Professor Mary Vincent

M.A., D.Phil. (Oxon.) FRHistS

Department of History

Professor of Modern European History

Vice President for Education

Ex-officio Member of Senate 2019-

Chair of the Advisory Board, Institute of Historical Research (IHR) 2019-

Trustee, IHR Trust 2019-

HST Prof Mary Vincent photo
Professor Mary Vincent, Vice President for Education at the University of Sheffield
Profile picture of HST Prof Mary Vincent photo
m.t.vincent@sheffield.ac.uk
+44 114 222 1003

Full contact details

Professor Mary Vincent
Department of History
VPE Office, The Rotunda
Firth Court
Western Bank
Sheffield
S10 2TN
Profile

My main research interests lie in the history of modern Spain, particularly in the period of the Civil War and the Franco dictatorship (1931-75), I have also published widely in the history of gender.

While my earlier work looked at fascism and political violence, my current focus is on religious violence and the 'culture wars' of twentieth-century Spain.

An article in church burning was published in September 2022, which looks at the emotional effect of iconoclasm, and I am currently completing a monograph on 'Franco's Cusade'.  From 2016-18 I held a Leverhulme Trust Major Research Fellowship to work on this project.

Research interests

Modern Spain, political and religious violence, iconoclasm and violence against objects, the history of gender.

Publications

Books

  • Vincent MM, Miller N, Finn M, Fincham K, Holland S & Kissane C (2018) Promoting Gender Equality in UK History: A Second Report and Recommendation for Good Practice. London: Royal Historical Society. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Vincent MM, Carter E, Conway M, Dahl HF, Frommer B, Peschanski D, Pittaway M, Romijn P, Wouters N, Vincent M & Olesen NW (2008) The War for Legitimacy in Politics and Culture, 1936-1949. Oxford and New York: Berg. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Vincent M (2007) Spain, 1833-2002:People and State. OUP Oxford. RIS download Bibtex download

Journal articles

Chapters

  • Vincent M (2023) “To Be Consumed in Suffering for His Love” *, Catholics and Violence in the Nineteenth-Century Global World (pp. 56-74). Routledge RIS download Bibtex download
  • Vincent MM (2019) »Um seiner Liebe willen von Leiden verzehrt zu werden«: Gewalt, Religion und Gegenrevolution im Spanien der Restaurationszeit In Bouwers E (Ed.), Glaubenskämpfe: Katholiken und Gewalt im 19. Jahrhundert (pp. 289-312). Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Vincent M (2017) Religion: The idea of catholic Spain, Metaphors of Spain: Representations of Spanish National Identity in the Twentieth Century (pp. 122-141). RIS download Bibtex download
  • Vincent MM (2016) Political Violence and Mass Society: A European Civil War? In Doumanis N (Ed.), The Oxford Handbook of European History, 1914-1945 Oxford University Press RIS download Bibtex download
  • Vincent MM (2014) Made Flesh? Gender and Doctrine in Religious Violence in Twentieth-Century Spain In de Groot J & Morgan S (Ed.), Sex, Gender and the Sacred Reconfiguring Religion in Gender History (pp. 272-286). John Wiley & Sons RIS download Bibtex download
  • Vincent MM (2013) Religión e identidad nacional In Moreno Luzón J & Núñez Seixas X (Ed.), Ser españoles: Imaginarios nacionalistas en el siglo XX (pp. 207-245). Barcelona: Rba Libros. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Vincent M (2012) Spain Oxford University Press RIS download Bibtex download
  • Vincent MM (2010) Breaking the Silence? Memory and Oblivion since the Spanish Civil War In Ben-Ze'ev E, Ginio R & Winter J (Ed.), Shadows of War: A Social History of Silence in the Twentieth Century (pp. 47-67). New York: Cambridge University Press. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Vincent MM & Carter E (2008) Culture and Legitimacy In Conway M & Romijn P (Ed.), The War for Legitimacy in Politics and Culture, 1936-1949 (pp. 147-176). Oxford and New York: Berg. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Vincent MM (2007) La paz de Franco: el concepto de jerarquía en la España de la posguerra, Religión y política en la España contemporánea (pp. 83-105). Madrid: Centro de Estudios Políticos y Constitucionales. View this article in WRRO RIS download Bibtex download

Book reviews

Conference proceedings papers

  • Vincent MM (2018) La masculinidad en la construcción del nacionalcatolicismo después de la Guerra Civil. Feminidades y Masculinidades en la Historiografía de Género (pp 127-160). Granada, 24 September 2015 - 25 September 2015. View this article in WRRO RIS download Bibtex download
  • Vincent M (2018) Reparation : the aftermath of iconoclasm in Franco's Spain. Imágenes, devociones y prácticas religiosas: La Europa del Sur (1800-1960) (pp 279-298). Valladolid, 13 September 2017 - 15 September 2017. View this article in WRRO RIS download Bibtex download
Research group

Research supervision

I welcome applications from postgraduate students with an interest in the history of Spain as well as those working on civil wars, political violence, modern Catholicism, and the history of gender.

Current Students

All current students

Completed Students
  • Carla Gutierrez Ramos - Organised Labour and Nationalism in the Long 1970s: Class, Democracy and the Sub-state Nations of Scotland and Galicia
  • Joel Baker - 'Anti-politics', infrastructure policy and civil society mobilisations in Spain under the Primo de Rivera dictatorship (1923-1930)
  • Imen Neffati - The Politics of Offence in Hara Kiri and Charlie Hebdo 1960-2015
  • Sabine Hanke (second supervisor) - National identity and cultural difference in the British and German circus, 1920-1945
  • Vicki Pugh - Problem bodies and sideshow space: A study of twentieth century sideshow in Blackpool 1930-1940.
  • Stephanie Wright - Franco's 'Mutilated Gentleman': Masculinity and War Disability in Modern Spain, 1936-1976.
  • James Yeoman - Print Culture and the Formation of the Anarchist Movement in Spain: 1890-1915.
  • Matthew Kerry - Radical Politics in the Spanish Second Republic: Asturias, 1931-1936.
  • Ruth Fisher (Hispanic Studies) - Resistance and Survival: Deconstructing the Narratives of Women Political Prisoners after the Spanish Civil War.
  • David Lyon (MPhil) - The penitentiary of El Puerto de Santa María and a Basque Dimension.
  • Rebecca Mytton (second supervisor) - Revolutionary Masculinities in the IRA, 1916-1923.
  • Hannah Parker (second supervisor) - Voices of the New Soviet Woman: Gender, Emancipation and Agency in Letters to the Soviet State, 1924-1941.
  • Ryosuke Yokoe (second supervisor) - Medical understandings of alcohol and the liver in twentieth-century Britain.
  • David Page (MPhil, second supervisor) - Pioneers of European Federalism: the New Europe Group and New Britain Movement (1931–1935).

 

Find out more about PhD study in History

Grants

Leverhulme Major Research Fellowship 2016-18

Teaching interests

Undergraduate

  • HST112 Paths from Antiquity to Modernity
Professional activities and memberships

Previous administrative roles

  • Head of Department (2012-15).
  • Vice-President, Royal Historical Society (2013-17)
  • Council Member, University of Sheffield (2014-17)
  • Chair, Senate Academic Assurance Committee (2018-19)
  • Elected Member of Senate (2015-19)
Public engagement

In the media