Laura Tompkins, Research Lead.
Position: Research Lead
About
Laura is a specialist on the political and cultural history of late-medieval England, with specific expertise on the royal household, royal favourites and mistresses, and queens and queenship. She is currently writing a biography of Alice Perrers, the mistress of Edward III. More widely, Laura’s research has encompassed late-medieval clothing and jewels, London, parliament, and literary sources. Laura is interested in all aspects of the Tower of London’s medieval and early modern history, including the material culture and built environment of the medieval palace and royal apartments, and the fate of the Princes in the Tower.
Laura holds an AHRC funded PhD from the University of St Andrews and prior to joining HRP worked as a medieval specialist at The National Archives.
Laura currently co-supervises two PhDs on the material culture of the households three medieval queens and the multiple identities of Mary II. She is a member of the editorial board for the journal Fourteenth Century England.
As Research Lead, Laura co-ordinates research projects across the organisation, covering multiple disciplines and time periods.
Select publications
Tompkins, L., ‘Alice Perrers and the Goldsmiths’ Mistery: New Evidence Concerning the Identity of the Mistress of Edward III’, English Historical Review, 130 (2015), pp. 1361-1391.
Tompkins, L, ‘“Edward III’s Gold Digging Mistress”: Alice Perrers, Gender and Financial Power at the English Royal Court, 1360-1377’, in Female Economic and Political Influence at Pre-Modern Royal Courts, ed. C. Sarti (Leeds, 2019), pp. 59-72.
Tompkins, L., ‘The Escape of Roger Mortimer from the Tower of London, 1323’, in The Mortimers of Wigmore, 1066-1485: Dynasty and Destiny, eds. P. Dryburgh and P. Hume (Eardisley: Logaston Press, 2023), pp. 59-80.