MEMSA Crossing Borders, Contesting Boundaries Podcast MEMSA Durham

Georgina Watson is a second-year PhD candidate at Manchester University's History Department. Her thesis, 'War, Wealth, and God's Will: The Order of St Stephen between Crusade and Commerce in the late sixteenth century' examines the disconnections of early modern Mediterranean trade, crusade and religious interactions between the Grand Duchy of Tuscany and the Ottoman Empire. She has specific interests in the role of Christianity within commercial trading, the construction of European noble family's identities within literary texts and portraiture and the varied usage of private military orders to shape Muslim/Christian diplomacy throughout the early modern Mediterranean.



Georgina's paper for the MEMSA Crossing Borders, Contesting Boundaries Podcast is entitled 'The Perspective of Fakhr ad-Din al-Ma'n II'.

Music: Aitua, 'Blind Fire', from the album Elements. Used with the kind permission of the artist. All rights reserved.

Katharina Strika is a third-year PhD student at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, focusing on journeys to the underworld in Renaissance texts. She is particularly interested in the coexistence of Christian and ancient mythological imaginations of the afterlife in texts of the 15th and 16th centuries. 

Katharina's paper for the MEMSA Crossing Borders, Contesting Boundaries Podcast explores these themes in Ulrich von Hutten's Phalarismus.

Music: Aitua, 'Blind Fire', from the album Elements. Used with the kind permission of the artist. All rights reserved.

Dr Valeria Viola is a mother of two wonderful daughters and an Art teacher with experience in both architectural practice and research. She worked as an architect with a specialization in restoration (1997-2015), taught Art-related subjects at different grades of education (2005-2016) and published nine essays on baroque architecture (1999-2015). In 2020 Viola completed her PhD programme in History of Art and Architecture at the University of York (UK), with a thesis on the interconnections between architecture, devotion, and family life in Baroque Palermo. The results of her research were shared through seven essays, nine conferences and three seminars (2018-2021). She is currently engaged in integrating gender and postcolonial perspectives into school teaching, while working on a book tentatively titled "Neighbourly Relationships in Eighteenth-century Palermo". 

Dr Viola's paper for the MEMSA Crossing Borders, Contesting Boundaries Podcast explores masters' and servants' spaces in eighteenth-century Palermo.

Music: Aitua, 'Blind Fire', from the album Elements. Used with the kind permission of the artist. All rights reserved.

In the sixteenth century, King Henry VIII made the extraordinary decision to break away from the Catholic Church in Rome. This decision set in motion a wave of transformative changes that impacted every level of English society. In this episode, Samuel Pearson explores a fascinating manuscript collection that offers a window into how the Reformation was received by the laity in Kent, whilst offering important insights into popular politics in early modern England more generally.

Music: Aitua, 'Blind Fire', from the album Elements. Used with the kind permission of the artist. All rights reserved.

Dr Euan Roger is a principal records specialist in the medieval team at The National Archives, specialising in the records of late medieval and Tudor English government, the central law courts, and the secular clergy, with a particular interest in aspects of social, medical, political and material history. His paper for the Crossing Borders, Contesting Boundaries Podcast uncovers new evidence for the development of quarantine measures in early modern England.

Music: Aitua, 'Blind Fire', from the album Elements. Used with the kind permission of the artist. All rights reserved.

Connor is a PhD student at the University of Bristol where his research interests lie in the political, social and cultural history of early modern England. His paper for the Crossing Borders, Contesting Boundaries Podcast explores how modern social networking analysis can reshape our understanding of Tudor court politics.

Music: Aitua, 'Blind Fire', from the album Elements. Used with the kind permission of the artist. All rights reserved.