007)
  • ‘“Hedging, Ditching and Other Improper Occupations”: royal landscapes and their meaning under Edward II and Edward III’, in J. Hamilton (ed.), Fourteenth Century England IV (Woodbridge: Boydell and Brewer, 2006)
  • ‘Women, Castles and Palaces’, in M. C. Schaus (ed.), Women and Gender in Medieval Europe: An Encyclopaedia. New York:Routledge, 2006)
  • The Forest, Park and Palace Of Clarendon, c.1200-c.1650: reconstructing an actual, conceptual and documented Wiltshire landscape, British Archaeological Reports, British Series 387 (Oxford: Archaeopress, 2005)
  • ‘Corridors of Power: a case study in access analysis from medieval Salisbury, England’, Antiquity 77 no. 296 (2003)
  • ‘Gender & Space in English Royal Palaces c.1160-c.1547:a study in access analysis & imagery’, Medieval Archaeology 47 (2003).

Collections including Dr Richardson's research

Women and Gender in Medieval Europe: An Encyclopaedia; Medieval Park: New Perspectives;
Antiquity 77; Fourteenth Century England IV.

In Preparation

Works in preparation include a chapter on Humphrey of Gloucester’s palace and park at Greenwich (c.1426-47), an article on gendered aspects of the medieval hunt and its landscape settings, and a book on the estates of the queens consort of England c. 1236-1503. I am also just beginning to organise and joint-edit with Dr Mark Allen (University of Winchester) a major collection of essays on regional history, the chapters of which will range from the Anglo-Saxon period to the 19th century.

Teaching from 2004 (Undergraduate)

  • Culture and Civilisation in Late-Medieval England c.1200-1550
  • England in Europe c.1154-c.1400: An Introduction to the Late-Medieval World
  • Gender and History
  • Heritage Studies
  • Kingship, Queenship and Power in Late-Medieval and Early Modern Europe
  • Local History
  • Public History
  • Rethinking History
  • Spaces and Places: Reading Landscapes and Localities
  • The Material World: Interpreting Historical Objects and Environments
  • Work Placement: Applied History in the Workplace www.chi.ac.uk/history/workplacement.cfm

Postgraduate Supervision

I am interested in supervising MPhil and PhD students in British social and cultural history or interpretive archaeology c.1150-1700, with a particular focus on gender and/or material culture (e.g. buildings and landscapes). I have supervised one candidate to completion (2010) and am currently supervising students researching ‘The Work of Giants’: Hypertrophy and Abnormal Size in Late-Medieval England, c.1100-1600’, and the progresses of Elizabeth I in Hampshire and Sussex.
6.Scholarly Activities

Grants and Prizes

  • Arts and Humanities Research Board (now AHRC) studentship awarded for PhD study (1999-2002)
  • Institute of Historical Research (Scouloudi) scholarship awarded for completion of PhD study (2003)

Editorial/Advisory Positions

Media

  • BBC1 (Spring 2012) Routes of Britain (working title), presented by Griff Rhys Jones. Talking head on location in programme on Elizabeth I’s 1574 progress through Gloucestershire
  • BBC Radio Solent (2005). Feature on the 790th anniversary of the Magna Carta

Fellowships and Societies

  • Elected Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries (FSA), 2010
  • Member of the Society for Medieval Archaeology
  • Member of the Society for Landscape Studies

Conference Papers

  • Nov 2011, annual Clarendon Lecture, Salisbury Museum, ‘“If you go down to the woods today”: Clarendon Forest and Park c.1200-1650’.
  • Sept 2011, Society for Court Studies Conference, Greenwich, ‘Did Late- Medieval Noblewomen hunt?: Some Evidence Using English Queens Consort as Case Studies’.
  • July 2011, International Medieval Congress, University of Leeds. ‘“Riding like Alexander, Hunting like Diana”: Gendered Aspects of the Medieval Hunt and its Landscape Settings’.
  • Sept 2010, Wessex Centre for History and Archaeology Conference ‘Woodlands, Forests and Parks in Wessex’, University of Winchester: ‘Putting the “royal” Back into Forests: patronage & largesse in a group of Wessex forests under Henry III & after’.
  • July 2010, International Medieval Congress, University of Leeds. ‘Queenship & the Landscape: lordship & agency in the estates of English medieval queens’.
  • Feb 2010, University of Würzburg conference, ‘Herrschaft & Burgenlandschaften: Fränkische & Internationale Forschung im Vergleich’: ‘Beyond the Castle Gate: The role of royal landscapes in constructions of English medieval kingship - and queenship’.
  • Feb 2010, University of Cambridge Institute of Continuing Education conference, ‘Medieval Parks: Recent Research’: ‘Putting the “Royal” Back into Forests: the role of medieval hunting landscapes in constructions of kingship - and queenship’.
  • Sept 2009, Institute of Historical Research workshop ‘Women in the Later Medieval Economy and Related Social Issues’: ‘Late-Medieval Queens Consort: control and [landed] resources’.
  • Sept 2008, Joint organiser, AHRC-backed conference, ‘People and Place: Landscape and Identity through Time’, University of Chichester (with Nottingham University and the Sussex Archaeological Society): Paper entitled ‘Medieval Parks: authority & access’.
  • Sept 2008, The Fifteenth Century Conference, University of Wales, Aberystwyth: ‘Medieval Parks: Authority & Access’ (assistant organiser).
  • July 2008, International Medieval Congress, University of Leeds: ‘Changing Woodland Management in the Early Modern period: the evidence from Clarendon, Wiltshire’.
  • Sept 2007, Biodiversity and Landscape History Research Institute Conference, ‘The History, Ecology and Archaeology of Medieval Parks’, Sheffield Hallam University: ‘The King’s Chief Delights”: the use, design & symbolism of royal deer parks in the later Middle Ages’.
  • July 2007, International Medieval Congress, University of Leeds. Organiser of interdisciplinary conference strand ‘The Medieval Park: New Perspectives’.
  • June 2007, Institute of Historical Research Locality and Region Seminar: ‘Artificial Compositions: Gardens, Parks and Conceptions of landscape in England at the End of the Middle Ages’.
  • March 2006, University of Wales, Aberystwyth Dept of History Research Seminar: ‘Artificial compositions: gardens, parks and conceptions of landscape in England at the end of the Middle Ages’.
  • Feb 2006, Institute of Historical Research History of Gardens and Landscapes Seminar:‘Clarendon Palace, Park and Forest: high-status pleasures and pastimes in medieval and early-modern Wiltshire’
  • Dec 2005, Theoretical Archaeology Group (TAG) Conference, University of Sheffield: ‘Architecture, Space and Identity in the Late-Medieval Secular Cathedral Close’.
  • July 2005, 50th anniversary conference, ‘WG Hoskins and the Making of the English Landscape’, University of Leicester: ‘The Primacy of Landscape in the Fourteenth Century’.
  • Sept 2004, The Fifteenth Century Conference, Royal Holloway, University of London: ‘Economy and Landscape in the Fifteenth Century: Lancastrian and Yorkist Attitudes to their Royal Estates’.
  • July 2004, International Medieval Congress, University of Leeds: ‘Royal Hedgers and Ditchers: palatial landscapes and their prominence under Edward II and Edward III’.
  • Feb 2003, Institute of Historical Research Late Medieval Seminar: ‘The Economy of Clarendon Park and Forest, Wiltshire: a landscape viewed through documents’.
  • Feb 2003, Oxford University Dept of Continuing Education Conference, ‘Medieval Royal Palaces: Recent Research’: ‘Clarendon, the Palace in the Forest: A Medieval Royal House in its Landscape Setting’.
  • July 2002, International Medieval Congress, University of Leeds: ‘Gendered Space in English Royal Palaces c.1160-1547’.
  • Jan 2002, Seeing Gender Conference, King’s College, London: ‘Seeing Gender in Architecture: A Study of Queens’ Apartments in English Royal Palaces c.1160-1547’.
  • July 2000, International Medieval Congress, University of Leeds: ‘A Debt Unpaid: Impotence and the Breaking of Medieval Marriages’.
  • Jan 2000, Courtauld Institute of Art Annual Medieval Postgraduate Research Colloquium: ‘Public and Private in Medieval English Royal Palaces: Gender Domains in Art and Architecture c.1160-1547’.