Posted by Sarah Hamilton
5 May 2025This week, our ongoing ‘Spotlight’ series shines some light on the work of one of Exeter’s longest-serving medievalists, Prof. Sarah Hamilton. Sarah is a key figure in the Centre’s intellectual life, and works across areas of social and cultural history.
I’m interested in studying liturgical manuscripts to understand the religious, social and cultural history of Europe between 900-1200.
In a word: the variety! I really enjoy teaching because I learn so much from my students at every level and get taken in all sorts of directions. But I also love research, especially when it involves resolving puzzles, often by finding new perspectives on long-standing debates. And I still get the same tingle I first got as a Masters student over thirty years ago whenever I get to examine in person the work of medieval scribes and the traces left by later medieval readers.
I came to Exeter in September 2000 to start a lectureship in medieval history and have stayed here ever since, in large part because I like my students and colleagues in the department and the fact that we have such a large and vibrant community of medievalists.
I try to include a wide range of sources in my teaching. For the most part they’re texts (in translation): laws, penitentials, letters, saints’ lives, histories. But I do also try and include material culture as well, not least when we look at the increase in local church building in the central Middle Ages. And I really enjoy teaching students to use manuscript materials in their own research: indeed I ran an Education Incubator Project with Stuart Pracy and staff in Exeter Cathedral Library and Archives for eight final-year undergraduates last year to pilot a new hands-on approach to training in manuscript studies using the sort of liturgical books I use in my own work (featured twice on this very blog!). Much of my own research is about why scribes chose to write down specific liturgical rites in the way they did and how later readers chose to understand and use these rites: that means investigating the marginalia and interlinear amendments and glosses, as well as understanding the codicology of the manuscript as a whole.
The variety I spoke about earlier means that the patterns of my days are constantly changing. That said, there are some constants, one of which is walking — my dog has firm views on the subject, and I also find it helpful for thinking through problems. While walking, I can often be spotted scribbling cryptic notes or speaking to myself (aka recording a voice note). Otherwise, my constants include reading something related to my current research, even if’s only on the train; and coffee around 10am.
Featured image: detail from the Barberini Exultet Roll (c. 1087), which featured as the cover image for Sarah’s book, ‘Church and People in the Medieval West, 900-1200‘.