PhD student research interests
Christopher J. Monk
Thesis: Sin and Pleasure: Reconstructing Sexual Discourse in Early Medieval England
My research is an attempt to 'discover' how sexual behaviour was understood by the peoples we call the Anglo-Saxons. What may be described as the misplaced sensibilities of earlier Anglo-Saxonists have, in some ways, resulted in an obscuring of information relating to sex and the relegation of the study of sexuality to an unnecessary, or even unsavoury, endeavour. Recent scholarship, however, has opened up early medieval texts and artwork to a scrutiny that enables a thoughtful reconstruction of contemporaneous attitudes toward this important aspect of human behaviour.
My research is necessarily broad and increasingly interdisciplinary. For example, I am examining the complex 'tariff' system of the Anglo-Saxon handbooks of penance, or penitentials, which are explicit in their description of sexual 'sins', in an effort to understand how the Church constructed gender, and how this intersects with sexual practices; and I am also analysing several illuminated manuscripts (e.g. The Illustrated Old English Hexateuch, MS Junius 11 and the illustrations of The Wonders of the East) in order to understand a more coded discourse that frequently serves as a commentary on sexual-cultural anxieties.
I have a working knowledge of Old English and Middle English (I enjoy attending the Middle English Reading Group), and am attempting to improve my Latin skills — not easy for someone who only just about managed his 'O' level in French!
Anyone interested in discussing the medieval history of sexuality or the application/applicability of post-modern theoretical models (e.g. queer theory) to medieval studies can email me at: C.J.Monk@student.manchester.ac.uk