Dr Ben Wiedemann

Fellow and College Officer, Fitzwilliam College
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Ben Wiedemann is a Fellow in History at Fitzwilliam College. He completed his undergraduate and postgraduate degrees at University College London, and spent a year as a Doctoral Fellow at the Institute of Historical Research, London. Ben came to Fitzwilliam College in 2018 as a Junior Research Fellow and is now the Steward and a Tutor for Postgraduate Students at Fitzwilliam. Ben is also a Bye-Fellow and Undergraduate Tutor at Lucy Cavendish College. 

Ben’s research focuses primarily on the Medieval papacy. His first book – Papal Overlordship and European Princes, 1000-1270 – was published by Oxford University Press in 2022 and argued for seeing Medieval government as ‘petition-led’: primarily driven by external requests rather than by central policy. Ben is now working on the manuscripts of a text known as the Roman provincial, which attempted to outline the political geography of Medieval Europe in the form of lists of cities.

Power and authority in the Middle Ages, both theoretical (political ideas and ideology) and practical (government and administration). I focus mainly on the medieval church and papacy.
I previously lectured and supervised for Part I Paper 14 – European History, c.900-c.1450 in the pre-2022 Tripos, and I now supervise Outline Paper 3 - Medieval Europe c.1100-1450 and Outline Paper 2 - The British Isles in the Middle Ages, c. 800 to c. 1500 for Part IA. I teach Introduction to Historical Thinking for IA History and Historical Thinking for IB History, as well as Historical Argument and Practice for Part II. I supervise Part II dissertations and have also taught and examined for the Medieval History MPhil and the MSt in History. 

Contact

Tags & Themes

Address

Fitzwilliam College Storey’s Way Cambridge CB3 0DG

Email
bw423@cam.ac.uk

Key publications

Monograph:

Articles and chapters:

  1. "Creeping up on the Roman Provincial", Transactions of the Royal Historical Society (2023), pp. 291-313.
  2. Pater sanctissime: Petitions to the Pope in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries”, Archiv für Diplomatik 69 (2023), pp. 109-56.
  3. “Papal Finances in the Middle Ages”, Cambridge History of the Papacy, 2: The Governance of the Church, ed. J. Rollo-Koster, M. H. Eichbauer, R. A. Ventresca, M. Pattenden (Cambridge, 2025).
  4. “The Papacy and Money: ‘Blessings’ at the Curia in the Twelfth Century”, Law, Politics and Religion in Medieval Europe, c.1100-c.1350: Papers in Honour of Anne Duggan, ed. T. Baker (Turnhout, 2024).
  5. The Joy of Lists: The Provinciale Romanum, Tribute and ad limina visitation to Rome”, Revue d’histoire ecclésiastique 116/1-2 (2021), pp. 61-97.
  6. Quanto nobilius membrum: A Letter of Pope Gregory IX (1228)”, Manuscripta: A Journal for Manuscript Research 64/1 (Jan., 2020), pp. 127-41.
  7. Papal Authority and Power during the Minority of Emperor Frederick II”, Authority and Power in the Medieval Church, c.1000-1500, ed. T. W. Smith, Europa Sacra (Turnhout, 2020), pp. 67-77.
  8. The Character of Papal Finance at the Turn of the Twelfth Century”, English Historical Review 133/562 (Jun., 2018), pp. 503-32.
  9. Doorkeepers, the chamberlain and petitioning at the papal court, c.1150-1200”, Historical Research 91/253 (Aug., 2018), pp. 409-25.
  10. Super gentes et regna: papal ‘Empire’ in the later eleventh and twelfth centuries”, Studies in Church History 54: The Church and Empire (Cambridge, 2018), pp. 109-22.
  11. ‘Fooling the Court of the Lord Pope’: Dafydd ap Llywelyn’s petition to the Curia in 1244”, Welsh History Review / Cylchgrawn Hanes Cymru 28/2 (Dec., 2016), pp. 209-32.
  12. “The papal camera and the monastic census. Evidence from Portugal, c.1150-1190”, Zeitschrift für Kirchengeschichte 126/2-3 (2015), pp. 181-96.
  13. The kingdom of Portugal, homage and papal ‘fiefdom’ in the second half of the twelfth century”, Journal of Medieval History 41/4 (Dec., 2015), pp. 432-445.

Other publications

Book reviews for the English Historical Review, Journal of Ecclesiastical History, Francia-Recensio, Reviews in History.