Staff Profile

• Senior Lecturer (History)
• Tutor (Open Programme) (Centre for Open Studies Academic Support)

I am working on three main projects at present:

• Articles: 'Scale-free networks and the spread of religious movements in the middle ages'

This builds on my work with Paul Ormerod of Volterra Consulting looking at graph or network theory and the spread of ideas in pre-modern society. Medieval religious movements could spread surprisingly quickly, because they took on the characteristics of scale-free networks. The two examples investigate are the Cathars and the Franciscan friars.

• with Maja Angelovska-Panova (INH, Skopje Uni. Macedonia) 'The Bogomils’ Folk Heritage: History, Reality, Mythology'  This looks at the possibility of use of an existing legacy of dualist folklore by the Bogomils of Eastern Europe and Cathars in the West.

The above will both appear in 'New approaches to medieval heresy and orthodoxy; the proceedings of the 2009 International Medieval Congress' eds. J. Simpson & Andrew P. Roach to be published by Brepols in 2012.

• Monograph: Lights: a study of illumination in the middle ages

Part of my investigation of medieval religion from the point of view of the laity. The idea of writing about candles seems good because it combines a number of elements.  Firstly, there is a genuine theological context for Light, it is a characteristic of the divine which can be replicated on earth.  Secondly, it was part of the laity’s everyday experience. There is evidence of candlelit houses, workplaces and shops. Finally, they were an integral part of worship, most notably at Candlemas (Feb.2), but also lighting altars, shrines and tombs.
The laity could be taxed for church lighting, but often organised voluntary guilds for the purpose. Lighting was therefore one sphere in which they could exert influence over their physical surroundings and experience within the church.  Candles were also an early form of consumer good. Available both in tallow and beeswax, the price fell steadily as production techniques improved, so that by the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries even moderately well off householders could light their houses with wax candles. The primary use of the wax candle continued to be in church and there it combined liturgical significance, with being an aid to both the dead and the sick and having a practical value in that it allowed the laity to see what was going on in their name.

Selected Publications: 

2013

Roach, A.P. and Simpson, J., (Eds.) (2013) Heresy and European Culture: Medieval and Modern Perspectives. Ashgate. (In Press)

Roach, A.P., Simpson, J.R. and Angelovska-Panova, M., eds. (2013) Heresy and the Limits of Orthodoxy: Medieval and Modern Perspectives. Ashgate, Farnham, Surrey, UK. (In Press)

Roach, A.P. and Simpson, J.R., eds. (2013) Orthodoxy and its Eccentricities: Negotiating and Locating Heresy, Dissent and Deviation in Medieval and Modern Perspective. Brepols. (In Press)

Roach, A.P. (2013) Bogomils, network theory and christianisation. Glasnik . ISSN 0583-4961 (In Press)

2012

Roach, A.P., and Angelovska-Panova, M. (2012) The Bogomils’ folk heritage: history, reality, mythology. In: International Medieval Congress 2009, July 13-16, 2009, Leeds. (Unpublished)

Roach, A., and Angelovska-Panova, M. (2012) Punishment of heretics: comparisons and contrasts between Western and Eastern Christianity in the Middle Ages. Journal of History (Macedonia), 47 (1). pp. 145-171. ISSN 0579-0263

2010

Ormerod, P., and Roach, A. (2010) Understanding terrorism and radicalisation: a network approach. History and Policy .

2008

Roach, A.P., and Rosewell, B. (2008) Building bridges : some lessons from the Middle Ages on the long-term economic impact of bridges over the Thames. Working Paper. Greater London Authority.

Ormerod, P., and Roach, A.P. (2008) Emergent scale-free social networks in history: burning and the rise of English Protestantism. Cultural Science, 1 (1). ISSN 1836-0416

2006

Roach, A.P. (2006) The competition for souls: Sava of Serbia and consumer choice in religion in the thirteenth century Balkans. Glasnik, 50 (1). ISSN 0583-4961

2005

Roach, A.P. (2005) The Devil's World: Heresy and Society, 1100-1300. Pearson Longman, Harlow. ISBN 0582279607

2004

Omerod, P., and Roach, A.P. (2004) The medieval inquisition: scale-free networks and the suppression of heresy. Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Application, 339 (3-4). pp. 645-652. ISSN 0378-4371 (doi:10.1016/j.physa.2004.03.020)

2002

Roach, A.P., and Gunn, V. (2002) Teaching medieval towns: group exercises, individual presentations and self-assessment. Innovations in Education and Teaching International, 39 (3). pp. 196-204. ISSN 1470-3297 (doi:10.1080/13558000210140965)

2001

Roach, A.P. (2001) Penance and the making of the Inquisition in Languedoc. Journal of Ecclesiastical History, 52 (3). pp. 409-433. ISSN 1469-7637 (doi:10.1017/S0022046901008636)

Roach, A.P. (2001) Bogomils. In: Jones, D. (ed.) Censorship: A World Encyclopedia. Fitzroy Dearborn, London, UK. ISBN 9781579581350

Roach, A.P. (2001) Censorship and Heresy, 1000-1500. In: Jones, D. (ed.) Censorship: A World Encyclopedia. Fitzroy Dearborn, London, UK. ISBN 9781579581350

Roach, A.P. (2001) Dominican Order. In: Jones, D. (ed.) Censorship: A World Encyclopedia. Fitzroy Dearborn, London, UK. ISBN 9781579581350

Roach, A.P. (2001) Waldensians. In: Jones, D. (ed.) Censorship: A World Encyclopedia. Fitzroy Dearborn, London, UK. ISBN 9781579581350

This list was generated on Tue Mar 19 17:19:15 2013 GMT.