John Hugh Arnold (born 28 November 1969) is a British historian. Since 2016, he has been the Professor of Medieval History at the University of Cambridge. He previously worked at

Birkbeck College Birkbeck, University of London (formally Birkbeck College, University of London), is a public university, public research university, located in Bloomsbury, London, England, and a constituent college, member institution of the federal Universit ...

, University of London, where he specialised in the study of medieval religious culture. He has also written widely on historiography and why history matters.

Career

Born 28 November 1969, Arnold received his Bachelor of Arts degree in history and his Doctor of Philosophy degree in medieval studies from the

University of York , mottoeng = On the threshold of wisdom , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £8.0 million , budget = £403.6 million , chancellor = Heather Melville , vice_chancellor = Charlie Jeffery , students ...

. He was professor of medieval history at Birkbeck College, University of London, from 2008. He joined the college as a lecturer in 2001. Before that he was a lecturer at the University of East Anglia. He is a member of the

Social History Society ''Cultural and Social History'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal covering cultural and social history published by Routledge five times a year on behalf of the Social History Society. It was established in 2004. Abstracting and indexing The jo ...

and the Medieval Academy of America.Professor John Arnold.
Birkbeck College. Retrieved 19 May 2015.

Research

Arnold specialises in the study of medieval religious culture, saying that while he has never been a believer in any religion, "belief" has always fascinated him. In his work he asks "Why do people believe the things they believe? What does 'believing' really mean in practice?" Arnold has also written widely about historiography. In 2008 he wrote a policy paper, ''Why history matters - and why medieval history also matters'', for History & Policy.''Why history matters - and why medieval history also matters''
John H. Arnold, History & Policy, 28 November 2008. Retrieved 19 May 2015.

Selected publications

*''What is Masculinity? Historical Dynamics from Antiquity to the Contemporary World'' (Palgrave, 2011), co-edited with Sean Brady *''What is Medieval History?'' (Polity, 2008) *''Belief and Unbelief in Medieval Europe'' (Bloomsbury, 2005) *''A Companion to the Book of Margery Kempe'' (Boydell, 2004), co-edited with Katherine J Lewis *''Inquisition and Power: Catharism and the Confessing Subject in Medieval Languedoc'' (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2001) *''History: A Very Short Introduction'' (Oxford, 2000)

References

External links

John H. Arnold.
academia.edu
The Historian's Many Hats
BBC History Trails.
The Big Question: What is history?
Open University. 1969 births Academics of Birkbeck, University of London Professors of Medieval History (Cambridge) Academics of the University of East Anglia Alumni of the University of York British medievalists Cultural historians British historians of religion Historiographers King's College, Cambridge Living people Social historians {{UK-historian-stub