Academic Profile

2018 - Teaching Fellow in Early Modern European History

2014-2017 - Tutor in History, The University of Warwick

2013-2016 - PhD in History, The University of Warwick

2012-2013 - MA in Religious, Social and Cultural History, 1500-1750, The University of Warwick

2009-2012 - BA (Hons) in War and Society, Swansea University

About Me

For the academic year 2017-2018, I am module convenor for HI388 Religious Conflict and Civil War in France, c. 1560-1600. I am also teaching on HI203 The European World and HI175 The Historian's Toolkit. I completed my PhD in the Department of History at Warwick, and successfully defended my work in March 2017. My PhD was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, and was supervised by Professor Penny Roberts and Dr. Gabriel Glickman (Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge).

Research Interests

My research considers early modern European naval history and its relationship to broader political and cultural trends. My PhD was a comparative study of English and French naval development, and its relationship to changes in state infrastructure. It focused on the period from the French invasion of the Solent in July 1545 to 1642, when both Cardinal Richelieu died and the English Civil War commenced.

Outside of this area, my other research interests include maritime exploration, the rise and decline of monarchy, Tudor/Stuart politics, early modern France, elite culture, early modern warfare, the ideological origins of national identity and empire, and representations of monarchy. Currently, I am researching the fall of Calais and its impact on naval developments. As well as this, I am particularly interested in the design and representation of warships.

Academic Responsibilities

Module Convenor for the third-year module (HI388) Religious Conflict and Civil War in France, c. 1560-1600 (2018)

Seminar Tutor for the first-year core module (HI175) The Historian's Toolkit (2017-2018)

Seminar Tutor for the second-year core module (HI203) The European World (2015-2018)

Seminar Tutor for the first-year core module (HI153) Making of the Modern World (2016-2017)

Seminar Tutor for the second-year optional module (HI275) The British Problem: Empire, Conflict and National Identities 1558-1714 (2014-2015)

Facilitator of Warwick-MarineLives transcription programme.

Publications and Output

‘Review: The Sea in History – The Early Modern World (La mer dans l’histoire – la période modern) edited by Christian Buchet and Gérard Le Bouëdec’, The Mariner’s Mirror, 104:2 (May, 2018), pp. 230-31.

‘Making Early Modern Naval History Relevant: Discussing Warship Design in the Undergraduate Classroom’, Topmasts, 25 (December, 2017), pp. 17-20.

‘Review: Navires et construction navale au Moyen Âge: Archeologie Nautique de la Baltique à la Mediterranee by Eric Rieth’, The Mariner’s Mirror, 103:2 (May, 2017), pp. 226-27.

'English Naval Expansion under the French Threat, 1556-64', The International Journal of Maritime History, 28:4 (November, 2016), pp. 640-53. Available here.

'Review: Political Economies of Empire in the Early Modern Mediterranean: The Decline of England and the Rise of Venice 1450-1700', The Mariner's Mirror, 102:4 (November, 2016), pp. 472-73.

'Postgraduate Research Grants - Divided by La Manche: Naval Enterprise and Maritime Revolution in England and France, 1545-1642', French History, 30: 1 (March, 2016), pp. 147-8.

The Tudor Navy Podcast for The Renaissance English History Podcast (February, 2016). Available Here.

Selection of Conference Papers and Talks

'Making Early Modern Naval History Relevant: Discussing the Importance of Warship Design in the Undergraduate Classroom', The State of Maritime Research, Greenwich, September 2017.

'Charles I, the Sovereign of the Seas and the International Importance of Warship Design', EMREM, Birmingham, May 2017.

'England, France and the Loss of Calais in January 1558: A Maritime Perspective', International Postgraduate Ports and Maritime Studies Conference, Bristol, April 2017

‘They never could aspire to it (‘tis knowne) and I am glad this fashion is our owne’: Thomas Heywood, the Sovereign of the Seas and International Rivalry in the Seventeenth-Century English Court' at Ship and Nation in Early Modern England, Birkbeck, November 2016.

'Ceremonial Entertainment and the Naval Façade During Claude d’Annebault’s Visit to England' at Centres of Diplomacy II, Oxford, March 2016

'Vessel Embodiment and National Identity in England and France: the case of the Sovereign of the Seas and La Couronne' at The Emergence of a Maritime Nation, July 2015.

'Establishing a persona for the ‘Ship of State’: The Construction of National Identity in the English and French Navies, c. 1545-1642.’ at The University of Bremen, May 2015.

‘The Ship of State’: Producing a National Identity in the French and English Navy, c. 1545-1642' at Statesmen and Seapower Conference, April 2015.

Benjamin Redding

B dot Redding dot 1 at warwick dot ac dot uk

H3.06
Department of History
University of Warwick
Coventry CV4 7AL, U.K.

Office Hours (Term-time):
TBC