PhD Scholarship In Medieval History

The Amsterdam School for Culture and History (ASCH) of the Faculty of Humanities currently has a vacant PhD position as part of the NWO-funded Imagining a territory. Constructions and representations of late medieval Brabant, led by dr. Mario Damen. ASCH is one of the six research schools of the Amsterdam Institute for Humanities Research (AIHR). Established in 2014, ASCH brings together more than 300 academics, who participate in ca. 35 research groups. Its members study the historical dimension of culture and the cultural dimension of history.

Project description: This NWO funded project analyses how the interaction between prince, nobles and urban elites influenced the construction, perception, and representation of a territory. The test case will be the late medieval Duchy of Brabant, which still has historical and territorial significance for many people in present-day Belgium and the Netherlands. To underscore the fluidity and multiplicity of the concept of territory, this project sets out to disentangle the divergent, though sometimes overlapping, conceptions of what exactly Brabant was (or should be) in the eyes of different political actors, in this time before the availability of reliable scale maps. To answer the main research question the project takes a twofold approach. In the subproject The multiplicity of territory in late medieval Brabant  the PhD candidate will define ducal, noble, and urban conceptions of Brabant mainly through administrative sources, particularly those of the fourteenth century that reflect a turning point in the capturing of territory. In a second subproject entitled Representations of territory in late medieval Brabant a postdoctoral researcher will be appointed. 

Eligibility: The successful applicant must have:

• A completed (R)MA or MPhil degree in History or Medieval Studies.
• A high level of active and passive command of Dutch and English and a passive command of French and Latin.
• Demonstrable interest in the history of the late Middle Ages.
• Demonstrable command of paleographical skills.
• Experience in working with primary (archival) sources from the late Middle Ages
• Willingness to utilize theoretical and comparative frameworks.
• Ability to work both independently and as part of a research team.