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Supervisors: Dr Sergei Bogatyrev and Prof. Haki Antonsson (SELCS)
Email: eleanor.mcdonald-dick.20@ucl.ac.uk
Present Status: MPhil Candidate
Working Title of Thesis: The social, cultural and religious aspects of marriage and family life among elite women in ninth to thirteenth century Rus' and Scandinavia
Research: My research intends to firstly produce a survey of how elite women in Rus' and Scandinavia experienced marriage and family life, in particular how marriages were arranged and celebrated, how a woman's social status was affected by marriage, how marriage was perceived, and how inter-faith marriages operated during the period of the region's conversion to Christianity. From this I hope to draw conclusions as to how the Christianisation process in Rus' and Scandinavia impacted married and family life among elite women, and how women themselves took part in this process. In addition, I will look at how attitudes towards and opportunities for remarriage and non-marriage relationships changed during this period, as well as how motherhood and childhood were affected by Christianisation.
Research Interests: Kyivan Rus', Pre-Christian Northern Europe, Norse Literature, Anglo-Saxon History, Viking Age Scandinavia, Medieval Eastern European History, Medieval Archaeology.
Research Centre Affiliation: Russian Studies Seminar Series, Research Student Seminar Series (SSEES), Medieval Scandinavian Seminar Series (SELCS)