Dr Joe Chick

Joe is a Research Associate in Medieval History, currently contributing to the UKRI-funded project ENDURE. Their research centres on the history of urban societies in small towns during the later medieval period, with a particular focus on how communities navigated periods of crisis. Their previous research explored the impact of the Dissolution on governance and social structures, culminating in the publication of their first monograph, Urban Society and Monastic Lordship in Reading, 1350-1600, in 2022.

As part of the ENDURE project, Joe investigates resilience and endurance in urban communities confronting hardship. Their current work involves examining records from the office of the escheator, an official tasked with managing forfeited property. These records, which often include detailed inventories of household goods, offer valuable insights into the daily lives of non-elite individuals in medieval society.

Research topics and approaches

• Medieval and early modern history
• Social history
• Urban history
• Folklore
• Latin and palaeography
• Social network analysis

 

Research projects

• ENDURE: Urban Life in a Time of Crisis (2024-26)
• An Institutional History of Internal Communication in the UK (2022-24)
• Addressing Health: Morbidity, Mortality and Occupational Health in the Victorian and Edwardian Post Office (2021-22)
• Urban Society and Monastic Lordship in Reading, 1350-1600 (2016-22)

 

Urban Society and Monastic Lordship in Reading, 1350-1600 (Woodbridge: Boydell & Brewer, 2022).

‘Reading: The Reformations’, in Anna French (ed.), Reading the Reformations: Theologies, Cultures and Beliefs in an Age of Change (Leiden: Brill, 2023), pp. 151-74.

‘Urban Oligarchy and Dissolutioned Voters: The End of Monastic Rule in Reading, 1350-1600’, Cultural and Social History, 16 (2019), pp. 387-411.

‘Leaders and Rebels: John Wrawe’s Role in the Suffolk Rising of 1381’, Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute for Archaeology & History, 44 (2018), pp. 214-34.

‘The 1381 Rising in Bury St Edmunds: The Role of Leaders and the Community in Shaping the Rebellion’, Pons Aelius, 13 (2016), pp. 35-47.

‘From the Author: Urban Society and Monastic Lordship in Reading, 1350-1600’, Reading Medieval Studies, 49 (2023), pp. 135-38.

Review of David Harry, Constructing a Civic Community in Late Medieval London: The Common Profit, Charity and Commemoration (Woodbridge, 2019), Speculum, 97 (2022), pp. 502-03.

Review of Maarten Prak and Patrick Wallis (eds.), Apprenticeship in Early Modern Europe (Cambridge, 2020), Urban History, 49 (2022), pp. 463-65.

Review of Gary G. Gibbs, Five Parishes in Late Medieval and Tudor London: Communities and Reforms (Abingdon, 2019), London Journal, 47 (2021), pp. 327-28.

Review of Richard Goddard and Teresa Phipps (eds.), Town Courts and Urban Society in Late Medieval England, 1250-1500 (Woodbridge, 2019), Journal of British Studies, 59 (2020), pp. 661-63.

Review of Clive Burgess, 'The Right Ordering of Souls': The Parish of All Saints' Bristol on the Eve of the Reformation (Woodbridge, 2018), Urban History, 46 (2019), pp. 770-71.

My current role is research-only but I have previous experience teaching the following modules at the University of Warwick:

• The Medieval World

• Europe in the Making 1450-1800

• Crossing Boundaries and Breaking Norms in the Medieval World

• From Fireplace to Cyberspace: The Folklore of the British Isles from Prehistory to the Present

Joe has been involved in a range of outreach and collaborative activities beyond academia. They have presented at industry events such as SimplyIC and ran a workshop for internal communication practitioners on using their organisation’s historical narratives more effectively to engage staff. They have also been involved in outreach with schools, running a pair of history classes for sixth form students at King Edward VI College in Nuneaton.

In collaboration with the Institute of Historical Research, Joe developed a series of local history walks for the Victoria County History smartphone app, providing users with accessible insights into local heritage. They have also given frequent public history lectures for groups such as the Friends of Reading Abbey, Arkesden Local History Society, Basingstoke Archaeological and Historical Society, and Kenilworth History & Archaeology Society. Joe also gave a talk at a local food and drink festival held at St John Baptist Church in Berkswell, Warwickshire.

Early Career Fellowship

2020-21

Warwick IAS

 

ESRC Studentship

2016-20

Warwick ESRC Doctoral Training College

 

'Urban Identities: Past and Present'

2019

Conference funding from Warwick HRC, History, & Connecting Cultures

 

Best Postgraduate Paper Prize, runner-up

2018

Social History Society

 

Pickering Prize (for Medieval Studies dissertation)

2016

University of Reading

'Marking History and Making History: Temporal Narratives and Strategic Internal Communication', Association of Business Historians Conference (University of Northumbria, 2024). Co-presented with Michael Heller and Michael Rowlinson.

'Poverty and Welf: The MRC’s Tale of a 1920s Welfare Worker', The MRC at 50 Symposium (University of Warwick, 2023). Co-presented with Michael Heller.

Greene King and Legacies of British Slave-Ownership’, European Group for Organization Studies Colloquium (University of Cagliari, 2023). Co-presented with Michael Rowlinson.

What Do We Mean by an Institutional History of Internal Communication?’, Association of Business Historians Conference (University of Northumbria, 2023). Co-presented with Michael Heller and Michael Rowlinson.

What Do We Mean by an Institutional History of Internal Communication?’, Brunel Business School Conference (Brunel University, 2023). Co-presented with Michael Heller.

'Under the Weather: The Effects of Outdoor Work on Health for Postal Workers and Metropolitan Policemen, 1860‐1908', British Society for Population Studies Conference (University of Winchester, 2022).

'Blessings and 'Cursus': Officeholding and Social Mobility in the Monastic Town of Reading, 1350-1600', European Association of Urban History Conference (University of Antwerp, 2022).

'Quantifying Interaction between Social Groups', International Medieval Congress (University of Leeds, 2022).

'Rowdy Godiva: Medieval Parish Festivities and the Impact of the Reformation', Celebrations, Communities and Performances Conference (Coventry City of Culture Project, 2022).

'The Dramatic and the Pragmatic: The Reception of the Reformation by Reading’s Inhabitants', Reformation Studies Colloquium (University of Birmingham, 2021).

'Religious and Cultural Change at a Time of Disruption: Reading in the Late Fifteenth Century', The Fifteenth Century Conference (University of Bristol, 2021).

'Holding all the Courts: Obtaining Justice under Monastic Lords', International Medieval Congress (University of Leeds, 2021).

'Reading and the End of Monastic Lordship', Reading and its Royal Abbey: A Celebration on the 900th Anniversary of the Abbey’s Foundation (University of Reading, 2021).

'The Impact of Missing Data on Network Centrality Measures', Economic History Society Annual Conference (University of Warwick, 2021).

'Ceremony, Guilds, and Government: Image and Authority in English Monastic Towns', Media and Public (Dis)order Virtual Workshop (Technische Universität Dresden & University of Warwick, March 2021).

'Reading: The Reformation', European Reformation Research Group (Newman University, 2019).

'Dealing with Data Loss: Network Analysis with Incomplete Datasets', International Medieval Congress (University of Leeds, 2019).

'Projected Image versus Day-to-Day Life: The Governing Class of Fifteenth- and Sixteenth-Century Reading', Urban Identities: Past and Present (University of Warwick, 2019).

'Take No Parishioners: Poverty Management in Fifteenth- and Sixteenth-Century Parishes', The Warwick History Postgraduate Conference (University of Warwick, 2019).

'Chronic Relief: Parishioners and Poverty in Fifteenth- and Sixteenth-Century Reading', Warwick Symposium on Parish Research (University of Warwick, 2019).

'Identity as a Political Tool: The Pursuit of Independence in Late Medieval Reading', International Congress on Medieval Studies (Western Michigan University, 2019).

'Industry and Independence: Reading’s Transformation of 1470-1510', The Fifteenth Century Conference (University of Reading, 2018).

'Memory, Identity, and Power: The Pursuit of Self-Government in the Monastic Town of Reading, 1253-1539', International Medieval Congress (University of Leeds, 2018).

'Monks, Merchants, and Matrices: A Social Network Analysis of Reading in 1350-1600', Negotiating Networks Conference (Institute of Historical Research, 2018).

'Inclusion, Exclusion, and the Pursuit of Identity: Town–Abbey Relations in Late Medieval Reading', Social History Society Conference (Keele University, 2018).

'Experiencing Network Issues: Using Network Analysis with Medieval Sources', The Warwick History Postgraduate Conference (University of Warwick, 2018).

'The Dissolution of Reading Abbey: The Power Vacuum and its Impact on the Town', European Reformation Research Group: The Reformation: 500 Years On (University of Liverpool, 2017).

'The Peasants’ Revolt of 1381: Leadership in the Suffolk Rising', The Warwick History Postgraduate Conference (University of Warwick, 2017).

'Marxism and the Peasants’ Revolt: The Class Struggle Interpretation and its Problems', Graduate Centre for Medieval Studies Workshop (University of Reading, 2016).

PhD in History

2016-2020, University of Warwick

Thesis: Cloisters and Clothiers: The Social Impact of Reading’s Transition from Monastic Lordship to Self-Governance, 1350-1600

Supervisor: Prof Beat Kümin

 

Academic & Professional Pathways - PGR

2020-2021, University of Warwick

Gained associate fellowship of the HEA

 

PG Cert in Social Sciences Research

2016-2018, University of Warwick

Units: Research Design, Quantitative Methods, Social Science Philosophies, Qualitative Methods

 

MRes Medieval Studies

2014-2016, University of Reading

Dissertation: The 1381 Revolt in Western Suffolk

Other Units: Latin & Palaeography, Books of Hours, Chaucer, Urban Rebellions

 

Professional Graduate Certificate in Education

2010-2011, University of Winchester

  

BA (Hons) in Modern History

2004-2007, University of Oxford

Dissertation: The Miners' Strike in South Wales, 1984-85