Centre for Medieval Studies
Dr Tim Wingard
Tim completed their PhD at the Centre for Medieval Studies in September 2020 and passed their viva with no corrections in November that year. Their interdisciplinary thesis examined the role of representations of animals and the natural world in the development of ideologies of sexuality in late medieval northern European culture (c.1200-1540), using a broad range of Latin, Old and Middle French and Middle English sources including scientific treatises, priests’ manuals, mystery plays, romances, trial records, and legal commentaries. They are currently working towards publishing this thesis as a monograph.
Their latest research builds on these themes, exploring the social and cultural interactions between different systems of knowledge about animals and the natural world between the birth of Scholasticism and the rise of early modern zoology. They are also interested in representations of human-animal hybrids in late medieval texts.
During their PhD, they set up the Critical Theory for Medievalists Reading Group and ran it from 2018-2020. They are currently co-organising the Ideology, Society, and Medieval Religion: Impositions and Negotiations seminar series.
They have also taught seminars for several BA History Stage 1 modules in the Department of History: "From Rome to the Renaissance: The Transformation of Traditional Societies, c.400-1650"; "Knowledge and Beliefs in World History"; and "Group Projects".
Thesis title: Representations of animality and sexuality in late medieval thought and culture
Research areas: medieval gender and sexuality, animal studies, Scholasticism, Middle English literature, medieval English law, queer theory, monster studies
Selected talks
23rd Feb 2021. “The Trial of Thomas Frogbrook: Bestiality and the Law in an Early 16th Century English Rural Community.” History of Sexuality Seminar, Institute for Historical Research.
17th Nov 2020. “Monstrous Births in the Middle Ages.” Exploring Research Seminar Series, Wellcome Collection. https://vimeo.com/480713781/7c46ea6496
21st Oct 2019. “Queering the (Medieval) Non-Human: the Role of the Animal in the Late Medieval Science of Sexuality.” MEMSA Seminar Series, Durham University.
5th April 2019. “’What cow is wont to seek another cow?’: Animality, Sexual Deviance, and the Construction of Heteronormativity.” Keynote address, Oxford Medieval Graduate Conference: Deviance, Kellogg College, University of Oxford.
Selected blogposts
12th May 2020. "The Last White Storks of Medieval Britain?" Medium. https://medium.com/@TSWingard/the-last-white-storks-of-medieval-britain-fb2ec88c66c5
24th Sept 2019. "Gay penguins, medieval heretics, and the place of animals in the history of sexuality." NOTCHES: (re)marks on the history of sexuality. https://notchesblog.com/2019/09/24/gay-penguins-medieval-heretics-and-the-place-of-animals-in-the-history-of-sexuality/
Awards
2016. Wolfson Foundation Postgraduate Scholarship in the Humanities doctoral funding.
2014. University of York, Department of History MA studentship.
