Dr John Munns

John Munns is Associate Professor of History and Art History and a College Lecturer in the History of Art at Magdalene.

John is a medievalist who teaches both history and art history with a particular interest in the cultural and religious history of the long twelfth century. His first degrees were in theology, focusing on historical theology and ecclesiastical history. He then studied medieval history and art at postgraduate level through a research MPhil at the Centre for Medieval Studies in Bristol University, two periods as a visiting student at Princeton in the United States, and a PhD at Emmanuel College, Cambridge. He taught briefly at Bristol before another return eastward and spent three years at Fitzwilliam College before moving down the hill to Magdalene in 2014.

John is an undergraduate Tutor at Magdalene as well as Director of Studies in the History of Art, and has held a variety of other College Offices including eight years as an Admissions Tutor.

Beyond Cambridge, John is an Honorary Fellow of the Institute of Medieval and Early Modern Studies at Durham University, a specialist member of the Ely Diocesan Advisory Committee for the Care of Churches, Editor of the Journal of the British Archaeological Association, and Chair of the Corpus of Romanesque Sculpture in Britain and Ireland. He recently completed a five-year term as a Trustee and Director of The Brilliant Club, an award-winning national charity working to broaden access to the UK's most selective universities.

Research Interests

John's primary research interests lie in the cultural, religious, and art history of the High Middle Ages, especially in and around the British Isles during the long twelfth century. His current projects include a survey of English art in the century after the Norman Conquest and a study of twelfth-century episcopal patronage based around the life, work, and networks of Henry of Blois (d. 1171).

From April 2024, he will lead, as Principal Investigator, an AHRC-funded research network entitled 'Hidden Heritage: Multi-Disciplinary and Multi-Sector Perspectives on the Norman Chapel, Durham Castle' (Co-Investigator: Prof. Giles Gasper, Durham University).

Other interests include the role and agency of vision and imagination in high-medieval culture (through artistic images themselves, but also in architecture, ritual, liturgy, and literature, broadly conceived); aspects of medieval doctrine and devotional practice; Jewish-Christian-Muslim relations and cultural exchange; and Anglo-Norman prosopography. He has a secondary research interest in aspects of eighteenth-century antiquarianism, especially as it relates to the collection and preservation of medieval art.

Qualifications

• MA
• MPhil
• PhD
• FSA
• FRHistS

Career/Research Highlights

• 2023 Principal Investigator, Arts and Humanities Research Council Research Networking Grant
• 2022 Slater Fellowship, University College/IMEMS, Durham University
• 2021 Mid-Career Fellowship, Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art
• 2020 Visiting Fellowship, Lewis Walpole Library, Yale University
• 2019 Reginald Taylor and Lord Fletcher Prize, British Archaeological Association
• 2014 Principal Investigator, British Academy/Leverhulme Small Research Grant
• 2014 CUSU Teaching Excellence Award
• 2011 Postdoctoral Fellowship, Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art
• 2009 C. S. Grey Scholarship, Emmanuel College
• 2006 Derek Brewer Research Studentship, Emmanuel College
• 1999  Van Mildert Scholarship in Divinity, University of Durham

Professional Affiliations

• Fellow of The Society of Antiquaries of London
• Fellow of The Royal Historical Society
• Fellow of The Higher Education Academy
• The British Archaeological Association
• The Ecclesiastical History Society
• The Haskins Society