Medieval research follows in Knight’s footsteps

The unexpected benefits of the gift of time and space

Dr Hill has thrown herself into university life and, in particular, immersing herself in the early-career academic community. She has joined several committees and is helping to organise a conference scheduled for late 2025.

“I love being immersed in this intellectual environment. It’s been amazing to meet early-career academics from such a broad range of disciplines. We’re all so excited to hear about each other’s research, and encourage each other however we can.”

“Teaching here for five years also means that I will have the chance to see the same students throughout their undergraduate degree. This sort of consistency is so important for pastoral care and also for being a bridge to graduate research, and vital if a university is to be a place where students thrive.”

I always loved literature but it was a really passionate medieval tutor during my undergraduate studies who inspired me to pursue it as a career.

“She put me on the path and now I have the chance to do that for someone else. One of my students even wrote (in the anonymous end-of-semester survey): this class has changed my life!”

Transmitting a shared passion for interdisciplinarity

Dr Hill's lectureship is named in honour of Professor Stephen Thomas Knight, Professorial Fellow of Literature at the University of Melbourne. He has authored over 30 books and continues to be a much-loved public intellectual.

“Professor Knight is a world expert in big, legendary figures. It’s been a lot of fun to dialogue with his work whenever I teach on the Arthurian world. What I find particularly impressive about Professor Knight’s work is the breadth of his interests and expertise. He’s truly interdisciplinary, drawing on history, literature, politics and environmental studies, and pulling them into conversation with one another. That’s something I really try to emulate, both in my research and in my teaching. That’s what makes medieval studies, and the humanities in general, so valuable: they stretch you to think broadly and engage with different questions and viewpoints.”

Reflecting on similarities between the Medieval and the modern

Over the next twelve months, Dr Hill will be introducing two new undergraduate subjects: one on Arthurian women throughout the ages, and one on heroes and villains from Beowulf to Shakespeare.

“I’m also excited about a new project: a monograph on the relationship between women's labour, spaces of work and female speech in medieval and early modern England. Women’s vital economic role in medieval and early modern society is often overlooked, and the spaces in which they were especially active were denigrated for being places where ‘excessive talking’ happened.

“I’m focusing on birthing chambers, ale houses and textile workshops. These were places where many women worked, and worked hard. And yet, consider: the word ‘gossip’ comes from the word ‘godsip’ which meant ‘God parent’, and was associated with the women attending the beside of a woman before and after she gave birth.  Or the idea of an ‘ale wife’ adulterating the beer. Or the connotations of the word ‘spinster’.”

“When we look at today’s media and the way women are quoted or described, I’d argue that there are some striking parallels to be drawn!”

While she respects that the donor of the Stephen Knight Lectureship wishes to remain anonymous, Dr Hill is keen to convey her deep appreciation.

“Thank you for this incredible kickstart to my career! You have given me the time to develop my research and my teaching, and also publish things that I hope inspire people to think about the modern world in the context of our shared cultural history.”