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Dr Chris Langley

Image of Chris R. Langley

Profile summary

  • Regional Academic Staff
  • Staff Tutor in History (Wales)
  • Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences
  • School of Arts & Humanities
  • History
  • christopher.langley

Professional biography

I joined the OU in 2022 after teaching at Aberdeen, York and Newman University. I was Visiting Scholar at the University of St Andrews in 2014 and Visiting Research Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities at the University of Edinburgh in 2018. I studied at Birmingham and Aberdeen. 

I am a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. 

Research interests

I am interested in early modern religious culture, especially in Scotland: I want to understand how people in the past experienced religion and how it fit into their lives.

My previous research has explored how the Civil Wars affected worship; how social care in seventeenth-century Scotland was shaped by religious and political change; and how clergy and their families experienced the Reformation and Civil Wars. My current research project explores the Scottish General Assemblies between 1638 and 1653.

I am the Co-Director of ‘Mapping the Scottish Reformation: A database of the Scottish clergy, 1560-1689’, with Professor Michelle D. Brock (W&L University).

Teaching interests

I have experience teaching a range of early modern history modules, from foundation to postgraduate level. 

I am the module chair of A329 'The making of Welsh history' and manage teams of Associate Lecturers on A112 'Cultures' and A223 'Early modern Europe: society and culture, 1500–1780'.

I welcome PhD proposals from those interested in the religious cultures of early modern Britain and Ireland.

Impact and engagement

I am interested in linked open data and how it can be used in the humanities. You can find out more about my current work here.

External collaborations

I am the Special Issues Editor for Scottish Historical Review. I sit on the council of the Scottish History Society and the History UK Steering Committee.

I serve as an External Examiner for the History programme at the University of Edinburgh. I was previously one of the External Examiners for History at Keele University.

Publications

Ecclesiastical record books and political legitimacy in mid-seventeenth century Scotland (2024)
Langley, Chris R.
The Journal of Ecclesiastical History ((In Press))

Clerical old age and the forming of rites of passage in early modern Scotland (2023)
Langley, Chris R.
Studies in Church History, 59 (pp. 244-264)

Clergy widows in early modern Scotland (2022-10)
Langley, Chris R.
Scottish Church History, 51(2) (pp. 111-132)

Parish Politics and Godly Agitation in Late Interregnum Scotland (2021-09)
Langley, Chris R.
Church History, 90(3) (pp. 557-578)

Deportment, emotion and moderation at the Glasgow Assembly, 1638 (2020-08)
Langley, Chris R.
Historical Research, 93(261) (pp. 466-482)

Mapping the Scottish Reformation: Tracing Careers of the Scottish Clergy, 1560-1689 (2019)
Brock, Michelle D. and Langley, Chris R.
International Review of Scottish Studies, 44 (pp. 27-34)

“In the execution of his office”: lay officials and the exercise of ecclesiastical discipline in Scotland, c. 1600-1660 (2018)
Langley, Chris R.
The Seventeenth Century, 33(5) (pp. 497-512)

Sheltering under the Covenant: The National Covenant, Orthodoxy and the Irish Rebellion, 1638–1644 (2017-10)
Langley, Chris R.
The Scottish Historical Review, 96(2) (pp. 137-160)

Lying Sick to Die: Dying, Informal Care and Authority in Scotland, ca. 1600–1660 (2017-03)
Langley, Chris R.
Sixteenth Century Journal, 48(1) (pp. 27-46)

Caring for Soldiers, Veterans and Families in Scotland, 1638-1651 (2017-01)
Langley, Chris R.
History, 102(349) (pp. 5-23)

“Diligence in his ministrie”: Languages of Clerical Sufficiency in Mid-Seventeenth-Century Scotland (2013)
Langley, Chris R.
Archiv für Reformationsgeschichte, 104(1)

Cultures of Care: Domestic Welfare, Discipline and the Church of Scotland, c. 1600–1689 (2020-05-11)
Langley, Chris R.
St Andrews Studies in Reformation History
ISBN : 978-90-04-42097-7 | Publisher : Brill | Published : Leiden

Worship, Civil War and Community, 1638–1660 (2015-11-20)
Langley, Chris R.
ISBN : 9781315644691 | Publisher : Routledge | Published : London

Anticlericalism in Early Modern Scotland? (2021-07)
Langley, Chris R.
In: Langley, Chris R.; McMillan, Catherine E. and Newton, Russell eds. The Clergy in Early Modern Scotland. St Andrews Studies in Scottish History (pp. 89-110)
ISBN : 9781783276196 | Publisher : Boydell Press | Published : Woodbridge

Reading John Knox in the Scottish Revolution, 1638-42 (2020-06)
Langley, Chris R.
In: Langley, Chris R. ed. The National Covenant in Scotland, 1638–1689. Studies in Early Modern Cultural, Political and Social History (pp. 89-104)
ISBN : 9781783275304 | Publisher : Boydell Press | Published : Woodbridge

‘So necessarie and charitable a worke’: welfare, identity and Scottish prisoners of war in England, 1650–55 (2018-09)
Langley, Chris R.
In: Appleby, David and Hopper, Andrew eds. Battle-scarred: Mortality, medical care and military welfare in the British Civil Wars (pp. 211-229)
Publisher : Manchester University Press | Published : Manchester

‘A Sweet Love-Token betwixt Christ and His Church’: Kirk, Communion and the Search for Further Reformation, 1646–1658 (2016-01)
Langley, Chris R.
In: McCallum, John ed. Scotland's Long Reformation: New Perspectives on Scottish Religion, c. 1500–1660. St Andrews Studies in Reformation History (pp. 87-111)
ISBN : 978-90-04-32393-3 | Publisher : Brill | Published : Leiden

The Clergy in Early Modern Scotland (2021-07)
Langley, Chris R.; McMillan, Catherine E. and Newton, Russell eds.
St Andrews Studies in Scottish History
ISBN : 9781783276196 | Publisher : Boydell Press | Published : Woodbridge

The National Covenant in Scotland, 1638-1689 (2020-06)
Langley, Chris R. ed.
Studies in Early Modern Cultural, Political and Social History
ISBN : 9781783275304 | Publisher : Boydell Press | Published : Woodbridge

The Minutes of the Synod of Lothian and Tweeddale, 1648-1659 (2016-08)
Langley, Chris R. ed.
Scottish History Society 6th Series
ISBN : 9780906245415 | Publisher : Boydell Press | Published : Woodbridge