Dr James Ross

Reader

School of History, Archaeology and Philosophy

James.Ross@winchester.ac.uk

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Biography

I am Reader in Late Medieval History. I studied as an undergraduate at Wadham College, Oxford, and moved to Merton College to work on my D.Phil on 'The de Vere Earls of Oxford, 1400-1513', which was completed in 2003. I worked for the History of Parliament Trust (1422-61 and 1604-29 sections), before taking up a post as a medieval specialist at the National Archives in 2005. I joined the University of Winchester in September 2013 and was promoted to Reader in 2017. Until recently I was Convenor of the University's interdisciplinary Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Research, formally launched in May 2018.

Higher Education Teaching Qualification: Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA).

Areas of expertise

English history 1300 - 1550
The Wars of the Roses
Nobility and gentry
The reign of Henry VII
Late medieval and early Tudor kingship
The late medieval royal administration and the Common Law

Publications

Books

Ross, J. (2024) Robert de Vere, Earl of Oxford and Duke of Ireland (1362-1392). The Rise and Fall of a Royal Favourite. Boydell.
Ross, J. (2016) Henry VI: a good, simple and innocent man (Penguin Monarchs Series)
Ross, J. (2013) Calendar of Royal Charter Witnesses, 1426-1516, from the Charter Rolls and other Sources in the National Archives. Edited, with an Introduction and Index (List and Index Society, 346).
Ross, J. (2011) John de Vere, Thirteenth Earl of Oxford, 1442-1513. ‘The Foremost Man of the Kingdom’ (Woodbridge).

Articles and chapters

Ross, J. (2023), 'Alienated Outsider or Integrated Courtier? Edward Stafford, Third Duke of Buckingham, 1498-1521 and the Royal Court', History 108 (2023), pp. 20-40.
Ross, J. (2023), 'Vere, Elizabeth de [neé Elizabeth Howard], countess of Oxford (1410x11-1473)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (published online 10 Aug. 2023)
Ross, J. (2022), ‘Vere, Maud de [neé Maud Ufford], countess of Oxford (1345?-1413)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (published online 8 Dec. 2022)
Ross, J. (2021), 'Lord Bergavenny's Illegal Retaining Revisited', Historical Research, 94 (2021), pp. 675-694.
Ross, J. (2020), 'Greater Landowners and the Management of their Estatees in Late Medieval England', in Fifteenth Century, 17. Rulers, Regions and Retinues. Essays Presented to Tony Pollard, ed. L. Clark and P. Fleming (Woodbridge), pp. 93-103.
Ross, J. (2018), ‘The English Aristocracy and Mesne Feudalism in the Later Middle Ages’, English Historical Review, 133, pp. 1027-59.
Ross, J. (2018), 'The Noble Household as a Political Centre in the Early Tudor Period', in The Elite Household in England, 1100-1550, ed. C.M. Woolgar (Harlaxton Medieval Studies, 28, 2018), pp. 75-92
Kleineke, H. and Ross, J. (2017) 'Just another day in Chancery Lane: disorder and the law in London's legal quarter in the fifteenth century'. Law and History Review, 35, pp. 1017-47
Ross, J. (2015) 'The Treatment of Traitors' Children and Edward IV's Clemency in the 1460s', The Fifteenth Century, 14, 131-42.
Ross, J. (2013) ‘A Governing Elite? The Higher Nobility in the Yorkist and Early Tudor period’ in H.W. Kleineke and C. Steer, eds, The Yorkist Age (Harlaxton Medieval Studies, 23), 95-115.
Ross, J. (2012) ‘‘Contrary to the ryght and to the order of the lawe’: New Evidence of Edmund Dudley’s Activities on behalf of Henry VII in 1504’, English Historical Review, 127, 24-45.
Ross, J. (2011) "Mischievously Slewen’: John, Lord Scrope, the dukes of Norfolk and Suffolk and the murder of Henry Howard in 1446’ in H.W. Kleineke, ed., The Fifteenth Century X. Parliament, Personalities and Power. Papers Presented to Linda S. Clark (Woodbridge), pp 75-95.
Ross, J. (2011) ‘Vere, Thomas de, eighth earl of Oxford, d. 1371’ and ‘Vere, Richard de, eleventh earl of Oxford, 1385-1417’ in The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Sept. 2011 update).
Ross, J. (2011) ‘Sedition and the King Beyond the See’? The Norwich Cordwainers, the Prior of Shouldham and Edmund de la Pole, 1504-8’, The Ricardian, 21, 47-59.
Ross, J. (2010) ‘The de Vere Family and the House of York, c. 1440-1485’ in L. Visser-Fuchs, ed., Richard III and East Anglia: Magnates, Gilds and Learned Men (Richard III Society), pp 47-66.
Ross, J. (2007) 'Essex County Society and the French War in the Fifteenth Century' in L. Clark, ed., The Fifteenth Century VII. Conflicts, Consequences and the Crown in the Late Middle Ages (Woodbridge), 53-80
Ross, J. (2005) ‘Richard, Duke of Gloucester and the de Vere Estates’, The Ricardian, 15, 20-32.
Ross, J. (2003) 'Seditious Activities: The Conspiracy of Maud de Vere, Countess of Oxford, 1403-4' in L. Clark, ed., The Fifteenth Century III. Authority and Subversion (Woodbridge), pp 25-42.

Media appearances:

A Merry Tudor Christmas with Lucy Worsley, 2019
'In Our Time', on Queen Margaret of Anjou, BBC Radio 4, 24 May 2018

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Research interests

My research has focussed on the nobility and gentry in England from the late fourteenth to the early sixteenth century, encompassing their political and military role, their place in and contribution to political culture, their economic power, income and expenditure, and their use and occasionally abuse of the Common Law. I have recently been interested in exploring these topics across the historiographical divide of 1485. I am also interested in kingship, the royal administration, its processes and records, including those of the Common Law, in the later Middle Ages.

I lead a major research project, funded by the Leverhulme Trust, on the Chamber Books of Henry VII and Henry VIII (1485-1529). These are the earliest systematic private records of the financial decisions of an English monarch, giving an unparalleled insight into royal personality, the purchase of luxury items and material goods, the interaction of private and public, and the politics and finances of kingship. The two-year project, funded by the Leverhulme Trust, made the text of these records digitally available and searchable for the first time, while promoting research into Tudor court culture, politics and kingship. Work remains ongoing on interpreting these records. For more information, visit the Tudor Chamber Books project website.

Supervision of research students

I am currently Director of Studies and co-supervisor for a number of research students. I welcome enquiries about possible supervision. My areas of supervision are: late medieval English history, particularly politics, kingship, royal government and the aristocracy.