Clare Whitton

Research Topic

My dissertation investigates the socio-cultural influences on the cult of San Gennaro between the medieval and early modern periods. I am tracing San Gennaro's cult within Naples and the surrounding region, including Pozzuoli, Benevento and Montevergine, to uncover the lived religious experiences of his cult. This project is grounded in archival documents and material-based sources found in southern Italian archives.

Supervisor: Professor Julia Smith and Professor Filippo de Vivo

Prior to the DPhil, I completed the MsT in History at Oxford, Blackfriars Hall, in 2022. I also hold a Master of Arts in Late Medieval, Early Modern Religion and Society (2019) and a Bachelors of Arts in History and Classical Civilizations (2018) from The Catholic University of America in Washington D.C. I am originally from Poughkeepsie, New York.

This research is supported by the Blackfriars' Jubilee Scholarship. 

Honors & Awards

• Best Dissertation in Cohort Prize 2021-22, Faculty of History, Oxford 2023
• Blackfriars' Travel Grant, Blackfriars Hall, Oxford 2023
• Blackfriars Jubilee Scholarship, Blackfriars Hall, Oxford 2022
• John K. Zeender Prize for Best History Senior Thesis, CUA 2018

Conference and Seminar Papers

• "Il sangue incontra con la testa": Liquefying the blood of San Gennaro in the Later Middle Ages," There will be Blood: The Medieval Conference, Kings College Cambridge, Oct. 13-14 2023