Paul Botley

Paul Botley is Professor of Medieval and Renaissance Literature at the University of Warwick, affiliated with the Department of English and Comparative Literary Studies and the Centre for the Study of the Renaissance. He holds a PhD from the University of Cambridge and has held research fellowships at the Warburg Institute, Cambridge University Library, and Imperial College London. A Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, he is a leading scholar in early modern intellectual history and textual scholarship.

His research focuses on the classical tradition in early modern literature, Renaissance letters, neo-Latin literature, translation, and the history of scholarship. He has led major Leverhulme Trust-funded projects producing critical editions of the correspondence of Isaac Casaubon, Joseph Scaliger, Dominicus Baudius, and Johannes Woverius. His work reveals how early modern editors manipulated scholarly correspondence, reshaping the image of the Renaissance intellectual.

Botley’s publications include landmark multi-volume editions and monographs such as Latin Translation in the Renaissance and Richard ‘Dutch’ Thomson. His 15 most recent articles span topics including Casaubon’s theological disputes, early Greek-Latin dictionaries, Arabic studies in Europe, and the ethics of Renaissance translation. These works reflect a deep engagement with manuscript culture, editorial practices, and cross-cultural knowledge transfer.

Scientific awards and recognitions include:

• Fellow of the Royal Historical Society
• Leverhulme Trust Research Grant (Casaubon correspondence)
• Leverhulme Trust Research Grant (Baudius correspondence)

He actively supervises PhD students on diverse topics in early modern literature and intellectual history, including education in Renaissance Italy, ecclesiastical parody, and literary conversion. His editorial roles include associate editor of Warwick Studies in Renaissance Thought and Culture and board member of the LYSA Neo-Latin Texts series. He teaches undergraduate and postgraduate courses on medieval to Renaissance literature, Shakespeare, and classical traditions.

Botley leads significant research projects on the correspondence of Dominicus Baudius and Johannes Woverius, uncovering suppressed content and editorial interventions in early printed editions. His work reconstructs the uncensored intellectual world of Renaissance scholars, emphasizing the constructed nature of scholarly legacies.