Dr Simon John

Research Highlights

1. John, S. (2022). Productive European cooperation between Britain and Germany: the Swansea-Mannheim town twinning partnership and exchanges between Wales and Baden-Württemberg, 1950-2000. Contemporary British History, 36(4), 1-39.

   https://doi.org/10.1080/13619462.2022.2064282, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa59762
2. John, S. (2021). A Crusader Duel at the Crystal Palace: The statues of Godfrey of Bouillon and Richard the Lionheart at the Great Exhibition. Journal of Victorian Culture, 26(3), 449-467.

   https://doi.org/10.1093/jvcult/vcab011, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa56867
3. John, S. (2019). 'Li bons dus de Buillon': Genre conventions and the depiction of Godfrey of Bouillon in the Chanson d’Antioche and the Chanson de Jérusalem. The Journal of Religious History, Literature and Culture, 5(2), 83-100.

   https://doi.org/10.16922/jrhlc.5.2.7, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa50942
4. John, S. (2017). Godfrey of Bouillon, Duke of Lower Lotharingia, Ruler of Latin Jerusalem, c.1060-1100 (1st ed.). Routledge.

   SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa37662

   https://www.routledge.com/Godfrey-of-Bouillon-Duke-of-Lower-Lotharingia-Ruler-of-Latin-Jerusalem/John/p/book/9781472458964
5. John, S. (2015). Historical Truth and the Miraculous Past: The Use of Oral Evidence in Twelfth-Century Latin Historical Writing on the First Crusade. The English Historical Review, 130(543), 263-301.

   https://doi.org/10.1093/ehr/cev054, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa30612

All Research

• Untitled (current)

  PhD

  Other supervisor: Prof Daniel Power

• ‘The Public Life of the Medieval Monastic Precinct: A Study of Lay Visitors «br /»«br /»«br /»«br /» and Residents at British and French Abbeys and Priories, 1000–1300’ (current)

  PhD

  Other supervisor: Dr Emma Cavell

  Other supervisor: Prof Daniel Power

• FY-018 History, Memory and the Creation of Identity

  In most human societies, history and memory are important in the creation of identity. For example, consider how recent political debates often involve debates about the relevance of particular strands of history (such as `empire¿) to modern society. This module explores these relationships from the ancient societies of Egypt, Greece, and Rome to the modern world. It is designed to provide Foundation Year students intending to pursue degrees in Classics, Ancient History, Egyptology or History with an opportunity to reflect critically on what the past means and how we go about studying it.

• HIH237 The Practice of History

  The purpose of the module is to encourage you to think more deeply about how historians work and, in particular, about how we as historians can locate and use primary historical sources effectively as a means of interpreting and understanding the past. During the module we will learn about the survival of historical evidence, how it is organised and made accessible to historians to undertake their research, and how to effectively locate and interpret it in your studies. We will consider how the process of doing historical research changes over time, in particular with the impact of recent developments like digitization. At the core of the module will be the work you undertake with others in your seminar group using a range of primary sources which your seminar tutor will introduce to you. As part of the module assessment you will also undertake your own primary source based research project using items from these collections. The module is designed strengthen your analytical skills and to help prepare you for the more extensive uses of primary evidence which you will encounter in final year special subjects and dissertation.

• HIMD00 Medieval Studies Dissertation

  A dissertation of 15,000 - 20,000 words written on a topic decided by the student in consultation with the dissertation supervisor. This represents Part Two of the MA programme in Medieval Studies.

• HIMM02 Research Folder

  A course designed to help students to identify their dissertation subject, to prepare for it bibliographically, and to plan its research and writing.

• HIMM04 Introduction to Advanced Medieval Studies 2: Themes and Sources

  This module aims to apply the skills and approaches learned in the module HIMM01: Introduction to Advanced Medieval Studies 1: Skills and Approaches to a range of important themes in Medieval Studies, including gender, identity, laws and customs, spirituality, heritage. The module is interdisciplinary and draws on historical, literary and visual sources. The content of the module will be arranged in 2-weekly blocks, with the first week in each block dedicated to introducing students to the specific theme and the second week being used as a practical application of this knowledge to a source or text.