Dr Sophie Thérèse Ambler is a historian of the Middle Ages with a particular interest in war, politics, religion and society. She earned her PhD at King's College London, supervised by Professor David Carpenter, studying political reform and the role of bishops in thirteenth-century England.
After her doctorate she was Thornley Fellow at the Institute of Historical Research. She subsequently joined the AHRC's Breaking of Britain project (2012–13) and the Magna Carta Project at the University of East Anglia (2013–15). In 2017 she joined Lancaster University, becoming Reader in 2021. She is Co-Director of the Centre for War and Diplomacy and a Research Fellow at The Ruskin.
Her research explores war in Britain c.1100–1400: military recruitment, the experiences of low-status combatants and war-torn populations, battlefield medicine, conflict landscapes, and shifting notions of personal responsibility in conflict — including post-conflict justice and the history of treason.
She holds a Philip Leverhulme Prize in History (2020) and in Michaelmas 2022 was a Visiting Fellow at All Souls College, Oxford. She co-leads the Lowther Medieval Castle and Village Project with Lowther Castle & Gardens Trust and the Battlefields Trust.
Medieval WarBaronial ReformMagna CartaCrusadesBattlefield LandscapesHistory of Treason13th-Century PoliticsIntellectual History
