Dr Catherine Rider
Senior Lecturer
MA, PhD (London)
Extension: 4318
Telephone: 01392 724318
I am interested in the religious and cultural history of Europe in the late Middle Ages. My research to date has focused particularly on the history of magic and the church's attitude to magic. I have recently completed a book on this, Magic and Religion in Medieval England published in 2012 by Reaktion Books, which looks at how medieval English clergy defined magic, which practices they viewed as magical and why, and how they persuaded people not to do magic.
In addition to this, I am also interested in religious history more generally (particularly the history of pastoral care and lay religion), the history of sex and marriage, and the history of medicine. Building on these interests, I am currently in the early stages of a project on attitudes and responses to infertility in medieval England.
