Posted by Edward Mills
2 December 2024The Simon Barton Lecture is one of two named lectures that take place annually at the Centre. Began in honour of the much-missed Simon Barton, the lecture series hosts specialists in Simon’s field of study, medieval Spain … This year’s lecture is taking place this Wednesday (4th December), both in-person and online (with registration via Eventbrite), and all are warmly invited to attend. This year’s speaker, Dr. Antonella Liuzzo Scorpo, kindly agreed to answer a few questions beforehand, to give a taste of her upcoming talk.
Simon was an incredibly supportive, generous, thoughtful, patient and inspiring PhD supervisor, but he was also much more than a wonderful academic mentor. He was a true friend, whom I regarded as my family during the years I spent in Exeter and afterwards. Simon’s advice and constructive feedback on my work and practice helped me develop as a researcher, a scholar and an educator, but also as a person. He inspired by example: from him I learned what powerful impact core values, such as collegiality and kindness have on individual development, but also on the ways in which we function as an academic community. On a more personal note, Simon was always ready to answer any questions I had about British customs and practices (something I was unfamiliar with when I arrived in the UK 20 years ago). In fact, to Simon I owe my ‘love’ for Marmite (an unknown and incredibly unusual taste for a Mediterranean palate) and the ever-present challenge of trying to understand the rules of cricket. As Simon’s first PhD student, I am honoured to uphold his scholarly legacy, and I will continue to embed his teachings, care and passion in my own academic practice.
I’m currently Associate Professor of Medieval History at the University of Lincoln, where I specialise in the social and cultural history of medieval Iberia, with a focus on friendship, social communication, intercultural networks, and the history of emotions. My first monograph (Friendship in Medieval Iberia: Historical, Legal and Literary Perspectives) was published in 2014, and more recently, I’ve been privileged to edit a volume of essays in Simon’s memory, entitled A Plural Peninsula: Studies in Honour of Professor Simon Barton. I’ve also been a Visiting Researcher at several international institutions (including the National Research Council of Spain, in both Madrid and Barcelona), and am the President of the Society for the Medieval Mediterranean.
Well, it certainly shouldn’t be of interest only to specialists in medieval Spain! I’ll be drawing on medieval Spanish case-studies, as is only appropriate for a lecture in Simon’s memory, but the questions that I’ll be investigating will be of interest to medievalists (and non-medievalists) of all interests. My title — ‘Frenemies’ — gives a clue: what did it mean to be someone’s ‘friend’ or ‘enemy’ in the Middle Ages?
There’s also a significant element of gender in my talk. We tend to think of rebellions as characteristically ‘male’ activities, due in no small part to the gendered narratives that have grown up around rebellion and which work to obscure women’s voices and presences. We need to adopt more cross-disciplinary and intersectional approaches in our work on this topic, and as I’ll show, women — particularly in medieval Spain — played a major part in the ‘social networks’ of rebellion.
The 2024 Simon Barton Lecture will take place at 6pm on Wednesday 4th December 2024, in the Constantine Leventis Teaching Room (Building:One, University of Exeter). No booking is required for in-person attendance; if you’d like to attend online, please visit the dedicate Eventbrite page.