Dr Caroline Humfress
On Leave 2009/10, Funded By The Leverhulme Trust
Research interests* Teaching interests* Publications* Areas of research supervision* Contact details
Research interests
My research interests lie within late Roman and early medieval history, with a special focus on the period c.284-600 AD. I am particularly interested in the relationship between political, legal and religious transformations in late antiquity and how these transformations are linked to broader contexts of social, economic and cultural change. In my publications to date I have researched the development of Roman law in practice, analysing what happened in the courtrooms of the late empire and how dispute settlements were negotiated and resolved 'on the ground'. I have also written on transformations in religious practice, theology and philosophy, including the rise of the Christian Church and the evolution of different ways to express 'religiosity' in late antiquity. In 2008 the international impact of my research was recognised with the award of a Philip Leverhulme Prize (http://www.leverhulme.ac.uk/news/PLP/).
My present research focuses on the cultural and intellectual context of ancient law and legal practice. I am currently developing the Cambridge Comparative History of Ancient Law project (with David Ibbetson of Cambridge University and Patrick Olivelle of the University of Austin at Texas). This project is the first of its kind in the field of Comparative Ancient Legal History: working with Dr Michael Sharp (Cambridge University Press) we have assembled an international team of scholars specialising in the fields of Ancient Greek, Roman, Indo-European, Near-Eastern and Chinese Law. Collaborative comparative and thematic research will be developed during a series of symposia and workshops held over a three-year period, culminating in the publication of two volumes with CUP. In addition I am working on a new monograph, investigating the formation of canon / ecclesiastical law and the varied medieval inheritance of Roman legal systems and concepts. My current research seeks to exploit methodologies and approaches from the disciplines of legal anthropology, sociology and law.
I am also interested in wider questions concerning the 'history of ideas': how we can approach this subject as historians as well as the ideas themselves. This interest has led me into various different paths of research on classical, medieval and modern theories of political thought - with a particular emphasis on the relationship between theory and practice.
Teaching interests
History of the Later Roman empire; religious, political and socio-cultural transformations in late antiquity (284-800AD); legal history; history of political thought; theology; history of ideas.
Publications
Books:
Orthodoxy and the Courts in Late Antiquity (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2007)
The Evolution of the Late Antique World (with P. D. A. Garnsey), (Cambridge, Orchard Academic, 2001). Translated into French by Regnot, F., L'Évolution du Monde de l'Antiquité Tardive (Paris, Edition la Découverte, 2004). A second revised edition with the new title, The Late Antique World, will be published by Cambridge University Press in 2009.
Articles and essays (selected):
"Controversialist: Augustine in Combat" in The Blackwell Companion to Augustine, Vessey, M., ed., (Oxford, Wiley-Blackwell, at press).
“Episcopal power in forensic contexts: the evidence from the Theodosian Code” in Lizzi, R. and Bonamente, G., Istituzioni, Carismi ed Esercizio del Potere, IV-VI Secolo d. C. (Bari, Casa Editrice Edipuglia, at press).
“Law in Practice” in A Companion to Late Antiquity, Rousseau, P., ed., (Oxford, Blackwell Publishing, 2009), 377-391.
“Citizens and Heretics: Late Roman Lawyers on Christian Heresy” in Heresy and Identity in Late Antiquity, Iricinschi, E. and Zellentin, H., eds., (Tübingen, Mohr Siebeck, 2008), 35-56.
“Law and Justice in The Later Roman Empire”, in A.H.M. Jones and the Later Roman Empire, Gwynn, D. M., ed. (Leiden and Boston, Brill, 2007), 121-142.
“Cracking the Codex: Late Roman Law in Practice”, Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies, 49 (2006, publ. 2007), 251-64.
"Judging by the book; Christian Codices and Late Antique Legal Culture" in The Early Christian Book, Klingshirn,W.E. and Safran,L., eds., (Washington D.C., Catholic University of America Press, 2007), 141-158.
“Poverty and Roman Law” in Poverty in the Roman World, Osborne, R. and Atkins, M., eds., (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2006), 183-203.
“Civil Law and Social Life” in The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Constantine, Lenski, N., ed., (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2006), 205-225.
“Law and Legal Practice” in The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Justinian, Maas, M., ed., (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press 2005), 161-184.
“A New Legal Cosmos: Late Roman Lawyers and the Early Medieval Church” in The Medieval World, Linehan, P. and Nelson, J., eds., (London, Routledge, 2001): 557-575.
“Roman Law, Forensic Argument and the Formation of Christian Orthodoxy (III - VI Centuries)” in Orthodoxie, christianisme, histoire - Orthodoxy, Christianity, History: travaux du groupe de recherches “Definir, maintenir et remettre en cause l’orthodoxie dans l’histoire du christianisme”, Elm, S., Rebillard, E. and Romano,A., eds., (Rome, École française de Rome, 2001): 1 – 26.
Forthcoming commissioned essays:
“Roman Law as Social Practice” in The Cambridge Companion to Roman Law, Johnston, D., ed., (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press) 10,000 words.
“Laws’ Empire: Universalism and Legal Practice, AD 212-438” in Rapp, C., ed. City-Empire-Christendom: Changing Contexts of Power and Identity in Antiquity (New York, Cambridge University Press) 6,000 words.
"The Late Roman 'Episcopalis Audientia' : How (Not) to Understand the Legal Evidence", Journal of Early Christian Studies, forthcoming June 2011.
“Establishing Christianity” in Arnold, A., Oxford Handbook to Medieval Christianity (Oxford, Oxford University Press) 8,000 words.
Areas of research supervision
I can offer advice and direction on dissertation and research topics in most areas of the history of Late Antiquity (third to sixth centuries AD), as well as in the broader area of the history of ideas (especially classical / medieval) .I am always happy to talk to applicants for PhD supervision, or those who are interested in our relevant MA programmes. I would particularly welcome prospective PhD students in the following areas:
- Religious, political and cultural history in the later Roman empire / late antiquity.
- Law and legal history (classical and post-classical), as well as the classical and post-classical disciplines of rhetoric and grammar.
- Late antique theology, 'heretical' beliefs/practices and the formation of 'orthodoxy'.
Contact details (On Leave 2009/10)
Email: c.humfress@bbk.ac.uk
Tel: 020 7631 6489
Room: 350 (Malet Street)