Dr Emily Davenport Guerry

BA, MPhil, PhD (Cantab)

I attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill on a D-1 Volleyball scholarship and left with a passion for medieval history. After completing my MPhil and PhD at Cambridge, a fellowship in Paris, and a lectureship at York, I came to Merton as a JRF. I then moved to Canterbury to join the School of History at the University of Kent, where I was a Senior Lecturer and co-Director of MEMS (Centre for Medieval and Early Modern Studies). After a decade at Kent, I returned to Oxford.

I teach the medieval British and European and World History papers, c. 300–1300; Approaches to History (Art History, Archaeology, Anthropology, and Gender); Disciplines of History; various special subjects. I am immensely proud of the success of my doctoral students, having supervised 13 fully-funded PhDs.

My research examines the relationship between religious devotion and artistic representation in the Middle Ages, retracing and unpacking how the veneration of relics influenced Christian iconography. I am especially interested in the historical context surrounding changes in the representation of Crucifixion, as well as the patrons, theologians, and artists who facilitated its reinvention. My first book, Crowning Paris, explores the cultural history of the Crown of Thorns, retracing its veneration and translation between Jerusalem, Constantinople, Venice and Paris. I also have a special interest in Gothic wall paintings, overseeing investigations of lost murals at Canterbury Cathedral (with support from the AHRC) as well as digital reconstructions of the concealed cycle of Saint Maurille in Angers Cathedral (with support from John Fell Fund and DRAC). Some of my recent research has focused on the representation of the Crown relic in the stained glass windows of the Sainte-Chapelle, royal patronage of the Holy Blood relic at Westminster, and the diplomatic role of Dominican friars in the translation of relics from Constantinople. Remarkably, one of these friars (André de Longjumeau) went on to lead the first French embassy to the Mongols. His extraordinary career ignited my current fascination with the material culture of the first Franco-Mongolian missions. I am proud that this research forms part of the Getty-funded 'Mongol Connections' project, hosted at the Courtauld.

I love sharing my research across various media. Some recent examples include my BBC History Magazine cover story on the cult of Thomas Becket and the accompanying History Extra podcast as well as multiple radio shows on Notre-Dame and the relationship between fires and new projects at Gothic cathedrals for the BBC, NBC, CBS, The New York Times, etc. I enjoy working as a presenter and writer for TV history documentaries, including 'Mysteries of the Faith' on Netflix (November 2023), 'Notre-Dame Eternelle' (RMC Découverte, 2021), and 'Danny Dyer's Right Royal' (BBC One, 2019). I was the PI of a AHRC cultural engagement project, Illuminating the Past: The lost paintings of Canterbury Cathedral, working with conservators and a post-doctoral research assistant, to showcase a new understanding of the medieval polychromy and murals that once filled the site with vivid decoration. With support from the British Academy, I co-organised the Saint Thomas Becket: Life, Death, and Legacy conference and its associated cultural engagement activities to coincide with the 850th anniversary of Becket’s martyrdom and the associated exhibition, 'Thomas Becket: Murder and the Making of a Saint' at the British Museum (2021), where one of my PhD students was the project curator. I also enjoy reviewing exhibitions, and this includes Musée du Louvre's extraordinary show, Le Trésor de Notre-Dame, and my account of this visit for Apollo in 2023.

“The Gothic murals of Angers cathedral,” with P. Binksi, L. Wrapson, and C. Titmus, in The Hamilton-Kerr Bulletin 10 (2024), pp. 7–35.

“City of Light Picturing the Translation of the Crown of Thorns to Paris in the Gothic Glass of the Sainte-Chapelle,” in eds. A. Gajewski and J. McNeill, Paris: The Powers that Shaped the Medieval City” (Routledge, 2023), pp. 105–157.

“A Path Prepared for Them by the Lord’. King Louis IX, Dominican Devotion, and the Extraordinary Journey of Two Preaching Friars,” in eds. E. Giraud and C. T. Leitmeir, The Medieval Dominicans: Books, Buildings, Music, and Liturgy (Brepols, 2021), pp. 167–211.

“A Gothic Throne for the King of Kings: A Re-Evaluation of the Design, Date, and Function of the Sainte-Chapelle Tribune,” in ed. J. Luxford, Tributes to Paul Binski: Medieval Gothic: Art, Architecture and Ideas (Brepols, 2021), pp. 48–61.

“Un trésor caché derrière les boiseries du choeur: Les peintures murales du miracle de saint Maurille,” in Angers: La grâce d’une cathédrale (Éditions Place des Victoires, 2020), pp. 233–241.

“Failure and Invention: King Henry III, the Holy Blood, and Gothic Art at Westminster Abbey,” in eds. B. Quash, A. Rosen, and C. Reddaway, Visualising a Sacred City: London, Art, and Religion (I. B. Tauris, 2016), pp. 66–88.

“Seats, Relics and the Rationale of Images in Westminster Abbey, Henry III to Edward II,” with P. Binksi, in eds. W. Rodwell and T. Tatton-Brown, Westminster Part I: The Art, Architecture and Archaeology of the Royal Abbey (Routledge, 2015), pp. 180–204.

I am a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, a member of the Editorial Board at Postmedieval, and the Head Coach of the Oxford Blues Women's Volleyball Team.