Professor Alex Shepard

  • Professor of Gender History (History)

telephone: 5909
email: Alex.Shepard@glasgow.ac.uk

R210A Level 2, History, 2 University Gardens, Glasgow G12 8QH

Import to contacts

ORCID iDhttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-3026-7606

Research interests

My research addresses the social, cultural and economic history of early modern Britain, with an emphasis on gender relations. Since the publication of my first book, Meanings of Manhood in Early Modern England (Oxford University Press, 2003), I have been interested in the relationship between gender and class.  My second book, Accounting for Oneself: Worth, Status and the Social Order in Early Modern England (Oxford University Press, 2015) is a study of the language of self-description deployed by thousands of witnesses asserting their creditworthiness in court, offering a bottom-up perspective on the social order, gender relations, and social change between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries.   Accounting for Oneself won the Leo Gershoy Award, a prize awarded annually by the American Historical Association to ‘the author of the most outstanding work published in English on any aspect of 17th- and 18th-century European history’.   As Co-I of an AHRC funded project on ‘Women Negotiating the Boundaries of Justice: Britain and Ireland, c.1100-c.1750’, and as leader of a Leverhulme International Network Grant on ‘Producing Change: Gender and Work in Early Modern Europe’, I am currently involved in comparative research projects on women’s agency before the law and on gender and the early modern economy.  I am also currently researching a book on childcare, family and economy in Britain, 1650-1850.

Research groups

Publications

List by: Type | Date

Jump to: 2023 | 2019 | 2017 | 2015 | 2013 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2000 | 1998
Number of items: 36.

2023

Shepard, A. (2023) "Working mothers" in eighteenth-century London. History Workshop Journal, 96, pp. 1-24. (doi: 10.1093/hwj/dbad008)

MacLeod, C., Shepard, A. and Ågren, M. (Eds.) (2023) The Whole Economy: Work and Gender in Early Modern Europe. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge. ISBN 9781009359368

Hunt, M. R. and Shepard, A. (2023) Introduction. In: MacLeod, C., Shepard, A. and Ågren, M. (eds.) The Whole Economy: Work and Gender in Early Modern Europe. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, pp. 1-25. ISBN 9781009359368 (doi: 10.1017/9781009359344.002)

Shepard, A. (2023) Care. In: MacLeod, C., Shepard, A. and Ågren, M. (eds.) The Whole Economy: Work and Gender in Early Modern Europe. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, pp. 53-83. ISBN 9781009359368 (doi: 10.1017/9781009359344.004)

2019

Shepard, A. (2019) Worthless witnesses? Marginal voices and women's legal agency in early modern England. Journal of British Studies, 58, pp. 717-734. (doi: 10.1017/jbr.2019.85)

Shepard, A. (2019) “Active agents” and “history makers”: women in the early modern economy. In: Asquer, E., Bellavitis, A., Calvi, G., Chabot, I., La Rocca, C. and Martini, M. (eds.) Vingt-cinq ans après. Les femmes au rendez-vous de l’histoire. École française de Rome: Rome, pp. 385-396. ISBN 9782728313785

2017

Shepard, A. (2017) The pleasures and pains of breast-feeding in England, c.1600-c.1800. In: Braddick, M. J. and Innes, J. (eds.) Suffering and Happiness in England 1550-1850: Narratives and Representations. Series: The past and present book series. Oxford University Press: Oxford. ISBN 9780198748267

Shepard, A. (2017) Provision, household management and the moral authority of wives and mothers in early modern England. In: Braddick, M. J. and Withington, P. (eds.) Popular Culture and Political Agency in Early Modern England and Ireland. Series: Studies in early modern cultural, political and social history. Boydell & Brewer: Woodbridge, pp. 73-89. ISBN 9781783271719

Shepard, A. (2017) Gender, the body and sexuality. In: Wrightson, K. (ed.) A Social History of England, 1500-1750. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, pp. 330-351. ISBN 9781107041790

2015

Shepard, A. (2015) Minding their own business: married women and credit in early eighteenth-century London. Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, 25, pp. 53-74. (PMCID:PMC4602702)

Shepard, A. (2015) Accounting for Oneself: Worth, Status and the Social Order in Early Modern England. Oxford University Press: Oxford. ISBN 9780199600793 (doi: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199600793.001.0001)

Shepard, A. (2015) Crediting women in the early modern English economy. History Workshop Journal, 79(1), pp. 1-24. (doi: 10.1093/hwj/dbv002)

2013

Shepard, A. (2013) The worth of married women in the English church courts, c.1550-1730. In: Beattie, C. and Stevens, M.F. (eds.) Married Women and the Law in Premodern Northwest Europe. The Boydell Press: Woodbridge, pp. 191-211. ISBN 9781843838333

Hindle, S., Shepard, A. and Walter, J. (Eds.) (2013) Remaking English Society: Social Relations and Social Change in Early Modern England. Series: Studies in early modern cultural, political and social history. Boydell Press: Woodbridge. ISBN 9781843837961

Hindle, S., Shepard, A. and Walter, J. (2013) The making and remaking of early modern English social history. In: Hindle, S., Shepard, A. and Walter, J. (eds.) Remaking English Society: Social Relations and Social Change in Early Modern England. Series: Studies in Early Modern cultural,political and social history. Boydell and Brewer: Woodbridge, pp. 1-40. ISBN 9781843837961

Shepard, A. (2013) Brokering fatherhood: illegitimacy and paternal rights and responsibilities in early modern England. In: Hindle, S., Shepard, A. and Walter, J. (eds.) Remaking English Society: Social Relations and Social Change in Early Modern England. Series: Studies in early modern cultural, political and social history (14). Boydell Press: Woodbridge, pp. 41-63. ISBN 9781843837961

2011

Shepard, A. and Spicksley, J. (2011) Worth, age, and social status in early modern England. Economic History Review, 64(2), pp. 493-530. (doi: 10.1111/j.1468-0289.2010.00533.x)

2010

Shepard, A. (2010) Family and household. In: Doran, S. and Jones, N.L. (eds.) The Elizabethan World. Series: The Routledge worlds. Routledge: Abingdon, UK. ISBN 9780415409599

Shepard, A. (2010) Manhood, patriarchy, and gender in early modern history. In: Leonard, A. and Nelson, K.L. (eds.) Masculinities, Childhood, Violence: Attending to Early Modern Women and Men : Proceedings of the 2006 Symposium. University of Delaware Press: Newark, USA. ISBN 9781611490183

Shepard, A. (2010) Student violence in early modern Cambridge. In: Brockliss, L.W.B. and Montgomery, H. (eds.) Childhood and Violence in the Western Tradition. Oxbow Books: Oxford, UK, pp. 233-241. ISBN 9781842179789

2009

Shepard, A. and Walker, G. (Eds.) (2009) Gender and Change: Agency, Chronology and Periodisation. Wiley-Blackwell: Chichester, UK. ISBN 9781405192279

Shepard, A. (2009) Student masculinity in early modern Cambridge, 1560-1640. In: Krug-Richter, B. and Mohrmann, R.E. (eds.) Frühneuzeitliche Universitätskulturen: Kulturhistorische Perspektiven auf die Hochschulen in Europa. Series: Beihefte zum archiv für kulturgeschichte (65). Böhlau: Köln, Germany. ISBN 9783412229061

Shepard, A. and Walker, G. (2009) Gender, change and periodisation. In: Shepard, A. and Walker, G. (eds.) Gender and Change: Agency, Chronology and Periodisation. Wiley-Blackwell: Chichester, UK. ISBN 9781405192279

2008

Shepard, A. and Walker, G. (2008) Gender, change and periodisation. Gender and History, 20(3), pp. 453-462. (doi: 10.1111/j.1468-0424.2008.00532.x)

Shepard, A. (2008) Poverty, labour and the language of social description in early modern England. Past and Present, 201(1), pp. 51-95. (doi: 10.1093/pastj/gtn004)

2005

Harvey, K. and Shepard, A. (2005) What have historians done with masculinity? reflections on five centuries of British history, circa 1500-1950. Journal of British Studies, 44(2), pp. 274-280. (doi: 10.1086/427125)

Shepard, A. (2005) From anxious patriarchs to refined gentlemen? Manhood in Britain circa 1500-1700. Journal of British Studies, 44(2), pp. 287-295. (doi: 10.1086/427128)

Shepard, A. (2005) "Swil-bolls and tos-pots": drink culture and male bonding in England, c.1560-1640. In: Gowing, L., Hunter, M.C.W. and Rubin, M. (eds.) Love, Friendship and Faith in Europe, 1300–1800. Palgrave Macmillan: Basingstoke, UK. ISBN 9781403991478

2004

Shepard, A. (2004) Litigation and locality: the Cambridge University courts, 1560-1640. Urban History, 31(1), pp. 5-28. (doi: 10.1017/S0963926804001762)

Shepard, A. (2004) Honesty, worth and gender in early modern England, 1560-1640. In: French, H. and Barry, J. (eds.) Identity and Agency in England, 1500-1800. Palgrave Macmillan: Basingstoke, pp. 87-105. ISBN 9781403917645

2003

Shepard, A. (2003) The Meanings of Manhood in Early Modern England, 1560-1640. Series: Oxford studies in social history. Oxford University Press: Oxford. ISBN 9780198208181

2000

Shepard, A. and Withington, P. (Eds.) (2000) Communities in Early Modern England: Networks, Place, Rhetoric. Series: Politics, culture and society in Early Modern Britain. Manchester University Press: Manchester. ISBN 9780719054778

Shepard, A. (2000) Contesting communities? 'Town' and 'gown' in Cambridge, c.1560-1640. In: Shepard, A. and Withington, P. (eds.) Communities in Early Modern England: Networks, Place, Rhetoric. Series: Politics, culture and society in Early Modern Britain. Manchester University Press: Manchester, pp. 216-234. ISBN 9780719054778

Shepard, A. (2000) Manhood, credit and patriarchy in early modern England, c.1560-1640. Past and Present, 167(1), pp. 75-106. (doi: 10.1093/past/167.1.75)

Shepard, A. and Withington, P. (2000) Introduction: communities in early modern England. In: Shepard, A. and Withington, P. (eds.) Communities in Early Modern England: Networks, Place, Rhetoric. Series: Politics, culture and society in Early Modern Britain. Manchester University Press: Manchester, pp. 1-15. ISBN 9780719054778

1998

Shepard, A. (1998) Legal learning and the Cambridge University Courts, c.1560-1640. Journal of Legal History, 19(1), pp. 62-74. (doi: 10.1080/01440361908539565)

This list was generated on Thu Apr 25 08:22:12 2024 BST.
Number of items: 36.

Articles

Shepard, A. (2023) "Working mothers" in eighteenth-century London. History Workshop Journal, 96, pp. 1-24. (doi: 10.1093/hwj/dbad008)

Shepard, A. (2019) Worthless witnesses? Marginal voices and women's legal agency in early modern England. Journal of British Studies, 58, pp. 717-734. (doi: 10.1017/jbr.2019.85)

Shepard, A. (2015) Minding their own business: married women and credit in early eighteenth-century London. Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, 25, pp. 53-74. (PMCID:PMC4602702)

Shepard, A. (2015) Crediting women in the early modern English economy. History Workshop Journal, 79(1), pp. 1-24. (doi: 10.1093/hwj/dbv002)

Shepard, A. and Spicksley, J. (2011) Worth, age, and social status in early modern England. Economic History Review, 64(2), pp. 493-530. (doi: 10.1111/j.1468-0289.2010.00533.x)

Shepard, A. and Walker, G. (2008) Gender, change and periodisation. Gender and History, 20(3), pp. 453-462. (doi: 10.1111/j.1468-0424.2008.00532.x)

Shepard, A. (2008) Poverty, labour and the language of social description in early modern England. Past and Present, 201(1), pp. 51-95. (doi: 10.1093/pastj/gtn004)

Harvey, K. and Shepard, A. (2005) What have historians done with masculinity? reflections on five centuries of British history, circa 1500-1950. Journal of British Studies, 44(2), pp. 274-280. (doi: 10.1086/427125)

Shepard, A. (2005) From anxious patriarchs to refined gentlemen? Manhood in Britain circa 1500-1700. Journal of British Studies, 44(2), pp. 287-295. (doi: 10.1086/427128)

Shepard, A. (2004) Litigation and locality: the Cambridge University courts, 1560-1640. Urban History, 31(1), pp. 5-28. (doi: 10.1017/S0963926804001762)

Shepard, A. (2000) Manhood, credit and patriarchy in early modern England, c.1560-1640. Past and Present, 167(1), pp. 75-106. (doi: 10.1093/past/167.1.75)

Shepard, A. (1998) Legal learning and the Cambridge University Courts, c.1560-1640. Journal of Legal History, 19(1), pp. 62-74. (doi: 10.1080/01440361908539565)

Books

Shepard, A. (2015) Accounting for Oneself: Worth, Status and the Social Order in Early Modern England. Oxford University Press: Oxford. ISBN 9780199600793 (doi: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199600793.001.0001)

Shepard, A. (2003) The Meanings of Manhood in Early Modern England, 1560-1640. Series: Oxford studies in social history. Oxford University Press: Oxford. ISBN 9780198208181

Book Sections

Hunt, M. R. and Shepard, A. (2023) Introduction. In: MacLeod, C., Shepard, A. and Ågren, M. (eds.) The Whole Economy: Work and Gender in Early Modern Europe. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, pp. 1-25. ISBN 9781009359368 (doi: 10.1017/9781009359344.002)

Shepard, A. (2023) Care. In: MacLeod, C., Shepard, A. and Ågren, M. (eds.) The Whole Economy: Work and Gender in Early Modern Europe. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, pp. 53-83. ISBN 9781009359368 (doi: 10.1017/9781009359344.004)

Shepard, A. (2019) “Active agents” and “history makers”: women in the early modern economy. In: Asquer, E., Bellavitis, A., Calvi, G., Chabot, I., La Rocca, C. and Martini, M. (eds.) Vingt-cinq ans après. Les femmes au rendez-vous de l’histoire. École française de Rome: Rome, pp. 385-396. ISBN 9782728313785

Shepard, A. (2017) The pleasures and pains of breast-feeding in England, c.1600-c.1800. In: Braddick, M. J. and Innes, J. (eds.) Suffering and Happiness in England 1550-1850: Narratives and Representations. Series: The past and present book series. Oxford University Press: Oxford. ISBN 9780198748267

Shepard, A. (2017) Provision, household management and the moral authority of wives and mothers in early modern England. In: Braddick, M. J. and Withington, P. (eds.) Popular Culture and Political Agency in Early Modern England and Ireland. Series: Studies in early modern cultural, political and social history. Boydell & Brewer: Woodbridge, pp. 73-89. ISBN 9781783271719

Shepard, A. (2017) Gender, the body and sexuality. In: Wrightson, K. (ed.) A Social History of England, 1500-1750. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, pp. 330-351. ISBN 9781107041790

Shepard, A. (2013) The worth of married women in the English church courts, c.1550-1730. In: Beattie, C. and Stevens, M.F. (eds.) Married Women and the Law in Premodern Northwest Europe. The Boydell Press: Woodbridge, pp. 191-211. ISBN 9781843838333

Hindle, S., Shepard, A. and Walter, J. (2013) The making and remaking of early modern English social history. In: Hindle, S., Shepard, A. and Walter, J. (eds.) Remaking English Society: Social Relations and Social Change in Early Modern England. Series: Studies in Early Modern cultural,political and social history. Boydell and Brewer: Woodbridge, pp. 1-40. ISBN 9781843837961

Shepard, A. (2013) Brokering fatherhood: illegitimacy and paternal rights and responsibilities in early modern England. In: Hindle, S., Shepard, A. and Walter, J. (eds.) Remaking English Society: Social Relations and Social Change in Early Modern England. Series: Studies in early modern cultural, political and social history (14). Boydell Press: Woodbridge, pp. 41-63. ISBN 9781843837961

Shepard, A. (2010) Family and household. In: Doran, S. and Jones, N.L. (eds.) The Elizabethan World. Series: The Routledge worlds. Routledge: Abingdon, UK. ISBN 9780415409599

Shepard, A. (2010) Manhood, patriarchy, and gender in early modern history. In: Leonard, A. and Nelson, K.L. (eds.) Masculinities, Childhood, Violence: Attending to Early Modern Women and Men : Proceedings of the 2006 Symposium. University of Delaware Press: Newark, USA. ISBN 9781611490183

Shepard, A. (2010) Student violence in early modern Cambridge. In: Brockliss, L.W.B. and Montgomery, H. (eds.) Childhood and Violence in the Western Tradition. Oxbow Books: Oxford, UK, pp. 233-241. ISBN 9781842179789

Shepard, A. (2009) Student masculinity in early modern Cambridge, 1560-1640. In: Krug-Richter, B. and Mohrmann, R.E. (eds.) Frühneuzeitliche Universitätskulturen: Kulturhistorische Perspektiven auf die Hochschulen in Europa. Series: Beihefte zum archiv für kulturgeschichte (65). Böhlau: Köln, Germany. ISBN 9783412229061

Shepard, A. and Walker, G. (2009) Gender, change and periodisation. In: Shepard, A. and Walker, G. (eds.) Gender and Change: Agency, Chronology and Periodisation. Wiley-Blackwell: Chichester, UK. ISBN 9781405192279

Shepard, A. (2005) "Swil-bolls and tos-pots": drink culture and male bonding in England, c.1560-1640. In: Gowing, L., Hunter, M.C.W. and Rubin, M. (eds.) Love, Friendship and Faith in Europe, 1300–1800. Palgrave Macmillan: Basingstoke, UK. ISBN 9781403991478

Shepard, A. (2004) Honesty, worth and gender in early modern England, 1560-1640. In: French, H. and Barry, J. (eds.) Identity and Agency in England, 1500-1800. Palgrave Macmillan: Basingstoke, pp. 87-105. ISBN 9781403917645

Shepard, A. (2000) Contesting communities? 'Town' and 'gown' in Cambridge, c.1560-1640. In: Shepard, A. and Withington, P. (eds.) Communities in Early Modern England: Networks, Place, Rhetoric. Series: Politics, culture and society in Early Modern Britain. Manchester University Press: Manchester, pp. 216-234. ISBN 9780719054778

Shepard, A. and Withington, P. (2000) Introduction: communities in early modern England. In: Shepard, A. and Withington, P. (eds.) Communities in Early Modern England: Networks, Place, Rhetoric. Series: Politics, culture and society in Early Modern Britain. Manchester University Press: Manchester, pp. 1-15. ISBN 9780719054778

Edited Books

MacLeod, C., Shepard, A. and Ågren, M. (Eds.) (2023) The Whole Economy: Work and Gender in Early Modern Europe. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge. ISBN 9781009359368

Hindle, S., Shepard, A. and Walter, J. (Eds.) (2013) Remaking English Society: Social Relations and Social Change in Early Modern England. Series: Studies in early modern cultural, political and social history. Boydell Press: Woodbridge. ISBN 9781843837961

Shepard, A. and Walker, G. (Eds.) (2009) Gender and Change: Agency, Chronology and Periodisation. Wiley-Blackwell: Chichester, UK. ISBN 9781405192279

Shepard, A. and Withington, P. (Eds.) (2000) Communities in Early Modern England: Networks, Place, Rhetoric. Series: Politics, culture and society in Early Modern Britain. Manchester University Press: Manchester. ISBN 9780719054778

This list was generated on Thu Apr 25 08:22:12 2024 BST.

Grants

  • 2015-18: Leverhulme International Network, ‘Producing change: gender and work in early modern Europe
  • 2015 (Aug-Dec): Hinkley Visiting Professorship, John Hopkins University, USA
  • 2014-18: AHRC Research Grant (Co-I): ‘Women negotiating the boundaries of justice in Britain and Ireland, 1100-1750’
  • 2013: Visiting Scholar in Gender and History, University of Connecticut, USA
  • 2012: Leverhulme Research Fellowship (12 months)
  • 2010-11: Royal Society of Edinburgh Workshop Grant (Co-I) on ‘Scottish masculinity in historical perspective’
  • 2007 (Jan-July): Visiting Fellowship, Institute of Advanced Studies, University of Edinburgh
  • 2005-07: ESRC Research Grant (PI): ‘Perceptions of worth and social status in early modern England’
  • 2004: Philip Leverhulme Prize
  • 2003: Huntington Library Fellowship (San Marino, California), additionally supported by the British Academy Exchange Library Scheme

Supervision

I am happy to supervise MLitt and Doctoral students on any aspect of early modern British social and cultural history.

Current PhD students:

  • Hannah Telling, ‘Violent men and masculinity in Scotland, 1850-1900’
  • Mary Jacobs, ‘Radical Manhood in the English Revolution’
  • Rebecca Mason, ‘Married Women and the Law in Scotland, 1600-1750’
  • Jade Scott, ‘A Woman's Rebellion: The Life and Letters of Lady Anne Percy (1538-1591)’

Completed PhD Students:

  • Macleod, Catriona, ‘Women, Work and Enterprise in Glasgow, c.1740-1830’
  • Cheng, Rachel: ‘“Something Most Vital”: the Kindred of the Kibbo Kift and the Woodcraft Folk, 1920-1929
  • Felicity Donohoe, ‘Dancing with Scalps: Native North American Women, White Men and Ritualised Violence in the Eighteenth Century’
  • Emanuel Buttigieg, ‘A Study of the Hospitaller Knights of Malta, with reference to Nobility, Faith and Masculinity, c.1580-1700’
  • James McInnes, ‘Continuity and Change in an English Rural Settlement: Portchester, c.1500-1750’
  • Brown, Ashley
    Fraternity, feuds, and the academic bubble: Masculinities at Scotland’s universities between 1560-1606

Teaching

Undergraduate:

  • Level 2B: People, Ideas and Things: The Making of Modern Societies, 1500-2000
  • Honours module: Patriarchy, Sex and Gender in Early Modern Europe
  • Special subject: Law, Crime and Society in England, c.1580-c.1700

Postgraduate:

  • Gender, Politics and Power
  • Gender, Culture and Text