Professor Ian Forrest

  • Professor, Head of School, Humanities (School of Humanities Administration)

telephone: 0141 330 3585
email: Ian.Forrest@glasgow.ac.uk

School of Humanities, 1 University Gardens, Room 204, Glasgow, G12 8QQ G12 8QQ

Import to contacts

ORCID iDhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-1181-4179

Biography

Ian Forrest is professor of social and religious history, and Head of the School of Humanities. Before joining Glasgow in 2023 he was a professor in the University of Oxford, a fellow of Oriel College for seventeen years, and of All Souls College for three years. He is a founder member of Anarchist Approaches to the Middle Ages (https://anarchyma.wordpress.com/) and a council member of the Canterbury and York Society (https://www-users.york.ac.uk/~cf13/). Ian was educated at a comprehensive school in Derbyshire  after which he studied for an MA in History and MPhil in Medieval History at the University of Glasgow, before moving to Balliol College at the University of Oxford to research a DPhil in the detection of heresy in late medieval England (with Miri Rubin and Sir Rees Davies).

 

Research interests

Social, religious, gender and institutional history of late medieval Europe (1200-1500).

Heresy and inquisition, trust and trustworthiness, inequality, feminism, anarchism, institutions as social organisms, judicial records (especially 'visitation' records), the middle ages and global history.

Publications

List by: Type | Date

Jump to: 2025 | 2023 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2011 | 2006 | 2003
Number of items: 19.

2025

Hancock, Annabel Laura and Forrest, Ian ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1181-4179 (Eds.) (2025) Trust and Mistrust in Premodern Europe and the Mediterranean. Series: Beyond medieval Europe. ARC Humanities Press. ISBN 9781802702842 (In Press)

Forrest, Ian ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1181-4179 and Laura Hancock, Annabel (2025) Trust, mistrust, and the premodern: a reflection on the contribution of history to a multidisciplinary field. In: Hancock, Annabel Laura and Forrest, Ian (eds.) Trust and Mistrust in Premodern Europe and the Mediterranean. Series: Beyond medieval Europe. ARC Humanities Press. ISBN 9781802702842 (In Press)

Forrest, Ian ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1181-4179 (2025) Essay on medieval Bartlemas. In: Bartlemas: Oxford's Hidden Sanctuary, by Martin Stott. Argehane Books. ISBN 9781068595509 (In Press)

Forrest, Ian ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1181-4179 (2025) Gender and Authority in the Late Medieval Church: A New History. Series: Medieval societies, religions, and cultures. Cornell University Press: Ithaca. ISBN 9781501781995

2023

Forrest, Ian and Whittick, Christopher(Eds.) (2023) The Visitation of Hereford Diocese in 1397. [Scholarly Editions]

Forrest, Ian ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1181-4179 (2023) The heretic: Contingent and commodified. In: Skoda, Hannah (ed.) A Companion to Crime and Deviance in the Middle Ages. Series: Arc Companions. Arc Humanities Press: Leeds, pp. 32-45. ISBN 9781641891813 (doi: 10.1515/9781802701098-004)

2020

Tikhomirov, Alexey and ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1181-4179 (2020) Trust and distrust in exploring the human past: An interview with Geoffrey Hosking, Francesca Trivellato, and Ian Forrest. Journal of Modern European History, 18(4), pp. 381-407. (doi: 10.1177/1611894420944803)

Forrest, Ian ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1181-4179 (2020) Medieval history and anarchist studies. Anarchist Studies, 28(1), pp. 33-59. (doi: 10.3898/as.28.1.02)

2019

Forrest, Ian ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1181-4179 (2019) Afterword: Court Records and the Growth of States 1100–1800. Open Library of Humanities Journal, 5(1), 66. (doi: 10.16995/olh.518)

2018

Forrest, Ian ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1181-4179 and Haour, Anne (2018) Trust in long-distance relationships, 1000–1600 CE. Past and Present, 238(S 13), pp. 190-213. (doi: 10.1093/pastj/gty025)

Forrest, Ian ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1181-4179 (2018) Trustworthy Men: How Inequality and Faith Made the Medieval Church. Princeton University Press: Princeton, New Jersey. ISBN 9780691180601

2016

Forrest, Ian ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1181-4179 (2016) Trust and doubt: the late medieval bishop and local knowledge. In: Andrews, Frances, Methuen, Charlotte and Spicer, Andrew (eds.) Doubting Christianity:The Church and Doubt. Series: Studies in church history. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781107180734

2015

Forrest, Ian ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1181-4179 (2015) Power and the people in thirteenth-century England. In: Burton, Janet, Schofield, Phillipp and Weiler, Björn (eds.) Thirteenth Century England XV Authority and Resistance in the Age of Magna Carta. Boydell Press: Martlesham. ISBN 9781783270521

2014

Forrest, Ian ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1181-4179 (2014) Continuity and change in the institutional church. In: Arnold, John H. (ed.) The Oxford Handbook of Medieval Christianity. Oxford University Press, pp. 185-200. ISBN 9780191749933

2013

Forrest, Ian ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1181-4179 (2013) The transformation of visitation in thirteenth-century England. Past and Present, 22(1), pp. 3-38. (doi: 10.1093/pastj/gtt013)

Forrest, Ian ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1181-4179 (2013) English provincial constitutions and inquisition into Lollardy. In: Flannery, Mary C. and Walter, Katie L. (eds.) The Culture of Inquisition in Medieval England. Series: Westfield Medieval Studies. Boydell & Brewer. ISBN 9781782040736

2011

Forrest, Ian ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1181-4179 (2011) The archive of the official of Stow and the ‘machinery’ of church government in the late thirteenth century: The archive of the official of Stow. Historical Research, 84(223), pp. 1-13. (doi: 10.1111/j.1468-2281.2009.00528.x)

2006

Forrest, Ian ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1181-4179 (2006) The Detection of Heresy in Late Medieval England. Series: Oxford historical monographs. Oxford University Press: Oxford. ISBN 9780199286928 (doi: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199286928.001.0001)

2003

Forrest, Ian ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1181-4179 (2003) Anti-lollard polemic and practice in late medieval England. In: Clark, Linda (ed.) The Fifteenth Century III: Authority and Subversion. Boydell Press: Woodbridge, Suffolk. ISBN 9781843830252

This list was generated on Mon Nov 3 13:59:49 2025 GMT.
Jump to: Articles | Books | Book Sections | Edited Books | Scholarly Editions
Number of items: 19.

Articles

Tikhomirov, Alexey and ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1181-4179 (2020) Trust and distrust in exploring the human past: An interview with Geoffrey Hosking, Francesca Trivellato, and Ian Forrest. Journal of Modern European History, 18(4), pp. 381-407. (doi: 10.1177/1611894420944803)

Forrest, Ian ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1181-4179 (2020) Medieval history and anarchist studies. Anarchist Studies, 28(1), pp. 33-59. (doi: 10.3898/as.28.1.02)

Forrest, Ian ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1181-4179 (2019) Afterword: Court Records and the Growth of States 1100–1800. Open Library of Humanities Journal, 5(1), 66. (doi: 10.16995/olh.518)

Forrest, Ian ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1181-4179 and Haour, Anne (2018) Trust in long-distance relationships, 1000–1600 CE. Past and Present, 238(S 13), pp. 190-213. (doi: 10.1093/pastj/gty025)

Forrest, Ian ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1181-4179 (2013) The transformation of visitation in thirteenth-century England. Past and Present, 22(1), pp. 3-38. (doi: 10.1093/pastj/gtt013)

Forrest, Ian ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1181-4179 (2011) The archive of the official of Stow and the ‘machinery’ of church government in the late thirteenth century: The archive of the official of Stow. Historical Research, 84(223), pp. 1-13. (doi: 10.1111/j.1468-2281.2009.00528.x)

Books

Forrest, Ian ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1181-4179 (2025) Gender and Authority in the Late Medieval Church: A New History. Series: Medieval societies, religions, and cultures. Cornell University Press: Ithaca. ISBN 9781501781995

Forrest, Ian ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1181-4179 (2018) Trustworthy Men: How Inequality and Faith Made the Medieval Church. Princeton University Press: Princeton, New Jersey. ISBN 9780691180601

Forrest, Ian ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1181-4179 (2006) The Detection of Heresy in Late Medieval England. Series: Oxford historical monographs. Oxford University Press: Oxford. ISBN 9780199286928 (doi: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199286928.001.0001)

Book Sections

Forrest, Ian ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1181-4179 and Laura Hancock, Annabel (2025) Trust, mistrust, and the premodern: a reflection on the contribution of history to a multidisciplinary field. In: Hancock, Annabel Laura and Forrest, Ian (eds.) Trust and Mistrust in Premodern Europe and the Mediterranean. Series: Beyond medieval Europe. ARC Humanities Press. ISBN 9781802702842 (In Press)

Forrest, Ian ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1181-4179 (2025) Essay on medieval Bartlemas. In: Bartlemas: Oxford's Hidden Sanctuary, by Martin Stott. Argehane Books. ISBN 9781068595509 (In Press)

Forrest, Ian ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1181-4179 (2023) The heretic: Contingent and commodified. In: Skoda, Hannah (ed.) A Companion to Crime and Deviance in the Middle Ages. Series: Arc Companions. Arc Humanities Press: Leeds, pp. 32-45. ISBN 9781641891813 (doi: 10.1515/9781802701098-004)

Forrest, Ian ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1181-4179 (2016) Trust and doubt: the late medieval bishop and local knowledge. In: Andrews, Frances, Methuen, Charlotte and Spicer, Andrew (eds.) Doubting Christianity:The Church and Doubt. Series: Studies in church history. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781107180734

Forrest, Ian ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1181-4179 (2015) Power and the people in thirteenth-century England. In: Burton, Janet, Schofield, Phillipp and Weiler, Björn (eds.) Thirteenth Century England XV Authority and Resistance in the Age of Magna Carta. Boydell Press: Martlesham. ISBN 9781783270521

Forrest, Ian ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1181-4179 (2014) Continuity and change in the institutional church. In: Arnold, John H. (ed.) The Oxford Handbook of Medieval Christianity. Oxford University Press, pp. 185-200. ISBN 9780191749933

Forrest, Ian ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1181-4179 (2013) English provincial constitutions and inquisition into Lollardy. In: Flannery, Mary C. and Walter, Katie L. (eds.) The Culture of Inquisition in Medieval England. Series: Westfield Medieval Studies. Boydell & Brewer. ISBN 9781782040736

Forrest, Ian ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1181-4179 (2003) Anti-lollard polemic and practice in late medieval England. In: Clark, Linda (ed.) The Fifteenth Century III: Authority and Subversion. Boydell Press: Woodbridge, Suffolk. ISBN 9781843830252

Edited Books

Hancock, Annabel Laura and Forrest, Ian ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1181-4179 (Eds.) (2025) Trust and Mistrust in Premodern Europe and the Mediterranean. Series: Beyond medieval Europe. ARC Humanities Press. ISBN 9781802702842 (In Press)

Scholarly Editions

Forrest, Ian and Whittick, Christopher(Eds.) (2023) The Visitation of Hereford Diocese in 1397. [Scholarly Editions]

This list was generated on Tue Nov 4 14:51:46 2025 GMT.

Supervision

Ian welcomes enquiries from students hoping to pursue doctoral research in any aspect of European social, religious, cultural or economic history between c. 1200 and c.1550. He is a leading figure in the history of religion and the church in the later middle ages, in particular the institutional dynamics and social ecology of the church: bishops, inquisitors, priests, parishioners, courts, and so on.

In the past he has supervised PhDs on heresy, gender, trust, trade, confession, canonization, architecture and landscape, pastoralism, clothing, violence, marriage and other topics.

Ian has particular expertise in using medieval judicial records as sources for social history, and would be delighted to discuss potential projects by email or via Zoom. Church courts, manorial records, visitation books, inquisitorial registers, royal and civic courts and related categories of source offer exceptional opportunities for advancing historical understanding of medieval society, and for connecting that history to issues that resonate in the present day, notably social and gender inequalities, processes of inclusion and exclusion, and the operation of domination and resistance.

Students interested in any medieval or early modern topic viewed through anarchist lenses are also encouraged to get in touch.

Before commencing a PhD in medieval history, some initial training in Latin (or other medieval languages) and some archival experience would be beneficial. Ian will be glad to talk you through the requirements and opportunities.

Teaching

While Head of School, Ian teaches level 1 medieval history and takes part in the MSc Gender History core course. He is available to supervise undergraduate dissertations in medieval social, cultural, religious and economic history.


Professor Ian Forrest with his 2025 book Gender & Authority