Dr KATY MORTIMER

I undertook undergraduate and postgraduate study at Queen Mary University of London where I was introduced to Crusades Studies by Dr Thomas Asbridge. I was lucky to have been taught by a number of medievalists and early modernists at QMUL, who shaped my interests in religious, intercultural and narrative history. After receiving my Masters in History, I completed my AHRC-funded PhD at Royal Holloway, University of London, on the topic Understanding Narrative Representations of Crusader-Muslim Diplomacy in Western Christian Texts, c.1095-c.1202, supervised by Professor Andrew Jotischky. 

After finishing my PhD I worked for a year in Widening Access to Higher Education, also at RHUL, before taking up the position of Lecturer in Medieval Studies at Canterbury Christ Church University where I taught across the BA and MA History degrees, and co-convened the masters in Medieval and Early Modern Studies and Modern History A/Y 2024-5. 

I joined Edge Hill University in September 2025 where I teach across the BA History degree, convening and co-convening the following modules: 

• The Medieval World (L4)
• Early Modern England (L4) 
• Writing History (L5)
• History in the Making (L5)
• The Viking World (L6) 

I am happy to lead workshops for GCSE and A Level students on topics related to the crusades. 

I have written for History Today Magazine, and have also contributed to the Historical Association's History blog and podcast.

My research is currently focused on western hisorical writing, with a particular interest in crusade narratives (c.1095-c.1291). 

Publications

Journal Articles

• Mortimer, K., ‘Networks of Crusading: An Introductory Overview of Digital Resources for Research into People, Place and Space’, Medieval People, 36/1 (2021), pp. 333-52.

Chapters in Edited Collections

• Mortimer, K., ‘Foundation and Settlement in Fulcher of Chartres’ Historia Hierosolymitana: A Narratological Reading, Crusade, Settlement and Historical Writing in the Latin East and West, c. 1100-c.1300, eds. A.D. Buck, J. Kane & S.J. Spencer (Woodbridge, 2024), pp. 102-20.
• Mortimer, K., ‘Digesting Cannibalism: Revisiting Representations of Man-Eating Crusaders in Narrative Sources for the First Crusade’, Chronicle, Crusade, and the Latin East: Essays in Honour of Susan B. Edgington, eds. T. Smith & A.D. Buck (Turnhout, 2022), pp. 109-30.

Encyclopaedia Entries

• Mortimer, K., ‘Hagia Irene’, Religion and World Civilizations: How Faith Shaped Societies from Antiquity to the Present, ed. A. Holt (Santa Barbara, CA, 2023), pp. 205-7.
• Mortimer, K., ‘Religious Architecture in the Crusader States’, Religion and World Civilizations: How Faith Shaped Societies from Antiquity to the Present, ed. A. Holt (Santa Barbara, CA, 2023), pp. 155-6.
• Mortimer, K., ‘Christian Views on Prostitution’, Religion and World Civilizations: How Faith Shaped Societies from Antiquity to the Present, ed. A. Holt (Santa Barbara, CA, 2023), pp. 8-10.