Dr. Rebecca Field

The focus of much of my work is the anonymous fourteenth-century contemplative text, The Cloud of Unknowing, and its related treatises. I am currently working on a monograph, based on my PhD research, which investigates the pedagogic theory and practices of this anonymous author as he guides his disciples in a highly specialised method of contemplation. I also work on a variety of writers who may have influenced the Cloud-author, such as Aelred of Rievaulx, Bernard of Clairvaux, and Walter Hilton, as well as later writers and scholars who were influenced by the Cloud-author's work into the fifteenth, sixteenth and seventeeth centuries. 

I am also working on a new project, entitled 'Soundscapes of Contemplation', which considers the importance of sound and silence for devotional practice in the Middle Ages. This project is partially practice-led, and involves producing (re-)imagined 'soundscapes' of medieval monastic sites. 

As well as this, I do a variety of practice-led work on medieval manuscript illumination. I make 'mock-up miniatures' with which to test hypotheses about medieval artistic materials and their durability. You can read about my latest experiments below.