I am an historian of aristocratic government in the High Middle Ages and its intersection with Christian reform movements, particularly the crusades. My work focusses on the ways in which barons attempted to use their lordship to create an idealised Christian republic, at times through the imposition of military force.

I am currently preparing a major project and monograph for Oxford University Press on the Statutes of Pamiers (1212), a crusader constitution for the Midi.

After completing my undergraduate studies in history and English at the Virginia Military Institute, I won a Rhodes Scholarship to Hertford College, University of Oxford, where I completed my D.Phil. under the supervision of Prof. Christopher Tyerman. My thesis on Simon of Montfort and baronial government was adapted for publication with OUP and appeared in 2017. I spent two years at the University of East Anglia as a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow before arriving at the University of Exeter in 2019.

I am interested in discussing proposals from potential research students on any relevant subject in my research expertise. In particular, I would be keen to supervise students working on:

• The crusades
• High medieval aristocracy (especially in France, the Midi, and Sicily)
• Medieval government and Christian reform
• Interactions between clergy and laity in the shaping of reform ideas
• Heresy and its persecution
• Cross-cultural contact in the Mediterranean

If you are interested in working on a potential doctoral project, please email me a 500-word outline of your proposed topic with your CV so we can start discussing your ideas.