Dr. Jenny Benham

CV

Jenny Benham is Reader in Medieval History and the Co-director of the Centre for Medieval Studies at Cardiff University. She is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and the Higher Education Academy. After completing her PhD in 2006 at the University of East Anglia, she worked outside of academia for a few years before moved back into research as project officer for ‘Early English Laws’ at the Institute of Historical Research, London (2009-11), and a Research Associate for Centre for Studies of Legal Culture, University of Copenhagen (2012-13).  Her research interests centres on the history of international law and diplomacy, with a particular focus on espionage, treaties, and legal practice. Among her notable publications are the books Peacemaking in the Middle Ages (Manchester, 2011) and International Law in Europe, 700-1200 (Manchester, 2022), and a large number of articles on various aspects of law and diplomacy, including ‘The Earliest Arbitration Treaty? A Re-assessment of the Anglo-Norman Treaty of 991’, Historical Research, 93 (May 2020). Jenny has participated in more than 20 collaborative projects, including the international network ‘Voices of Law: Language, Text and Practice’ (2016-18) and co-editing volume 5 (covering the medieval period) of the Cambridge History of International Law.

Publikationen (Auswahl)

• International Law in Europe 700-1200 (Manchester, 2022; pbk, 2023)
• ‘The Ordeal of the Lynx: Peacemaking in the Ruodlieb’, Fabula / Les colloques, Fiat pax. Le désir de paix dans la littérature médiévale (2023)
• ‘The Earliest Arbitration Treaty? A Re-assessment of the Anglo-Norman Treaty of 991’, Historical Research, 93 (2020)
• ‘Law or Treaty? Defining the Edge of Legal Studies in the Early and High Medieval Periods’, Historical Research, 86 (2013)
• Peacemaking in the Middle Ages: Principles and Practice (Manchester, 2011)

FRIAS Projekt

Espionage in the Middle Ages

Espionage is one of the most fundamental principles by which leaders and their political entities obtain and maintain their positions. By gathering, creating, exploiting and protecting intelligence and information, leaders seek to reduce risks, to mitigate threats, to influence others, and to create and use opportunities to win and preserve what they see as their interests. In the modern world, the connection between espionage, diplomacy, and statecraft is well known. The absence of academic literature on spies and espionage in the intense political, social and cultural rivalry of the High Middle Ages (11th to 14th centuries) – a period which saw the emergence of many of the entities we still recognise today – is a significant lacuna. By supplementing literary evidence with historical records and material culture, this project builds up a richer, more diverse, picture of medieval espionage that goes beyond the current historiographical focus on military contexts and revises our understanding of how medieval politics worked.