Dr Christopher Briggs

Associate Professor in Medieval British Social and Economic History
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BA University of Oxford

PhD University of Cambridge

2003-2006 British Academy Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Cambridge Group for the History of Population and Social Structure, Department of Geography, University of Cambridge

2006-2009 Research Associate on the AHRC-funded project 'Private Law and Medieval Village Society: Personal Actions in Manor Courts, c.1250-1350', Cambridge Group

2009-2011 Lecturer in Medieval History, University of Southampton

My research addresses a number of questions relating to society, economy, and the law in England and Europe during the later middle ages (1200-1500).  My doctoral research was on the history of credit in the rural economy in fourteenth-century England, and in 2009 my book on this subject appeared in the British Academy’s Postdoctoral Fellowship Monographs series. I am also interested in the place of law and institutions in medieval society and economy, and in particular their role in allowing people to enforce agreements and commercial transactions. Another ongoing focus of my research is the participation of medieval English peasants in the wider legal system beyond the village, in particular the royal courts. Currently I am working on the interdisciplinary research project 'Living Standards and Material Culture in English Rural Households 1300-1600', funded by the Leverhulme Trust, 2016-19. The team is investigating the possessions of rural people in the later middle ages, as part of an attempt to chart long term changes in living standards.

I am very interested in supervising graduate students working on any aspect of the economic or social history of England between c.1200 and c.1500.

Lectures and supervisions for Part I Paper 8 British Economic and Social History 1050-c.1500. I co-teach (with Andrew Spencer) a 3rd year Special Subject: 'The Little Lion - Edward III's England, 1327-1347'. I also contribute to teaching for the Themes and Sources papers on 'Money and Society' and 'Earning a living', and to the M.Phils in Economic and Social History and Medieval History.

Key Publications