Dr Alex 'Spike' Gibbs

My research interests are primarily in the economic and social history of late medieval and early modern England (c.1300-1600). I focus on rural communities, exploring how villagers interacted with seigniorial lords, the crown and each other in a period which saw dramatic changes including the demise of serfdom and the rise of the Tudor state. In my doctoral research, I examined manorial officeholding, demonstrating that village elites were invested in seignorial governing structures and were able to utilise these to govern their communities. I also have interests in the history of felony forfeiture and the management of stray animals. My new project, provisionally entitled ‘A Medieval ‘Middling Sort’?: Wealth and Authority in East Anglian Villages, c.1300-c.1550’, seeks to analyse the relationship between local political power and economic resources in the late medieval village through nominal linkage between court, taxation and landholding records.

Publications

‘Lords, Tenants and Attitudes to Manorial Officeholding, c.1300-c.1600’, The Agricultural History Review, 67 (2019), pp.155-74.

‘Felony Forfeiture at the Manor of Worfield, C.1370-C.1600’, The Journal of Legal History, 39 (2018), pp. 253-77.

Class Teaching

EH390 Dissertation in Economic or Social History

EH237 Theories and Methods in Economic History

EH102 Preindustrial Economic History

EH446 Economic Development in East and Southeast Asia

Curriculum Vitae

View Spike Gibbs's CV here: Spike Gibbs CV [PDF]

Expertise

Economic History, Middle Ages, Early Modern England