
Dr Josh Davies
Senior Lecturer in Medieval Literature
Research interests
- Literature
Biography
I am a medievalist and specialise in Old English literature, visual and material culture, and medievalism. My current research focuses on cultural memory in and of medieval Britain and recent projects have included a study of Gothic architecture in North America and an essay on environment, gender and community in the Life of St Mildrith.
Research Interests
- Old English literature and Anglo-Saxon culture
I am particularly interested in intersections between history, poetry and visual culture in the early medieval period and perceptions of the environment in medieval Britain. - The post-medieval reception of medieval culture
This is the second major strand of my research. I am especially interested in modern translations and appropriations of medieval culture in literary and visual art.
- Museology and ways of knowing the medieval past
I am very interested in how the presentation of the medieval past alters across time and culture and intersects with ideas of national and ethnic identity. I am fascinated by the cultural, critical, ideological and commercial work the idea of the ‘Middle Ages’ has been put to in the modern world.
For more details, please see Josh's full research profile.
Teaching
I have taught on the following courses at King’s:
- Reading Poetry
- Language in Time
- Medieval Literary Culture
- Cultural Encounters: Language and Literature in Anglo-Saxon England
- Performance in Medieval Culture
- London Literature
- Subjects of Desire in Medieval Religious Writing
- Language on the Edge
- Beowulf
- Medievalism: From Gothic to Today
- The Visual and the Verbal in the Middle Ages (postgraduate)
- Books and Bodies (postgraduate)
- Making the Middle Ages (postgraduate)
Literature to 1200: Introduction
Davies, J., 30 Nov 2022, Yearbook of English studies 52: Literature to 1200. Modern Humanities Research Association, p. 1-12Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
Medieval Soundings, Modern Moverments: Histories and Futures of Translation and Performance in Caroline Bergvall's Drift
Davies, J., 1 Aug 2023, Performance and Translation in a Global Age. Ganguly, A. & Gotman, K. (eds.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press., p. 31-47Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
Introduction
Bergvall, C. & Davies, J., 30 Nov 2023, Caroline Bergvall's Medievalist Poetics: Migratory Texts and Transhistorical Methods. Arc Humanities Press, p. 1-7Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
Caroline Bergvall's Medievalist Poetics: Migratory Texts and Transhistorical Methods
Davies, J. & Bergvall, C., 30 Nov 2023, Arc Humanities Press. 235 p.Research output: Book/Report › Book › peer-review
Yearbook of English studies 52: Literature to 1200
Davies, J. & Lees, C., 30 Nov 2022, Modern Humanities Research Association. 189 p.Research output: Book/Report › Book › peer-review
Hoard Fever: Objects Lost and Found, Beowulf and Questions of Belonging
Davies, J., 30 May 2022, Lost Artefacts from Medieval England and France: Representation, Reimagination, Recovery. Cleaver, L. & Gerry, K. (eds.). Boydell & Brewer, p. 13 26 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
Confederate Gothic
Davies, J., 5 Jun 2020, Disturbing Times: Medieval Pasts, Reimagined Futures. Karkov, C., Klosowska, A. & van Gerven Oei, V. W. J. (eds.). Punctum BooksResearch output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
Hengist and Horsa at Monticello: Human and Nonhuman Migration, Parahistory and American Anglo-Saxonism
Davies, J., 10 Oct 2019, American/Medieval Goes North: Earth and Water in Transit. Overing, G. & Wiethaus, U. (eds.). V&R unipress, p. 167-88Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
Medievalist Visions
Davies, J. & Salih, M., 30 Jun 2016, Boydell & Brewer. 168 p. (Studies in Medievalism; vol. 25)Research output: Book/Report › Anthology › peer-review
The literary languages of old English: Words, styles, voices
Davies, J., 1 Jan 2010, The Cambridge History of Early Medieval English Literature. Cambridge University Press, p. 257-277 21 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
Visions and Ruins: Cultural Memory and the Untimely Middle Ages
Davies, J., Apr 2018, Manchester: Manchester University Press. 240 p. (Manchester Medieval Literature and Culture)Research output: Book/Report › Book › peer-review
‘Beyond the Profane': Gothic Architecture, Modern Technology and the Cultural Memory of the Future
Davies, J., 28 Nov 2016, American/Medieval: Nature and Mind in Cultural Transfer. Overing, G. & Wiethaus, U. (eds.). Gottengen: V&R unipress, p. 105 130 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
New Ways To Know The Medieval: Creativity, Pedagogy and Public Engagement with Colm Cille's Spiral
Allfrey, F. L., Brooks, F. A., Videen, H. E., Lees, C. A., Davies, J., Hardie, R. A., Walker, V. E. H., Kears, C., Maude, K. R. & Paz, J. A., 2016, In: Old English Newsletter. 46, 3Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
The Anachronic Middle Ages: Public Art, Cultural Memory, and the Medievalist Imagination
Davies, J., 2016, Medievalism and Modernity . Fugelso, K., Davies, J. & Salih, S. (eds.). Woodbridge, Suffolk: Boydell & Brewer, p. 135-156 22 p. (Studies in Medievalism ; no. 25).Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
The Landscapes of Thanet and the Legend of St Mildrith: Human and Nonhuman Voices, Agencies and Histories
Davies, J., 2015, In: ENGLISH STUDIES. 96, 3, p. 487-506Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
The Languages of Old English Literature: Words, Styles, Voices
Davies, J., 2013, The Cambridge History of Early Medieval English Literature. Lees, C. (ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press., p. 257-77Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
Re-locating Anglo-Saxon England: Places of the Past in Basil Bunting’s Briggflatts and Geoffrey Hill’s Mercian Hymns
Davies, J., 2012, Locating the Middle Ages: The spaces and places of medieval culture. Salih, S. & Weiss, J. (eds.). King's College London Medieval Studies, p. 199-212Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
The Reverse Chronology of St Alfege Church: A Suitable Monument for Anglo-Saxon England?
Davies, J., 2011, Anglo-Saxon Traces. Roberts, J. & Webster, L. (eds.). ACMRS (Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies), p. 45-65Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
The Absent Anglo-Saxon Past in Ted Hughes’s Elmet
Davies, J., 2010, Anglo-Saxon and the modern imagination. Clark, D. & Perkins, N. (eds.). Boydell & Brewer Ltd, p. 237-53 (Medievalism).Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
Research

Centre for Late Antique and Medieval Studies
Interdisciplinary centre for the study of late antique and medieval history, languages, philosophy, religion, literature and music in western and eastern Europe.

presentPasts
Across the Faculty of Arts & Humanities, King’s academics study cultural interactions across time and the transhistorical traditions that often frame, foster, and shape them.
Literature to 1200: Introduction
Davies, J., 30 Nov 2022, Yearbook of English studies 52: Literature to 1200. Modern Humanities Research Association, p. 1-12Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
Medieval Soundings, Modern Moverments: Histories and Futures of Translation and Performance in Caroline Bergvall's Drift
Davies, J., 1 Aug 2023, Performance and Translation in a Global Age. Ganguly, A. & Gotman, K. (eds.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press., p. 31-47Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
Introduction
Bergvall, C. & Davies, J., 30 Nov 2023, Caroline Bergvall's Medievalist Poetics: Migratory Texts and Transhistorical Methods. Arc Humanities Press, p. 1-7Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
Caroline Bergvall's Medievalist Poetics: Migratory Texts and Transhistorical Methods
Davies, J. & Bergvall, C., 30 Nov 2023, Arc Humanities Press. 235 p.Research output: Book/Report › Book › peer-review
Yearbook of English studies 52: Literature to 1200
Davies, J. & Lees, C., 30 Nov 2022, Modern Humanities Research Association. 189 p.Research output: Book/Report › Book › peer-review
Hoard Fever: Objects Lost and Found, Beowulf and Questions of Belonging
Davies, J., 30 May 2022, Lost Artefacts from Medieval England and France: Representation, Reimagination, Recovery. Cleaver, L. & Gerry, K. (eds.). Boydell & Brewer, p. 13 26 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
Confederate Gothic
Davies, J., 5 Jun 2020, Disturbing Times: Medieval Pasts, Reimagined Futures. Karkov, C., Klosowska, A. & van Gerven Oei, V. W. J. (eds.). Punctum BooksResearch output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
Hengist and Horsa at Monticello: Human and Nonhuman Migration, Parahistory and American Anglo-Saxonism
Davies, J., 10 Oct 2019, American/Medieval Goes North: Earth and Water in Transit. Overing, G. & Wiethaus, U. (eds.). V&R unipress, p. 167-88Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
Medievalist Visions
Davies, J. & Salih, M., 30 Jun 2016, Boydell & Brewer. 168 p. (Studies in Medievalism; vol. 25)Research output: Book/Report › Anthology › peer-review
The literary languages of old English: Words, styles, voices
Davies, J., 1 Jan 2010, The Cambridge History of Early Medieval English Literature. Cambridge University Press, p. 257-277 21 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
Visions and Ruins: Cultural Memory and the Untimely Middle Ages
Davies, J., Apr 2018, Manchester: Manchester University Press. 240 p. (Manchester Medieval Literature and Culture)Research output: Book/Report › Book › peer-review
‘Beyond the Profane': Gothic Architecture, Modern Technology and the Cultural Memory of the Future
Davies, J., 28 Nov 2016, American/Medieval: Nature and Mind in Cultural Transfer. Overing, G. & Wiethaus, U. (eds.). Gottengen: V&R unipress, p. 105 130 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
New Ways To Know The Medieval: Creativity, Pedagogy and Public Engagement with Colm Cille's Spiral
Allfrey, F. L., Brooks, F. A., Videen, H. E., Lees, C. A., Davies, J., Hardie, R. A., Walker, V. E. H., Kears, C., Maude, K. R. & Paz, J. A., 2016, In: Old English Newsletter. 46, 3Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
The Anachronic Middle Ages: Public Art, Cultural Memory, and the Medievalist Imagination
Davies, J., 2016, Medievalism and Modernity . Fugelso, K., Davies, J. & Salih, S. (eds.). Woodbridge, Suffolk: Boydell & Brewer, p. 135-156 22 p. (Studies in Medievalism ; no. 25).Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
The Landscapes of Thanet and the Legend of St Mildrith: Human and Nonhuman Voices, Agencies and Histories
Davies, J., 2015, In: ENGLISH STUDIES. 96, 3, p. 487-506Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
The Languages of Old English Literature: Words, Styles, Voices
Davies, J., 2013, The Cambridge History of Early Medieval English Literature. Lees, C. (ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press., p. 257-77Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
Re-locating Anglo-Saxon England: Places of the Past in Basil Bunting’s Briggflatts and Geoffrey Hill’s Mercian Hymns
Davies, J., 2012, Locating the Middle Ages: The spaces and places of medieval culture. Salih, S. & Weiss, J. (eds.). King's College London Medieval Studies, p. 199-212Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
The Reverse Chronology of St Alfege Church: A Suitable Monument for Anglo-Saxon England?
Davies, J., 2011, Anglo-Saxon Traces. Roberts, J. & Webster, L. (eds.). ACMRS (Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies), p. 45-65Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
The Absent Anglo-Saxon Past in Ted Hughes’s Elmet
Davies, J., 2010, Anglo-Saxon and the modern imagination. Clark, D. & Perkins, N. (eds.). Boydell & Brewer Ltd, p. 237-53 (Medievalism).Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
Research

Centre for Late Antique and Medieval Studies
Interdisciplinary centre for the study of late antique and medieval history, languages, philosophy, religion, literature and music in western and eastern Europe.

presentPasts
Across the Faculty of Arts & Humanities, King’s academics study cultural interactions across time and the transhistorical traditions that often frame, foster, and shape them.