JOSHUA COULTHARD

I am a GTA in the History, Geography and Social Sciences department, I received my BA in History with Politics from Edge Hill University and my MA in Medieval Studies from the University of York. My supervisors are Lindy Brady and Emily Winkler (St Edmund's Hall, University of Oxford). I am also the co-convener of the North West Medieval Studies Postgrad Network and the medieval editor of EPOCH PGR History Magazine.

Research Interests

My research focuses on how bureaucratic authors used writing as a means of engaging with and articulating anxieties about their precarious social positions alongside broader anxieties about legitimacy within the political culture of the insular Plantagenet World between 1200 and 1400. My interests include the textuality of law, cross border networks, and intersections of gender and ethnicity in political culture. I work with material in Latin, Old French, Middle Welsh, Middle English, Old Scots, and Medieval Irish.

Teaching

I teach across the BA History degree programme at Edge Hill. In particular, I am responsible for teaching on modules on medieval and early modern history.

Modules

Spring 2024

• HIS1011 - Dawn of Modernity
• HIS1017 - History & Society: Theory, Practice & Impact

Autumn 2024

• HIS1022 - The Medieval World
• HIS2039 - Writing History

Spring 2025

• HIS1023 - Early Modern England
• HIS2039 - Writing History

Autumn 2025

• HIS1021 - Global Politics 1918 to the Present Day
• HIS2039 - Writing History

Spring 2026

• HIS2039 - Writing History

Organisational Roles

Co-convener North West Medieval Studies Postgraduate Network 2024-

Editorial Roles

Medieval editor, EPOCH PGR History Magazine 2025-

Academic Qualifications

• Medieval Studies MA, Identities in Flux: Crisis and the Border in the Lanercost Chronicle, University of York, Supervisor: Tom Johnson

Award Date: 20 Oct 2023

• History with Politics BA, Digital Archives and Anti-Jacobitism - Reconstructing a Sense of Visual Political Communication 1688-1747, Edge Hill University, Supervisor: Bob Nicholson

Award Date: 22 July 2022

Languages

Modern

• English (Native)
• German (Intermediate)
• French (Basic Reading)
• Welsh (Basic Reading)

Medieval

• Middle English (Advanced)
• Old Scots (Advanced)
• Latin (Intermediate)
• Old French (Intermediate)
• Middle Welsh (Beginner)
• Old Irish (Beginner)

Scripts

• Textura (Intermediate)
• Anglicana (Intermediate)
• Chancery Hand (Intermediate)
• Insular Miniscule (Intermediate)
• Secretary (Beginner)

Training

Keele Latin and Palaeography Summer School - August 2024

Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies Celtic Studies Summer School, Old Irish and Middle Welsh - July 2025

Research Communication

I often seek opportunities to present my work at conferences and in other similar engagements as well as writing articles for a more general audience.

Public History Articles

• A Northern Perspective on the Anglo-Scottish Wars: The Lanercost Chronicle 1295-1346 - EPOCH Magazine Issue 17, September 2024, https://www.epoch-magazine.com/post/a-northern-perspective-on-the-anglo-scottish-wars-1295-1346
• Voices from the Margins? The Politics of Petitioning in the Plantagenet World - EPOCH Magazine Issue 20, June 2025, https://www.epoch-magazine.com/post/voices-from-the-margins-the-politics-of-petitioning-in-the-plantagenet-world
• Reading Resistance: A Practical Guide to working with The National Archives Ancient Petitions Collection (SC 8) - EPOCH Magazine Issue 20, June 2025, https://www.epoch-magazine.com/post/epoch-tutorials-reading-resistance
• Medieval Literature and Society a Tutorial for Historians - EPOCH Magazine, Issue 22, December 2025, https://www.epoch-magazine.com/post/medieval-literature-and-society-a-tutorial-for-historians
• A Beginners Guide to Medieval Irish and Welsh Legal Manuscripts - EPOCH Magazine Issue 23, March 2026, https://www.epoch-magazine.com/post/a-beginners-guide-to-medieval-irish-and-welsh-legal-manuscripts
• 'Beyond the Shiny Bits' Reinterpreting an Iron Age Mass Grave at Gomolava, Serbia: Interview with Linda Fibiger - EPOCH Magazine Issue 24, June 2026, https://www.epoch-magazine.com/post/beyond-the-shiny-bits-reinterpreting-an-iron-age-mass-grave-at-gomolava-serbia

Public and Academic Talks

Prior events include:

• April 2023 - The End of the World or a New Beginning: Negotiating New Realities in Post Edwardian North Wales, SCRAMS, University of York
• November 2023 - The Dream of Emperor Maxen: Seminar Discussion, North West Medieval Studies Reading Group
• November 2023 - Ambiguity and Ways of Comprehending the Other: Gaels, Scots and Marchers in the Lanercost Chronicle, SCRAMS, University of York
• May 2024 - Bad Reputation: Weaponising Gossip in the Insular Plantagent World, Edge Hill History Society, Edge Hill University
• May 2024 - One Step Beyond: Borderland Spaces of Paranormal Activity in the Lanercost Chronicle, Exploring the Boundaries HIGSS PGR Conference, Edge Hill University
• June 2024 - Masculinity as a Remedy to Misgovernance in Political Prophecy in the Fourteenth Century British and Irish Isles, Gender, Connections and Reconnections, Gender and Medieval Studies Conference, University of Lincoln
• July 2024 - Identities in Flux: Crisis on the Border in the Lanercost Chronicle, Living on the Edge: Borderland Communities - Identities in Crisis?, International Medieval Congress, University of Leeds
• July 2024 - Fear and Loathing on the Borders: The Politics of Paranormal Encounters in the Lanercost Chronicle, North West Medieval Studies Symposium, University of Liverpool
• November 2024 - Conspiring Against the King's Men: Corruption and Coercion in Fourteenth Century Cornwall, Medieval Loyalty Research Network Workshop
• November 2024 - Lies and Lineages: The Politics of Bastardy in Late Medieval Cheshire, North West Medieval Studies Seminar
• December 2024 - Petitioning and Politics in Fourteenth Century Lincolnshire, North West Medieval Studies Reading Group
• April 2025 - Inheritance Disputes and Social Memory in the Insular Plantagenet World, Memory and Legacy, Bristol CMS PGR conference, University of Bristol
• May 2025 - "Nulle Povere Homme" Reframing Political Engagement Through Petitionary Culture, Reframing, HIGSS PGR Conference, Edge Hill University
• June 2025 - Gender Troubles and Plantagenet Petitionary Culture, Lived Histories, Lancaster Historical Postgraduate Conference, University of Lancaster
• July 2025 - Royal Favour and Local Dispute: Disputing Inheritance in Petitions from Fourteenth Century Lincolnshire, Lincoln Documentary Culture(s) and Records, 1: Church and Crown panel sponsored by Linocln Medieval Studies Research Group/Lincoln Record Society, International Medieval Congress, University of Leeds
• August 2025 - A Community of Petitioners: Common Petitions and Political Engagement in the Insular Plantagenet World, Community, North West Medieval Studies Symposium, Chetham's Library
• December 2025 - Ordinary Politics in Elite Manuscripts? Political Culture in Insular Legal Texts, North West Medieval Studies Reading Group
• February 2026 - Women and the Regulation of Social Order in Cyfraith Hywel, Women and the Weird, Cambridge Colloquium in Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic, University of Cambridge
• April 2026 - The Borders of Political Engagement in the Insular Plantagenet World, Borders, Barriers and Boundaries: Real and Imagined in the Middle Ages, University of Oxford
• April 2026 - "Boen ar Gymry beunydd" the Political Worlds of the Uchelwyr in Fourteenth Century Wales and Beyond, Medieval Wales Conference, Cardiff University
• May 2026 - Amice de Houwe's Cow and Other Non-Human Histories of the Insular Plantagenet World, Times of Change, HiGSS PGR Conference, Edge Hill University
• May 2026 - Archipelagic Scribal Cultures of Precarity: Professional Anxiety and the Ordinary Politics of the Insular World, Where is Scotland Navigating Identities and Communities by Land and Sea CSCS Postgraduate Conference, University of Glasgow
• June 2026 - Voices of Fear? Petitioning and the Fourteenth Century English Lordship in Ireland, Lens and Legacy, Lancaster Historical Postgraduate Conference, University of Lancaster
• July 2026 - The Politics of Disinheritance in the Insular Plantagenet World, Plantagenet Borders, I: Politics and Rule panel sponsored by Fourteenth Century England / Boydell & Brewer, International Medieval Congress, University of Leeds

Future events include:

• August 2026 - Anglo-Jewish Legal Culture in its Insular Plantagenet Context, Outside of the Scope of This Paper, North West Medieval Studies Symposium, Chetham's Library