Frances Elizabeth Andrews is a British

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human species; as well as the ...

who is professor of

medieval history In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

at the

University of St Andrews The University of St Andrews (, ; abbreviated as St And in post-nominals) is a public university in St Andrews, Scotland. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest of the four ancient universities of Scotland and, f ...

. She is a specialist in the medieval church and its networks.

Life

Andrews is the managing editor of Brill's Medieval Mediterranean series and also the series editor for

Boydell and Brewer Boydell & Brewer is an academic press based in Martlesham, Suffolk, England, that specializes in publishing historical and critical works. In addition to British and general history, the company publishes three series devoted to studies, edition ...

's Studies in the History of Medieval Religion. She was President of the

Ecclesiastical History Society The Ecclesiastical History Society (EHS) is a British learned historical society founded in 1961 to foster interest in, and to advance the study of, all areas of the history of the Christian Church through twice yearly conferences and publication ...

(2014–2015). Her research interests fall into two main areas:

medieval Italy The history of Italy in the Middle Ages can be roughly defined as the time between the collapse of the Western Roman Empire and the Italian Renaissance. Late antiquity in Italy lingered on into the 7th century under the Ostrogothic Kingdom and ...

and

medieval Christianity Christianity in the Middle Ages covers the history of Christianity from the fall of the Western Roman Empire (). The end of the period is variously defined - depending on the context, events such as the conquest of Constantinople by the Ottom ...

, with a particular focus on relations between religion and public life, the history of the

friar A friar is a member of one of the mendicant orders in the Catholic Church. There are also friars outside of the Catholic Church, such as within the Anglican Communion. The term, first used in the 12th or 13th century, distinguishes the mendi ...

s, the

Humiliati The Humiliati (Italian ) were an Italian religious order of men formed probably in the 12th century. It was suppressed by a papal bull in 1571 though an associated order of women continued into the 20th century. Origin The origin of the order of ...

, and

urban history Urban history is a field of history that examines the historical nature of cities and towns, and the process of urbanization. The approach is often multidisciplinary, crossing boundaries into fields like social history, architectural history, ur ...

. She is currently writing a monograph on the employment of religious in government and administration. Beginning in 2019, she led a small team of historians under the aegis of the Royal Historical Society in a new investigation into on the experience of LGBT+ historians and on the teaching of LGBT+ histories in UK universities. She coordinates the 'Women Historians of St Andrews' project, which aims to seek out the women who studied, researched and taught history at St Andrews, at any point in time.

Selected publications

*''The Early Humiliati''. 1999. *''The Other Friars''. 2006. *''Doubting Christianity: The Church and Doubt''. 2016. (co-edited with Charlotte Methuen and Andrew Spicer)

Publications

* Como and Padua: Andrews, F. E., 22 Aug 2018, ''Italy and Early Medieval Europe. Papers for Chris Wickham.'' Balzaretti, R., Barrow, J. & Skinner, P. (eds.). Oxford University Press * The Sack Friars and the Problems of a Comparative History of the Mendicants: Andrews, F. E., 2017, ''Gli studi francescani: prospettive di ricerca: Atti dell’Incontro di studio in occasione del 30° anniversario dei Seminari di formazione Assisi, 4-5 luglio 2015.'' Spoleto: Centro Italiano di Studi sull'Alto Medioevo, p. 147-185 38 p

References

21st-century British historians Academics of the University of St Andrews Alumni of the University of London British medievalists Fellows of the Royal Historical Society Historians of Italy Living people Presidents of the Ecclesiastical History Society British social historians Urban historians British women medievalists Year of birth missing (living people) {{UK-historian-stub