Dr Fred Smith
Early Career Fellow in Early Modern British History
Balliol College
After completing an MPhil in Early Modern History at Cambridge, I went on to study for a PhD under the supervision of Professor Alexandra Walsham before being elected to a Junior Research Fellowship at Clare College, Cambridge, in 2019. I began my fellowship at Balliol in October 2021. My first book, Transnational Catholicism in Tudor England (Oxford, 2022), explored the importance of exile, displacement and mobility in shaping the development of mid sixteenth-century English Catholicism. Focusing upon English Catholic exiles from the reigns of Henry VIII and Edward VI, it explored the ways in which these emigres' experiences of displacement and dislocation, as well as their contact with Catholics from throughout Europe, influenced the development of their religious and political beliefs and identities. Through investigating the influential roles many of these exiles went on to fulfil after their return home during the reign of Mary I, as well as their longer-term legacies at home and abroad, this book sought to reconnect the history of mid-Tudor English Catholicism to the religious history of the continent and the rest of the British Isles.
Research Interests
My current research remains concerned to situate the religious history of early modern England more fully within its broader European context. However, it pursues this agenda from a new angle. Rather than exploring European influences on English Reformations, it explores the opposite direction of traffic: England’s contribution to shaping religious reform (both Catholic and Protestant) elsewhere throughout Europe. This project will ultimately result in a new monograph, provisionally entitled 'Exporting English Reformations'. However, the first fruits of this research are being published in an article later this year (2025) in the English Historical Review, exploring the influence of England on religious change in 16th century France. I have also recently published a series of articles and chapters in edited volumes exploring my other interests, especially the history of emotions as it relates to early modern exile and displacement.
You can follow me on Twitter @Fred_E_Smith
