Staff profile

Research Interests

My research combines interests in medieval and early modern Spanish literature as well as painting, sculpture, and visual culture more broadly. This work has two interrelated strands. The first is gender-based and interrogates the sexualization of male/female subjects and the function of the body as a semiotic sign system. I am interested in particular in how the body projects identity and how such identities are inflected by a range of broader social and ideological considerations. The second major strand explores developments in signification occasioned by modifications to the body’s external appearance or challenges to the integrity of its borders, particularly when they are violated or transgressed and it becomes impossible to maintain clearly demarcated distinctions between the opposing dichotomies of internal/external, subject/object, or self/other. As a result, my work often deals with questions of abjection, revulsion, and the anatomy of disgust.

My approach to research is interdisciplinary and combines traditional skills in literary and art historical analysis with theoretical approaches informed by the work of critics such Bhabha, Butler, Freud, Kristeva, and Lacan. I am particularly interested in the development of theoretical approaches to questions of alterity. My work to date has engaged with a variety of texts, from the epic through to the traditional Castilian lyric, cancionero poetry, and Celestina. My major research interest, however, is hagiography and the cults of the saints, focusing particularly on the Iberian reception of Jacobus de Voragine’s Legenda aurea and the distinction between visual and verbal modes of representation. In addition to a series of articles, this work has so far produced books on St Agnes (2007), St Thaïs and St Pelagia (2007b), St Agatha and St Lucy (2010), and most recently, St Bartholomew (2020).

Drawing on a wide range of visual and literary sources produced in Spain from the Middle Ages through to the present day, the most recent of these books (Sacred Skin) questions the extent to which identity is expressed both in and under the skin, and why audiences in Spain developed a particular and longstanding fascination for a figure commonly depicted either without skin or with his skin in a state of partial removal. The project seeks in so doing to provide the first book-length account of the origin, dissemination, and significance of the cult of St Bartholomew in Spain, as well as to advance a detailed theoretical consideration of the signifying potential of the epidermis and its multiple functions in popular thought and tradition.

I am currently working on two interrelated book projects. The first, The Signifying Body, focuses on the cult of the martyrs in Spain, advancing a theoretical appraisal of the centrality of the body to constructions of identity. As part of this, I am working on the relationship between corporeality and selfhood in the legends of Vincent, Barbara, George, Eulalia, Blaise, and a series of related narratives. An area of particular interest concerns the significance and gendering of torture and its implications for an understanding of cultural attitudes towards questions of faith and indoctrination.

In the longer term, my aim is to follow up on this project with a book on the collectivization of identity, offering an extended theoretical analysis of paired martyr cults (notably brothers, sisters, and husband/wife relationships) as well as an insight into broader sociological considerations such as crowd behaviour and group dynamics. In so doing, the book aims to address issues central to the complex sociology of martyrdom, including questions of fanaticism, radicalization, and fundamentalism—topics immediately applicable to the world in which we live today.

Postgraduate Supervision

I am able to supervise most topics dealing with Spanish art and literature to 1700 and would welcome enquiries from students who wish to pursue PhDs or MAs by Research. I am particularly interested in projects that dovetail with my research interests in hagiography, gender, theory, and the relationship between art and literature. Topics that I have supervised or am currently supervising include: ‘Cross-Cultural Artistic Mobility between Catalonia and North and Central Italy in the Fourteenth Century’, ‘The Performance Art of Medieval Pilgrimage at Montserrat’, ‘Identity in Isabelline Literature’, ‘The Individual’s Quest for Racial, Religious, and Gender Identity in the Romancero’, and ‘Military Martyrs in Medieval Castilian Literature’.

Research Collaboration

I have served as Associate Director of Durham University’s Institute of Medieval and Early Modern Studies (IMEMS) and as Associate Director of the Centre for Visual Arts and Cultures (CVAC). I am also a member of the Institute for Medical Humanities and the Zurbarán Centre. Within County Durham, my interest in Spanish art has led to a series of collaborations with The Bowes Museum and The Auckland Project, notably in the context of the Impact Case Study Spanish Art in County Durham, which explores ways in which Spanish art can be made more accessible to viewing publics. Further afield, I am a member of the Association of Hispanists of Great Britain and Ireland, the Sociedad de Estudios Medievales y Renacentistas, the Medieval Hispanic Research Seminar, the North American Catalan Society, the Ibero-Medieval Association of North America, and ARTES, the Iberian and Latin American Visual Culture Group.

I am currently leading a series of collaborative research projects. These include an eye-tracking study focusing on the ways in which audiences inspect examples of Spanish art, as well as an initiative dealing with the materiality of relics and the narratives of which they are part. I am also contributing to a study of female spirituality in Spain (La conformación de la autoridad espiritual femenina en Castilla) as well as a survey and analysis of Catalan hagiographic literature (La literatura hagiográfica catalana: fuentes, ediciones y estudios).

I am Medieval Editor for Tamesis Texts and Commissioning Editor for the Literary Encyclopedia. I sit on the Senior Editorial Boards of La Corónica, Papers of the Medieval Hispanic Research Seminar, and Palgrave Studies in Literature, Science and Medicine. In 2014, I was awarded the John K. Walsh Prize for the article: ‘Dreams of Death in Medieval Castilian Hagiography: Martyrdom and Ideology in the Gran flos sanctorum’.

Authored book

• Beresford, A. M. (2020). Sacred Skin: The Legend of St. Bartholomew in Spanish Art and Literature. Brill Academic Publishers. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004419384
• Beresford, A. M. (2017). Jonathan Parker: Familiarity and Mystery. University of Durham
• Beresford, A. M. (2010). The Severed Breast: The Legends of Saints Agatha and Lucy in Medieval Castilian Literature. Juan de la Cuesta
• Beresford, A. (2007). The Legends of the Holy Harlots: Thaïs and Pelagia in Medieval Spanish Literature. Tamesis
• Beresford, A. (2007). The Legend of Saint Agnes in Medieval Castilian Literature. Queen Mary, University of London, Department of Hispanic Studies

Chapter in book

• Beresford, A. M. (2021). Corporeality and Soteriology in Medieval Spanish Hagiography: The Body as Signifier in the Libre dels tres reys d’Orient. In M. Gerli, & R. D. Giles (Eds.), The Routledge Hispanic Studies Companion to Medieval Iberia. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315210483
• Beresford, A. M. (2020). Hagiography, Corporeality, and the Gaze: Sexual/Ascetic Tension in the Vida de Santa de María Egipciaca. In Y. Kim, & R. Sanmartin Bastida (Eds.), Gender and Exemplarity in Medieval and Early Modern Spain (43-74). Brill Academic Publishers. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004438446_003
• Beresford, A. M. (2018). On the Sources and Contexts of Late Medieval Castilian Devotional Practice: Pain and Popular Piety in Gómez Manrique’s Representación del Nacimiento de Nuestro Señor. In A. M. Beresford, & L. K. Twomey (Eds.), Christ, Mary, and the Saints: Reading Religious Subjects in Medieval and Renaissance Spain (151-186). (66). Brill Academic Publishers. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004380127_007
• Beresford, A. M., & Twomey, L. K. (2018). Reading Religious Subjects. In A. M. Beresford, & L. K. Twomey (Eds.), Christ, Mary and the Saints: Reading Religious Subjects in Medieval and Renaissance Spain (3-35). (66). Brill Academic Publishers
• Beresford, A. M. (2014). Postscript: The Legacy of Spanish Golden Age Art. In C. Baron, & A. M. Beresford (Eds.), Spanish Art in County Durham. Bishop Auckland: Auckland Castle Trust, The Bowes Museum, & Durham University
• Beresford, A. M., Lewis, G., & Ferguson, C. (2014). Durham Castle and Cathedral: Two Sets of Spanish Apostles. In C. Baron, & A. M. Beresford (Eds.), Spanish Art in County Durham. Bishop Auckland: Auckland Castle Trust, The Bowes Museum, & Durham University
• Beresford, A. M., & Baron, C. (2014). Auckland Castle: Zurbarán’s Jacob and his Twelve Sons. In C. Baron, & A. M. Beresford (Eds.), Spanish Art in County Durham (26-43). Bishop Auckland: Auckland Castle Trust, The Bowes Museum, & Durham University
• Beresford, A. M., Coutts, H., & Baron, C. (2014). Stately Homes in County Durham: Some Collectors of Spanish Paintings in County Durham. In C. Baron, & A. M. Beresford (Eds.), . Bishop Auckland: Auckland Castle Trust, The Bowes Museum, & Durham University
• Beresford, A. M. (2014). Durham Cathedral: The Galilee Chapel Altarpiece. In C. Baron, & A. M. Beresford (Eds.), Spanish Art in County Durham. Bishop Auckland: Auckland Castle Trust, The Bowes Museum, & Durham University
• Beresford, A. (2013). Sanctity and prejudice in Medieval Castilian Hagiography: The Legend of Saint Moses the Ethiopian. In A. Beresford, L. Haywood, & J. Weiss (Eds.), Medieval Hispanic studies in memory of Alan Deyermond (11-38). Tamesis
• Beresford, A. M. (2011). From Virgin Martyr to Holy Harlot: Female Saints in the Middle Ages and the Problem of Classification. In X. D. Ros, & G. Coates (Eds.), A Companion to Spanish Women's Studies (77-93). Woodbridge: Tamesis
• Beresford, A. M. (2007). Saints John the Baptist and John the Evangelist in the Poetry of Juan de Luzón. In A. Deyermond, & B. Taylor (Eds.), From the ‘Cancioneiro da Vaticana’ to the ‘Cancionero general’: Studies in Honour of Jane Whetnall (75-88). London: Department of Hispanic Studies, Queen Mary, University of London
• Beresford, A. M. (2007). Medieval Spanish Debate Literature. In G. D. Greenia, & F. A. Domínguez (Eds.), Castilian Writers 1200–1400 (333-43). Detroit: Gale
• Beresford, A. M. (2005). The Minor Poems of Juan Rodríguez del Padrón: Edition and Analysis. In A. Deyermond, & C. Parrilla (Eds.), Juan Rodríguez del Padrón: Studies in Honour of Olga Tudorică Impey (17-52). London: Department of Hispanic Studies, Queen Mary, University of London
• Beresford, A. (2004). The Poetry of Medieval Spain. In D. T. Gies (Ed.), The Cambridge history of Spanish literature (75-94). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.2277/0521806186
• Beresford, A. (2002). The minor poems of Juan Rodríguez del Padrón: critical edition and study. In A. Deyermond, & C. Parrilla (Eds.), Juan Rodríguez del Padrón : studies in honour of Olga Tudorica Impey. 1, Poetry and doctrinal prose (17-52). Queen Mary, University of London
• Beresford, A. M. (2000). Cortol la cabeça e atola del petral, ca la querie dar en donas a Galiana: On the Relationship between Death and Sexuality in Four Epic Legends. In D. Pattison (Ed.), Papers of the Medieval Hispanic Research Seminar (41-63). University of London
• Beresford, A. M. (2000). The Vida de Santa María Egipciaca and the Question of Manuscript Unity. In D. Hook (Ed.), Text & Manuscript in Medieval Spain: Papers from the King's College Colloquium (79-102). King's College
• Beresford, A. M. (1997). 'Ençendida del ardor de la luxuria': Prostitution and Promiscuity in the Legend of Saint Mary of Egypt. In A. M. Beresford (Ed.), `Quien hubiese tal ventura': Medieval Hispanic Studies in Honour of Alan Deyermond (45-56). Department of Hispanic Studies, Queen Mary & Westfield College

Edited book

• Beresford, A. M., & Twomey, L. K. (Eds.). (2018). Christ, Mary and the Saints: Reading Religious Subjects in Medieval and Renaissance Spain. Brill Academic Publishers
• Beresford, A. M., & Baron, C. (Eds.). (2014). Spanish Art in County Durham. Bishop Auckland: Auckland Castle, Bowes Museum, and Durham University
• Beresford, A. M., Haywood, L. M., & Weiss, J. (Eds.). (2013). Medieval Hispanic Studies in Memory of Alan Deyermond. Woodbridge: Tamesis
• Beresford, A. M., & Twomey, L. K. (Eds.). (2013). Critical Cluster: 'Visions of Hagiography', La Corónica 42.1 (Fall): 101-348
• Beresford, A. M., & Deyermond, A. (Eds.). (2000). Proceedings of the Ninth Colloquium. Department of Hispanic Studies, Queen Mary & Westfield College
• Beresford, A. M. (Ed.). (1997). ‘Quien hubiese tal ventura’: Medieval Hispanic Studies in Honour of Alan Deyermond. Department of Hispanic Studies, Queen Mary & Westfield College
• Beresford, A. M., & Deyermond, A. (Eds.). (1997). Proceedings of the Eighth Colloquium. Department of Hispanic Studies, Queen Mary & Westfield College

Journal Article

• Beresford, A. (2023). Martyrdom, Motherhood, and the Aetiology of Infanticide: The Legend of Saints Quiricus and Julitta in Early Iberian Art and Literature. Magnificat Cultura i Literatura Medievals, 10, 205-254. https://doi.org/10.7203/mclm.10.25785
• Charlesworth, E., Warwick, C., Impett, L., & Beresford, A. M. (2023). Designing for Audience Engagement Exploring the Use of Online Metrics in the GLAM Sector. magazén: International Journal for Digital and Public Humanities, 4(1), https://doi.org/10.30687/mag/2724-3923/2023/07/005
• Charlesworth, E., Beresford, A. M., Warwick, C., & Impett, L. (2023). Understanding levels of online participation in the U.K. museum sector. Museum Management and Curatorship, https://doi.org/10.1080/09647775.2023.2188478
• Beresford, A. M. (2023). Identity, Remembrance and the Question of Queer Becoming: Juana de la Cruz’s Sermon on the Legend of St Bartholomew. Bulletin of Spanish Studies, https://doi.org/10.1080/14753820.2023.2229170
• Beresford, A. M. (2020). From Mystical Asceticism to Heresy and Heterodoxy: Rereading St Antony in Late Medieval Spain. Bulletin of Hispanic Studies, 96(10), 1079-1112. https://doi.org/10.3828/bhs.2019.65
• Bailey-Ross, C., Beresford, A., Smith, D., & Warwick, C. (2019). Aesthetic Appreciation and Spanish Art: Insights from Eye-Tracking. Digital Scholarship in the Humanities, 34(Supplement 1), i17-i35. https://doi.org/10.1093/llc/fqz027
• Beresford, A. M. (2017). Composición poética y las fuentes del «Cançoner sagrat de vides de sants»: sobre la construcción de la santidad en las «Cobles fetes en laor del gloriós sent Berthomeu». Studia Aurea, 11, 179-203. https://doi.org/10.5565/rev/studiaaurea.253
• Beresford, A. (2016). From Scopophilia to Abjection: Vision and Blindness in the Monja que se arrancó los ojos. Miríada hispánica, 12, 111-127
• Epidermal Stereotype. Hispanic Research Journal, 16(6), 471-488. https://doi.org/10.1080/14682737.2015.1129833
• Beresford, A. M. (2015). Torture, Identity, and the Corporeality of Female Sanctity: The Body as Locus of Meaning in the Legend of St Margaret of Antioch. Medievalia, 18(2), 179-210
• Beresford, A. M. (2014). Abjection, Marriage, and the Burrowing Worm: The Body as Bounded System in the Dança General de la Muerte. Bulletin of Hispanic Studies, 91(8), 965-980. https://doi.org/10.3828/bhs.2014.62
• Beresford, A. (2013). Reformulating Identity in Medieval Castilian Hagiography: Visions, Dreams, and the Ascetic Imperative. Medium ævum, 82(2), 293-313
• Beresford, A. M., & Twomey, L. K. (2013). Visions of Hagiography: From the Gaze to Spiritual Vision in Medieval Lives of Saints. La corónica, 42(1), 103-132. https://doi.org/10.1353/cor.2013.0037
• Beresford, A. M. (2013). Dreams of Death in Medieval Castilian Hagiography: Martyrdom and Ideology in the Gran flos sanctorum. La corónica, 42(1), 59-184. https://doi.org/10.1353/cor.2013.0031
• Beresford, A. (2010). Rereading Jerome in Spain in the Middle Ages: The Vida de Sant Paulo and the Legend of Saint Paul of Thebes. Mediaeval studies, 72, 1-37
• Beresford, A. (2010). A Sermon for the Feast of Saint Julian the Martyr. Revista de poética medieval, 24, 49-75
• Beresford, A. (2001). 'Una oraçión, señora, que le dixeron que sabías, de Sancta Polonia para el dolor de las muelas': Celestina and the Legend of St Apollonia. Bulletin of Hispanic Studies, 78(1), 39-57
• Beresford, A. (1997). Antonio López de Meta's Tractado del cuerpo e de la ánima and the Hispanic Body-and-Soul Tradition. Bulletin of Hispanic Studies, 74, 139-50
• Beresford, A. (1996). Sobre la repetición léxica en el Auto de los Reyes Magos
• Beresford, A. (1996). Theme, Style, and Structure in the Disputa del cuerpo e del ánima. Revista de literatura medieval, 8, 73-90
• Beresford, A. (1995). The Disputa del cuerpo e del ánima and the Visión de Filiberto: A Reappraisal of Sources. La corónica, 23(2), 3-15