The PhD candidate will be working on a subproject within the ERC Consolidator research project FEATHERS, funded for 2020-2025 by the European Research Council (ERC), and directed by Nadine Akkerman (Reader in early modern English Literature at Leiden University).

Manuscript production was a collaborative or ‘socialised’ enterprise that often involved secretaries and scribes who physically wrote what the author dictated. FEATHERS will overhaul historical approaches and offer new ways to assess the partnership between employer and scribe thus expanding the notion of early modern authorship to include hitherto marginalised voices: of women, the poor, the illiterate and the lower-born – those who ‘wrote’ without physically writing.

To distinguish authorial and scribal voices it will analyse 3 distinct manuscript types: Letters, Legal documents, and Literary works. It will address 3 questions: who were these scribes; what was their role or function, and where did their influence end and their employer’s begin?

The project will concentrate on England 1558-1642, a time when the centres of power were stable enough to allow for relatively constant employment, making individual scribes and their influence easier to identify. The model we create will be applicable to multiple political periods and countries.

Subproject: Literary Scribes, Male and Female, c.1558-1642 (PhD3). We seek a highly motivated, enterprising and enthusiastic PhD candidate to join the project team and produce a thesis on the nature of the secular, literary scribe. Concentrating primarily on manuscript compilations, the candidate will also consider the scattered evidence found in account books etc. which can reveal who performed the secretarial roles required within a household. Manuscript compilations, however, demonstrate both the literary scribe’s creativity and the fluidity of the category of ‘author’. By studying these collections, often called miscellanies, the candidate will trace the ways in which scribes adapted the texts they compiled, and what editorial liberties they took in the process. They will consider such questions as: where does the author’s work end and the scribe’s begin? How much agency and creativity did scribes assert when copying a text? Can this tell us anything in particular with regards female authors?

Other projects in FEATHERS will render more information about male scribes, but the miscellany’s varied sites of production will prove especially valuable in elucidating the role of the female scribe - while nuns engaged in scribal activity have received recent attention, secular female scribes are under-investigated. While fewer female-compiled miscellanies survive than those of men, and it is harder to link them to the traditional hubs of manuscript activity, universities and Inns of Court, they reveal more evidence of reading practices and scribal creativity – and thus women’s writing habits – than any other literary source.

Key responsibilities

• Conducting research on early modern miscellanies and scribal activity. An important part of this research will take place in UK archives;
• Completing a PhD thesis (in English) within four years;
• Publishing at least one article in a peer-reviewed journal; and at least one in a popular magazine;
• Participating in fortnightly meetings of the project research group;
• Presenting papers at conferences, both in the Netherlands and internationally;
• Participating in the training programme of the LUCAS Institute, the Leiden Graduate School of Humanities and the National Research School in Cultural History (Huizinga Institute) and other relevant masterclasses, discussion groups, seminars, workshops, and events;
• Participating in the PhD community and the intellectual life of the Institute;
• Contributing to the organization of the events and activities within the project, including the project’s conference in year 3 of the project;
• Subject to progress and demand, some teaching in the English department in the second and third years of the appointment.

• A ResMA/MRes or MA in English Literature or Early Modern Studies, awarded by time of appointment, with a thesis on a 16th-century or 17th-century topic, and a grade of at least 8.0 on a ten-point scale (or equivalent, such as distinction for UK scholars);
• Well-developed research skills, including the ability to formulate creative research questions, descriptive and analytical skills, and a clear and persuasive style of writing;
• Willingness to work up 3-4 months in UK archives in year 1 and year 2 of the project, up to a total of 8 months for the duration of the project;
• Native or near-native speaker of English;
• Experience with archival research and palaeography;
• Knowledge of gender studies, digital humanities, and / or scribal publication will be a plus;
• Independent thinker and team player;
• Ability to finish the proposed PhD research in 4 years.

The PhD project has a duration of 4 years (1.0 FTE, 38 hrs per week). The starting date is on 1 February 2021. Initially the employee will receive a one-year contract, with extension for the following 36 months on condition of a positive evaluation. The appointment must lead to the completion of a PhD thesis. Salary range from € 2,395.- to € 3,061.- gross per month (pay scale P in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities).

International candidates are especially encouraged to apply, but must be willing to relocate to the Netherlands for the duration of the project. Candidates are not expected to learn Dutch.

Leiden University offers an attractive benefits package with additional holiday (8%) and end-of-year bonuses (8.3%), training and career development. Our individual choices model gives you some freedom to assemble your own set of terms and conditions. Candidates from outside the Netherlands may be eligible for a substantial tax break.

Diversity
Leiden University is strongly committed to diversity within its community and especially welcomes applications from members of underrepresented groups.

Leiden University

The Faculty of Humanities is a unique international centre for the advanced study of languages, cultures, arts, and societies worldwide, in their historical contexts from prehistory to the present. Our faculty is home to more than 6,000 students and 800 staff members. For more information see the website.

The Leiden University Centre for the Arts in Society (LUCAS) is one of the seven Research Institutes of the Faculty of Humanities. LUCAS is dedicated to ground-breaking research that explores the multifaceted relationships between the arts and society. For more information see he website.