Dr SARAH THOMAS
Research Fellow
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+44 (0)1224 274137
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s.thomas@abdn.ac.uk
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CB504
50-52 College Bounds
Research Fellow
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Personal Details
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Biography
Sarah Thomas has a three-year Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship at the Centre for Scandinavian Studies. Her project examines local communities’ religious practices in north-western mediaeval Europe through a study of chapels and open-air devotional sites in five dioceses: Sodor and Galloway in Scotland, York and Exeter in England and Bergen in Norway. Sarah studied at the University of St Andrews at undergraduate level, graduating with a MA (Honours) in Mediaeval History. Subsequently, she spent two years at the Centre for Viking and Medieval Studies in the University of Oslo where she gained an MPhil in Nordic Viking and Medieval Culture. Sarah returned to Scotland to undertake a PhD in Archaeology and History at the University of Glasgow which she completed in 2009.
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Current Research
My current research project examines local communities’ religious practices of north-western mediaeval Europe through a study of chapels and open-air devotional sites in five dioceses: Sodor and Galloway in Scotland, York and Exeter in England and Bergen in Norway. The primary question is what constitutes a chapel in the high and later Middle Ages? How many different types of chapel, based on builders, users and function, were there? The research will seek to establish whether the preliminary chapel typology is applicable across these dioceses. It will assess whether the Church in Britain and Scandinavia were subject to universalising and cross North Sea influences or whether local circumstances were most significant. This will be the first interdisciplinary and comparative study of its type and will enhance our comprehension of local ecclesiastical landscapes.
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Research Grants
I currently hold a three year Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship.
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External Responsibilities
I am the medieval editor of Northern Studies, the journal of the Scottish Society for Northern studies.
I am also a member of the committee for the Scottish Society for Northern Studies and am the contact for the entries for the Magnusson Essay Prize.
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Publications
Contributions to Journals
Articles
- Thomas, SE. (2010). 'The diocese of Sodor between Niðaróss and Avignon-Rome, 1266-1472'. Northern Studies: the journal of the Scottish Society for Northern Studies, vol 41, pp. 22-40.
- Thomas, SE. (2009). 'Rival bishops, rival cathedrals: the election of Cormac, archdeacon of Sodor, as bishop in 1331'. Innes Review, vol 60, no. 2, pp. 145-163.
[Online] DOI: 10.3366/E0020157X0900050X - Thomas, SE. (2008). 'Cladh Aruisg, Sleat parish, Highland'. Discovery and Excavation in Scotland, vol 9, pp. 114.
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