Overview
Background
Beth Spacey is a Lecturer in Medieval History in the School of Historical and Philosophical Inquiry. Beth is a historian specialising in the religious cultures of Europe and the broader Mediterranean region. Her expertise lies in the history of the crusades and the Latin East, and she has broader research interests in medieval ideas about the supernatural, violence, gender, landscapes, and colonialism. She has published on the medieval Latin Christian historiography of the crusades, especially on ideas of the miraculous and masculinities, and is currently conducting research into attitudes towards nature and God's Creation in crusade texts. Her first book, The Miraculous and the Writing of Crusade Narrative, was published in March 2020 by Boydell and Brewer and was released in paperback in 2023.
Availability
- Dr Beth Spacey is:
- Available for supervision
- Media expert
Fields of research
Qualifications
- Bachelor of Arts, University of Birmingham
- Masters (Coursework), University of Birmingham
- Doctor of Philosophy, University of Birmingham
Research interests
-
Medieval History
-
Crusades and the Latin East
-
Medieval Religious Cultures
-
Medieval Intellectual History
-
Gender in Medieval Europe
-
Miracles and the Supernatural
-
Cultural History of Environment
Works
Search Professor Beth Spacey’s works on UQ eSpace
2024
Journal Article
Review of Making the East Latin: the Latin literature of the Levant in the era of the crusades, by Julian Yolles (Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Humanities). Washington, DC, Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, 2022, xii, 296 pp., ISBN 9780884024880 (hardback)
Spacey, Beth C. (2024). Review of Making the East Latin: the Latin literature of the Levant in the era of the crusades, by Julian Yolles (Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Humanities). Washington, DC, Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, 2022, xii, 296 pp., ISBN 9780884024880 (hardback). Crusades, 22 (2), 290-291. doi: 10.1080/14765276.2023.2285152
2024
Book Chapter
‘The root of bitterness’: Crusade and the Eradication of Heresy from the Occitanian Landscape in Peter of les Vaux-de-Cernay’s Historia Albigensis
Spacey, Beth C. (2024). ‘The root of bitterness’: Crusade and the Eradication of Heresy from the Occitanian Landscape in Peter of les Vaux-de-Cernay’s Historia Albigensis. The Crusades and Nature. (pp. 269-292) Cham: Springer International Publishing. doi: 10.1007/978-3-031-58786-3_12
2024
Book Chapter
The natural and biblical landscapes of the Holy Land in Jacques de Vitry's Historia Orientalis
Spacey, Beth C. (2024). The natural and biblical landscapes of the Holy Land in Jacques de Vitry's Historia Orientalis. Crusade, settlement and historical writing in the Latin East and Latin West c.1100-c.1300. (pp. 242-258) edited by Andrew D. Buck, James H. Kane and Stephen J. Spencer. Woodbridge, United Kingdom: Boydell & Brewer. doi: 10.1515/9781805431510-018
2023
Book Chapter
Guibert of Nogent, deeds of God through the Franks
Spacey, Beth (2023). Guibert of Nogent, deeds of God through the Franks. Christian-Muslim relations, primary sources, volume 1: 500-1500. (pp. 311-313) edited by David Thomas. London, United Kingdom: Bloomsbury Academic.
2023
Other Outputs
Buildings tumbling, survivors living in tents: medieval descriptions of an 1114 CE earthquake in present-day Turkey and Syria feel eerily familiar
Spacey, Beth (2023, 02 16). Buildings tumbling, survivors living in tents: medieval descriptions of an 1114 CE earthquake in present-day Turkey and Syria feel eerily familiar The Conversation
2023
Journal Article
Review of: Helen J. Nicholson, Women and the Crusades (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2023). vii, 287 pp., ISBN: 9780798806721; ebook ISBN: 9780191980701
Spacey, Beth C. (2023). Review of: Helen J. Nicholson, Women and the Crusades (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2023). vii, 287 pp., ISBN: 9780798806721; ebook ISBN: 9780191980701. Ceræ: an Australasian journal of medieval and early modern studies, 10, 189-193.
2022
Journal Article
Katherine Allen Smith, The Bible and Crusade Narrative in the Twelfth Century. (Crusading in Context.) Woodbridge, UK: Boydell, 2020. Pp. xi, 294. $99. ISBN: 978-1-7832-7523-6
Spacey, Beth C. (2022). Katherine Allen Smith, The Bible and Crusade Narrative in the Twelfth Century. (Crusading in Context.) Woodbridge, UK: Boydell, 2020. Pp. xi, 294. $99. ISBN: 978-1-7832-7523-6. Speculum, 97 (3), 893-895. doi: 10.1086/720578
2022
Book Chapter
Miracles and crusade narrative in the first Old French Crusade Cycle
Spacey, Beth C. (2022). Miracles and crusade narrative in the first Old French Crusade Cycle. Chronicle, crusade, and the Latin East: essays in honour of Susan B. Edgington. (pp. 149-164) edited by Andrew D. Buck and Thomas W. Smith. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols. doi: 10.1484/m.outremer-eb.5.128886
2022
Book Chapter
Narrating ‘new wonders’: divine agency, crusade and Afonso I of Portugal's 1147 conquest of Santarém
Spacey, Beth C. (2022). Narrating ‘new wonders’: divine agency, crusade and Afonso I of Portugal's 1147 conquest of Santarém. Miracles, political authority and violence in medieval and early modern history. (pp. 78-91) edited by Matthew Rowley and Natasha Hodgson. London, United Kingdom: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781003168294-4
2022
Book Chapter
Guibert of Nogent, Deeds of God through the Franks
Spacey, Beth (2022). Guibert of Nogent, Deeds of God through the Franks. The Bloomsbury Reader in Christian-Muslim Relations, 600–1500. (pp. 248-250) edited by David Thomas. England, United Kingdom: Bloomsbury Academic. doi: 10.5040/9781350214132.ch-60
2021
Other Outputs
Medieval Christians saw the lunar eclipse as a sign from God — but they also understood the science
Spacey, Beth (2021, 05 25). Medieval Christians saw the lunar eclipse as a sign from God — but they also understood the science The Conversation
2021
Journal Article
Introduction: landscapes of conflict and encounter in the crusading world
Spacey, Beth C. and Cassidy-Welch, Megan (2021). Introduction: landscapes of conflict and encounter in the crusading world. Journal of Medieval History, 47 (3), 1-9. doi: 10.1080/03044181.2021.1928378
2021
Journal Article
‘A land of horror and vast wilderness’: landscapes of crusade and Jerusalem pilgrimage in Arnold of Lübeck's Chronica Slavorum
Spacey, Beth C. (2021). ‘A land of horror and vast wilderness’: landscapes of crusade and Jerusalem pilgrimage in Arnold of Lübeck's Chronica Slavorum. Journal of Medieval History, 47 (3), 1-16. doi: 10.1080/03044181.2021.1926667
2021
Journal Article
Book review: Minorities in Contact in the Medieval Mediterranean
Spacey, Beth C. (2021). Book review: Minorities in Contact in the Medieval Mediterranean. Parergon, 38 (2), 187-188.
2021
Journal Article
The Conquest of the Holy Land by Salah al-Din: A Critical Edition and Translation of the Anonymous
Spacey, Beth C. (2021). The Conquest of the Holy Land by Salah al-Din: A Critical Edition and Translation of the Anonymous. Parergon, 38 (1), 194-196.
2021
Journal Article
Book review: Authority and Power in the Medieval Church, c. 1000-c. 1500
Spacey, Beth C. (2021). Book review: Authority and Power in the Medieval Church, c. 1000-c. 1500. Parergon, 38 (2), 262-263.
2020
Journal Article
Visionary masculinities: emotion and the experience of the miraculous in latin narratives of the first crusade
Spacey, Beth C. (2020). Visionary masculinities: emotion and the experience of the miraculous in latin narratives of the first crusade. Emotions: History, Culture, Society, 4 (2), 327-347. doi: 10.1163/2208522x-02010099
2020
Book
The miraculous and the writing of crusade narrative
Spacey, Beth C. (2020). The miraculous and the writing of crusade narrative. Woodbridge, United Kingdom: Boydell & Brewer. doi: 10.2307/j.ctvrdf0w9
2019
Journal Article
Refocusing the First Crusade: authorial self-fashioning and the miraculous in William of Tyre’s Historia Ierosolymitana
Spacey, Beth. C. (2019). Refocusing the First Crusade: authorial self-fashioning and the miraculous in William of Tyre’s Historia Ierosolymitana. The Journal of Religious History, Literature and Culture, 5 (2), 51-66. doi: 10.16922/jrhlc.5.2.5
2019
Book Chapter
Martyrdom as masculinity in the Itinerarium Peregrinorum et Gesta Regis Ricardi
Spacey, Beth C. (2019). Martyrdom as masculinity in the Itinerarium Peregrinorum et Gesta Regis Ricardi. Crusading and masculinities. (pp. 222-236) edited by Natasha R. Hodgson, Katherine J. Lewis and Matthew M. Mesley. Abingdon, Oxon, United Kingdom: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781315166490-14
Supervision
Availability
- Dr Beth Spacey is:
- Available for supervision
Before you email them, read our advice on how to contact a supervisor.
Supervision history
Current supervision
-
Doctor Philosophy
Using the Unusual, Normalising the Non-Mundane: Didactic Uses of Wonder in the medieval Latin West, c. 1000 ¿ 1300
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Emeritus Professor Philip Almond, Associate Professor Adam Bowles
-
Doctor Philosophy
Dancing with Demons: On the origins of the witches' sabbath in the western Alps (1428-1442)
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Emeritus Professor Philip Almond, Honorary Professor Marguerite Johnson
Media
Enquiries
Contact Dr Beth Spacey directly for media enquiries about:
- Crusades
- Europe in the Middle Ages
- Medieval History
Need help?
For help with finding experts, story ideas and media enquiries, contact our Media team: