Research Interests
- Religious and devotional writing
- Medieval solitaries (especially hermits, anchorites and Carthusians)
- Mysticism
- Disability studies
- Affect theory
- Medieval imprisonment
Dr Millie Newis
Dr Millie Newis is a College Lecturer in English at Magdalene who specialises in medieval literature.
Dr Newis completed a BA in English at Magdalene College (2016–2019) and an MPhil in Medieval and Renaissance Literature at Pembroke College (2019–2020), from which she graduated with the highest marks in the year. Millie returned to Magdalene in 2020 for a PhD. She held a one-year Bye-Fellowship at the college before submitting her thesis in 2024.
Millie’s doctoral research explores experiences of solitary, spiritual contemplation in the Middle Ages. She’s particularly interested in the challenges of solitude and enclosure and how these were addressed in medieval texts. She is currently developing this work into a monograph.
Millie teaches medieval literature at many Cambridge colleges. She enjoys discussing all aspects of medieval literature with students, and contributing to Magdalene’s admissions process and outreach activities. In addition, Millie teaches on the MPhil in English Studies (particularly Textual and Related Studies, i.e., medieval manuscripts) and she lectures for the Institute of Continuing Education (mostly on Chaucer). She is also a Specialist Mentor with Cambridge’s Accessibility and Disability Resource Centre, where she provides one-on-one support to students.
Qualifications
- BA, University of Cambridge
- MPhil, University of Cambridge
- PhD, University of Cambridge
Selected Publications
Millicent-Rose Newis, ‘"Spered in an hous aloone": Enduring Spiritual Enclosure in the Middle Ages’, 'Apollo – Cambridge University Digital Library' (2024) https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.114181
Millicent-Rose Newis, ‘The Good Wyfe Wold a Pylgremage’ in 'The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Medieval Women’s Writing in the Global Middle Ages', ed. by Michelle Sauer, Diane Watt, and Liz Herbert McAvoy (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2024), online edition [accepted and forthcoming]
Millicent-Rose Newis, 'A Description of Cambridge University Library, Ll.4.3: "The Myrroure of the Blyssyd Lyffe of Jhesu Crist"', 'Apollo – Cambridge University Digital Library' (2023) https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.93829
Millicent-Rose Newis, ‘Margery Kempe’, in 'The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Medieval Women’s Writing in the Global Middle Ages', ed. by Michelle Sauer, Diane Watt, and Liz Herbert McAvoy (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2022), online edition https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-76219-3_29-1
Millicent-Rose Newis, ‘Conflict in the Cell: Late-Medieval Prison Writing in Context’, 'Leeds Medieval Studies', 2 (2022), 53-73 https://doi.org/10.57686/256204/19