معرفی
Harriet Lyon is the J. H. Plumb College Lecturer and Director of Studies in History (Parts IA and IB) at Christ's College, University of Cambridge. She is a historian of early modern Britain with a focus on the religious and cultural dimensions of the English Reformation, historical memory, and temporalities. She holds a BA, MPhil, and PhD from the University of Cambridge, completed in 2018.
Her research centers on how the dissolution of the monasteries was remembered and interpreted in early modern England, exploring themes of nostalgia, periodisation, and emotional responses to historical change. She is particularly interested in how memory practices shaped modern historiography and cultural identity. Her work bridges religious, cultural, and political history, with a strong emphasis on the interplay between past and present.
Her publications reveal a consistent engagement with memory, religion, and historical writing in early modern England. The articles demonstrate expertise in chronicle literature, antiquarian thought, providential interpretations of nature, and the long-term cultural impact of the Reformation. Her work spans both scholarly journals and public-facing platforms like History Today.
- Shortlisted for the 2021 Royal Historical Society Whitfield Prize for Memory and the Dissolution of the Monasteries in Early Modern England
Harriet Lyon advises undergraduate and MPhil students on dissertations in early modern religious and cultural history. She supervises for key papers in the Historical Tripos, including Early Modern Britain (O4), The Reformations and their Discontents (T8), and the Rule of Law in Early Modern Britain (Paper 16). She is actively involved in academic service, serving as Associate Editor and Book Reviews Editor for the journal Reformation and as co-convenor of the Early Modern British and Irish Seminar. She has secured editorial roles in major projects, including co-editing Early Modern Nostalgia: Memory, Temporality, and Emotion (2023) and editing The Bloomsbury Cultural History of Time in the Early Modern Age (forthcoming 2026).
She is a key figure in the early modern history community at Cambridge, contributing to research, teaching, and public engagement through publications, editorial work, and academic leadership.
