Lecturer in Early Modern History
BA (Hons) History (University of Birmingham), PhD History (University of Birmingham), Postgraduate Diploma Heritage (Ironbridge Institute, University of Birmingham), PGCHE (University of Gloucestershire)
Contact
Email: afrench@glos.ac.uk
Tel: +44 (0)1242 714867
Anna studied for a BA in Medieval and Modern History and a PhD in Early Modern History at the University of Birmingham. She taught at the universities of Birmingham and Warwick before arriving at Gloucestershire in 2010. Anna teaches early modern history and offers modules focusing on the cultural, social and political histories of the early modern world.
Anna is a cultural and religious historian, with a specialist interest in the English Reformation. Her doctoral research considered the themes of ‘church and childhood’, exploring how early modern societies dealt with changes in religious culture and the impact these had on perceptions of children. Anna’s research interests also include early modern storytelling, devil beliefs, and perceptions of food and nourishment. She has written various articles and book reviews on such topics as ‘Possession, Puritanism and Prophecy’ and ‘Educational Literature for the Family’, and is currently working on a book entitled Born in Sin: Children and Devil Belief in Early Modern England. Anna has presented papers at conferences including ones held at the universities of Birmingham, Oxford, Durham and King’s College London. She is also an Honorary Research Fellow in History at the University of Birmingham.
Her publications include:
‘Protestant Narratives of Childhood: Educational Literature for the Family in Early Modern England’, Theology (forthcoming 2013)
‘Possession, Puritanism and Prophecy: Child Demoniacs and English Reformed Culture’, Reformation, 13, (2008) pp. 133-161
Book Review, “Patrick Collinson, Polly Ha (ed.), ‘The Reception of Continental Reformation in Britain’”, English Historical Review (forthcoming, 2013)
Book Review, “Kenneth G. Appold, ‘The Reformation: A Brief History’”, Theology (2012)
Book Review, “Joan Fitzpatrick (ed.), ‘Renaissance Food from Rabelais to Shakespeare; Culinary readings and Culinary Histories’”, Sixteenth Century Journal (2012)
Book Review, “J. Patrick Hornbeck II, ‘What is a Lollard?’”, Theology (November 2011)
Book Review, “James Kearney, ‘The Incarnate Text, Imagining the Book in Reformation England’”, Sixteenth Century Journal (Spring, 2011)
Book Review, “Eamon Duffy, ‘Fires of Faith: Catholic England under Mary Tudor’”, Theology (2010)