Research output per year
Research output per year
TW20 0EX
I joined Royal Holloway in 2014 after studying at UCL and Oxford and a Research Fellowship at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. I am a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and of the Higher Education Academy. I currently serve as Head of the Department of History.
I am one of the organisers of the Modern French History seminar at the Institute of Historical Research and am on the Editorial Collective of History Workshop Journal. I am the Region Editor for Nineteenth-Century France at the Bloomsbury Encyclopedia of Philosophers and have enjoyed various collaborations and exchanges with our colleagues in Europe, most recently as Visiting Lecturer at the University of Regensburg. I recently collaborated with the British Library in supervising an AHRC-funded project on caricatures of the Franco-Prussian War and Paris Commune.
I research the cultural and intellectual history of nineteenth-century Europe. My latest book, which will be published in 2025, explores the politics of the enormous successful passion play at Oberammergau in Germany and the wider world from the Enlightenment to the 1930s. My first book, The Gospel According to Renan: Reading, Writing, and Religion in Nineteenth-Century France, offered a new interpretation of the remarkable controversy surrounding the publication of Ernest Renan’s Life of Jesus (1863). Hardly read today, this attempt to write a historical biography of Jesus was one of the best-selling and most controversial books of its time.
My research generally tries to contribute to one or more of the following three areas:
Some short blog posts that draw on or discuss my research:
I am responsible for various specialist options on European history and also contribute to a variety of team-taught courses in the department. In recent years I have run the following undergraduate options:
I welcome correspondence from applicants looking to pursue postgraduate or doctoral study in modern European history, especially but not exclusively those interested in topics related to: France; the long nineteenth century; religion and secularisation.
Completed PhD students include:
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
Research output: Book/Report › Book
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Research output: Book/Report › Book
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
Priest, R. (PI)
British Academy/Leverhulme Trust
1/10/17 → 31/03/18
Project: Research
Gabriella Miles, H. (Organiser), Hamlett, J. (Organiser), Platts, H. (Organiser), Ferry-Swainson, K. (Speaker), Cooper, K. (Invited speaker), Priest, R. (Speaker), Mansell, P. (Speaker), Southart, J. (Speaker), Cameron, J. (Speaker), Acharya, J. (Speaker) & Burleton, G. (Speaker)
Activity: Participating in or organising an event › Participation in conference
Priest, R. (Editor)
Activity: Publication peer-review and editorial work › Editor of research journal
Priest, R. (Member of editorial board)
Activity: Publication peer-review and editorial work › Editor of research journal