Dr Jo Edge

Post-Doctoral Research Fellow; Alice Thornton's Books; Alice Thornton's Books

Background

I am a Postdoctoral Research Fellow on 'Alice Thornton's Books', a digital edition of the writings of Alice Thornton (1626-1707), which ends in February 2025.

I specialise in late medieval and early modern European social and cultural history, with an emphasis on medicine and the ‘occult’ sciences: divination, magic and astrology; as well as the experience of illness and death. I did my undergraduate and postgraduate degrees at the University of London.

After graduating with my PhD, I held a four-year postdoctoral position as Assistant Editor on the Casebooks Project at the University of Cambridge. Before coming to the University of Edinburgh, I spent three years at the University of Manchester; firstly as Latin Manuscripts Cataloguer at the John Rylands Library, and then as a Lecturer in Medieval History.

My first book, 'Onomantic Divination in Late Medieval Britain: Questioning Life, Predicting Death', was published by York Medieval Press/Boydell and Brewer in March 2024.

Research summary

Places: 

  • Britain & Ireland

Themes: 

  • Medicine, Science & Technology

Periods: 

  • Medieval