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Dr Amanda McVitty staff profile picture

Contact details +6469516576

Dr Amanda McVitty PhD

Lecturer

Doctoral Supervisor
School of Humanities Media and Creative Comm

My research focuses on intersections of gender, law, and political culture in late medieval and early modern England and France; and on medievalism in contemporary politics and popular culture. I have published on topics including masculinity, chivalry and treason law; crime, punishment and imprisonment; popular protest and dissent; and on the relationships between Latin, vernacular languages and emerging concepts of national identity. I am currently working on a Royal Society of New Zealand Marsden Fund project that examines masculinity, authority, and the evolution of English legal culture c.1300-1600.

 

Professional

Qualifications

  • Doctor of Philosophy - Massey University (2016)

Certifications and Registrations

  • Licence, Supervisor, Massey University

Prizes and Awards

  • Leonard Boyle Dissertation Prize, 2017. The Leonard Boyle Dissertation Prize is awarded annually by the Canadian Society of Medievalists to an outstanding dissertation in any field of medieval studies. - Canadian Society of Medievalists (2016)
  • George Yule Essay Prize, 2015 The George Yule Essay Prize is awarded to the best essay written by a postgraduate. It is awarded biennially, at each ANZAMEMS conference. - Australian and New Zealand Association for Medieval and Early Modern Studies (ANZAMEMS) (2014)

Research Expertise

Research Interests

Medieval history

English legal history

Gender history

Area of Expertise

Field of research codes
British History (210305): European History (excl. British, Classical Greek and Roman) (210307):
Gender Specific Studies (169901):
Historical Studies (210300): History And Archaeology (210000):
Law And Legal Studies (180000):
Other Studies in Human Society (169900): Studies In Human Society (160000)

Research Projects

Summary of Research Projects

Position Current Completed
Project Leader 1 0

Research Outputs

Journal

McVitty, E. (2021). Men and Masculinities in the Sagas of the Icelanders, by Gareth Lloyd Evans. Oxford English Monographs. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019.. Medieval Feminist Forum. 56(2), 209-211Retreived from https://ir.uiowa.edu/mff/
[Book Review]Authored by: McVitty, E.
McVitty, E. (2020). Strange Bedfellows: Lawyers’ Social Identity and the Politics of Space at the Premodern Inns of Court. law&history. 7(2), 1-27 Retrieved from https://heinonline.org/HOL/P?h=hein.journals/lwanhist7&i=239
[Journal article]Authored by: McVitty, E.
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McVitty, EA. (2020). Engendering Erudition: Masculinity and Legal Authority at England's Medieval Inns of Court. Gender and History. 32(2), 447-464
[Journal article]Authored by: McVitty, E.
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McVitty, EA. (2017). The Prisoner's Voice in Conflicting Narratives of Loyalty and Political Legitimacy in Late Medieval England. Parergon. 34(2), 25-47 Retrieved from http://www.anzamems.org/
[Journal article]Authored by: McVitty, E.
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McVitty, A. (2016). My name of a trewe man: Gender, vernacularity, and treasonous speech in late medieval England. Parergon. 33(1), 91-111
[Journal article]Authored by: McVitty, E.
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McVitty, A. (2014). False knights and true men: contesting chivalric masculinity in English treason trials, 1388–1415. Journal of Medieval History. 40(4), 458-477 Retrieved from http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03044181.2014.954139
[Journal article]Authored by: McVitty, E.
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McVitty, E. (2021). Chester County Court Indictment Roll 1354-1377: Dealing with Serious Crime in later Fourteenth-Century Cheshire by Phyllis Hill and Paul Booth, (Manchester: The Chetham Society 2019). Northern History.
[Book Review]Authored by: McVitty, E.
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McVitty, E. (2020). Bronach Kane, Popular Memory and Gender in Medieval England: Men, Women, and Testimony in the Church Courts, c.1200-1500. Boydell & Brewer, 2019.. The Medieval Review. Retreived from https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/tmr/index
[Book Review]Authored by: McVitty, E.
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McVitty, E. (2020). The French of Medieval England: Essays in Honour of Jocelyn Wogan-Browne, ed. by Thelma Fenster and Carolyn P. Collette (D. S. Brewer, 2017). Parergon: Journal of the Australian and New Zealand Association for Medieval and Early Modern Studies. 37(2), 208-210Retreived from https://parergon.org/
[Book Review]Authored by: McVitty, E.
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McVitty, EA. (2015). Polemic: Language as violence in medieval and early modern discourse ed. by Almut Suerbaum, George Southcombe, and Benjamin Thompson. Parergon. 32(2), 365-367Retreived from https://muse.jhu.edu/article/610941
[Book Review]Authored by: McVitty, E.
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McVitty, EA. (2014). Law, rulership and rhetoric: Selected essays by Robert L. Benson. Parergon. 31(2), 142-143
[Book Review]Authored by: McVitty, E.
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Book

McVitty, EA.(2020). Treason and Masculinity in Medieval England Gender, Law and Political Culture. : Boydell Press
[Authored Book]Authored by: McVitty, E.
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McVitty, EA. (2017). Prosecuting treason in Lancastrian London: the language and landscape of political dissent. In AD. Brown, & J. Dumolyn (Eds.) Medieval Urban Culture. (pp. 93 - 109). : Brepols
[Chapter]Authored by: McVitty, E.
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McVitty, EA. (2016). Traitor to the chose publique: Negotiating constitutional conflict through the law of treason 1399–1402. In J. Bothwell, & G. Dodd (Eds.) Fourteenth Century England IX. (pp. 149 - 167). Woodbridge, Suffolk: Boydell
[Chapter]Authored by: McVitty, E.
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Thesis

McVitty, EA. (2016). Treason, manhood, and the English State: Shaping constitutional ideas and political subjects through the laws of treason, 1397-1424. (Doctoral Thesis)
[Doctoral Thesis]Authored by: McVitty, E.
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Conference

McVitty, E.Homosociality and violence in the making of the English legal profession. . University of Toronto
[Conference Paper]Authored by: McVitty, E.
McVitty, E.Men in the margins: Constructing identity and authority through English legal manuscripts. . Convened online
[Conference Paper]Authored by: McVitty, E.
McVitty, E.Strange Bedfellows: Lawyers and laymen at the early Inns of Court. . University of Sydney Australia
[Conference Paper]Authored by: McVitty, E.
McVitty, E.Manhood and manuscripts: Creating and performing homosocial community through legal texts. . Kings College London
[Conference Paper]Authored by: McVitty, E.
McVitty, E.Engendering Erudtion: Masculinity and Legal Authority in the Inns of Court. . University of Leeds
[Conference Paper]Authored by: McVitty, E.
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McVitty, EA.Making the man of law: Identities and exchange in common law culture c.1399-1520. . Wellington, New Zealand
[Conference Paper]Authored by: McVitty, E.
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McVitty, EA.The language and landscape of political protest. . Leeds, England
[Conference Paper]Authored by: McVitty, E.
McVitty, EA.Imagining Imprisonment: Confession and resistance in legal narratives of treason. . Melbourne, Australia
[Conference Paper]Authored by: McVitty, E.
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McVitty, EA.My name of a trewe man: Manhood, speech and political agency in early fifteenth-century treason trials. . Brisbane, Australia
[Conference Paper]Authored by: McVitty, E.
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McVitty, EA.Give me my name of a true man: Treason, manhood, and political subjecthood in fifteenth-century London. . Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand
[Conference Paper]Authored by: McVitty, E.
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McVitty, EA.Language, identity and political subjecthood in English trials for treason, c. 1395-1405. . Leeds, England
[Conference Paper]Authored by: McVitty, E.
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McVitty, EA.Traitor to his tongue: Treason and the construction of identity in medieval England. . Melbourne, Australia
[Conference Paper]Authored by: McVitty, E.
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McVitty, EA.False knights and true blood: Reading the traitor’s body in late medieval England. . Leeds, England
[Conference Paper]Authored by: McVitty, E.
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Other

McVitty, E. (2018, June). Manhood, learning and legal authority at England’s medieval Inns of Court. In Victoria University of Wellington History Programme Seminar Series. Presented at Victoria University of Wellington.
[Oral Presentation]Authored by: McVitty, E.
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McVitty, EA. (2015, November). Dissent, rebellion, and treason in late medieval England. In U3A Manawatu branch (public lecture). Presented at U3A, Palmerston North, New Zealand.
[Oral Presentation]Authored by: McVitty, E.
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Teaching and Supervision

Courses Coordinated

  • 148.242 The Age of Chivalry and Crusades
  • 148.310 The Tudors and the Reformation
Contact Supervisor

Graduate Supervision Statement

I welcome proposals for postgraduate research in medieval or early modern history, with a focus on Britain and western Europe. My specialities are gender history (including kingship and queenship); English and French legal history; and political history including popular politics, rebellion and dissent.

I aim to develop a coaching relationship with postgraduate students and to guide their development into confident independent researchers. My goal is to help students recognise and achieve their intellectual potential by helping them plan and carry out well-designed research, and by testing and strengthening their capacities for critical thinking and the deep analysis of historical evidence. Central to my supervision style is guiding students to create a sustainable writing practice that enables them to progress against clear expectations and agreed milestones but with the flexibility to adapt to changed circumstances. I encourage students to build their own academic networks by attending and presenting at conferences and seminars, becoming involved in relevant scholarly associations, and attending postgraduate training and other events.


Dr Amanda McVitty is available for Masters and Doctorial supervision.

Summary of Doctoral Supervision

Position Current Completed
Co-supervisor 1 0

Current Doctoral Supervision

Co-supervisor of:

  • Amelia Barker - Doctor of Philosophy
    Laywomen and Authority in France during the Great Western Schism, 1378 to 1417.

Media and Links

Media

  • 29 Sep 2020 - Magazine, Online
    Medieval Herald: Interview with E. Amanda McVitty
    Amanda McVitty answers questions about her new book Treason and Masculinity in Medieval England, which explores the relationships between gender, law and politics in later medieval England. Dr McVitty
  • 08 Mar 2021 - Online
    Proofed: A Boydell & Brewer Blog
    Featured post on Treason and Masculinity in Medieval England (Boydell Press, 2020). Dr McVitty explains how her book presents a new interpretation of treason, not only as a legal construct, a politica
  • 04 Mar 2021 - Online
    BBC HistoryExtra
    Interview: Dr Amanda McVitty, author of the new book Treason and Masculinity in Medieval England (Boydell Press, 2020), explains what treason meant in the Middle Ages. She explains how the crime was t