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Laura Ashe

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Professor
Laura Ashe
FRHistS
Occupation(s)Literary scholar and academic
TitleProfessor of English Literature
Academic background
EducationLeeds Girls' High School
Alma materGonville and Caius College, Cambridge
Harvard University
Academic work
DisciplineEnglish studies, History
Sub-disciplineMedieval studies, Renaissance studies
InstitutionsGonville and Caius College, Cambridge
Queen Mary University of London
Worcester College, Oxford

Laura Ashe FRHistS[1] is a British historian of English medieval literature, history and culture (c. 1000–1550). She lectures in English and is a Fellow of Worcester College, Oxford.[2][3]

Academic career

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Ashe was educated at Leeds Girls' High School. She went on to read English at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. She spent the year after her graduation as a Kennedy Scholar at Harvard University.[4]

During her graduate studies she was appointed to a junior research fellowship at Gonville and Caius College.[5]

Prior to joining Worcester College in 2008, Ashe spent two years lecturing at Queen Mary University of London.[6]

In 2009 Ashe won a Philip Leverhulme Prize, for the international impact of her research. She was awarded the Title of Distinction of Professor of English Literature by the University of Oxford in September 2018.[7]

Research interests

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Ashe's early research focused on the multilingual literary environment of England after the Norman Conquest. Her first monograph, Fiction and History in England, 1066-1200 (2007), explored how romances and chronicles written in English, French and Latin bolstered ideologies of national identity and imperialism during England's first colonial forays into Ireland.[8]

More recent projects include a biography of Richard II (2016), a study of English literary history between 1000 and 1350 (2017), and an examination of the work of Geoffrey Chaucer in relation to the themes of subjectivity, recognition and ethical agency (2025).[8]

Ashe has served as an editor of the journal New Medieval Literatures, published by Boydell & Brewer, since 2016.[9]

Media appearances

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In 2015 Ashe was the presenter for BBC Radio 3's A Cultural History of the Plague.[10] Since 2013 she has appeared as an expert panelist on BBC Radio 4's In Our Time series on more than ten occasions, discussing subjects such as the twelfth century renaissance,[11] Beowulf,[12] chivalry,[13] Le Morte d'Arthur,[14] purgatory,[15] Thomas Becket,[16] Thomas Wyatt,[17] and Gawain and the Green Knight.[18]

She contributed to Art that Made Us, an eight-part BBC Two TV series in 2022 presenting an alternate history of Britain through art and literature.[19]

Ashe appeared as an interviewee in the mockumentary series Cunk on Britain (2018) and Cunk on Earth (2022), discussing various aspects of medieval history and culture.[20]

Selected publications

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  • Ashe, Laura (2025). Chaucer's Ethical Philosophy. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780198894964.
  • Ashe, Laura (2016), Richard II: a brittle glory, Penguin Monarchs, Allen Lane, an imprint of Penguin Books, ISBN 978-0141979892
  • Ashe, Laura (2015), Early Fiction in England: from Geoffrey of Monmouth to Chaucer, Penguin Classics, Penguin Books, ISBN 978-0141392875
  • Ashe, Laura; Patterson, Ian (2014), War and Literature, Essays and Studies, v. 67, Boydell & Brewer Ltd, ISBN 978-1843843818
  • Ashe, Laura (2011), Fiction and History in England, 1066-1200, Cambridge Studies in Medieval Literature, 68, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0521174367
  • Ashe, Laura; Djordjević, Ivana; Weiss, Judith (2010), The Exploitations of Medieval Romance, Studies in Medieval Romance, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-1846157882

References

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  1. ^ "List of Fellows (February 2024)" (PDF). Royal Historical Society. Retrieved 8 June 2024.
  2. ^ "Laura Ashe". Georgina Capel Associates. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
  3. ^ "Dr Laura Ashe". Oxford University. 15 January 2015. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
  4. ^ "Laura helps Danny Dyer trace his Right Royal Family" (PDF). Memento. Retrieved 8 June 2024.
  5. ^ "24 April 2003". Cambridge University Reporter. Retrieved 8 June 2024.
  6. ^ Ashe, Laura (2017). The Oxford English Literary History, 1000-1350: Conquest and Transformation. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. v. ISBN 978-0-19-253445-3.
  7. ^ "Recognition of Distinction 2018" (pdf). Oxford University Gazette. 149 (5315). University of Oxford: 14. 27 September 2018. Retrieved 30 September 2018.
  8. ^ a b "Professor Laura Ashe". Faculty of English, University of Oxford. Retrieved 20 August 2024.
  9. ^ "New Medieval Literatures". Faculty of English, University of Oxford. Retrieved 20 August 2024.
  10. ^ "Sunday Feature, A Cultural History of the Plague". BBC Radio 3. 13 August 2015. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
  11. ^ "BBC Radio 4 - In Our Time, The 12th Century Renaissance". BBC. 20 October 2016. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
  12. ^ "BBC Radio 4 - In Our Time, Beowulf". BBC. 5 March 2015. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
  13. ^ "BBC Radio 4 - In Our Time, Chivalry". BBC. 13 February 2014. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
  14. ^ "BBC Radio 4 - In Our Time, Le Morte d'Arthur". BBC. 10 January 2013. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
  15. ^ "BBC Radio 4 - In Our Time, Purgatory". BBC. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
  16. ^ "In Our Time, Thomas Becket". BBC Radio 4. Retrieved 20 August 2024.
  17. ^ "In Our Time, Sir Thomas Wyatt". BBC Radio 4. Retrieved 20 August 2024.
  18. ^ "In Our Time, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight". BBC Radio 4. Retrieved 20 August 2024.
  19. ^ "Art That Made Us A history of British creativity". connect.open.ac.uk. Retrieved 28 May 2022.
  20. ^ Scott, Sean. "Landmark documentary filmmaker Philomena Cunk takes us on a historical odyssey in 'Cunk on Earth'". The Miami Student. Retrieved 8 June 2024.
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