Who are we?

Dr William Purkis

William is the Principal Investigator on the Bearers of the Cross project and Reader in Medieval History at the University of Birmingham. He is a historian of medieval religious cultures (c.1000–c.1300), with particular interests in crusading and Latin Christian traditions of pilgrimage and monasticism, and is currently writing a monograph for Yale University Press on the material religion of crusaders and other Latins associated with the crusading movement. His previous publications include Crusading Spirituality in the Holy Land and Iberia, c.1095–c.1187 (The Boydell Press: Woodbridge, 2008), a series of peer-reviewed articles and essays on crusading, monasticism and historical writing during the period c.1050–c.1250, and a co-edited book (with Matthew Gabriele) on The Charlemagne Legend in Medieval Latin Texts (D.S. Brewer: Cambridge, 2016).

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Abi Cornick

Abi is the Curator at the Museum of the Order of St John, and has been working with the Museum’s large and diverse collection since 2013.  No two days at the Museum are the same, and the collection representing 900 years of international military and medical history keeps the Museum team on its toes.

The Bearers of the Cross project is an exciting opportunity to highlight and increase access to the very special medieval collection cared for by the Museum. Day to day Abi supports Rosie, mostly in unravelling the mysteries of peculiar historic documentation.

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 Dr Rosie Weetch

Rosie is the research fellow on the project. She spends her day rummaging through the medieval collection at the Museum of the Order of St John, researching the objects and getting them ready to be launched onto the collections database on this website. She also writes the essays you’ll find in the Interpreting the Collections section of the website and looks after the Twitter account.

Before this project Rosie was the Project Curator for the recent Celts: Art and Identity exhibition at the British Museum and for the new Sutton Hoo and Europe, AD 300-1100, gallery also at the British Museum. Her PhD was completed at the University of Reading and examined jewellery and social identities in Late Anglo-Saxon England.

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Dickon Whitewood

Dickon works as the project’s inventory officer and is responsible for all the amazing photographs you see throughout this website. He splits his time between this role and one at English Heritage.

Prior to this project he worked at the British Museum photographing and cataloguing their collection of seals. Dickon did a masters in Medieval and Renaissance studies at UCL and is especially interested in arms and armour.

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Our work on the project would not be possible without all the support and help of staff and volunteers and the Museum of the Order of St John, and we have been lucky to work closely with a number of people who have contributed significantly to various aspects of the project.