Merridee Bailey is a Visiting Research Fellow (until 2021) at The University of Adelaide, was a Senior Research Fellow (2013‒2018) with the Adelaide node of the ARC Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions, and an Associate Investigator (2012). Merridee specialises in the history of England and Europe in the later medieval and early modern periods. She holds a BA, an MA, and earned her PhD at the Australian National University. She takes a social history approach to late medieval and early modern morality, looking at the differing guises through which morality was understood and practiced by ordinary people. Her 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; re-released on paperback in 2018). She is now writing a book on the history of meekness from the Middle Ages to the modern period.
In addition to lecturing in medieval history and historical methodology at the University of New England and the Australian National University, she has held visiting fellowships at the Centre for Metropolitan History (Institute of Historical Research, London), and an Australian Academy of the Humanities International Research Fellowship. Her research has been funded by the Australian Research Council, the Australian Academy of the Humanities, the Scouloudi Foundation, the Richard III Society and the Bibliographical Society. At The University of Adelaide, Merridee has served on the Learning and Teaching Committee at the School of History and Politics, and on the Research Committee. She held a Visiting Fellowship at Oriel College, Oxford, for the 2015‒2016 academic year, and is an Associate Member of the History Faculty, University of Oxford, for 2017‒2018. She is the recipient of the S. Ernest Sprott Fellowship to support her research project 'Meekness: A Literary, Lexical and Cultural History of an Early Modern Concept', which will be carried out in the UK from August 2018 to August 2019, based in the University of Oxford's Faculty of History.
Contact
merridee.bailey@adelaide.edu.au
merridee.bailey@history.ox.ac.uk
The University of Adelaide Staff Profile
Research
Moral Emotions in Mercantilism in Late Medieval and Early Modern England, c.1450–1650
Publications
Books
Bailey, Merridee L. Socialising the Child in Late Medieval England, c.1400‒1600. York Medieval Press, 2012, re-released on paperback in 2018. 269pp.
Edited Books
Bailey, M. L., T. M. Colwell and J. Hotchin. Women and Work in Premodern Europe: Experiences, Relationships and Cultural Representation, c.1100–1800. London: Routledge, 2018. ISBN: 9781138202023.
Bailey, Merridee L. and K. Barclay, eds. Emotion, Ritual and Power in Europe, 1200‒1920: Family, State and Church. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2017.
Edited Journal Issue
Bailey, Merridee L. and Kimberley-Joy Knight, eds. ‘The History of Law and Emotions’. Special issue, The Journal of Legal History 38.2 (2017). ISSN: 0144-0365 (Print); 1744-0564 (Online).
Journal Articles
Bailey, M. ‘“Most Hevynesse and Sorowe”: The Presence of Emotions in the Late Medieval and Early Modern Court of Chancery’. Law and History Review 37.1 (2019): 1–28. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0738248019000026
Bailey, Merridee L. ‘The Importance of Equilibrium in Thomas Dekker’s A Worke For Armourers (1609)’. English Studies 99.2 (2018): 1‒17. https://doi.org/10.1080/0013838X.2017.1418041
Bailey, Merridee L. and Kimberley-Joy Knight. ‘Writing Histories of Law and Emotion’. The Journal of Legal History 38.2 (2017): 117‒129.
Bailey, Merridee L. ‘Reconsidering Religious Vitality in Catholic England: Household Aspirations and Educating the Laity in Richard Whitford’s A werke for housholders’. Viator 47.2 (2016): 331‒50.
Bailey, Merridee L. (2014) ‘Old Age and Economic Practices: Court of Chancery Cases Involving Richard Pynson, King's Printer'. Journal of the Early Book Society 17 (2014): 307‒15.
Bailey, Merridee L. (2013) ‘Hornbooks'. Journal of the History of Childhood and Youth 6.1 (2013): 3‒14.
Bailey, Merridee L. (2011) ‘What history reveals about reactions to climate debates'. Trends in Ecology & Evolution 26.12 (2011): 615‒16.
Bailey, Merridee L. (2007) ‘In Service and at Home: Didactic Texts for Children and Young People, c.1400-1600'. Parergon 24.2 (2007): 23‒46.
Book Chapters
Bailey, M. L. ‘“Thus of War, a Paradox I Write”’: Thomas Dekker and a Londoner’s View of Continental War and Peace'. In Writing War in Britain and France, 1370–1854: A History of Emotions, edited by S. Downes, A. Lynch and K. O'Loughlin. London: Routledge, 2019. FORTHCOMING
Bailey, M. L., T. M. Colwell and J. Hotchin. ‘Approaching Women and Work in Premodern Europe’. In Women and Work in Premodern Europe: Experiences, Relationships and Cultural Representation, c.1100‒1800, edited by M. L. Bailey, T. M. Colwell and J. Hotchin. London and New York: Routledge, 2018.
Bailey, M. L. and K. Barclay. ‘Emotion, Ritual and Power: From Family to Nation’. In Emotion, Ritual and Power in Europe, 1200‒1920: Family, State and Church, edited by M. L. Bailey and K. Barclay, pp. 1‒20. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2017.
Bailey, M. L. ‘Educational Treatises’. In Early Modern Emotions: An Introduction, edited by S. Broomhall, pp. 99‒102. London and New York: Routledge, 2017.
Bailey, Merridee L. ‘Economic records'. In Early Modern Emotions: An Introduction, edited by Susan Broomhall, pp. 108‒12. London, Routledge, 2017.
Bailey, Merridee L. ‘Shaping London Merchant Identities: Emotions, Reputation and Power in the Court of Chancery’. In The Routledge History Handbook of Gender and the Urban Experience, edited by D. Simonton, pp. 327‒37. London: Routledge, 2017.
Bailey, Merridee L. 'Anxieties with Political and Social Order in Fifteenth Century England'. In Authority, Gender and Emotions in Late Medieval and Early Modern England, edited by Susan Broomhall, pp. 84‒105. Basingstoke:Palgrave Macmillan, 2015.
Bailey, Merridee L. ‘A Formula for Courtesy in some English Vernacular Poems: Conventional Traits, the use of Common Language, and the Creation of ‘Genre' in, La formule dans la littérature et la civilisation du Moyen Âge anglais ed. by Colette Stévanovitch, Élise Louviot, Philippe Mahoux-Pauzin and Dominique Hascoët (Nancy: Association des Médiévistes Anglicistes de l'Enseignement Supérieur, 2011), pp. 121‒36.
Essays
Bailey, Merridee L. (2012) ‘Love and Marriage in History: Devotion, Lust, Despair and Betrayal'. In Singing Emotions: Voices from History, edited by J. W. Davidson and R. Prince, pp. 44‒50.
Book reviews
Edited by Adrienne E. Gavin, The Child in British Literature: Literary Constructions of Childhood, Medieval to Contemporary. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012. 250pp, Journal of British Studies 53 (2014): 505‒7.
Blaine Greteman, The Poetics and Politics of Youth in Milton's England (Cambridge University Press) for Review of English Studies 2015. doi:10.1093/res/hgv024
Media
'Why education matters: breaking cycles of child labour in the past and the present' for World Against Child Labour Day, with Katie Barclay, Histories of Emotion blog, June 2015.
Selected Presentations
Bailey, M. L. 'Emotional, Economic and Social Identities: How Urban Spaces and Institutions Shaped London’s Merchants', Early Modern Conversions project workshop 'Theatres of Conversion: Early Modern Cities, Courts and Playhouses', Victoria University, Toronto, Canada, 24–25 October 2014.
Awards and Achievements
2018‒2019 S. Ernest Scott Fellowship (AUD44,248) for project 'Meekness: A Literary, Lexical and Cultural History of an Early Modern Concept'
2018 Research Grant for conference attendance 2018, History Faculty, University of Oxford (£250)
2017‒2018 Associate Member, History Faculty, University of Oxford
2016 Scouloudi Historical Awards, Institute of Historical Research UK. Publication grant for Women and Work in Premodern Europe: Experiences, Relationships and Cultural Representation (£645)
2015‒2016 Visiting Fellowship, Oriel College, Oxford
2013‒2018 ARC Senior Research Fellow, ARC Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions
2012 Unit commendation, HIST111 Medieval Europe, University of New England
2012 Associate Investigator, ARC Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions (AUD3000)
2012 Nominated, National Citations for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning
2012 Nominated, Australian National University Vice-Chancellor's Awards for Excellence in Education
2011 Won, Excellence in Tutoring Award, Australian National University
2011 ANU Council and Boards Secretariat, Publishing Subsidy towards costs of publishing Socialising the Child in Late Medieval England, c.1400‒1600 (AUD1300)
2010 Australian Academy of the Humanities, International Research Fellowship (AUD5000)
2010 Visiting Fellow, Institute of Historical Research, London
2009 The Scouloudi Foundation Historical Awards (£881.00)
2008 ARC, Network for Early European Research, ‘Children in Europe and the Australian Colonies c.1300‒1850' Travel Grant
2007 Australian National University, Vice-Chancellor's Travel Grant
2007 ARC, Network for Early European Research, ‘Children in Europe and the Australian Colonies c.1300‒1850' Travel Grant
2006 Richard III Society Bursary Prize (£500)
2006 UK Bibliographical Society, Minor Grants (£200)
2005 ARC, Network for Early European Research Travel Grant (AUD540)
2004 Australian National University, Fieldwork Grant (AUD6000)
2003 Australian National University, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research), Fieldwork Grant (AUD4000)
2003 Australian National University, Endowment for Excellence PhD Scholarship (c.AUD60,000)
Teaching Interests
Current Research Students
Ms Jasmin Parasiers, ‘Miscreant Youth in Early Modern England', PhD
Past Students
Ms Elizabeth Tunstall, ‘English Foreign Policy During the Reign of Elizabeth I', MPhil
Past Honours Students
Mr Justin Boden, Honours
Research Interests
Merridee Bailey's first project with the ARC Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions was ‘Emotions and Feelings Between Young People and Adults in London, 1500‒1600’ as an Associate Investigator in 2012, which became the foundation for her Senior Research Fellowship project investigating emotional discourses surrounding merchant practices in London over the late medieval and early modern period, c.1450‒1650. Drawing on an array of archival materials, from court records to popular printed didactic texts, she examined the central role of emotions and morality in London merchant activities and the ways in which moral emotions, vices and emotional expressions of good economic conduct were represented. In addition, her research explored the language of emotions in legal and literary texts. This work has been published in The Routledge History Handbook of Gender and the Urban Experience, Early Modern Emotions: An Introduction, Authority, Gender and Emotions in Late Medieval and Early Modern England and in a special issue she co-edited in the Journal of Legal History. Now, she is moving onto look at how morality played out in a particular concept of meekness over the medieval to modern period in England and how the moral value of meekness has been transmitted and changed over time.