Claire Breay, MBE (born 18 October 1968) is an English manuscript curator and medieval historian. She is the Head of Ancient, Medieval and Early Modern Manuscripts at the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the Briti ...

, where she specializes in Western medieval manuscripts in the Department of Collections.

Education

Breay studied history and classics for her bachelor's degree at

Newnham College, Cambridge Newnham College is a women's constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1871 by a group organising Lectures for Ladies, members of which included philosopher Henry Sidgwick and suffragist campaigner Millicent ...

, after which she proceeded to do a one-year archival work experience post at the

Borthwick Institute for Archives The Borthwick Institute for Archives is the specialist archive service of the University of York, York, England. It is one of the biggest archive repositories outside London. The Borthwick was founded in 1953 as The Borthwick Institute of Histori ...

in York, and then trained as an archivist at

Aberystwyth University Aberystwyth University ( cy, Prifysgol Aberystwyth) is a Public university, public Research university, research university in Aberystwyth, Wales. Aberystwyth was a founding member institution of the former federal University of Wales. The universi ...

. She did a PhD in medieval history at the

Institute of Historical Research The Institute of Historical Research (IHR) is a British educational organisation providing resources and training for historical researchers. It is part of the School of Advanced Study in the University of London and is located at Senate House ...

in London.

Career

Breay started her career as an archivist at

Lambeth Palace Library Lambeth Palace is the official London residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury. It is situated in north Lambeth, London, on the south bank of the River Thames, south-east of the Palace of Westminster, which houses Parliament, on the opposite ...

for two years after her PhD. She joined the

in 1998 as a curator of medieval historical manuscripts. She became the head of the medieval manuscripts section of the Library in 2006. While working in the section, she was in charge of the Codex Sinaiticus Project (2002–2010). She also worked on the acquisition of the

St Cuthbert Gospel The St Cuthbert Gospel, also known as the Stonyhurst Gospel or the St Cuthbert Gospel of St John, is an early 8th-century pocket gospel book, written in Latin. Its finely decorated leather binding is the earliest known Western bookbinding to ...

(2010–2012) and was a co-investigator for the AHRC-funded Magna Carta Project (2012–2015). Breay was lead curator of the 2018 exhibition, ''Magna Carta: Law, Liberty, Legacy'' and also the lead curator of the exhibition, ''Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms: Art, Word, War'' which is the largest ever exhibition on the history, literature and culture of Anglo-Saxon kingdoms spanning six centuries – from the eclipse of Roman Britain in the 5th century to the Norman Conquest of 1066, as at the time of the exhibition in October 2018. She jointly supervised an AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Partnership student (2015–2018) with Professor Joanna Story of the

University of Leicester , mottoeng = So that they may have life , established = , type = public research university , endowment = £20.0 million , budget = £326 million , chancellor = David Willetts , vice_chancellor = Nishan Canagarajah , head_la ...

. She is a Committee member of the Association for Archives and Manuscripts in Research Collections and the Cathedral Libraries and Archives Association.

Awards and recognitions

In 2017, Breay was awarded an MBE for her services to medieval history. In 2019, she received the Longman-''History Today'' Trustees' Award for the promotion of history.

Publications

* * * * ; edited by G. R. C. Davis; revised by Claire Breay, Julian Harrison & David M. Smith * ; edited by Claire Breay & Julian Harrison * ; edited by Claire Breay & Bernard Meehan * ; edited by Claire Breay & Joanna Story

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Breay, Claire Living people 1968 births British women historians British women curators British curators Alumni of Newnham College, Cambridge Employees of the British Library English archivists Female archivists Members of the Order of the British Empire