About
Dr Robert Stansfield-Cudworth is a British Archivist, Historian, and Composer who has been an Archivist and Researcher; Tutor (
Cartmel College, Lancaster), and Associate Lecturer, Research Associate, and Honorary Research Fellow (
University of Lancaster); Postgraduate Researcher (
UK Research and Innovation:
Arts and Humanities Research Council); and Librarian (
Roman Catholic Cathedral Church of St Peter, Lancaster).
Author of
Political Elites in South-West England, 1450–1500 (2009) and articles in academic journals, his research fields include governance, identities, and elites, with further interests comprising historical, political, and religious sociology, antiquarianism, genealogy, and Celtic Studies.
He is a Fellow of the
Academy of Higher Education. Involved in various organisations, Robert is a past President of the
Lancaster University Historical Society; and past Secretary of the
Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society and the
Chetham Society.
Projects
Musical Representations • Principal Investigator (2010–22)
- Exploring musical representations (and elicitations) of meaning in programmatic and ‘absolute’ works, such as symphonic poems and concerti.
Later Lollardy: A Comparative Perspective • Principal Investigator (1999–2021)
- Reappraising Later Lollardy in England, its evolution and infrastructure, through the prism of comparative and sociological perspectives of religious movements.
Gentry and Yeomanry in Lancashire, c.1290–1861 • Principal Investigator (1994–2021)
- (Re-)Constituting gentry and non-gentry (yeomanry) families in Lancashire – using a variety of sources and archives – to investigate kinship networks, family life, faith and (self-) identity, socio-economic roles, inheritance patterns, agricultural practices, socio-political and educational interests, and wider associations.
Archival and Historical Scholarship and Antiquarianism • Principal Investigator (2008–17)
- Exploring developments in archival and historical scholarship – and professionalisation of historical (and archival) practice – during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
Political Elites in South-West England, 1450–1500 • Principal Investigator (2000–13)
- Examining the crown’s approach to government in South-West England, this interdisciplinary UK Research and Innovation: Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) project (2001–5) investigated Edward IV’s policy towards the English regions, and explored the feasibility of a regional approach to the politics, government, and ruling elites of Cornwall, Devon, Somerset, and Dorset (1450–1500).
Evaluating Ecclesiastical Collections • Co-Investigator (2001–2)
- Surveying the history, contents, and context of an ecclesiastical library, with a particular focus on the folio titles.
