Julia Mary Howard Smith, (born 29 May 1956) is an English medievalist who is the Chichele Professor of Medieval History at

All Souls College, Oxford All Souls College (official name: The College of All Souls of the Faithful Departed, of Oxford) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Unique to All Souls, all of its members automatically become fellows (i.e., full me ...

. She was formerly

Edwards Professor of Medieval History The Edwards Professor of Medieval History is a prestigious professorship at the University of Glasgow, in Scotland. Initially established in 1955 as the Chair of Medieval History, it was later renamed in 1989 to honor John Edwards, a renowned Glas ...

at the

University of Glasgow The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals; ) is a Public university, public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the List of oldest universities in continuous ...

Early life and education

Smith was born on 29 May 1956 in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

, Cambridgeshire, England. She was educated at

South Hampstead High School South Hampstead High School is a private day school in Hampstead, north-west London, England, which was founded by the Girls' Day School Trust (GDST). It is for girls aged 4–18 with selective entry at ages 4+, 7+, 11+ and 16+ (Sixth Form). ...

, an all-girls

Private school A private school or independent school is a school not administered or funded by the government, unlike a State school, public school. Private schools are schools that are not dependent upon national or local government to finance their fina ...

in London. She studied 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 Millicen ...

, from 1975 to 1978, followed by postgraduate study at

Corpus Christi College, Oxford Corpus Christi College (formally, Corpus Christi College in the University of Oxford; informally abbreviated as Corpus or CCC) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1517 by Richard Fo ...

, from 1978 to 1981. Her doctoral supervisor was

J. M. Wallace-Hadrill John Michael Wallace-Hadrill (29 September 1916 – 3 November 1985) was a British academic and one of the foremost historians of the early Merovingian period. He held the Chichele Chair in Modern History at the University of Oxford between 1 ...

, one of Smith's predecessors in the Chichele chair.

Academic career

Smith lectured at the

University of Sheffield The University of Sheffield (informally Sheffield University or TUOS) is a public university, public research university in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. Its history traces back to the foundation of Sheffield Medical School in 1828, Fir ...

, 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 ...

, and the

University of Manchester The University of Manchester is a public university, public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester city centre, Manchester City Centre on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road. The University of Manchester is c ...

in the 1980s. In 1986, she was appointed an

assistant professor Assistant professor is an academic rank just below the rank of an associate professor used in universities or colleges, mainly in the United States, Canada, Japan, and South Korea. Overview This position is generally taken after earning a doct ...

Trinity College Trinity College may refer to: Australia * Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales * Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...

, Hartford, Connecticut. From 1988-89 Smith held the

Kathleen Hughes Kathleen Hughes (born Elizabeth Margaret von Gerkan; November 14, 1928 – May 19, 2025) was an American actress who appeared during the Golden Age of Hollywood. Early life Hughes was born in Hollywood, California, on November 14, 1928. Her un ...

Memorial Research Fellowship at Newnham College, Cambridge, named in honour of Smith's undergraduate director of studies. In 1995, she joined the

as Reader in Medieval History. In 2005, she was appointed

at the

. In 2016, Smith was appointed Chichele Professor of Medieval History at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

and elected a

fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...

. She gave her inaugural lecture as Chichele Professor on 31 January 2019: it was titled "Thinking with Things: Reframing Relics in the Early Middle Ages". Smith retired from the chair in 2025 and was succeeded by

Alice Rio Alice Rio is a French historian of early medieval Europe. She is currently Professor of Medieval History at King's College London, and in October 2025 will take up the Chichele Professorship of Medieval History at the University of Oxford. She ...

. She has held a range of international research fellowships. From 1999 to 2000 she was a fellow at the Netherlands Institute of Advanced Study and in 2001 and 2013 she held a fellowship at the Shelby Cullom Davis Center for Historical Studies,

Princeton Princeton University is a private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the Unit ...

Personal life

In 2005, Smith married fellow historian

Hamish Scott Hamish Scott (17 February 1924 – 12 March 2010) was a Scotland international rugby union footballer. He played at Flanker and Number Eight. Rugby career Amateur career Born in Edinburgh, Scott was raised in St Andrews and attended the U ...

Honours and awards

In 2010 she delivered the Raleigh Lecture on the subject of relics in the Medieval West. In 2011 she was elected as a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was establis ...

. Smith delivered the Birbkbeck lecture series at Trinity College, Cambridge in 2018, on the subject "The Religious Life of Things in Early Christianity".

Selected publications

*''Province and Empire: Brittany and the Carolingians''. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1992. *"Einhard: the sinner and the saint", ''Transactions of the Royal Historical Society (Sixth series), 13'', 2003, pp. 55–77. *''Europe after Rome: a New Cultural History 500–1000''.

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, Oxford, 2005. *''Early Medieval Christianities, c. 600 – c. 1100'',

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press was the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted a letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it was the oldest university press in the world. Cambridge University Press merged with Cambridge Assessme ...

, Cambridge, 2008. (Edited with T. F. X. Noble) *"Portable Christianity: relics in the Medieval west (c. 700 – c. 1200)" in ''Proceedings of the British Academy'', 2012, 181 . pp. 143–167. ISSN 0068-1202

References

External links

*http://www.academia-net.org/profil/prof-julia-m-h-smith/1215915 {{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Julia Academics of the University of Glasgow English medievalists British women medievalists Living people Alumni of Corpus Christi College, Oxford Alumni of Newnham College, Cambridge Fellows of the Royal Historical Society Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland Fellows of All Souls College, Oxford Chichele Professors of Medieval History 1956 births Academics of the University of Sheffield Academics of the University of Manchester Academics of the University of St Andrews Trinity College (Connecticut) faculty Fellows of Newnham College, Cambridge Members of the University of Cambridge faculty of history Historians from Cambridge 20th-century English historians 21st-century English historians English women historians 20th-century English women writers 21st-century English women writers Historians of Brittany