Dr Alexandra Sapoznik

Alexandra Sapoznik joined the department in 2012. She previously taught at the University of Cambridge and held a research position at the London School of Economics. She received her PhD from the University of Cambridge. Her research has been funded by the British Academy and Leverhulme Trust.

From 2018-2021 she is Principal Investigator of the Leverhulme Research Project ‘Bees in the medieval world: Economic, environmental and cultural perspectives’

Research interests

Alex’s research interests lie at the intersection of economy, environment, culture and society with a focus on late medieval Britain and Europe. She has published on topics including agriculture, technological innovation, food security, and standards of living. Her current project is an expansive study of the economic and cultural role of the honeybee in the Middle

Ages, exploring the impact of climate change, religious culture, and the development of networks of exchange across late medieval Europe from the far north to the southern coasts of the Mediterranean. A particular area of interest is economic interactions between Christian, Jewish and Muslim communities in this period. Alex welcomes applications from students who wish to work in her research areas, including:

• Late medieval economic and social history
• Environmental history
• Networks of exchange, commodities and trans-European trade
• Peasants and agriculture
• The Black Death 

Click here for full research profile

Teaching

Alex teaches on topics in late medieval history, often focusing on economic and social history of the later Middle Ages to understand the lived experience of medieval people.

PhD supervision

Dr Sapoznik would particularly welcome applications from research students interested in working on topics related to:

• Agricultural practices in medieval Britain
• Landscape, land use and field systems
• Peasant economic activity
• Famine and hunger

Selected publications

• A. Sapoznik, ‘Bees in the medieval economy: Religious observance and the production, trade, and consumption of wax in England, c.1300-1555’, Economic History Review 72 (2019) 1152-1174
• A. Huang and A. Sapoznik, ‘Fremdes Geld. Auswärtige Kapitalbeziehungen des Braunschweiger Rentenmarktes im 15. Und 16. Jahrhundert’, Vierteljahrschrift für Sozial- und Wirtschaftsgechichte 106 (2019) 29-66
• D. Chilosi, A. Huang, and A. Sapoznik, ‘A source collection on urban annuities, 14th-18th centuries’ Vierteljahrschrift für Sozial- und Wirtschaftsgeschichte (106) 67-80; data available at: dx.doi.org/10.15456/vswg.2019084.163202
• J. Myrdal and A. Sapoznik, ‘Technology, labour, and productivity potential in peasant agriculture: England, c.1000-1348’, Agricultural History Review 65 (2017), 192-212
• A. Sapoznik, ‘The productivity of peasant agriculture: Oakington, Cambridgeshire, 1360-1399’, Economic History Review 66 (2013), 518-544