ALASDAIR C. GRANT, CURRICULUM VITAE
Career: 2020–21 Curatorial (Postdoctoral) Fellow, University of Edinburgh: Curating A. G. Leventis Foundation-funded exhibition ‘Edina/Athena: The Greek Revolution and the Athens of the North, 1821–2021’. 2020 (spring) Junior Fellow, Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection (Harvard University), Washington, D.C. 2017–18 Visiting Doctoral Researcher, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität, Mainz 2016–21 PhD in History, University of Edinburgh: ‘CROSS-CONFESSIONAL CAPTIVITY IN THE LATER MEDIEVAL EASTERN ROMAN WORLD, C.1280–1450’ Lead Supervisor: Professor Niels Gaul (University of Edinburgh) Co-Supervisor: Dr Dimitri Kastritsis (University of St Andrews) Co-Supervisor: Dr Mike Carr (University of Edinburgh) Host 2017-18: Professor Johannes Pahlitzsch (Johannes Gutenberg-Universität, Mainz) 2015–16 MSt (taught master’s degree), with Distinction, Late Antique and Byzantine Studies, Corpus Christi College, Oxford University (supervised by Dr Catherine Holmes) 2011–15 MA (Hons.) (Scottish undergraduate degree), First Class, and top prize in the Faculty of Arts, Latin and Mediaeval History, University of St Andrews 2006–11 Robert Gordon’s College (secondary school), Aberdeen: final year prizes in Debating, Latin, Greek, English, and Religious, Moral, and Philosophical Studies
Publications: Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles: Under Review ‘Scotland’s “Vagabonding Greekes”, c.1453–1688’, Byzantine & Modern Greek Studies. 2018 ‘The Mongol Invasions between Epistolography and Prophecy: The Case of the Letter “Ad flagellum”, c.1235/6–1338’, Traditio 73 (2018), pp. 117–77. 2016 ‘Pisan Perspectives: The Carmen in victoriam and Holy War, c.1000–1150’, The English Historical Review cxxxi, no. 552 (2016), pp. 983–1009. Peer-Reviewed Book Chapters: Under Review ‘Captives, Slaves, and Latin Categories of Greekness’, in N. Gaul (ed.), The Post-1204 Byzantine World: New Approaches and Novel Directions (Abingdon: Routledge, forthcoming). 2019 ‘Byzantium’s Ashes and the Bones of St Nicholas: Two Translations as Turning Points, 1087–1100’, in M. Kinloch & A. MacFarlane, Trends and Turning-Points: Constructing the Late Antique and Byzantine World (Leiden: Brill, 2019), pp. 247–65. Book Reviews: 2021 T. Sinclair, Eastern Trade and the Mediterranean in the Middle Ages: Pegolotti’s Ayas– Tabriz Itinerary and its Commercial Context (London & New York, 2019), in Al-Masāq (issue not yet assigned). 2020 H. Barker, That Most Precious Merchandise: The Mediterranean Trade in Black Sea Slaves, 1260–1500 (Philadelphia, 2019), in Al-Masāq 32 (2020), pp. 357–60.
1 2019 G. Scalia (ed.), A. Bartola (comm.), & M. Guardo (trans.), Enrico Pisano: Liber Maiorichinus de gestis Pisanorum illustribus (Florence, 2017), in The English Historical Review cxxxiv, no. 569 (2019), pp. 957–9. Blogs: 2019 ‘Conference Report: Crossing Boundaries? Trade & Connections on the Medieval Mediterranean’ (https://www.woolf.cam.ac.uk/blog/crossing-boundaries-trade-connections-on-the- medieval-mediterranean) 2016– Akrites: From the Medieval Frontier (personal academic blog: https://akritesblog.wordpress.com)
Teaching: 2019 Islamic History B: From the Crusades to the ‘Gunpowder Empires’ (undergraduate), University of Edinburgh. 2019 MH2002: Introduction to Middle Eastern History (UG), University of St Andrews. 2017 Latin 1B (UG), University of Edinburgh 2017 Elementary Latin (Postgraduate) 2, University of Edinburgh
Scholarships and Awards: 2017 Visiting Doctoral Researcher Scholarship, Scottish Graduate School for Arts and Humanities, to spend one academic year (2017–18) at the Johannes Gutenberg- Universität, Mainz 2016 Doctoral Training Partnership Full Studentship, fees and stipend, Scottish Graduate School for Arts and Humanities (Arts and Humanities Research Council); University of Edinburgh 2016 Doctoral Training Partnership Full Studentship, fees and stipend, Midlands3Cities (AHRC); University of Birmingham (not taken up) 2016 Oxford-A.G. Leventis Graduate Scholarship, fees and stipend; University of Oxford (not taken up) 2015 MILLER PRIZE FOR ‘THE MOST OUTSTANDING, GRADUATING STUDENT IN THE FACULTY OF ARTS’, UNIVERSITY OF ST ANDREWS 2013–15 Prizes in Mediaeval History, University of St Andrews 2012–15 Deans’ List (for achieving an overall first-class mark), University of St Andrews 2013 & ’14 Undergraduate Research Internships, University of St Andrews 2014 Vacation Scholarship (for independent research), Carnegie Trust 2014 Mitford Bursary for visits to historical sites (Thessaloniki, Mount Athos), University of St Andrews
Languages: Medieval Source Languages Latin Classical and Medieval, reading fluency: Joint Honours degree, University of St Andrews, 2011–15 (for teaching, see above) Greek Classical and Medieval, good reading: Birmingham Byzantine Greek Summer School, 2015, Level 3 (Advanced); Byzantine Texts Seminar, University of Edinburgh, 2017; Griechische Quellenlektüre, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität, Mainz, 2018
2 Arabic Medieval and Modern Standard, reading ability: Language and literature papers for the MSt in Late Antique and Byzantine Studies, Oxford University, 2015–16; Arabische Quellenlektüre, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität, Mainz, 2017–18 Armenian Classical, reading ability: Classes at University of St Andrews, 2019–21 (latterly distance learning) Modern Languages German Conversational, reading fluency: certified at level B2; Reading and Grammar classes taken at level C, Internationales Studien- und Sprachenkolleg, Johannes Gutenberg- Universität, Mainz, 2017–18 Turkish Spoken and written, elementary level Modern Greek Spoken and written, elementary level Italian, } French, } Academic reading proficiency Spanish }
Conferences Organized: 2018 Reception, Appropriation, and Innovation: Byzantium between the Christian and Islamic Worlds. Second Annual Edinburgh International Graduate Byzantine Conference, 30 November–1 December, University of Edinburgh (organizing committee member) 2017 Byzantium Compared: First International Graduate Conference in Byzantine Studies, 22– 23 September, University of Edinburgh (co-founder and -organizer)
Conference Papers (Selected): 2021 (April) On Being Conquered in Byzantium: Byzantine Studies Virtual Symposium, Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, D.C., ‘The Wandering Captive’s Letter of Clerical Advocacy (Aichmalotikon)’ (invited speaker). 2019 (July) Movement and Mobility in the Medieval Mediterranean (6th–15th centuries) (Society for the Medieval Mediterranean, Sixth Biennial Conference), Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Barcelona: ‘Still “in capite mundi”? Cyprus and the Crusade in a Probably Spurious Letter of 1441’. 2019 (April) Crossing Boundaries? Trade and Connections on the Medieval Mediterranean, Woolf Institute and St John’s College, Cambridge: ‘Merchants as Agents in the Levantine Captive Trade, c.1290–1430’ (invited speaker). 2018 (Oct.) Medieval Unfreedoms: Slavery, Servitude, and Trafficking in Humans before the Trans- Atlantic Slave Trade, Binghamton University, New York: ‘Mapping the Trade in Greek Captives, c.1300–1450: Actors, Nodes, and Networks’. 2018 (July) 5. Byzantinisches Doktorandenkolloquium Köln — Mainz — Münster, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität, Mainz: ‘Quod est iniquum: Orthodoxe Christen in lateinischer Gefangenschaft’. 2018 (Feb) Space and Dimension in Late Antiquity and Byzantium, Oxford University Byzantine Society Graduate Conference: ‘Clergy and Captives in Byzantium beyond Byzantium: Agents of an Imperial Space? c.1280–1450’. 2017 (May) University of Leeds Graduate Conference in Medieval Mediterranean History: ‘The Mongol Invasions between Epistolography and Prophecy: The Case of the Letter “ad flagellum”’.
3 2017 (March) Harvard Graduate Conference on International History: ‘Aichmalosia: Captivity, Ransom, and Letter Writing in Byzantium and its Neighbours, c.1204–1453’. 2016 (June) University of Birmingham Centre for Byzantine, Ottoman and Modern Greek Studies, Graduate Colloquium: ‘When is a Pirate not a Pirate? Maritime Marginalia in the Middle Versus Late Byzantine Sphere’.
Relevant Work Experience: 2010–12, 2016 Seasonal guide (summer), Fyvie Castle, Fyvie, Turriff, Aberdeenshire (National Trust for Scotland)
Other Relevant Experience: 2020 Copy-editing twenty-four chapters for a forthcoming volume with Routledge, The Post- 1204 Byzantine World: New Approaches and Novel Directions (based on the 51st Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies, Edinburgh, 2018) 2019 Copy-editing six chapters for a forthcoming book with Edinburgh University Press, Identities and Ideologies in the Medieval Byzantine World 2015 British Museum Numismatics Summer School, Medieval Week
Archives Consulted: Archivio di Stato, Genoa; Archivio di Stato, Palermo; Archivio di Stato, Venice; Državni arhiv, Dubrovnik.
Musical Activities: Alongside my academic work, I have maintained a semi-professional musical career, composing, playing the organ, and singing in and conducting choirs. 2018–19 Bass, Edinburgh University Chamber Choir 2018 Internship (musical composition), Compton organ, Summerlee Museum of Scottish Industrial Life, Coatbridge (funded and co-ordinated by SGSAH) 2016–17, ’18–19 Organ Scholar, Morningside Parish Church, Edinburgh 2015–16 Graduate Organ Scholar, Trinity College, Oxford University 2015 First Prize, Organ Solo Category, Greyfriars Kirk Composition Competition, Edinburgh (judged by James MacMillan) 2014–15 Campbell Watterson Organ Scholar, University of St Andrews 2014–15 Douglas Gifford (Conducting) Scholar, University of St Andrews 2013–14 Junior Organ Scholar, University of St Andrews 2011–14 Bass, St Salvator’s Chapel Choir, University of St Andrews
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