Research

I work on the literature of medieval Iberia, particularly epic poetry (the Poema de Mio Cid, not least), clerical poetry (mester de clerecía), the popular ballad tradition (romancero), chronicles, and early prose narratives. With the support of the Leverhulme Trust, I am currently completing my fourth single-authored book entitled The Form of Risk in Medieval Spanish Epic. It explores the representation of risk in Spain's medieval epic tradition and asks what the epic can teach us today about risk, uncertainty, and choice. I have always been interested in Spain's foundation myths and legends and in the relationship between early literature and the development of collective identity. My work to date has often explored literature from, and about, the margins of society, including subjects such as betrayal and illegitimacy, and women's writing. Through my longstanding fascination with Spain's epic tradition, I have also written about heroism and chivalry, particularly the construction and erosion of the ideals associated with them. I also enjoy reading and writing about early Iberian travel narratives.

Teaching and Supervision

I teach a wide range of medieval Spanish literary texts to undergraduate students. 

I have supervised doctoral students working on a range of medieval texts and topics including epic poetry, mester de clerecía, historiography and women's writing. I welcome students who are interested in epic poetry, clerical poetry, and historiography in particular.

Publications

Books

The Form of Risk in Medieval Spanish Epic (in preparation).

Reading Illegitimacy in Early Iberian Literature (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2020).

Narratives of the Islamic Conquest from Medieval Spain, The New Middle Ages (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015).

Designated an 'Outstanding Academic Title' for 2016 by Choice magazine.

www.palgrave.com/page/detail/Narratives-of-the-Islamic-Conquest-from-Medieval-Spain/

A Companion to Spanish Women’s Studies ed. Xon de Ros & Geraldine Hazbun (Woodbridge: Tamesis, 2011).

www.boydellandbrewer.com/store/viewitem.asp

Treacherous Foundations: Betrayal and Collective Identity in Early Spanish Epic, Chronicle, and Drama, Monografías, A281 (Woodbridge: Tamesis, 2009). 

www.boydellandbrewer.com/store/viewItem.asp

Book Chapters

'The Development of Chivalry and its Literature in the Middle Ages’, in A Companion to the Hispanic Romances of Chivalry, ed. Axayácatl Campos García Rojas & Daniel Gutiérrez Trápaga (Woodbridge: Tamesis, forthcoming).

Introduction, Stanzas on the Death of his Father/Coplas por la muerte de su padre by Jorge Manrique, translated by Patrick McGuinness (Shearsman, 2021).

'Iberia', in Medieval Travel Writing: A Global History, ed. Sebastian Sobecki (Cambridge: UP, forthcoming).

'Kinship and Heroic Selfhood in the Historical-Epic Ballads', in Old Ballads, New Approaches: Studies on the 'Romancero viejo', ed. Juan-Carlos Conde and David Hook (Oxford: Magdalen Iberian Medieval Studies Seminar, 2018), pp. 37-57

'Memory as Mester in the Libro de Alexandre and Libro de Apolonio', in Medieval Hispanic Studies in Memory of Alan Deyermond, ed. Andrew M. Beresford, Louise M. Haywood, Julian Weiss (Woodbridge: Tamesis, 2013), pp. 91-119.

'Female Foundations in the Libro de Alexandre and Poema de Fernán González', in: A Companion to Spanish Women’s Studies, ed. Xon de Ros & Geraldine Hazbun (Woodbridge: Tamesis, 2011), pp. 25-41.

‘Vida latente, literature viviente: Menéndez Pidal and the Romancero, Forty Years On’, in Ramón Menéndez Pidal After Forty Years: A Reassessment, ed. Juan-Carlos Conde, Papers of the Medieval Hispanic Research Seminar, 67, Publications of the Magdalen Iberian Medieval Studies Seminar, 1 (London: Department of Hispanic Studies, Queen Mary, University of London, 2011), pp. 61-83.

'Lope de Vega, the Chronicle-Legend Plays and Collective Memory', in A Companion to Lope de Vega, ed. Alexander Samson and Jonathan Thacker, Monografías A, 260 (Tamesis, 2008), 131-47

'‘Non ay cosa escondida: secreto y revelación en el Libro de Buen Amor’', in Juan Ruiz: Arcipreste de Hita y el Libro de Buen Amor: II Congreso Internacional; Homenaje a Alan Deyermond, ed. Louise Haywood & Francisco Toro Ceballo con la ayuda de Francisco Bautista & Geraldine Coates (Alcala la Real: Ayuntamiento, 2008), 99-107

'‘Et si desto menguas: decadencia imperial en la Estoria de España’', in: El relato historiográfico: textos y tradiciones en la españa medieval (London: Department of Hispanic Studies, Queen Mary, University of London, 2006), 103-21

'‘¡Rey don Sancho, Rey don Sancho, no digas que no te aviso!: la representación de Vellido Dolfos en la leyenda de Sancho II’', in Antes y después del Quijote: en el cincuentenario de la Asociación de Hispanistas de Gran Bretaña e Irlanda, ed. Robert Archer, Valdi Astvaldsson, Stephen Boyd & Michael Thompson (Valencia: Biblioteca Valenciana, 2005), 171-80

Journal Articles

'Loss is More: Revisiting the Relics of the Medieval Spanish Epic’, La corónica, 50.1-2 (2022), 303-17.

‘“Más avremos adelant”: Minaya Álvar Fáñez and the Heroic Vision in the Cantar de Mio Cid’, Bulletin of Spanish Studies, 88.4 (2011), pp. 463-96.

'Endings Lost and Found in the Poema de Fernán González', Hispanic Research Journal , 9.3 (2008), 203-217, Article Weblink

'The 1541 Crónica general and the Historical Theatre of Juan de la Cueva and Lope de Vega: An Epic Debt', Bulletin of the Comediantes, 60.1 (2008)