John Hugh Arnold (born 28 November 1969) is a British historian. Since 2016, he has been the Professor of Medieval History at the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

. He previously worked at

Birkbeck College Birkbeck, University of London (formally Birkbeck College, University of London), is a public research university located in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. Established in 1823 as the London Mechanics' ...

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

, where he specialised in the study of medieval religious culture. He has also written widely on historiography and why history matters.

Career

Born 28 November 1969, Arnold received his

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

degree in history and his

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of Postgraduate education, graduate study and original resear ...

degree in medieval studies from the

University of York The University of York (abbreviated as or ''York'' for Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a public Collegiate university, collegiate research university in York, England. Established in 1963, the university has expanded to more than thir ...

. He was professor of medieval history at Birkbeck College, University of London, from 2008. He joined the college as a lecturer in 2001. Before that he was a lecturer at the

University of East Anglia The University of East Anglia (UEA) is a Public university, public research university in Norwich, England. Established in 1963 on a campus university, campus west of the city centre, the university has four faculties and twenty-six schools of ...

. He is a member of the Social History Society and the

Medieval Academy of America The Medieval Academy of America (MAA; spelled Mediaeval until ) is the largest organization in the United States promoting the field of medieval studies. It was founded in 1925 and is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The academy publishes the q ...

.Professor John Arnold.
Birkbeck College. Retrieved 19 May 2015.

Research

Arnold specialises in the study of medieval religious culture, saying that while he has never been a believer in any religion, "belief" has always fascinated him. In his work he asks "Why do people believe the things they believe? What does 'believing' really mean in practice?" Arnold has also written widely about

historiography Historiography is the study of the methods used by historians in developing history as an academic discipline. By extension, the term ":wikt:historiography, historiography" is any body of historical work on a particular subject. The historiog ...

. In 2008 he wrote a policy paper, ''Why history matters - and why medieval history also matters'', for History & Policy.''Why history matters - and why medieval history also matters''
John H. Arnold, History & Policy, 28 November 2008. Retrieved 19 May 2015.

Selected publications

*''What is Masculinity? Historical Dynamics from Antiquity to the Contemporary World'' (Palgrave, 2011), co-edited with Sean Brady *''What is Medieval History?'' (Polity, 2008) *''Belief and Unbelief in Medieval Europe'' (Bloomsbury, 2005) *''A Companion to the Book of Margery Kempe'' (Boydell, 2004), co-edited with Katherine J Lewis *''Inquisition and Power: Catharism and the Confessing Subject in Medieval Languedoc'' (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2001) *''History: A Very Short Introduction'' (Oxford, 2000)

References

External links

John H. Arnold.
academia.edu
The Historian's Many Hats
BBC History Trails.
The Big Question: What is history?
Open University. 1969 births Academics of Birkbeck, University of London Professors of Medieval History (Cambridge) Academics of the University of East Anglia Alumni of the University of York British medievalists Cultural historians British historians of religion Historiographers King's College, Cambridge Living people British social historians {{UK-historian-stub