Ruth Salter

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+44 (0) 118 378 7343
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Lecturer
Admissions Tutor
Areas of interest
My research interests focus on the high Middle Ages (specifically the long twelfth century) and on experiences of health, ill health, and healing, including miraculous cures. I am also interested in medieval popular/lay religion, and in medieval women and childhood. My research explores these topics primarily through analysis of high-medieval collections of posthumous miracles. Accounts of healing miracles, for instance, provide fascinating insights into the experiences and practices of ‘cure-seeking’, and its place within the wider healthcare milieu. These miracles, attributed to the power of God and worked through the intercession of the saints, provide tantalising insights into the lived experiences of those who sought what we might call today ‘alternative medicine’.
You can read more about my research interests and teaching in our History Stories.
Postgraduate supervision
Current supervision
I am happy to discuss potential PhD projects relating to high-medieval healthcare, lived/popular religion, pilgrimage etc.
Teaching
Undergraduate
Year 1
- Everyday Life in a Medieval Town: Reading, 1100-1500 *new for 2022-23*
- Research Skills and Opportunities in History (convenor)
Year 2
- Medieval Medicine
- Women in the Medieval World
Year 3
- Dissertation supervision
- Health, Healthcare and Healing in the Middle Ages [special subject option]
Postgraduate MA (postgraduate taught)
I supervise students on:
- Medieval Monasticism
- Christian Hagiography
- English Local History
- Medieval Healthcare
Research centres and groups
- Centre for Health Humanities, University of Reading (steering committee member since 2018)
- Graduate Centre for Medieval Studies, University of Reading (member since 2010)
Websites/blogs
- Reading History (Department of History’s blog)
- Ruth J. Salter (personal blog)
- ORCID profile: Ruth J. Salter
- Twitter (personal account): @r_j_salter
Publications
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Salter, R.
ORCID: 0000-0003-1432-819X (2022) Beyond the miracula: practices and experiences of lay devotion at the cult of St Æbbe, Coldingham. In: Whitehead, C. , Hunter Blair, H. , Renevey, D. , (eds.) Late Medieval Devotion to Saints from the North of England: New Directions. Medieval Church Studies Brepols (48). , Turnhout. ISBN: 9782503588513
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Salter, R.
ORCID: 0000-0003-1432-819X (2021) Minors and the miraculous: the cure-seeking experiences of children in twelfth-century English hagiography. In: Preston-Matto, L. and Valante, M. , (eds.) Kids Those Days: Children in Medieval Culture. Explorations in Medieval Culture Brill (13). , Leiden. pp. 59-86. ISBN: 9789004315174
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Salter, R.
ORCID: 0000-0003-1432-819X (2021) Saints, cure-seekers and miraculous healing in twelfth-century England. Health and Healing in the Middle Ages , 1. York Medieval Press , Woodbridge. pp 262. ISBN: 9781914049002
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Salter, R.
ORCID: 0000-0003-1432-819X (2020) Memory, myth, and creating the cult of St Æbbe of Coldingham. Journal of Medieval Monastic Studies , 9 pp. 31-49. ISSN: 2034-3515 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1484/J.JMMS.5.120395