Staff profile

Alex works on the economic and social history of rural England across the medieval and early modern periods. His first book, Rural Society and Economic Change in County Durham, was a study of how rural society in Durham adapted to the economic problems of the fifteenth-century recession and how this affected their ability to respond to the inflation of the sixteenth century. This explored a range of different issues but especially the role of path dependency in shaping the size, rent and tenure of landholdings, three of the most crucial factors in the development of agrarian capitalism. Alex has also co-edited two collections of essays on Custom and Commercialisation in English Rural Society and Crises in Economic and Social History. 

His research also explores the fear of downward social mobility in late medieval England. This challenges the image of medieval society as ‘an age of ambition’ by examining the ubiquitous fear of social decline, and demonstrating how this fear could contribute to the transformation of society: change can, after all, be wrought by people desperately trying to preserve the status quo. Previous studies have tended to focus upon the success of socially ambitious, generally male, careerists, and to ascribe to these entrepreneurial figures the most agency in the production of change. In contrast, his research reveals the important role played by gender and the life cycle in the articulation of this fear of downward mobility: marriage and old age in particular were moments when social decline seemed at its closest in medieval society. This has most recently led to a chapter about social mobility in the medieval stories of Robin Hood.

More recently, Alex's research has focused on the intersection between the approaches of digital and medical humanities. Between 2024-27, he is the Principal Investigator on the research project 'Modelling the Black Death and Social Connectivity in Medieval England', funded by the Leverhulme Trust. The team consists of Co-Investigators in Archaeology (Christopher Gerrard and Rebecca Gowland) and Physics (Frank Krauss), as well as three postdoctoral research associates spread across the three disciplines (Grace Owen, Tudor Skinner, and Gavin Woolman). Utilising the latest computer modelling developed in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, the team are simulating the spread of the Black Death in England in order to test hypotheses about the spread of the disease and about the connectedness of medieval society. Using historical and archaeological sources, they are reconstructing the broad characteristics of the late medieval population on the eve of the Black Death, such as their location, age, sex, and occupation. This is the ‘static’ part of the model. The team are then inferring the ‘dynamic’ behavioural patterns of the medieval population, such as where they spent their time and whom they encountered in their daily lives. They have produced a podcast episode about working as an interdisciplinary team; a radio interview in New Zealand about learning lessons from historic pandemics; and articles in the Conversation about medieval sick leave. 

His most recent research includes articles on medieval oaths, social security, institutional memory, enclosure riots, sick leave, and memories of plague. 

Profile

Alex first arrived in Durham as an undergraduate (2005-8) and stayed on to complete an ESRC-funded MA (2008-9) and PhD (2009-12) here with the NINE DTP, before holding the Economic History Society Postan Fellowship (2012-13) at the Institute of Historical Research and the Addison Wheeler Fellowship (2013-16) at the Institute of Advanced Studies in Durham. He was appointed as an Assistant Professor of Medieval History in January 2018. 

Research Supervision

Alex welcome enquiries from students interested in any aspect of medieval or early modern economic, social or medical history, especially using the archives of Durham Priory and the Bishops of Durham.

He has had the pleasure of being part of the supervisory team of the following PhD students: 

Alex Hibberts (2025), 'The sea is history: estate management, land use, and risk calculation on the late medieval and early modern English coastline, c.1350-1600'.

Andrew Hamilton (2025), 'Mobility, law and sedition: the rise and impact of vagrancy in late medieval England', (based at Queen's University Belfast).

Jamie Irvine (2023), 'Causal origins of the 'religious movement of the Middle Ages': Cluny, Tiron, and the new orders, 910-1156'.

Ryan Wicklund (2022), 'Agricultural decision-making and managerial responses at Durham Cathedral Priory during the long fourteenth century, c.1300-1453'.

• Medieval Economic and Social History
• The Black Death
• The History of Durham
• Medical Humanities
• Digital Humanities

• 2025: Associate Dean (Research) Arts and Humanities Faculty:
• 2024: External Examiner at the University of Stirling:
• 2024: Council Member of the Surtees Society:
• 2020: Editor of Continuity and Change:
• 2018: Management Committee of the Durham Victoria County History Trust:
• 2018 - 2022: Conference Committee of the Economic History Society:

Authored book

• Rural Society and Economic Change in County Durham: Recession and Recovery, c.1400-1640
  
  Brown, A. (2015). Rural Society and Economic Change in County Durham: Recession and Recovery, c.1400-1640. Boydell and Brewer.

Chapter in book

• Health Inequality Trends in Britain Since the Roman Period: An Analysis of Bioarchaeological Data
  
  Kendall, E., Brown, A., Doran, T., Gowland, R., Kendall, R., Montgomery, J., Skarda, I., & Cookson, R. (in press). Health Inequality Trends in Britain Since the Roman Period: An Analysis of Bioarchaeological Data. In A. Moles, R. Gowland, & S. Schrader (Eds.), Advancing a Bioarchaeology of Health Inequality : Recent Developments and Future Directions. Springer Nature.
• Robin Hood: Social Hierarchy and Social Mobility
  
  Brown, A. T. (2024). Robin Hood: Social Hierarchy and Social Mobility. In S. H. Rigby (Ed.), Historians on Robin Hood: The Outlaw’s Legend in the Later Middle Ages. D. S. Brewer.
• Church Leaseholders on Durham Cathedral's Estate, 1540-1640: The Rise of a Rural Elite?
  
  Brown, A. (2018). Church Leaseholders on Durham Cathedral’s Estate, 1540-1640: The Rise of a Rural Elite? In A. Green & B. Crosbie (Eds.), Economy and Culture in North-East England, 1500-1800. Boydell Press.
• Custom and Commercialisation in English Rural Society
  
  Brown, A., & Bowen, J. P. (2016). Custom and Commercialisation in English Rural Society. In A. Brown & J. P. Bowen (Eds.), Custom and Commercialisation in English Rural Society, 1300-1800: Revisiting Postan and Tawney. University of Hertfordshire Press.
• A Money Economy? Provisioning Durham Cathedral across the Dissolution, 1350-1600
  
  Brown, A. (2016). A Money Economy? Provisioning Durham Cathedral across the Dissolution, 1350-1600. In A. Brown & J. P. Bowen (Eds.), Custom and Commercialisation in English Rural Society, 1300-1800: Revisiting Postan and Tawney. University of Hertfordshire Press.
• Coping with Crisis: Understanding the Role of Crises in Economic and Social History
  
  Brown, A., Burn, A., & Doherty, R. (2015). Coping with Crisis: Understanding the Role of Crises in Economic and Social History. In A. Brown, A. Burn, & R. Doherty (Eds.), Crises in Economic and Social History: A Comparative Perspective. Boydell Press.
• Economic Life
  
  Brown, A. (2015). Economic Life. In R. Swanson (Ed.), The Routledge History of Medieval Christianity, 1050-1500 (pp. 295-308). Routledge.

Edited book

• Custom and Commercialisation in English Rural Society, 1300-1800: Revisiting Postan and Tawney
  
  Brown, A., & Bowen, J. P. (Eds.). (2016). Custom and Commercialisation in English Rural Society, 1300-1800: Revisiting Postan and Tawney. University of Hertfordshire Press.
• Crises in Economic and Social History: A Comparative Perspective
  
  Brown, A., Burn, A., & Doherty, R. (Eds.). (2015). Crises in Economic and Social History: A Comparative Perspective. Boydell Press.

Journal Article

• Plague, Popular Memory, and Witness Testimonies in Late Medieval England
  
  Brown, A. T. (in press). Plague, Popular Memory, and Witness Testimonies in Late Medieval England. Journal of Medieval History.
• Surviving the Black Death in Medieval England: Recovering from Illness at Warboys, Huntingdonshire
  
  Brown, A. T., Owen, G., & Sloane, B. (in press). Surviving the Black Death in Medieval England: Recovering from Illness at Warboys, Huntingdonshire. Historical Research.
• Sick Leave of Customary Tenants in Late Medieval England
  
  Owen, G., Brown, A. T., & Skinner, T. (2025). Sick Leave of Customary Tenants in Late Medieval England. Journal of British Studies, 64, Article e92. https://doi.org/10.1017/jbr.2025.10130
• Enclosure Riots on the Commons: Memory and Conflict at Lytham Priory, 1200-1540
  
  Brown, A. (2025). Enclosure Riots on the Commons: Memory and Conflict at Lytham Priory, 1200-1540. The English Historical Review. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1093/ehr/ceaf003
• Social Security in Late Medieval England: Corrodies in the Hospitals and Almshouses of Durham Priory
  
  Brown, A. T. (2024). Social Security in Late Medieval England: Corrodies in the Hospitals and Almshouses of Durham Priory. Historical Research, 97(276), 199-217. https://doi.org/10.1093/hisres/htad033
• Oaths of Fidelity: Loyalty and Officeholding in Late Medieval Durham
  
  Brown, A. T. (2024). Oaths of Fidelity: Loyalty and Officeholding in Late Medieval Durham. History, 109(384-385), 34-58. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-229x.13384
• Institutional memory and legal conflict in the Old Borough of Durham, 1300–1450
  
  Brown, A. T., & Cox, B. (2023). Institutional memory and legal conflict in the Old Borough of Durham, 1300–1450. Continuity and Change, 38(3), 255-281. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0268416023000322
• Health inequality in Britain before 1750
  
  Kendall, E. J., Brown, A. T., Doran, T., Gowland, R., & Cookson, R. (2021). Health inequality in Britain before 1750. SSM - Population Health, 16, Article 100957. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmph.2021.100957
• The Fear of Downward Social Mobility in Late Medieval England
  
  Brown, A. (2019). The Fear of Downward Social Mobility in Late Medieval England. Journal of Medieval History, 45(5), 597-617. https://doi.org/10.1080/03044181.2019.1660206
• Estate Management and Institutional Constraints in Pre-Industrial England: the Ecclesiastical Estates of Durham, c.1400-1640
  
  Brown, A. (2014). Estate Management and Institutional Constraints in Pre-Industrial England: the Ecclesiastical Estates of Durham, c.1400-1640. Economic History Review, 67(3), 699-719. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-0289.12036
• Surviving the mid-fifteenth-century recession : Durham cathedral priory, 1400-1520
  
  Brown, A. (2010). Surviving the mid-fifteenth-century recession : Durham cathedral priory, 1400-1520. Northern History, 47(2), 209-231. https://doi.org/10.1179/007817210x12738429860707

Newspaper/Magazine Article

• Medieval peasants enjoyed a surprising range of sick, annual and bereavement leave benefits
  
  Brown, A., & Owen, G. (2025, November 20). Medieval peasants enjoyed a surprising range of sick, annual and bereavement leave benefits. The Conversation. https://doi.org/10.64628/ab.hqn3hf9nf