Dr Merridee L Bailey

I specialise in the history of England in the later medieval and early modern periods. I hold a BA, an MA, and earned my PhD at the Australian National University. I take a social and cultural history approach to late medieval and early modern morality, looking at the differing guises through which morality was understood and practiced by ordinary people. I held a Visiting Fellowship at Oriel College, Oxford, for the 2015-2016 academic year and was the S. Ernest Sprott Fellow from 2018-2019, funded by The University of Melbourne, which I took up at Oxford. I am currently a Postdoctoral ECR Teaching Associate with the History Faculty.

Research Interests

I am a late medieval and early modern historian interested in the history of manuscript culture, late medieval devotional practices, and issues of socialisation and morality. My first book explored morality and courtesy in late medieval socialising discourses for young people, Socialising the Child in Late Medieval England c. 1400-1600 (York Medieval Press, 2012, pbk 2018). I'm now writing a book on the history of meekness from the Middle Ages to the present day and how the moral value of meekness was transmitted and changed over this time.

I have also written about morality and the ethics of mercantile practice and the connection between morality and emotional language in legal discourse. I have published in the Journal of the Early Book Society, Journal of the History of Childhood and Youth, Parergon, Viator, Philological Quarterly, Law and History Review, and Journal of Legal History.