Speculum Spotlight: Rethinking Grand Narratives: Mobility, Diet, & Health in a Small Corner of Early Medieval Hampshire (Fleming, Leggett, & Correa-Reyes)

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In this episode, Robin Fleming and Sam Leggett discuss their work on an early fifth-century cemetery in the English village of Alton. Using bioarchaeological evidence from bones and teeth, they have made precise discoveries about the diets of individuals buried at Alton, their states of health, and even the ages at which they migrated from wetland ecosystems down tot he drier territory of the South Downs. Fleming and Leggett’s analysis helps to revise and refine long-held ideas about barbarian invasions and the fall of the Roman Empire.

Robin Fleming is a professor of medieval history at Boston College. She writes on the political history of Viking, Anglo-Saxon, and Anglo-Norman England; early medieval material culture and osteoarchaeology; historical writing in the early Middle Ages; English law before the common law; the Domesday Book; and 19th-century medievalism. Her books include Kings and Lords in Conquest England (Cambridge University Press, 1991) and Domesday Book and the Law: Society and Legal Custom in Early Medieval England (Cambridge University Press, 1998).

Sam Leggett is a medieval bioarchaeologist interested in socio-environmental transitions. Sam’s current ArchaeoFINS project focusses on dietary changes in Scotland & the Irish Sea through the Pictish to Late Medieval period. Her background in immunology and genetics enables her to study the medieval period holistically using interdisciplinary techniques. Currently Sam is working on populations in Scotland, England, Scandinavia, Iberia and Jordan ranging from the 1st–16th centuries CE. Find Sam on BlueSky @SamLeggs22, @EdinburghArchaeo, and @HCAatEdinburgh, or on Instagram @DrSamLeggs22, @HCAatEdinburgh, and @EdinburghArchaeo.

Jonathan Correa-Reyes is a professor at Clemson University. He completed his PhD with the Department of Comparative Literature at The Pennsylvania State University and served as a Pre-Doctoral Fellow of the Ford Foundation (2020-2023). His dissertation focused on Middle English romances and ultimately contributes to ongoing efforts to excavate a pre-modern critical race theory. Beyond his work in Middle English literature, Jonathan also researches literary productions in Old English, Spanish and Arabic (mainly from the Iberian Peninsula), and Old Norse/Icelandic.

Barbara Newman, professor of Latin, English, Classics, and History at Northwestern University, is known for her work on medieval religious culture, comparative literature, and women's spirituality. Newman is the editor of Speculum: A Journal of Medieval Studies.

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