Prof Justine Firnhaber-Baker

Prof Justine Firnhaber-Baker

Professor

Phone
+44 (0)1334 46 3311
Email
jmfb@st-andrews.ac.uk
Location
Mediaeval History, 71 South Street
Office hours
On Research Leave Semester 2

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Research areas

Late medieval France, power, violence, and law

I am a historian of Europe's later Middle Ages with a particular interest in power and how it worked in institutions, like royal and seigneurial courts, and in social interactions, such as wars and popular uprisings. Most of my work has concentrated on France under the Capetian and Valois dynasties, and I have a special love for the fourteenth century (#bestcentury), which was the period of the Hundred Years War and the Black Death.

My most recent book, , tells the story of the Capetian royal family, who created the most powerful and prestigious kingdom in Christian Europe through a combination of luck, skill, and sheer (often bloody) ruthlessness. I am currently working on a follow-up book, currently entitled Blood of the Lilies: Royal France in an Age of War and Plague, that will be published in 2027 or 2028.

Along with numerous journal articles and book chapters, I am also the author of and . The first showed how the royal French state dealt with the wars waged by nobles and other powerful people against one another at a time when no one could claim a ‘monopoly on legitimate violence’ in the way that modern governments do. The secondis about is about one of the most famous – but enigmatic – revolts of the Middle Ages, when villagers took up arms against the nobility, unleashing unprecedented waves of bloody violence and counter-vengeance across northern France.Ìý

My two co-edited books are (with Dirk Schoenaers) and (with Meredith Cohen).

I teach a variety of undergraduate modules and postgraduate reading classes related to my interests and am happy to talk to prospective PhD students and postdoctoral researchers about their projects.

I am represented by Adam Gauntlett at .

Selected publications

  • Firnhaber-Baker, J. M., 28 Apr 2021, Oxford: Oxford University Press. 307 p. (Oxford studies in European medieval history)

    Research output: Book/Report › Book

  • Firnhaber-Baker, J., May 2014, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 231 p. (Cambridge studies in medieval life and thought: fourth series; vol. 95)

    Research output: Book/Report › Book

  • Firnhaber-Baker, J. (Editor) & Schoenaers, D. (Editor), 29 Nov 2016, London: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group. 384 p. (Routledge history handbooks)

    Research output: Book/Report › Book

  • Firnhaber-Baker, J. M. (Editor) & Cohen, M. (Editor), 2010, Ashgate. 256 p.

    Research output: Book/Report › Book

  • Open access
    Firnhaber-Baker, J., 1 Jul 2020, In: Edad Media. Revista de historia. 21, p. 113-152 40 p.

    Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

  • Open access
    Firnhaber-Baker, J., 1 Jul 2020, In: Speculum. 95, 3, p. 689-715

    Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

  • Firnhaber-Baker, J. M., Aug 2010, In: Past & Present. 208, 1, p. 37-76 40 p.

    Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

  • Firnhaber-Baker, J. M., 2012, In: French History. 26, 4, p. 441-459 19 p.

    Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

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