Debby Banham
English medieval social historian
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Debby Banham is a British historian of early medieval England, specialising in food production, diet, and medicine. She has published on Anglo-Saxon farming and food and drink, as well as on medieval sign language.
Debby Banham | |
|---|---|
| Academic background | |
| Alma mater | Newnham College, Cambridge |
| Academic work | |
| Discipline | Early Medieval English social history |
| Sub-discipline | Food production, diet, medicine, sign language |
| Institutions | Birkbeck, University of London Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic |
Biography
After having worked as an agricultural labourer,[1] Banham received a Diploma in Advanced Education from the University of Nottingham and her PhD from Newnham College, Cambridge.[2] In 1987, she and Jane Renfrew instigated the creation of an Anglo-Saxon Herb Garden at Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge.[3]
Until 2018, she taught palaeography, Latin, and Anglo-Saxon history at Birkbeck College, London. She has also been a lecturer at Queen Mary University of London.[4]
She returned to Newnham College in 2007 as Special Supervisor in Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic.[2] Her other roles at the University of Cambridge have included Affiliated Lecturer in Palaeography and Anglo-Saxon History in the Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic; Affiliated Lecturer in the Department of History and Philosophy of Science; Director of Studies at Lucy Cavendish and Murray Edwards Colleges; and Assistant Tutor and Postgraduate Mentor at Newnham College.[4][5]
She has been a research associate at the Cambridge Wellcome Unit for the History of Medicine and the Thorndike and Kibre project, and worked with Martha Bayless on the Early English Bread Project.[4]
She has been honoured with a panel at the 2018 Leeds International Medieval Congress[6] and a festschrift, Cultivating the Earth, Nurturing the Body and Soul: Daily Life in Early Medieval England (2025).[7]
Select publications
- Banham, Debby; Faith, Rosamond (2014). Anglo-Saxon Farms and Farming. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-920794-7.
- Banham, Debby (2004). Food and Drink in Anglo-Saxon England. Tempus. ISBN 978-0-7524-2909-0.
- Banham, Debby (1991). Monasteriales Indicia: The Anglo-Saxon Monastic Sign Language. Anglo-Saxon Books. ISBN 978-0-9516209-4-6.