
Dr Rachel Delman
Susan Manning Postdoctoral Fellow
September 2018 - April 2019
project: Mary of Guelders: Female Power and Architectural Patronage in Late Medieval Scotland
Project Title: ‘Mary of Guelders: Female Power and Architectural Patronage in Late Medieval Scotland’
Rachel is a historian of later medieval Britain, with research interests in women’s and gender history, material culture and the built environment. As Susan Manning Fellow at IASH, she is investigating the architectural patronage of Mary of Guelders, queen regent of Scotland (d.1463). By exploring the type, location and design of the buildings Mary commissioned, Rachel is considering the ways in which Mary utilized the built environment for the expression of her authority and influence as queen regent. Following her time at IASH, Rachel will take up a Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship at the University of York, where she will locate her research on Mary of Guelders within a broader project on women’s architectural patronage in late medieval Britain.
Before coming to Edinburgh, Rachel completed her doctorate at the University of Oxford. Her research, which was fully funded by the AHRC and an Ochs scholarship from the British Archaeological Association, focused on great residences headed by noblewomen, and considered how female authority was articulated through the physical and social space of the great household and its wider landscape. She is currently preparing her thesis as a monograph for publication.
A core facet of Rachel’s work is outreach and public engagement, particularly with the heritage sector. She recently played a central role in a partnership between the University of Oxford and Coventry City Council, for which she collaboratively devised, researched and implemented a panel display titled, ‘Medieval Coventry’s Women of Influence – Queen Isabella and Queen Margaret of Anjou’, for the September 2018 Heritage Open Days. The display anticipates a larger series of exhibitions, activities and events on Coventry’s medieval heritage for City of Culture 2021.