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Centre for the Study of the Renaissance

Mathilde Alain

'The Christian kingdom of Ethiopia in the travel diary of Francisco Álvares (1520-1526)' (provisional title)

I am a fourth year PhD candidate in Cotutelle between the Centre for the Study of the Renaissance at Warwick and the Centre d’Études Supérieures de la Renaissance at Tours, co-supervised by Natalya Din-KariukiLink opens in a new window, Nathalie BoulouxLink opens in a new window and Paul BotleyLink opens in a new window.

My doctoral project, 'The Christian kingdom of Ethiopia in the travel diary of Francisco Álvares (1520-1526)' (provisional title), funded by the Chancellor's International Scholarship, aims to provide a detailed analysis of Álvares' travel account. I study the text's transmission, a central question as the original manuscript – presumably Portuguese – has been lost. I also look at the 1520-1526 Portuguese embassy to Ethiopia, recounted by Álvares and finally, the reception of the account in Portugal, Italy and Europe.

I am interested in the following:

  • History of travels and travel accounts to and from Africa (with a focus on the 15th-16th centuries)
  • History of Ethiopian-Portuguese relations (embassies)
  • History of fifteenth/sixteenth-century Ethiopia
  • History of the perception and knowledge of Africa in Renaissance Europe and beyond

My research also touches upon fields such as the history of the books and libraries and connected and global history. Apart from the Renaissance, I am involved in the transcription and study of the nineteenth-century French explorer Antoine d'Abbadie's notebooks about Ethiopia, a research project led by Anaïs Wion and Vanessa Desclaux.

Contact

Email: mathilde.alain@warwick.ac.uk

Office Hours

Thursdays, 2-3pm in Fab 3.36 or by appointment (Fab 2.37)

Publications

Selected conferences and seminars

Education and Professional Development

2020-2021: research assistant at the French National Library (Paris) for a research project about the notebooks of Antoine d’Abbadie who travelled to Ethiopia (1838-1848), with Vanessa Desclaux & Anaïs Wion (a presentation of the project in FrenchLink opens in a new window)

2018-2020: MA in History (Renaissance Studies), Centre d’Études Supérieures de la Renaissance (Tours)

2019-2020: Erasmus at the University of Coimbra (Portugal)

2015-2018: Bachelor in History, University of Tours (France)

2017-2018: Erasmus year at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (Trondheim, Norway)

Teaching

  • 2024-2025: Graduate Teaching Assistant, History Department, University of Warwick. Seminar tutor for HI2B8 Caravans and Traders:Global Connections, 1200-1500 and HI113 Europe in the Making, 1450-1800 (weeks 7 and 8)
  • 2024: Seminar Tutor for the class 'Travel in the Renaissance' part of the module for second and third year undergraduates: 'Renaissance Europe II: Movement, Revolution, and Conflict' (term 2, 2h lecture and seminar) - University of Warwick.
  • 2023: Seminar Tutor for the class 'Geographical Discoveries' with Natalya Din-Kariuki, part of the module for second and third year undergraduates: 'Renaissance Europe II: Movement, Revolution, and Conflict' (term 2, 2h lecture and seminar) - University of Warwick.
  • 2022: Chargée de Travaux Dirigés (seminar tutor) in History for second-year undergraduates: 'Transferts culturels XII-XVe siècles' ('Cultural transfers 12-15th centuries') (term 1,18h) - University of Tours.
  • 2022: Chargée de Travaux Dirigés (seminar tutor) in History for first-year undergraduates: 'Techniques documentaires' (methodology classes to search primary and secondary sources) (term 1,18h) - University of Tours.

Other activities

  • Member of the ANR project ETHIOKONGROME 'The Christians of Ethiopia and Kongo face Rome: writing another history of connections between Africa and Europe' (led by Olivia Adankpo-Labadie, 2024-2027)
  • Team member of the project 'Mss Abbadie' co-led by Anaïs Wion (CNRS) and Vanessa Desclaux (BnF)
  • Organizer of the CSR's reading group about Montaigne's travel diary to Italy (2023) and co-organizer of the CSR's reading group about Montaigne's Essays with Iván Parga Ornelas (2022-2023)
  • Member of the Work in Progress committee, organized by the History Department of Warwick (2022/2023)
  • Vice-secretary of the ADCESR (Association of the PhD Students of the CESR, Tours) (2022-2023)
  • SSLC representative for the PGR students for the CSR (2023)
  • Member of the Society for Renaissance Studies, member of the Royal Historical Society