PhD Candidate

Start date: 1 July 2023

Anne Sieberichs  received her Master’s degree in the RMA Ancient, Medieval and Renaissance Studies at Utrecht University. She is currently an employed PhD candidate within the NWO VIDI project ‘Lettercraft and Epistolary Performance in Early Medieval Europe’.  Anne studies the role of lettercraft in the process of building consensus during episcopal successions in the Merovingian period. By studying narrative sources, this research aims to find out how epistolary performance could convince the various parties involved in the episcopal election into the desired candidate.

By studying both the normative and narrative sources containing the processes of Merovingian episcopal successions, she aims to gain a deeper understanding of the entire process of episcopal successions, as well as how authors play with these processes in their narratives. Letters and lettercraft form a big part of the communication during these processes and will be the leading factor in unraveling how consensus can be built through them.