Lecturer in European History

On leave August 2012 - June 2013

Qualifications

BA Hons (Queensland)
M.Phil and PhD (Cambridge)

Biography and interests

I have a BA with majors in History and French from the University of Queensland where I also did my Honours year in History. I completed my postgraduate studies at the University of Cambridge as a student of Peterhouse, graduating with an M.Phil in European Studies and a PhD in History.  My PhD, which examined the suppression of convents in Paris during the French Revolution, reflects my interest in the relationship between religion, the state, and society.

Current research projects

My research focuses on the French Revolution but also encompasses eighteenth-century and Napoleonic France. Current projects include the publication of Sacred Liberty: The Nuns of Paris and the French Revolution, the book adaptation of my PhD, and a biography of Napoleon Bonaparte for Routledge’s ‘Historical Biographies’ series.

Other research interests include Parisian theatre during the French Revolution, the work of the novelist Adélaïde de Souza, and the Commission des Secours, a royal commission established in France in 1727 to consider the future of female religious communities. I have also recently begun a new project on prison life in Paris during the Terror.

I welcome enquiries from prospective research students with interests in any aspect of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century France. 

Courses taught

EURO1004: Europe in the Modern Era (1450-1914)
HIST2223: The French Revolution and Napoleon

Selected publications

(Editor) Proceedings of the XVIth George Rudé Seminar in French History and Civilization (9-11 July 2008), vol. 3 (2009)
http://www.h-france.net/rude/rudepapers.html

‘Liberty, citizenship, and the suppression of female religious communities in France, 1789-90’, Women’s History Review, vol. 18, no. 2 (2009), pp. 311-36. Awarded the 2006 Clare Evans National Essay Prize by the Women’s History Network.

‘Napoleon and the revival of female religious communities’ in Jeremy Gregory and Kate Cooper (eds), Revival and Resurgence in Christian History (Studies in Church History), vol. 44 (2008), pp.185-95.  Awarded the Ecclesiastical History Society’s 2007 Michael Kennedy Prize.

Email gemma.betros@anu.edu.au