Staff profile

My research focuses on the social and cultural history of early modern Europe, especially France in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. I studied as an undergraduate in Cambridge and as a graduate student in Oxford. As a visiting student I studied at the Université Lille-III and Sorbonne Université, where I was affiliated with the Centre Roland Mousnier. After completing my doctorate, I was a departmental lecturer at Oxford then a research fellow at Trinity College, Cambridge.

I arrived in Durham in 2018 and currently serve as Director of Research in the History Department. I have held visiting positions at the École des hautes études en sciences sociales, Paris; the Max Planck Institute for Legal History and Legal Theory, Frankfurt am Main; and the Max Weber Kolleg, University of Erfurt. I'm a keen runner and enjoy exploring the trails and fells of the North East with our local running club the Elvet Striders.

Research: France in the Wars of Religion

Above all I work on the French Wars of Religion and explore what it was like to live through them. I am developing this research as part of the Inventing Futures (IFs) programme at Durham's Institute of Medieval and Early Modern Studies. The IFs project I lead is titled Forging Social Solidarities during Religious Wars; it asks how society can hold together when civil war breaks out because of religious differences.

This project builds on my previous research and develops it on a larger scale. My first book, Pierre de L’Estoile and his World in the Wars of Religion, shows how this major diarist’s decisions about preserving or destroying records shaped the way historians have interpreted the period ever since. My second book, A Widow's Vengeance after the Wars of Religion: Gender and Justice in Renaissance France, demonstrates how plaintiffs like the powerful widow Renée Chevalier revitalized the practice of justice after the troubles, and reshaped the laws of war in the process. 

Research: crime and justice under the Old Regime

Much of my research relies on criminal archives, which give access to people who lived at a time when few could sign their name, let alone write at greater length. As a result I have developed wider interests in the place of criminal justice in the legal culture of the Old Regime. My publications on this subject have focused on hearsay and oral evidence, legal print, public execution rituals, political justice, quantitative approaches, the sexual crimes labelled as ‘sodomy’ from both macro- and microhistorical perspectives, theft prosecutions, and visual depictions of criminal law. The image below shows the case bags from a trial for theft before the Parlement of Toulouse in 1685, as well as a rusty skeleton key in its leather pouch, which I wrote about here.

Public history

I have published public-facing articles based on my research with History Today and History Workshop; recorded podcasts with Chemins d'histoire, New Books Network, and Not Just the Tudors; been interviewed by Criminocorpus and The Historian; and appeared on BBC Radio 3's The Early Music Show.

Academic service: French History

With my colleague Claire Eldridge I serve as Co-Editor of the journal French History. The journal is an international forum for major new articles covering all aspects of the histories of France and the Francophone world, from the early Middle Ages to the twenty-first century. I am responsible for the period before 1815. I would be glad to hear from anyone interested in publishing an article, review essay, or special issue in the journal. I also serve on the committee of the Society for the Study of French History, which owns the journal with Oxford University Press.

Graduate supervision

I am happy to supervise graduate students working on topics in early modern French history, and topics in early modern history more generally, especially those related to my broad thematic areas of research interest.

• Early Modern History
• European History
• Crime and Justice
• Economic and Social History
• History on the Margins
• Political Cultures

• 2025: Natalie Zemon Davis Subsequent Book Prize (Sixteenth Century Society): for A Widow's Vengeance after the Wars of Religion: Gender and Justice in Renaissance France (Oxford University Press, 2024)
• 2024 - 2029: Co-Editor, French History: published by Oxford University Press
• 2024: Max Weber Kolleg, University of Erfurt: Visiting Fellow with the Project 'Religion and Urbanity: Reciprocal Relations' (DFG—FOR 2779)
• 2023: École des hautes études en sciences sociales, Paris: Professeur invité
• 2022: Law, Peace, and Justice in Medieval and Early Modern Europe, Durham IMEMS Press: Editorial Board (Boydell and Brewer)
• 2021: Nancy Lyman Roelker Prize (Sixteenth Century Society): for 'Adjudicating the Troubles: Violence, Memory, and Criminal Justice at the End of the Wars of Religion', French History, 34 (2020)
• 2018: Shortlisted for the R. Gapper Book Prize (Society for French Studies): for Pierre de L’Estoile and his World in the Wars of Religion (Oxford University Press, 2017)
• 2018: Criminocorpus: Membre du comité scientifique
• 2017: Max Planck Institute of Legal History and Legal Theory: Visiting Postdoctoral Fellow

Authored book

• A Widow's Vengeance after the Wars of Religion: Gender and Justice in Renaissance France
  
  Hamilton, T. (2024). A Widow’s Vengeance after the Wars of Religion: Gender and Justice in Renaissance France. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780192870179.001.0001
• Pierre de L'Estoile and his World in the Wars of Religion
  
  Hamilton, T. (2017). Pierre de L’Estoile and his World in the Wars of Religion. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198800095.001.0001

Chapter in book

• Les impétrants à la poursuite de la justice : à propos des factums criminels avant l’Ordonnance criminelle de 1670
  
  Greengrass, M., & Hamilton, T. (2025). Les impétrants à la poursuite de la justice : à propos des factums criminels avant l’Ordonnance criminelle de 1670. In C. Chatelain & I. Gomez Gonzalez (Eds.), Plaidoyers judiciaires et usages de l’État, Europe et mers XVIe-XIXe siècles (pp. 115-133). Classiques Garnier.
• Pierre de L'Estoile et la sorcellerie
  
  Hamilton, T. (2025). Pierre de L’Estoile et la sorcellerie. In N. Oddo & G. Schrenck (Eds.), Pierre de L’Estoile, homme de cabinet, homme de réseaux (pp. 421-441). Droz.
• Picturing Criminal Law in Old Regime France: Brunel, Known as Bétancourt, Being Led to the Scaffold (1670)
  
  Hamilton, T. (2024). Picturing Criminal Law in Old Regime France: Brunel, Known as Bétancourt, Being Led to the Scaffold (1670). In F. Grant & L. Jordanova (Eds.), Where Words and Images Meet (pp. 57–67). Bloomsbury Visual Arts.
• Political Crime in the Wars of Religion: François Brigard's Sedition
  
  Hamilton, T. (2021). Political Crime in the Wars of Religion: François Brigard’s Sedition. In J. O’Brien & M. Schachter (Eds.), Sedition: The Spread of Controversial Literature and Ideas in France and Scotland, c. 1550–1610 (pp. 195-212). Brepols Publishers.
• 'Food and War' and 'Food Theft'
  
  Hamilton, T. (2019). ’Food and War’ and ’Food Theft’. In V. Avery & M. Calaresu (Eds.), Feast & Fast: The Art of Food in Europe, 1500-1800 (pp. 54-57). Bloomsbury.
• The Impact of Jacques Gillot’s Actes du Concile de Trente (1607) in the Debate Concerning the Council of Trent in France
  
  Hamilton, T. (2018). The Impact of Jacques Gillot’s Actes du Concile de Trente (1607) in the Debate Concerning the Council of Trent in France. In W. François & V. Soen (Eds.), The Council of Trent : reform and controversy in Europe and beyond (1545-1700). Vol. 2: Between bishops and princes. (pp. 345-365). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. https://doi.org/10.13109/9783666551086.345
• Contesting Public Executions in Paris Towards the End of the Wars of Religion
  
  Hamilton, T. (2015). Contesting Public Executions in Paris Towards the End of the Wars of Religion. In S. Cummins & L. Kounine (Eds.), Cultures of conflict resolution in early Modern Europe. (pp. 179-202). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315563121-8

Journal Article

• Legacies of Violence? Catholic Militancy in Paris after the Saint Bartholomew’s Day Massacre
  
  Descimon, R., & Hamilton, T. (in press). Legacies of Violence? Catholic Militancy in Paris after the Saint Bartholomew’s Day Massacre. French Historical Studies.
• Making New Faith In/Visible. Religious Movements and Urban Space
  
  Chaudhuri, S., Christ, M., Fugger, V., Hamilton, T., Lafi, N., Rakow, K., Rau, S., Scheutz, M., Stercken, M., & Szende and Emiliano Rubens Urciuoli, K. (2026). Making New Faith In/Visible. Religious Movements and Urban Space. Religion and Urbanity Online. https://doi.org/10.1515/urbrel.45989800
• Colonisations: notre histoire, a roundtable discussion
  
  Asseraf, A., Blanc, G., Kisukidi, N. Y., Lamotte, M., Singaravélou, P., Aldrich, R., Boittin, J. A., Ndengue, R., Rushforth, B., & Hamilton, T. (2025). Colonisations: notre histoire, a roundtable discussion. French History, 1-17. https://doi.org/10.1093/fh/craf041
• Religious Violence and Civic Militia: The Massacre at Sens (1562) and its Aftermath
  
  Hamilton, T. (2025). Religious Violence and Civic Militia: The Massacre at Sens (1562) and its Aftermath. Religion and Urbanity Online. https://doi.org/10.1515/urbrel.41979705
• Les gens de Chaumot et les violences de guerre à la fin du XVIe siècle
  
  Hamilton, T. (2024). Les gens de Chaumot et les violences de guerre à la fin du XVIe siècle. Études Villeneuviennes, 59, 35-44.
• The Crisis and Recovery of Criminal Justice in Late Sixteenth-Century France
  
  Hamilton, T. (2024). The Crisis and Recovery of Criminal Justice in Late Sixteenth-Century France. Sixteenth Century Journal, 55(1-2), 195-219. https://doi.org/10.1086/731060
• Gaspard de Monconys’ Defence against the Charge of Imposture: Criminal Justice, Social Hierarchy, and Personal Identity in Early Seventeenth-Century France
  
  Greengrass, M., & Hamilton, T. (2024). Gaspard de Monconys’ Defence against the Charge of Imposture: Criminal Justice, Social Hierarchy, and Personal Identity in Early Seventeenth-Century France. The Seventeenth Century, 39(4), 511-537. https://doi.org/10.1080/0268117X.2024.2346306
• Prosecuting theft in Old Regime France, c.1540–c.1700
  
  Hamilton, T. (2023). Prosecuting theft in Old Regime France, c.1540–c.1700. Continuity and Change, 38(3), 283-312. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0268416023000334
• Un 'cas exécrable' devant le Parlement de Paris à la fin des guerres de Religion (1599-1600)
  
  Hamilton, T. (2023). Un ’cas exécrable’ devant le Parlement de Paris à la fin des guerres de Religion (1599-1600). Criminocorpus. https://doi.org/10.4000/criminocorpus.12196
• The Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre Up Close
  
  Hamilton, T. (2022). The Saint Bartholomew’s Day Massacre Up Close. French History, 36(4), 467-470. https://doi.org/10.1093/fh/crac055
• The Evidence of Hearsay in Criminal Proceedings from Late Renaissance France
  
  Hamilton, T. (2022). The Evidence of Hearsay in Criminal Proceedings from Late Renaissance France. Renaissance Studies, 36(3), 377-394. https://doi.org/10.1111/rest.12761
• A Sodomy Scandal on the Eve of the French Wars of Religion
  
  Hamilton, T. (2021). A Sodomy Scandal on the Eve of the French Wars of Religion. Historical Journal, 64(4), 844-864. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0018246x20000564
• Introduction: Remembering the French Wars of Religion
  
  van der Linden, D., & Hamilton, T. (2020). Introduction: Remembering the French Wars of Religion. French History, 34(4), 411-416. https://doi.org/10.1093/fh/craa045
• Adjudicating the Troubles: Violence, Memory, and Criminal Justice at the End of the Wars of Religion
  
  Hamilton, T. (2020). Adjudicating the Troubles: Violence, Memory, and Criminal Justice at the End of the Wars of Religion. French History, 34(4), 417-434. https://doi.org/10.1093/fh/craa044
• Sodomy and Criminal Justice in the Parlement of Paris, c.1540-c.1700
  
  Hamilton, T. (2020). Sodomy and Criminal Justice in the Parlement of Paris, c.1540-c.1700. Journal of the History of Sexuality, 29(3), Article 303-334.
• Introduction: Voulez ouyr?
  
  Hamilton, T., & Hammond, N. (2019). Introduction: Voulez ouyr? Early Modern French Studies, 41(1), 2-6. https://doi.org/10.1080/20563035.2019.1612556
• Recording the Wars of Religion: The ‘Drolleries of the League’ from Ephemeral Print to Scrapbook History
  
  Hamilton, T. (2016). Recording the Wars of Religion: The ‘Drolleries of the League’ from Ephemeral Print to Scrapbook History. Past and Present, 230(S11), 288-310. https://doi.org/10.1093/pastj/gtw024
• ‘Bigarrures folatres et mesdisantes’: A Curio from Pierre de L’Estoile’s Cabinet?
  
  Hamilton, T. (2016). ‘Bigarrures folatres et mesdisantes’: A Curio from Pierre de L’Estoile’s Cabinet? French Studies Bulletin, 37(139), 43-46. https://doi.org/10.1093/frebul/ktw010
• The Procession of the League: Remembering the Wars of Religion in Visual and Literary Satire
  
  Hamilton, T. (2016). The Procession of the League: Remembering the Wars of Religion in Visual and Literary Satire. French History, 30(1), 1-30. https://doi.org/10.1093/fh/crv087