Staff profile

My research studies developments in documentary and archival culture, through the archive of Durham Cathedral Priory, c. 1160-1539. As well as the ways in which this large and powerful monastic institution built up, organised, and used their extensive archive over generations, I'm also interested in the insights that the priory's archive can reveal into the record-keeping practices of local people, whose own document collections have tended to survive less well. By examining the archive for evidence of its own construction, my work demonstrates how both the monks and their neighbours responded to and drove the growth of bureaucracy, engaging with documents in line with their own legal, social, and cultural piorities. 

I am grateful to have been funded by a Durham Doctoral Studentship from the Faculty of Arts and Humanities. Prior to my PhD, I studied for a BA and MA in History, both also at Durham.

Journal Article

• Brown, A. T., & Cox, B. (2023). Institutional memory and legal conflict in the Old Borough of Durham, 1300–1450. Continuity and Change, 38(3), 255 - 281. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0268416023000322